2.6: Student Resources

Key Terms/Glossary 

• Artifact: an object or item created or modified by humans, often with cultural, historical, or archeological significance, that provides insight into the practices and beliefs of a particular group of people.
• Bretton Woods Agreement: an agreement that set the stage for economic policies that would allow for more trade and exchange between and among the participants.
• Brexit: term combines "British” and “exit" in reference to the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.
• Capitalism: a profit driven economic system based on market competition in which the means of production are owned by private actors. 
• Centrifugal forces: Socio-economic, cultural, and or political factors that divide a population and pose threats to a common sense of identity.
• Centripetal forces: Socio-economic, cultural, and or political factors that promote a commonsense of identity among a population, or that bring different populations together
• City-states: urban areas and their hinterlands that exhibit their own sovereign systems of government, exchange, and identity.  
• Civilization: a complex society based on settlements in which inhabitants function via a collective sense of community.  
• Cold War: a time of political and military tension between United States and its allies on one side, and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other, lasting from the end of the Second World War (WWII) to the 1990s.
• Columbian Exchange: the interaction between Old and New World populations following European entrance into the Americas, characterized by the exchange of people, disease, food, plants and animals across the Atlantic
• Counterurbanization: a demographic process whereby populations migrate from cities to rural areas.
• Cultural hearth: a place or region where a particular cultural element is believed to have originated.
• Deterritorialization: the weakening of ties among economic, political, or cultural practices and/or entities and the places where they originate and/or operate.  
• Division of labor: the separation of tasks among different parts of a workforce, typically focused on enhancing specialization and efficiency in production.
• European colonialism: the process of European states obtaining full or partial political control over another territory, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting its people and resources for the benefit of the colonizer.   
• European Union (EU): a supra-national arrangement of member states who have formed a political and economic union to pursue common interests.   
• Foodways: the cultural, social, and economic practices related to food production and consumption.
• Global North: countries that are highly economically developed, primarily located in the Norther Hemisphere, once referred to as “First World.”
• Global South: countries that are less economically developed, primarily located in the Southern Hemisphere, once referred to as "Third World" or "developing world.”
• Hellenism: the spread of ancient Greek culture, and influence, beginning in the Fourth Century BCE.
• Hierarchical diffusion: a type of cultural diffusion where an idea, innovation, or cultural trait spreads in a structured, top-down manner, typically from a central source to other locations, or via political dominance.
• Hinterlands: the area surrounding a city, typically practicing agriculture.
• Industrial Revolution: a process of technological innovation and mechanization beginning in Eighteenth-Century Britain and subsequently spreading throughout the world.
• Liberal International Order: a set of institutions, norms, and rules, largely established after the Second World War, with the goal of organizing international relations around liberal democracies and cooperative security.  
• Lingua franca: a common language adopted to allow communication among people whose native languages are different.
• Local functional specialization: an economic strategy by which regions develop specialized functions and roles within larger economic systems.
• Mentifact: an element of culture that encompasses non-material aspects such as beliefs, values, customs, rituals, and ideologies.
• Mercantilism: an economic theory commonly put in to practice by European colonial empires that promoted regulation of the economy to augment state power, often at the expense of competitors.
• Neoliberalism: an ideology which draws on classical liberal ideas regarding the value of individual freedoms and extends these globally, with a supportive suite of international institutions and domestic policies
• Neolithic Revolution: the transition from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement.
• Non-aligned movement: also known as the Third World. These countries were not interested in coming under the control of, or under the policy decisions, of either the U.S. or Soviet Union.
• Protectionism: promoting policies which reduce the access of international actors to a domestic market, for example raising tariffs (taxes) on imported goods in order to give an advantage to domestic producers.
• Rent seeking behavior: an attempt to gain economic advantage via the manipulation of the social or political environment rather than through trade and production of goods and services.
• Romanization: the process by which non-Roman people were incorporated into the Roman Empire and assimilated into Roman culture.  
• Silk Road: a network of trade routes in the ancient world that facilitated economic and cultural exchange through Eurasia, connecting East and West.
• Site factor: physical attributes of a location that influence its potential use in terms of human activity.
• Situation factor: relative location of a place in relation to other places in terms of potential accessibility and ability to connect.
• Sociofact: an element of culture that encompasses accepted behaviors and social practices of a group.
• Supra-nationalism: a process whereby states join together in political union, giving up some degree of sovereignty in exchange for collective benefits.  
• Time-Space compression: the concept that advancements in technology, especially in transportation and communication have reduced the perceived time and distance between people and places, leading to a sense of the world becoming smaller and more interconnected.
• Unipolar order: the post-Cold War geopolitical scenario in which the United States emerged as the world's only superpower.
• Value-added products: goods that have been improved or enhanced by way of labor, resulting in increased market value.

• Summaries 

2.1 Introduction: Welcome to Global Studies 

This chapter offers a brief overview of globalization's evolution and some of its key drivers across history. While not exhaustive, it touches upon pivotal events and figures whose efforts increased levels of connectivity among previously separated populations. The emphasis is on the role of technology in enhancing interactions and communication over distances, encapsulated by the concept of time-space compression.

2.2 Background: A Brief History of Globalization

The historical precursors to globalization can be see in the example of ancient Mesopotamia (around 3100 BCE), where advancements in technology, such as the wheel and standardized mathematics arose alongside an agricultural surplus and urbanization, all of which provided the foundation for interconnected trade networks and a division of labor. Moving forward, Classical Greece (around 1200 BCE) gained influence through the establishment of city-states and seafaring trade, leading to the diffusion of Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean. The rise of the Roman Empire further enhanced global connectivity through Romanization, the spread of the Latin language, and advancements in the built environment, which featured infrastructure like roads and aqueducts. While the collapse of the Western Roman Empire led to the Middle Ages, the Silk Road facilitated cultural and economic exchange between Europe and Asia, notably during the Mongol Empire's reign in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. In the late Fifteenth Century, the "Age of Discovery" marked a significant leap in globalization as European powers like Spain, Portugal, and Britain established colonies in the Americas, Asia, and Africa, driven by mercantilism and the quest for new trade routes. The spread of European languages, Christianity, and new economic systems through colonialism, while highly destructive to colonized peoples, established many of the precursors of modern globalization. The Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries further accelerated globalization through advancements in technology, transportation, and communication, leading to the development of capitalist economies and the increasingly interconnected world we know today.

2.3 Theories: Motivations for Globalization

Technologies and ideologies promoting time-space compression have worked to increase connectivity among populations historically, driven by political, economic, and cultural motivations. Globalization, which is understood to be an ongoing process, does not progress linearly nor equitably, with some populations benefiting while others may suffer. Economic motivations for globalization include enhancing access to resources, capital, and labor, and improving infrastructure to facilitate trade and increase levels of connectivity. Politically, interconnectivity can result from voluntary cooperation and/or enforced relationships, often involving standardization of legal, linguistic, and economic norms used to establish and uphold cohesion. Culturally, globalization is driven by the diffusion of artifacts, sociofacts, and mentifacts, with increased shared cultural elements fostering greater interconnectivity. The balance between centripetal forces (promoting unity) and centrifugal forces (promoting division) works to either promote or inhabit the advancement of globalization.

2.4 At Home and Abroad: The Rise of Neoliberalism

Contemporary globalization is advancing due to a variety of key concepts, promoted by various institutions. A central concept is supra-nationalism, which allows sovereign states to cooperate on collective issues and engage in international relations. After the Second World War, nation-states became dominant political entities, categorized into market economies (the First World), socialist states (the Second World), and former European colonies (the Third World). These terms have since taken on new meanings and have further been eclipsed by the categorizations of Global North and Global South. The Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 established economic policies for trade and led to the creation of influential supra-national institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Other organizations, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union (EU), and various free trade agreements, further expedited the globalization process. During the Cold War, geopolitical blocs influenced global dynamics, with the West and the Soviet Bloc, along with allied countries, vying for influence over the Global South. The post-Cold War era saw the rise of the Liberal International Order, driven by neoliberal policies promoting free markets, deregulation, and privatization. Technological advancements from the Third and Fourth Industrial Revolutions have further accelerated time-space compression, integrating economies and fostering global connectivity. Despite challenges to the current global order, globalization continues to impact quality of life, economic development, and access to global markets, solidifying its role as a key aspect of contemporary society.

Suggestions for Further Study 

Websites 

• Yale Global Online
• The National Geographic Society 
• Library of Congress

Books

• Antunes, C., & Fatah-Black, K. (Eds.). (2016). Explorations in History and Globalization. Routledge.
• Osterhammel, J., & Petersson, N. P. (2005). Globalization: A Short History. Princeton University Press.
• Warf, B. (2008). Time-space Compression: Historical Geographies (Vol. 23). Routledge.

Journal Articles  

• Ferreira, P. C., Pessoa, S., & Dos Santos, M. R. (2016). Globalization and the Industrial Revolution. Macroeconomic Dynamics, 20(3), 643-666.
• Lang, M. (2006). Globalization and its history. The Journal of Modern History, 78(4), 899-931.
• Liebert, H. (2011). Alexander the Great and the History of Globalization. The Review of Politics, 73(4), 533-560.

Review Questions 

1. The Mongol Empire might be considered an important precursor to globalization because...
   1. the Mongols forced the various peoples it subsumed into their empire to become Mongol. 
   2. the Mongols were instrumental in promoting the written word and therefore mass written communication.  
   3. the Mongols were the first to practice a capitalist economy, similar to the modern economy. 
   4. the Mongols proved that a system of norms and laws could be practiced over a vast distance, which was important for expanded trade routes along the Silk Road. 
2. Which of the following was not a direct impact of European Colonialism?
   1. People in the colonies received equal rights and representation within the various empires.  
   2. European languages, such as English, were diffused at the global scale.  
   3. European law and institutions heavily influenced the governing systems in post-colonial countries. 
   4. Former colonies still trade heavily with their colonizers, and still tend to provide resources as their primary economic function within these economic relationships.  
3. Which of the following factors is necessary for maintaining cities and promoting urbanization? 
   1. An agricultural surplus. 
   2. A capitalist economy.  
   3. Membership in common defense pacts.  
   4. The ability to secure large reserves of precious metals.  
4. Which of the following was a direct result of the Industrial Revolution?
   1. Mass immigration to Britain and France from North America.  
   2. More jobs were created in the agricultural sector.  
   3. Increased levels of urbanization.
   4. The creation of an upper (ruling) class in European societies.  
5. The Bretton Woods Agreement was important because it...
   1. brokered peace, ending the Second World War.  
   2. provided a framework for international finance and promoted international financial institutions.  
   3. gave the Soviet Union and its allies the ability to form their own supra-national organizations, in opposition to Western institutions.  
   4. ensured common defense among the United States and its allies.  

Critical Thinking Questions 

1. What are some of the major supra-national organizations that exist today? How might the world function differently if these organizations did not exist?
2. How might the introduction of new technologies in computing, information technologies, and telecommunications affect time-space compression? How might their impact differ from technologies that worked to accelerate time-space compression in the past?     
3. Historically, which centripetal social forces have had the greatest impact in terms of promoting interconnectivity among people in different areas of the world?