In this document you will find the notes I took during all the lectures of the subject Development and Globalization, given at the VU (cultural anthropology & several minors). It invloves parts of the powerpoints which were shown, as well as notes on the information our teachers have given us.
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Development and Globalisation
Lecture 1: introduction
05/09/2017
We used to think (and still do) that economic improvement is linked to development. When the
economy grows, the country is developing.
Millennium goals, drawn up by the United Nations (decided in 1990, to be achieved in 2015):
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
We have set all these goals, but we are failing. But why? Why do we fail to make this world a better
place? The answers to these questions are all discussed in the article of the World Bank and IMF, and
will be discussed in the lectures of this subject.
, Development and globalisation
Lecture 2: Colonialism and Globalisation
06/09/2017
Globalisation = a term describing the current socio-cultural condition and the political economy of
the contemporary World. Its basis is the wide use of technologies of mass communication and mass
transportation. It’s signified by time-space compression (travel of people, information an capital
becomes increasingly rapid, which makes space seem less big and cities seem less far away; space
becomes relative).
Technology allows us to make space relative
Globalisation linked to development:
- An opportunity to promote growth and reduce poverty?
- An inevitable reality – embrace it or lose out?
- A continuation, albeit in new forms, of pre-existing structures of domination/subjugation?
Colonialism is the beginning of what we today call globalization, it is the predecessor. When colonies
become independent after WW2, we no longer think of the world as a post-colonial world, but as a
globalized world. So, globalization basically replaces colonialism.
Historic overview:
- Modern world system was born out of consolidation of the world economy around 1500
- This world economy absorbed all existing mini-systems and world empires
- By the late 19th century, this is the only one historical system on the globe capitalism
- First world countries (metropole) dominate others, the periphery (&semi-periphery)
- This system of domination is being created and uphold through trade, politics, military power
and cultural routes like media, film and language
Hegemony = webs of significance that span the globe & rules on how to organize social life that are
assumed to have worldwide significance or applicability and if they do not, it is impleaded.
Example: money is just paper, but we accept one piece of paper with ink on it, and in return
we get 7 bottles of sparkling water (consisting of water, plastic, paper, etc.). We work hours
and days for changing numbers in our bank account. So, money is a hegemonic idea; it is
accepted in society to exchange a piece of paper for shoes, jackets, etc.
Cultural imperialism – global power inequalities
3 historical systems
1. Mini-systems
o Small in space
o Relatively brief in time
o Highly homogenous in terms of cultural and governing structures
2. World empires
o Vast political structures
o Encompass a wide variety of ‘cultural’ patterns
3. World economies
o Vast uneven chains of integrated production structures dissected by multiple political
structures
, o Neoliberal capitalist
Features of economic globalisation
- Globalisation is not new. However, there are specific features of modern economic
globalisation:
o Increasing integration of markets, across political boundaries
o Falling government-imposed barriers to international flows of goods, services and
capital
o The global spread of market-oriented policies in both the domestic and international
spheres
The new international division of labour:
- Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage
- Shift in manufacturing from Global North to Global South
o Cheaper labour
o Enabled by technological change
o Part of the growth of TNCs (trans-national corporations)
Strategies of developing countries to attract foreign investors in a globalise world (free trading zones):
- Ignoring environmental requirements
- Tax paradise
- Disciplining the labour force (e.g. restricting on labour unions)
- Free capital flows (in and out)
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