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GLOBALISATION INTRODUCTION What is globalisation ? The use of that word didnt start before the 1960s, & has various meanings according to people :

- for some, this concept is the key idea by which we understand the transition of human society into the third millennium it is an international concept, since many languages have a word for it (mondialisation in French, globalizacion in Spanish, globalisierung in German, etc.) - Roland Robertson (a sociologist & theorist of globalisation, author of Globalization : Social Theory & Global Culture, 1992) defined it in 1992 as a concept referring both to the compression of the world & to the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole - but for the Australian sociologist Malcolm Waters, this implies that a fully global world would mean a single global society in which territoriality would disappear as an organising principle for social & cultural life, maintaining however a high degree of tolerance for diversity & individual choice (since flows of goods, people & ideas link together previously homogeneous cultural groups, forcing each to put into perspective compare, contrast & position itself to others) ; thus, it is a differentiating as well as homogenising process, pluralising the world by recognising the value of cultural niches (different national cultures or minority cultures within nations). So, for him (in Globalisation, 1995), globalisation is a social process in which the constraints of geography on economic, social & cultural arrangements recede, in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding, & in which people act accordingly - for the economist Philippe Legrain (Open World : The Truth about Globalisation, 2002), this ugly word is shorthand for how our lives are becoming increasingly intertwined with those of distant people & places around the world economically, politically & culturally ; these links are not always new, but they are more pervasive than ever before - for the former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, globalisation means world inclusivity

- for former Microsofts President Bill Gates, it means that the world is united by the Web

- etc.

At last, one can say that globalisation is the increasing interconnectedness of the world economically, culturally & politically, the current phase developing out of internationalisation (the extension of economic activities across national boundaries, leading to a more extensive geographical pattern of economic activity phase proceeding globalisation) [cf. doc.1].

But not everyone agrees on the fact that the world is today undergoing globalisation [cf. doc.2] : for some, it is merely an extension of internationalisation - for Alan Rugman, the Oxford management scholar, globalisation is an exaggeration of what has taken place in the

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international economy, with a regional nature, since there is a significant number of countries largely isolated from the so-called global economy

- over 70% of the worlds GDP (total value of goods produced & services provided within a country in a year, expressing the wealth of the country or its population) is produced domestically, within national boundaries ; much of the change that has occurred is in increased trade shares among the rich nations, but there has been very little increase in trade shares for the non-industrialised economies ; most of what we consume cannot be traded, especially services (hairdressers, shop assistants, gardeners, etc.) but such services are the fastest growing sectors of MEDCs (More Economically Developed Countries also called EMDCs, Economically More Developed Countries) - internationalisation isnt a new phenomenon, but began with the voyages of discovery of the European maritime powers in the XVth century, & was accelerated by the spread of industrialisation so it is only the nature & scale of such changes that has justified the use of this new term, globalisation. It has accelerated through time thanks to cheaper, easier & faster transportation, but it involves more than just technological change : it is also a political choice, that of consciously opening national borders to foreign influences

Globalisation, Paul Guinness, Hodder & Stoughton,

2003

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I-AN INCREASINGLY INTERDEPENDENT AND INTERCONNECTED WORLD : THE PROCESS OF GLOBALISATION 1 A new international division of labour Ever since the 1990s, a new phase of globalisation contributes to the development of a global assembly line (global production & sales systems developed by TNCs, in which goods & services produced in one country are sold in world markets). This has been made possible thanks to deep changes :

- improvements in transportation : they have reduced the costs & time involved in moving large amounts of raw materials, goods & people over long distances

* sea trade has boomed : it accounts for about 75% of world commercial flows today, thanks in particular to containerisation (transport of goods in containers, i.e. a portable compartment/box in which freight is placed for convenience of movement they have standard dimensions), but also to the development of container-ships, tankers & supertankers, etc.) [cf. doc.3]. Big ports have thus become hubs (ports or airports where all connections converge at all scale world, continental, national & local thus forming spokes) [cf. doc.4] :

Doc.4 : World port hubs

PORTS (in 2010) CONTAINER TRADE (handled in TEUs, or 20-feet equivalent unit, measure used for capacity in container transportation)

Shanghai (China) 29 069 000 Singapore (Singapore) 28 431 000 Hong Kong (China) 23 699 000 Shenzhen (China) 22 510 000 Busan (South Korea) 14 194 000

Marine Insight, 2011

* air travel : thanks to bulk/cargo planes (Boeing 747, Airbus A380) & low-cost air companies (EasyJet...)

Doc.3 : Supertankers of up to 500 000 tonnes Barry Brunt, Our Dynamic World 2, Gill & Macmillan, 2004

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- advances in telecommunications : electronic mail (e-mail), communications satellites & fax machines, mobile & smart phones, the Web, link people & places more efficiently & faster than ever previously (the global telephone network has grown over tenfold in the past fifty years : teledensity - the number of lines per 100 people - has quadrupled since 1960, even though 25% of the worlds nations still have a teledensity below one ; there are today 30.2% Internet users ; & 5.3 billion people with a mobile cellular subscription). Furthermore, the internationalisation of television, such as CNN, Sky & MTV, allows images of other places, events & cultures, to be transmitted worldwide this, added to the growth of global brands such as Nike, Coca Cola & McDonalds, has contributed to mix & globalise world cultures by providing common reference points (terms such as Americanisation & McDonaldisation are often used to describe global consumer culture) [cf. doc.5]

- the reorganisation of business : with the emergence of very large, international, companies, called TNCs (transnational corporations) or MNCs (multinational companies) such as Ford, Microsoft, Sony, Nike... They purchase inputs, produce goods & services, & sell them at a global level [cf. doc.6] Doc.6 : Purchasing & manufacturing globally, the e.g. of Toyota Toyota Boshokus development, procurement & production systems are aligned to client needs worldwide, with no time or geographical limitations. [...] We satisfy the strategic needs of automotive manufacturers, & we do it on time. Motivated partly by the need for cost effectiveness, many manufacturers have built factories overseas & are buying parts & manufacturing products locally. [...] It is very important that a global manufacturer understand the cultures of the countries it operates in. Toyota Boshoku now has a network of more than 50 overseas bases, & an overseas staff of more than 10 000. Our Japanese staff posted overseas impart their skills & knowledge of quality control & business management to local personnel, & this creates greater opportunities for success when developing new projects. [...]

www.toyota-boshoku.co.jp - global banking & integrated financial markets : using new technologies to move capital through the world, about $ 100 billion worth of currencies are traded daily. To control this trade, international banking & financial institutions have emerged, with headquarters in world cities such as London, NYC, Frankfurt & Tokyo, where Stock exchanges play a key role in shaping global development trends (e.g. the City in London, NYSE in New York)

Doc.5 : An Americanised world Barry Brunt, Our Dynamic World 2, Gill & Macmillan, 2004

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- a more liberal world trading system : it has been promoted by MEDCs, that have encouraged the movement of free trade by removing/reducing trade barriers such as tariffs & quota restrictions (e.g. with the GATT from 1947 to 1995, & now the WTO)

Lower production costs are possible thanks to the division of labour (process of labour division between countries providing a low-cost labour force & developed countries, thus making productivity rise & costs of production fall). It is closely linked to the concept of spatial division of labour, which argues that further economic benefits can be gained if specialisation of production occurs in different areas : it thus allows the workforce of such areas to concentrate on the production of certain goods & services ; furthermore, land use & infrastructures become closely linked with the specialised production (e.g. : in a city, the CBD provides specialist facilities, while manufacturing activities are often located on industrial estates, adjacent to ring roads around the edge of the city). At national level, the spatial division of labour provides many benefits : economic development & productivity increase as a country focuses on producing goods &/or services for which it has a comparative advantage over other areas. This allows that country to export these goods/services it produces, & thereby to import goods/services it does not produce from other countries that have specialised in their production. This level of specialisation of labour is called international division of labour (IDL) [cf. doc.7]. But the reality of this concept has changed over years, due to the TNCs role & the growing internationalisation of trade : since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the IDL has gone through 3 phases, & even a 4th, just beginning :

- phase 1 (1800s-1960s), the traditional IDL : based on large-scale industrial development, it began with the Industrial Revolution & continued until the 1960s. It involved the core economies of Western Europe, & later the USA, in exporting manufactured goods to the global periphery whose countries specialised in producing food & raw materials they exported to core countries (this phase was strongly influenced by colonialism). Core countries thus specialised in the secondary sector, while the primary sector dominated in peripheral countries

Doc.7 : The internatio-nal division of labour Barry Brunt, Our Dynamic World 2, Gill & Macmillan, 2004

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- phase 2 (1970s-1980s), the new IDL : based upon higher-value industries & services, it began in the 1970s with the necessity to reduce production costs while remaining competitive. It involved the TNCs relocating branch plants to countries in the global periphery, & reducing their industrial workforces in core economies so as to concentrate on higher-value goods & services, while peripheral countries specialised increasingly in branch plant production of industrial goods. This led to an increase in world trade in merchandise goods - phase 3 (since the 1990s), the newer IDL : based on high-tech industries & quaternary services, it developed in the 1990s when a growing range of (basic & low-cost) specialised services were relocated from core to peripheral countries. Development of back-office functions has thus created a new form of labour specialisation in the global periphery, while core countries labour force specialises increasingly in high-tech industries & the growing quaternary sector - phase 4 (since the 2000s), the most recent IDL : based upon high-tech industries & quaternary services, it tends to develop since the 2000s, & the importance of this new phase is expected to grow. Indeed, TNCs are outsourcing or subcontracting an increasing number of key functions from their high-cost locations in core countries to locations in the global periphery, which involves a significant number of high-value & skill-demanding jobs (research, chip design, financial analysis...). This explains by a combination of push & pull factors : costs in core countries are very high, due mainly to high wages & salaries ; employees in peripheral countries are becoming more educated thus skilled, & work for low wages (e.g. : in India, an engineer with an MSc designs chips for $ 1 000/month, vs. $ 7 000/month in the USA). So now, rather than well-educated workers in peripheral countries migrating to core countries, it is work that is coming to the workers from core countries to peripheral countries : this reverses the long-established pattern of a brain drain from LEDCs to MEDCs

The e.g. of a transnational product, Wimbledon tennis ball or the Smartphone (cf. case study p.13-14) : the Dunlop Slazenger balls used at Wimbledon (48 000), & many other major tennis instruments, are the product of materials & labour from at least 10 different countries [cf. doc.8]. Slazenger provided its 1st hand-sewn, wool-coated balls to Wimbledon in 1902 ; today, tennis balls account for around 1/5th of the 165 million annual turnover of Dunlop Slazenger, which produces about 20% of the 240 million or more tennis balls manufactured worldwide every year

- the Philippines is now the focal point of production : the Dunlop Slazenger factory is at Bataan, on the island of Basilan, in the Southern Philippines. Apart from manufacturing, there is also a laboratory dedicated to the development & testing of tennis balls, at Bataan. The engineering department at the University of Loughborough, & professional tennis managers in Cheltenham, are also involved in the development & testing process. In the 1970s, the Philippine government set up the Bataan Economic Zone, in order to attract foreign investment : however, the economic zone never attracted the amount of investment initially hoped for, & today, much of it is derelict, as companies have left for locations such as China, where labour is even cheaper

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- the main materials used at the Bataan plant are :

* the rubber, in the core of the ball : it comes from Malaysia, where it is delivered to a processing plant in Prai, near Penang, from small rubber plantations in the area

* in addition, rubber from Basilan is mixed with petroleum naphthalene, to make glue for the balls

* the greenish yellow cloth covering (wool & synthetic mix) is made in the UK, at Dursley in Gloucestershire

* the wool for the cloth is imported into the UK from New Zealand * the tins into which the balls are packed are from Indonesia * among the substances used to vulcanise the rubber & give it the right amount

of stretch & bounce, are found : clay from South Carolina, sulphur from Korea, silica from Greece, magnesium carbonate from Japan & zinc oxide from Thailand

- from the 1940s until 2002, the company produced tennis balls in Barnsley, Yorkshire ; however, all production was transferred to the Philippines in 2002, so as to reduce labour costs yet another example of deindustrialisation & the filter-down of production from an EMDC to an ELDC 2 A selective and unequal globalisation The opening of national economies has brought about a real explosion of world wide trade, but rich countries still monopolise it [cf. doc.9] :

- goods trade is made up principally of foodstuffs, energy & manufactured products, but is very unequally distributed :

* many poor nations are primary product dependent, because relying on one or a small number of primary products to obtain foreign currency through exports. The world market price of primary commodities & products (e.g. raw materials) is generally very low, & subject to very big variation from year to year, whereas the world market price for manufactured goods & services is much higher, thus profitable to countries producing such goods (essentially rich nations) it is referred to as the terms of trade.

Doc.8 : The making of a Wimbledon tennis ball, a transnational process Globalisation, Paul Guinness, Hodder & Stoughton, 2003

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Furthermore, manufacturing & service exports of the developed nations generally rise in price. Finally, some countries & world regions still attract little FDIs, such as sub-Saharan Africa, which remains the least industrialised global region

* North America, Western Europe & Japan, i.e. the Triad (the 3 main economic centres & great political centres of the world), account for about 4/5th of world manufacturing production, 70% of the world total production, 90% of the world financial transactions & operations, 80% of the world research & technological innovation activities, & 75-80% of the world trade

* but the most dynamic Newly Industrialised Countries/NICs (nations that have undergone rapid & successful industrialisation since the 1960s : South Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mexico, Malaysia, etc.) have created large companies of their own which are locating factories in developed nations

Doc.9 : A globalised world

History & Geography, Sections europennes, Hatier, 2007

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- the phenomenal growth in Foreign Direct Investments/FDIs (overseas investments in physical capital by transnational corporations) is the most obvious sign of the increasing integration of the worlds economies :

* much of it is done by multinational firms in the developed world * but NICs & emergent countries (developing countries that have a significant

economic growth thanks to economic liberalisation & foreign capitals, often resulting in increasing social disparities China, India, etc.), also called BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa), play an ever-increasing role in that domain : the share of developing countries in the global stock of inward direct investment is 32%. But this share is unevenly distributed : 19% in Asia & 2.3% in Africa. FDI have also risen in developing economies in the 1980s-1990s : the big 5, in order of importance, are China, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore & Indonesia

II-KEY ACTORS IN GLOBALISATION : TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS 1 Powerful and influential economic participants Transnational Corporations/TNCs (firms that have the power to co-ordinate & control operations in more than one country, even if they do not own them), also called MNCs (multinational companies) or MNFs (multinational firms), are the driving force behind economic globalisation : there are now few parts of the world where the direct or indirect influence of TNCs is not important

- through direct ownership of productive activities, involving TNCs in a web of collaborative relationships with other companies across the world (forming thus a sort of transnational network)

- in the world trade : a quite important proportion of world trade (about 33%) is intra-firm, taking place within & between TNCs (e.g. : car giants have engines, gearboxes & other key components produced in one country & exported for assembly elsewhere)

- there are more than 80 000, & they are present on world markets through some 850 000 affiliates ; they employ over 70 million people around the world

- the 10 largest control now 86% of the telecommunications sector, 85% of the pesticides industry, 70% of the computer industry, & 35% of the pharmaceuticals industry. Major companies control sectors such as (in order of importance) : petroleum (Exxon, BP, Shell), cars (Toyota Motors, General Motors, Ford), consumer electronics (Sony, Toshiba, Apple), pharmaceuticals (Roche, Novartis), tyres (Goodyear, Continental Corporation), tobacco (Philip Morris), soft drinks (Coca Cola Company), fast food (MacDonalds, Starbuck), agribusiness (Nestl, Unilever), financial consultancies (McKinsey & Co, Ernst & Young LLP), retailing (Wal-Mart) & luxury hotels (Accor Hotel Group, Hilton International) plus emerging

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multinational alliances in airlines (Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, British Airways), telecommunications (Nokia, AT&T, Vodafone), & banking & insurance (Lloyds, Allianz)

TNCs produce about 20% of the wealth in the world, & some are economically more powerful than some states, even developed countries [cf. doc.10]. They can also be very present & influential in international organisations, to the point of determining their policies & actions : for instance, UN agencies & bodies are very much exposed to manipulation & infiltration by TNCs, as the case of the WHO illustrates [cf. doc.11]. Doc.10 : TNCs turnover compared with countries GNP

TNCs (2010) Countries (2010) Wal-Mart Stores : $ 408 billion Denmark : $ 349 billion Royal Dutch Shell : $ 285 billion Portugal : $ 241 billion Toyota Motors : $ 204 billion New-Zealand : $ 169 billion AXA : $ 175 billion Vietnam : $ 121 billion Allianz : $ 126 billion Libya : $ 71 billion

Doc.11 : TNCs influence, WHO infiltrated by food industry A report by the WHO (World Health Organisation) stated that junk food & fizzy drinks are making children obese, & that governments should clamp down on them. The rising tide of obesity is killing & impacting severely on the quality of life of millions in the rich world, & is now edging into poor countries to co-exist with malnutrition ; but large TNCs in the food & drink industry do not accept this claim & are using all their influence to challenge conclusions of the WHO. The WHO has accused the tobacco TNCs of sabotaging efforts to control tobacco consumption through pressure tactics against the agency & other international organisations (by using numerous third-party organisations such as trade unions to try to influence the WHO ; by secretly funding independent experts to conduct research & publish papers that would challenge WHO findings ; by setting up press conferences to draw attention away from events organised by the WHO related to anti-smoking efforts).

The Guardian, January 2003 2 Spatial and economic strategies of TNCs TNCs develop global marketing strategies in order to remain as competitive as possible : becoming transnational by relocating, or outsourcing, off-shoring, filtering-down, production plants outside the home country in order to reduce costs as much as possible [cf.doc.12 & 13] is a response to the seek for greater benefits. TNCs thereby find :

- cheaper labour force, especially in LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Countries, or developing countries) : as mechanisation of production has reduced the importance of skilled labour, TNCs search for locations which offer cheaper & more flexible sources of labour, & many of the LEDCs have large numbers of people prepared to work long hours for low wages. This has thus led to a new IDL

- new resource locations to exploit, with access to raw materials : historically, it was the most important reason, when colonial powers such as GB & France invested massively in their colonies. TNCs continue to invest strongly in securing supplies of critical raw materials (oil & mineral ores) : they ship such materials to processing plants often located in MEDCs (e.g. oil & iron shipped to refineries & steelworks along the coasts of Western Europe)

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- market opportunities in other parts of the world : in todays world, 3 global markets dominate, those of the Triad. To ensure access to these prosperous markets, most TNCs have a strategy of locating major production & servicing facilities in each of these regions (e.g. the Japanese Toyota Motors implementing a production plant in Valenciennes, Northern France, in 2000). They also adapt their local production to the countrys culture & traditions (e.g. McDonalds with beefless hamburgers in India, or casher hamburgers in Israel)

- flexibility of location : by having economic activities located in a different number of countries, TNCs are able to move production between plants, which is more profitable for them (e.g. if labour costs rise too quickly in one location, the TNC might decide to remove part or all if its production from that country to another cheaper location)

- more lax domestic & environmental regulations - lower or no trade barriers - etc.

Doc.13 : The new division of labour & its impact Electrolux, the worlds leading domestic appliance maker, has put 27 plants on an "at risk" list, as it speeds up moves to switch production to low-cost countries to maintain its global competitiveness. Its factory at Spennymoor in Country Durham, which employs 600 people & makes conventional cookers, is among plants in Australia, the US & Western Europe, that will be reviewed as the group moves more of its manufacturing to Eastern Europe, Mexico & Asia. "It is the consumers who are doing this to us. They are not willing to pay extra for products produced in specific countries. We need to move production to other countries to be competitive", said a spokesman. "If you compare Sweden to Hungary, salaries are around 1/10th in Hungary. If you go to Asia, the figure is even lower." [...] Yesterday, Electrolux declined to comment on how many jobs might be lost. [...]

The Guardian, February 16, 2005 TNCs operate both at a global & at national scale :

- economic core (space concentrating cities, population, economic & financial activities, & communication & transportation networks) regions have long been vulnerable to the migration of labour-intensive manufacturing to lower-wage areas of the periphery (space in the immediate or further surroundings of the core, boosted & influenced by it, which concentrates much less cities, population, economic activities & communication networks) : for instance, in the USA, the historical drift of the textile & shoe industries from New England (Northeast), & apparel manufacture from NY, to North & South Carolina (Southeast)

Doc.12 : A world of outsourcing Barry Brunt, Our Dynamic World 2, Gill & Macmillan, 2004

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- the economic core has monopolised invention & innovation, so that large TNCs have increasingly moved routine operations (activities of production) to the developing world since the 1950s : this outsourcing has been made possible thanks to the revolution in transport & communications (containerisation & the general increase in scale of shipping have cut off costs in overseas distribution of goods, while advances in telecommunications have made global management a reality) in some cases, whole industries have virtually migrated, such as shipbuilding from Europe to Asia in the 1970s

So TNCs characterise (often) with a tripartite organisational level : headquarters, research & development (R&D), & branch plants

- headquarters are usually located in the developed world city where the company is established

- R&D is most likely located there too, or in other areas of this country - branch plants (sites of production) are the 1st to be located overseas by 2000,

some 25% of the worlds manufacturing production was located in LEDCs (vs. under 10% until the late 1960s) :

* branch plants can bring a variety of benefits to countries (provide jobs, introduce new skills & technologies to local workforce, contribute to the economic diversification & integration into the global economy...) : therefore, many governments offer significant incentives (cash grants, tax benefits...) to encourage TNCs to locate branch plants in their country

* branch plants can also bring about problems to host countries (low wage rates, few re-distribution of the profits, contribute to destabilise the national economy if relocation to more profitable locations...), particularly if dependency upon branch plants for development is too high (it is then called a branch plant economy) : but the most significant problem is linked to the loss of control over decision-making, because decisions are often made at the headquarters of a TNC, with little or no consultation with the workforce & government of the host country

But some of the largest & most successful TNCs have divided their industrial empires into world regions, each with research & development facilities & a high level of decision making (e.g. : a Japanese car-maker will produce locally in America rather than exporting there ; European firms dollar sales from their American subsidiaries are now 4 times bigger than their exports to America). CCL : Cf. the case study on the Smartphone.

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III-MIGRATIONS, FLOWS AND NETWORKS 1 Increased international migrations a-At world scale Migration is a movement which involves a permanent or relatively long-term change in residence, it is hence different from commuting & nomadic movements. Migrations can be classified by distance (whether it is international or internal), by source & destination (rural to urban, & urban to rural movements), & whether they are forced or voluntary. Migrations have increased over the past 40 years, particularly thanks to the global air travel growth. This growth of international migrations reduces perceived distance between places, increases cultural mixing, allows workers to move cheaply to areas of demand, allows TNCs to move personnel & goods between production & sales locations, etc. There are today over 200 million migrants in the world today, i.e. 3% of the worlds population : 75% come from Latin America, Africa, the Middle-East & Asia [cf. doc.14]. Even though labour markets are far behind financial markets in the process of globalisation, largely because of restrictions governments impose on immigration (which in turn contribute to develop the phenomenon of illegal immigration 25 to 40 million), labour movement across international borders is occurring at a previously unattained scale :

- international flows of workers concern about 100 million each year :

* developed countries are still poles of attraction to poor countries populations (e.g. : Africans in Europe) : between 1950 & 1990, about 50 million migrants to the USA & about 10 million to Europe

* MEDCs also attract people from other industrial countries : it is the brain drain phenomenon (emigration of highly skilled people, especially scientists & technical workers, to a country offering better opportunities) for e.g. from Europe to the USA

Doc.14 : World migration flows History & Geography, Sections europennes, Hatier, 2005

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* but the economic development of South countries also incites workers from neighbouring states to migrate (e.g. : Kuwaitis in Saudi Arabia, etc.)

- refugee movements are also gaining strength (about 20 million a year), due to many civil wars, or natural causes (disasters such as floods, earthquakes, etc.) or economic disparities

- tourist flows are also increasing [cf. doc.15] :

* from 69 million in 1960 to 176 million in 1970, from 443 million in 1990 to 697 million in 2000, 850 million in 2007 & 1 billion or more today

* travel & tourism is now the largest industry in the world : it is estimated that tourism sustains more than 1/10 jobs around the world

Doc.15 : International tourist flows between 1990 & 2005 1990 (in million) 2005 (in million) International tourist flows 441.2 808.3 Regions of destination

Europe 263.9 443.9 Asia Pacific 60.2 156.2

Americas 99.2 133.1 Africa 9.9 36.7

Middle-East 8 38.4 UN World Tourism Organisation, 2006

- above all, such migrations reflect world inequalities : in South countries, population growth, political instability & economic difficulties incite people to move, whereas population mobility in industrialised/North countries contributes to spread the Western way of life b-The case of the UK : from a net emigration country to a net immigration place Historically, the UK is a country of net emigration (difference between immigration & emigration in an area over a period of time). The UK has experienced waves of immigration, giving it a society that has always been one of mixed races & cultures [cf. doc.16 & 17]. The majority of British residents are historically descended from immigrants (Romans, Vikings, Angles, Saxons & Normans). Then waves of Irish centuries ago, & other European migrants since WWII, have further enlarged the British population ; in the 1950s & 1960s, the UK encouraged colonial immigration from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh... Usually, emigration to Australia, Canada & New Zealand exceeded the influx of new workers ; & the number of immigrants was small enough to be easily assimilated into the existing population. However, the immediate post-war years saw a much larger influx (about 3 million), many of whom had a different origin, culture... It is this biological difference, much more than social or cultural difference, that has led to racial tensions in parts of the UK (even though ethnic minorities only make up 8.8% of the UK population) : immigration has become in the 21st century a political hot potato for the government, particularly since immigration form the 8 new Eastern European EU members has resulted in the largest mass immigration in British history

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Doc.17 : Total migration to & from the UK, 1975-2008

Migration Policy Institute

- an uneven origin & concentration of ethnic groups :

* a small proportion of immigrants have come from the "old" Commonwealth (Australia, New-Zealand & Canada), but the largest proportion are "new" Commonwealth immigrants, from the Indian subcontinent (Indian, Pakistan, Bangladesh), Africa (Nigeria) & the West Indies (Jamaica) * they have migrated to the UK because Britain was looking for workforce after WWII, so the government actively encouraged people to move there, turning the country into a multicultural society ; immigrants were forced to leave their overcrowded & with unemployment rates countries ; populations were escaping religious persecutions (Hindus, Muslims & Sikhs during the partition of India in 1947-1948)... [cf. doc.18] Doc.18 : The UK, Land of Hope And where would we, in Britain, be without the commercial energy & professional skills of the Indian diaspora ? There are nearly 10,000 working in the NHS alone that most civilising of British institutions. It remains utterly dependent on overseas recruits. According to Home Office figures, over 44,000 medical workers came to the UK last year. Migrants make up about 8% of the British population, but contribute some 10% of our GDP. (...) I am where I am because Ive been able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by a Britain at its best a land of hope that is open & confident. To deny these chances to a new generation of migrants would be an injustice to the individuals concerned but, more important, it would mark a profound loss of faith in our nations place in this new century of globalisation.

BBC News Online, 2012

Doc.16 : Ethnic minorities in the UK History & Geography, Sections europennes, Hatier, 2005

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* successive British governments have tried to restrict & control the number of non-white immigrants, unless they were dependants of relatives already living in the UK, or had specific jobs (especially skilled jobs in short supply in Britain : e.g. doctors), or were British passport-holders evicted from their home country (e.g. Ugandan Asians due to a civil war), or could prove themselves to be genuine refugees (e.g. Bosnian Muslims after the civil war in former Yugoslavia) [cf. doc.19] Doc.21 : Immigration policies

Policy Advantages Drawbacks Border controls Physical borders, policing, passports &

visas allow government to count people in & out (net migration)

- Very costly system - Tight regulations may put off some migrants who are needed to fill skill gaps

Work permits Allow temporary workers to be controlled & matched to skill shortages

They can be abused; Some migrants dont leave when their time is up, & become illegal migrants

Refugees & asylum seekers

Prestige is gained by accepting vulnerable groups & respecting basic human rights

The public may perceive them as a cost with few benefits attached

David Waugh, The New Wider World, Nelson, 1998 * immigrants mostly go to large cities & conurbations where there are better job opportunities : the greatest concentration of ethnic groups are in London, the West & East Midlands, & West Yorkshire there is sometimes also the tendency for one ethnic group to concentrate in a particular area (e.g. West Indians in Birmingham) [cf. doc.20 & 21]

Doc.21 : Britains growing ethnic diversity, various years

1991 & 2001 are decennial census data for England & Wales ; 2008 data are for England, Wales & Scotland

Doc.20 : Ethnic groups in the London boroughs, 1996 David Waugh, The New Wider World, Nelson, 1998

Platt, 2009

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Problems facing immigrants to GB are numerous :

- the majority of residents in Britain who have come directly from the "new" Commonwealth, or who are descended from them, live in conurbations & tend to group together (ethnic groups that have a similar religion, language, diet, social organisation & culture) in inner city areas, although ghettos like those in New York have not developed in Britain (e.g. Jamaicans in Brixton, Sikhs in Southall, Bengalis in East London) : the segregation of various ethnic groups in British cities results from differences in wealth, colour of skin, religion, education & the quality of the environment

E.g. : in London, there are more than 50 ethnic groups, representing 5 million people or more (about 40% of the citys population is from an ethnic minority) out of Britains total of 7 million or so foreign-born -, where they tend to live in clusters & form ethnic "villages" (for instance, Brixton is Londons borough that has the highest concentration of West Indians-black Caribbean community)

- the major problems confronting immigrants generally result from difficulties with the English language, cultural differences & racial prejudices : many members of ethnic minorities have to live in overcrowded, poor-quality housing, areas where unemployment often exceeds 70%, provide with lower education & services due to a lack of money & investment. While the authorities speak of high rates of crime in such areas (violence, drug & muggings), residents complain of police harassment : the resultant mistrust leads to further tension, as inner city riots illustrate - e.g.

* the Brixton riot in 1981, in South London (local African-Caribbean community was suffering particularly high unemployment, poor housing & a high crime rate, & there had been growing unease between the police & the inhabitants in the preceding months. The riots resulted in over 300 injuries, over 100 cars burned, almost 150 buildings damaged, & 82 arrests reports suggested that up to 5 000 people were involved), but also in Liverpool & Leeds that same year

* the Brixton riot in 1985 (it started after the shooting of a Jamaican resident by police, looking for her son suspected of criminal activities she ended up paralysed : the riot resulted in dozens of cars destroyed, several shops looted & a couple of buildings destroyed, one death, & dozens of arrests)

* the 2011 summer riots in several London boroughs & districts of other British cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool & Manchester (after a protester was shot to death by police in London : it resulted in violent clashes with police, destruction of cars & buildings, looting & arson attacks about 3 100 arrests, 5 deaths, 16 or more injuries, an estimated 200 million worth of property damaged & local economic activity significantly compromised)

2 Globalised exchanges Since 1950, the volume of world trade has gone up 20-fold &, from 1997 to 1999, FDIs nearly doubled (from $ 468 billion to $ 827 billion, & have exceeded in 2010 $ 1 000 billion).

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Merchandise trade has grown rapidly (from $ 2 000 billion in 1980 to $ 7 000 billion in 2000 & about $ 13 000 billion in 2010 in value), as different countries specialise in producing goods for which they have a comparative advantage. Today, manufactured represent about 60% of world exchanges, whereas commodities flows have slowed down. Trade in services is also very important, & has considerably increased in recent decades, but represents only 1/4th of the value of merchandise trade.

The globalisation of industrial production & the growing importance of TNCs have increased the demand for a wide range of services, particularly for quaternary services : these are recognised as the global growth sector, & are responsible for a rising amount of employment & wealth creation. As a result, the tertiary sector & trade in services has become an increasingly important element in world development & trade :

- innovations in communication systems have been vital for the large-scale & rapid developments in global services : the telephone, fax, satellite communication links, & the Internet, allow large volumes of information to be transmitted around the world, while efficient computer systems can store & process such data. This has allowed core world regions to further extend their control over the world peripheral regions [cf. doc.22] - service industries have internationalised their activities : just as for branch plants, a growing number of service companies are relocating some of their back-office functions to peripheral regions, taking advantage of lower labour costs (e.g. call centres in India for American & British companies). Such advantaged countries are those that have invested in upgrading their telecommunications & education systems (e.g. India, Ireland...)

Total annual traffic from one region to another in billions of minutes (arrows indicate direction of traffic between regions, numbers in brackets indicate the total amount of international traffic for countries within that global region) - as part of globalisation, vast amounts of money circulate through the world economy : the result has been the growth of offshore financial centres, so as to meet the growing demand for secrecy &/or shelter from taxation & other forms of regulation they are usually islands or microstates (e.g. the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, the 5th largest banking centre in the world with some 600 banks & deposits estimated at approximately $ 1 500 billion, for a population of about 55 000) which have become specialised centres for trade in international finance [cf. doc.23]

Doc.22 : Communication flows between major world regions Barry Brunt, Our Dynamic World 2, Gill & Macmillan, 2004

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3 A world organised in networks The globalised world can be described as an archipelago, composed of hubs & metropolises connected by networks : this implies an increasingly borderless world. The largest international cities have attracted a growing share of the services sector in particular, especially higher-value services : they are geographical centres of control, & include the main world cities, also called global cities.

A world city is a concept that postulates that global processes can be created, facilitated & enacted & tangible effect on global affairs through more than just socio-economic means, with influence in terms of culture, or politics. A global city is a concept elaborated by the sociologist & economist Saskia Sassen (The Global City : New York, London, Tokyo, Princeton University Press, 1991), referring to an urban centre that is integrated in the global economy thanks to its technology, communication means with the rest of the world, highly specialised & rare services (experts, international lawyers, etc.). To some, London, NYC, Tokyo & Paris (which has been added to the top global cities) have been traditionally considered the "big 4" world cities & also serve as symbols of global capitalism. But many lists differ, based on cultural background, values & experience : indeed, the phenomenon of world-city building has also been observed in Buenos Aires, Frankfurt, Mexico City, Montreal, Santiago, Sydney & Toronto, each of these cities having emerged as large & influential.

General characteristics of a global city are [cf. doc.24] :

- a city's international recognition without the need for a political subdivision (for e.g., despite many entities with the name Paris, one would say "Paris", & not "Paris, France") - active influence & participation in international events & world affairs (for e.g., the UN headquarters is in NYC, which consequently contains a great number of permanent missions to the UN) - a fairly large population : the centre of a metropolitan area with a population of at least 1 million, typically several million - a major international airport, which is a hub for several international airlines

Doc.23 : Major centres of international finance Barry Brunt, Our Dynamic World 2, Gill & Macmillan, 2004

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- an advanced transportation system, with several freeways &/or a large mass transit network offering multiple modes of transportation (rapid transit, light rail, regional rail, ferry or bus) - a cosmopolitan area : in the West, several international cultures & communities (a Chinatown, a Little Italy, etc.) ; in other parts of the world, cities which attract large foreign businesses & related expatriate communities (for e.g., Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo & Moscow)

- international financial institutions, law firms, corporate headquarters, international conglomerates, & Stock exchanges (for e.g., the World Bank, the Tokyo Stock Exchange), that have influence over the world economy - an advanced communications infrastructure, on which modern trans-national corporations rely (e.g. Wi-Fi networks, cellular phone services, fibre-optics, etc.) - world-renowned cultural institutions, such as museums & universities (for e.g., the Louvre Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC ; etc.) - a lively cultural scene, including film festivals, premieres ; a thriving music or theatre scene (for e.g. : West End Theatre, Broadway), an orchestra, an opera company, art galleries... - several powerful & influential media outlets with an international reach (for e.g., the BBC, Reuters, The New York Times, Agence France-Presse, etc.)

- a strong sporting community, including major sports facilities, home teams in major league sports, & the ability & historical experience to host international sporting events such as the Olympic Games, Football World Cup, etc. Doc.24 : Megacities, world cities & global cities [...] Global cities are centres for financial services (banking, insurance) & headquarters of major production companies. [...] There is intense competition between global cities. [...] Both London & New York now had more foreign than domestic banks. [...] We can summarise the economic structure of these cities in the following way. These cities are divesting (depriving) themselves of very large areas of economic activity [...] to relocate them to other cities, regions & countries. They are showing rapid growth in a relatively few related sectors : financial & business services [...] ; command & control functions such as company headquarters, national & international government agencies, & the whole web of activities that grows around them ; cultural & creative industries including the live arts & the electronic & print media ; & tourism, both leisure & business. [...] They cater simultaneously for local, national & international markets. [...] They offer a wide range of job opportunities, but there is some tendency to polarisation.

Peter Hall (professor in Planning in London, specialised in metropolitan planning, he can be considered the founder of the concept "Global Cities"),

February 2007, adapted from a lecture (www.megacities.nl/lectures.htm.) A classification of world cities has been drawn out in 1999, & identifies 3 levels of world cities & several sub-ranks :

- existing world cities :

* with alpha world cities : they are the global cities of London, New York, Paris & Tokyo [cf. doc.25]. They are the major nuclei of global industrial & financial command functions, more & more detached from the local economies in which they are located & embedded in a truly global set of economic relations - some of the world richest cities (Berlin, Osaka, Philadelphia, etc.) are therefore not considered as global cities, since

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not enough integrated into the global economic system. There are also 2nd-rank alpha world cities : Chicago, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Milan, Singapore

* with beta world cities/major world cities : San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, Zrich, Brussels, Madrid, Mexico City, So Paulo, Moscow, Seoul

* with gamma world cities/minor world cities : Amsterdam, Boston, Caracas, Dallas, Dsseldorf, Geneva, Houston, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Melbourne, Osaka, Prague, Santiago, Taipei, Washington DC, Bangkok, Beijing, Montreal, Rome, Stockholm, Warsaw, Atlanta, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Hamburg, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Manchester, Manila, Miami, Minneapolis, Munich, Shanghai

- world cities in formation :

* with strong evidence : Athens, Auckland, Dublin, Helsinki, Luxembourg, Lyon, Mumbai, New Delhi, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, Vienna

* with some evidence : Abu Dhabi, Birmingham, Bogota, Bratislava, Brisbane, Bucharest, Cairo, Cleveland, Cologne, Detroit, Dubai, Ho Chi Minh City, Kiev, Lima, Lisbon, Montevideo, Oslo, Riyadh, Rotterdam, Seattle, Strasbourg, Stuttgart, The Hague, Vancouver

* with minimal evidence : Adelaide, Antwerp, Aarhus, Baltimore, Bangalore, Bologna, Brasilia, Calgary, Cape Town, Colombo, Columbus, Dresden, Edinburgh, Genoa, Gothenburg, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Kansas City, Leeds, Lille, Marseille, Richmond, Saint-Petersburg, Tashkent, Tehran, Tijuana, Turin, Utrecht, Wellington

CONCLUSION A major issue about globalisation is whether it will or not continue developing :

- most people feel it will, but it cannot be taken for granted. As The Economist pointed out in a special report (February 2, 2002), the lesson of the early XXth century, easily forgotten during the boom years of the 1990s, is that globalisation is reversible it was

Doc.25 : New York City skyline, 2008 www.aerialphotosonj.com

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derailed by war (WWI) & by economic policy during recession (in the early 1930s) ; this time, globalisation might stall if the risk & cost of doing business abroad rises (perhaps as a consequence of heightened fears about security), or if governments once more turn their backs on open trade & capital flows (the question is : will they ?) - evidence of at least a temporary alteration in the globalisation process is :

* world trade fell by 4% in 2001 after growing at an annual rate of 5% for a decade

* businesses have consequently reduced investments into new firms abroad investors have been fleeing LEDCs stocks since the financial crises in Asia & Russia in the late 1990s

* the growing concern that the international authorities (World Bank, IMF, US Federal Reserve), which seemed so omnipotent in the boom years, are unable to prevent an emerging crisis (cf. the 2008 crisis of the subprimes, & its present-day form in the Euro zone)

So what will the global economy of the future be like ? There is little doubt that the process of globalisation has some way to go but when it will be complete (if ever) is a source of much debate. Pros & cons agree at least on the following consequences of advanced globalisation :

- the elimination of geography as a controlling variable in the global economy - the disappearance of the nation-state - economic synchronisation across the globe - companies with no specific territorial location or national identity - the disappearance of the distinction between MEDCs & LEDCs, as structures of wealth & poverty become detached from territory - English as the common public language of the globalised system (globish)

But, even though there has been a strong movement towards a single system in recent decades, the degree of disputes around the world emphasises that there is a lack of agreement on what shape the global single system should take in the future since the Seattle demonstrations in 1999, the level of concerned debate about the best way forward has increased :

- fewer people are now prepared to leave it just to governments & international economic organisations to decide

- many see the growing influence of global civil society as a major factor in countering the negative aspects of globalisation so the fundamental point is to deeply change the way in which global economy is organised : significant changes include

* the establishment of a global central bank ; a revamping of the IMF to make it more democratic ; a Tobin Tax on international financial transactions to reduce speculation ; the establishment of a Global Environmental Organisation to monitor & reduce the impact of economic activity ; the control of capital for the public welfare

* the major overall objective is that the 2 prime movers of the global economy, the economically powerful nation-states, & TNCs, become more accountable to people

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of the planet, & that the benefits of globalisation are spread more widely, so that all peoples feel included in the global improvement in the quality of life

* present levels of consumption create an unsustainable demand for many resources &, as the world globalises, it affects societies economically, socially & environmentally so developing policies of sustainability is the key issue for the future, but it requires action across many sectors (water, energy, health, agriculture, bio-diversity, etc.)

So globalisation brings about both positive & negative effects. Amongst the latter, it is certainly the environmental issues that are the most worrying : between 1950 & 2000, mankind has consumed more of the worlds natural capital than during the entire previous history of man. According to the ecologist Robert Ayres, We may well be on the way to our own extinction & cuts enforced by the IMF have reduced the spending on the environment in a number of countries. The G8 summit of June 2007 has finally agreed on reducing the release of greenhouse effect gases by half by 2050 - but such commitments in previous times were not respected (cf. the Kyoto Protocol), & the recent world summits of Copenhagen (2009) & Rio (2012) have demonstrated the illusion of worldwide compromise. However, growing economic & social inequalities is another worry :

- a decade ago, the globalisation of commerce promised to be a boom to low-wage workers in developing nations : economists predicted that low-skilled workers in Latin America & Asia would benefit because there would be greater demand for their labour & better wages ; but incomes of skilled workers rose a lot faster - globalisation did help lift many millions out of poverty, & improved standards of living of low-wage families ; in many developing countries around the world, life expectancies & health care have improved, as have educational opportunities

- but many developing nations seem to be following in the footsteps of the USA, where the income gap has grown sharply since the early 1970s. Consequences of widening income inequalities are profound :

* low-skilled workers cannot afford health-care or pension benefits, which boosts immigration to better-off domestic or international regions where anti-immigrant feelings surge

* it feeds the populist argument that globalisation is a sucker's game that benefits only the elites : this has led to electoral victories of populist candidates (e.g. Chavez in Venezuela)