Development
Globalization and Development[1]
Ben Thirkell-White
Published (in a slightly shorter version) in Imber & Salmon (Eds) Issues in International Relations (2nd Edition) London: Routledge 2008
So, citation, should be Thirkell-White, Ben ‘Globalization and Development’ in Imber & Salmon (Eds) Issues in International Relations (2nd Edition) London: Routledge 2008
During the 1990s, literature on the international political economy was dominated by the idea of ‘globalisation’. Dramatic decreases in transport costs and the rise of fast and cheap telecommunications technology have made geography less relevant. This, in turn, has facilitated global trade and capital flows and stimulated new forms of multi-national production. Some people argue the new global economy provides new opportunities for the developing world to integrate into global markets and achieve rapid rises in living standards – pointing to on-going global growth and a reduction in absolute poverty. Others argue that it has increased global exploitation, further marginalised the developing world and increased global inequalities.
This chapter shifts the terms of debate by pointing to the role international politics has played in the conversion of new technological opportunities (travel and communications) – globalisation in its narrow sense - into new forms of economic regulation and business practices – globalisation in its broad sense[2]. Some governments, the strong ones, had more choice than others about how they would respond to global pressures for more international and less regulated economic activities. Even the weakest, though, had some room to manoeuvre and there has been considerable variation in responses in both the developed and developing worlds. The chapter introduces some ways of thinking about globalisation and the historical experience of the developing world, to provide the tools required for assessing the viable options developing countries currently face under globalisation.
Ben Thirkell-White
Published (in a slightly shorter version) in Imber & Salmon (Eds) Issues in International Relations (2nd Edition) London: Routledge 2008
So, citation, should be Thirkell-White, Ben ‘Globalization and Development’ in Imber & Salmon (Eds) Issues in International Relations (2nd Edition) London: Routledge 2008
During the 1990s, literature on the international political economy was dominated by the idea of ‘globalisation’. Dramatic decreases in transport costs and the rise of fast and cheap telecommunications technology have made geography less relevant. This, in turn, has facilitated global trade and capital flows and stimulated new forms of multi-national production. Some people argue the new global economy provides new opportunities for the developing world to integrate into global markets and achieve rapid rises in living standards – pointing to on-going global growth and a reduction in absolute poverty. Others argue that it has increased global exploitation, further marginalised the developing world and increased global inequalities.
This chapter shifts the terms of debate by pointing to the role international politics has played in the conversion of new technological opportunities (travel and communications) – globalisation in its narrow sense - into new forms of economic regulation and business practices – globalisation in its broad sense[2]. Some governments, the strong ones, had more choice than others about how they would respond to global pressures for more international and less regulated economic activities. Even the weakest, though, had some room to manoeuvre and there has been considerable variation in responses in both the developed and developing worlds. The chapter introduces some ways of thinking about globalisation and the historical experience of the developing world, to provide the tools required for assessing the viable options developing countries currently face under globalisation.