Globalization (Ch. 12)

Question 1

crisis of capitalism

Answer 1

internal contradictions of capitalism (monopolization, financialization, anarchy of production, crisis of overproduction)

Question 2

fundamentals of globilaization

Answer 2

• capitalism is global
• owning class moves capital around the globe to maximize profits (seek out cheap labour and cheap means of production)
• most dominant nation states gain control over economies of other nation states (imperialism)
• key functions of the state become global (ie. accumulation [global orgs. advance economic needs], coercion [US military = world’s police])

Question 3

new world order

Answer 3

• 70’s - present
• global capital’s goal: create single-world economy of competing corporations
• corps reached accord w/ each other
• US represented capital as a whole (US = global superpower)

Question 4

USA as a global superpower

Answer 4

• USA in middle, branching out to…
• Politics (UN)
• Economy (banks)
• Military (NATO)

Question 5

free trade

Answer 5

• World Bank and IMF (both in US, part of UN)

- political power = economic strength (voting strength tied to size of country’s economy -> US has veto power)

Question 6

World Bank

Answer 6

• objective: help countries industrialize (extend neoliberalism globally)
• makes loans to 3rd world countries -> signals to private investors that it is safe to invest in this country

Question 7

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Answer 7

• objective: global financial stability
• to solve a country’s debt problem, IMF loan is given
• structural adjustment programs/austerity measures (privatizing commons, downsizing gov, promotion of exports, reducing subsidies for agri, food, health, edu, etc.)

Question 8

globilization = global inequality

Answer 8

• world bank
• IMF
• World Trade Organization (promotes neoliberal economic policies to “solve world poverty”
• free market supposed to increase wealth of those who participate, yet 1st world countries still exert tons of political and economic power over 3rd world countries

Question 9

World Trade Organization

Answer 9

• only global orgs deal with trade btwn nations
• trade agreements (NAFTA, TPP)
• set up garment factories in Free Trade Zones outside jurisdiction of city limits (no tariffs paid, labour-intensive manufacturing centers)

Question 10

Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)

Answer 10

• multilateral free-trade agreement
• 8 years of negociations
• 12 countries in Asia and the Americas
• 2 of the world’s most dynamic regional markets will be integrated to establish a huge free-trade area

Question 11

global supply chain and labour

Answer 11

• WTO global organization trade
• free-trade organizations paved the way for cheap labour (increased profits) for 1st world corporations
• corps don’t have to adhere to western labour or environmental standards
• consumers get low price clothes

Question 12

cost of cheap products

Answer 12

invisible labour: people working in bad conditions in order to produce cheap products

Question 13

hidden faces of globalization

Answer 13

all the elements of capitalism on a global scale come together -> labour, gender, race, class