The 20th century brought with it a rapid expansion of the global interrelatedness of the world. In the beginning of the 20th century the world was dominated by a European world system of colonial empires that was created through expansion by sea (Findley, 2011). The competition between Britain and the other colonial powers led to an insatiable appetite to expand their empires across the globe (Findley, 2011). As the 20th century progressed this European world system collapsed and a new three world system of the United States, Soviet Union, and the rest of the world emerged (Findley, 2011). The end of the century coincided with a new era of globalization that was made possible by the introduction of global communication via the internet (Findley, 2011). This new technology brought the entire world closer together than it had ever been before. The four events that best illustrate the progression of global interrelatedness throughout the 20th century are the Great Depression, World War II, Cold War, and the introduction of instant global communications via the internet.
The Great Depression
The Great Depression perfectly illustrates how the world had shifted to a truly global economy because it affected nearly every manufacturing, food producing, and raw material producing country (Crafts, 2010). An example of this is half of the Indian laborers working on Ceylonese rubber plantations having to return to their homeland jobless because natural rubber prices plummeted 75 percent
globalized the Great Depression. Countries or colonies tied to exporting one or two products were especially hard-hit. Depending on a single crop or product rendered these societies vulnerable.
Following an era of economical prosperity, the Great Depression, otherwise known as the ugliest sister of the 1900’s family, which lasted an entire decade from 1929 to 1939, began on a fateful day with the New York Stock Exchange abruptly crashed and was unable to recover quickly. This occurrence, of course, had an unforgivable effect on the economy, leading to one of the most memorable and significant eras in American history. Not only affecting the economy domestically, internationally trading was burdened by the limp leg that was the United States. Socially, people were struggling to regain their balance after a main income source –agriculture- was swept away by the Dust Bowl, only worsening the drawn out effects of the initial Wall Street crash. Politically, the US faced severe turmoil with presidency of Herbert Hoover due to a lack of action to prevent economic decay and promote domestic and foreign recovery. Needless to say, after one presidential term, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected into office and soon passed the New Deal, a highlight in his presidential career. However, due to the previous president, there were several critics about the nature and efficacy of such a policy. The Great Depression was a time of discussion and criticism of political policy and the nature and efficacy of said policy in dominating the backfire of grand economical proportions within the United States alone.
The world today is continually becoming more and more advanced through the development of new technology and scientific data. This incremental process has sped up dramatically in the last two decades as technological advances make it easier for people to travel, communicate, and do business internationally. Thus, Europe has been a leader in this advancement and has contributed greatly to the process the world calls globalization. “Globalization is an objective, empirical process of increasing economic and political connectivity, a subjective process unfolding in consciousness as the collective awareness of growing global interconnectedness, and a shot of specific globalizing project that seek to shape global conditions.” Europe has
The Great Depression was a worldwide phenomenon it was a time of poverty, despair, and grief caused by many different catastrophic events. This heart breaking event had the majority of Americans stuck on edge with twelve million unemployed with large families to feed but less food and resources. However, with the help of one things take a drastic turn and the worse becomes better.
The effects of the great depression caused a countrywide hunger, poverty and vast amounts of unemployment. There
Friedman explains that globalization is characterized by how the world is intertwined and connected whereas the Cold War was marked by how the world was divided between two super powers, Russia and the United States. He uses the symbol of the wall to describe the Cold War era and the web to portray the globalization era. The system shifted from one were states were in charge, to one where nobody was in charge. States now compete for power not only with other states, but also with “super markets”—the 25 largest global stocks in the world—and with “super-empowered people.” Our interconnectedness and ability to communicate so rapidly has given individuals influence and control that is unprecedented. Where nation states never would have been compelled to answer to an ordinary person, the internet and email have given people the ability to mobilize large groups of people toward their cause, whether they are good or evil.
“Today, most of the world is integrated into a single global economy, unlike during the cold war era” (Karon, and Hayoun 1). In today’s economy, neither the United States nor Russia is the largest player in the global economy, that position is leaning towards going to China in the near future. The end of the world-wide political rivalry between Russia and the United States has affected all other parts of the world as well.” Latin America today is largely independent of the once jealously enforced primacy of the United States; European influence over African politics has waned” (Karon and Hayoun 1). Global communication has greatly increased as well, since the end fall of the
The world has gone through a great deal of changes throughout the centuries such as the mass influence of the British Empire and the ideology of imperialism to a potentially divided and fragmented world developing from the 1900s in aspects of global economic, political and social dimensions. These aspects have all been influenced by a variety of events throughout the 20th century including the era of total war with the First and Second World War, the establishment of the United Nations and the human rights it entailed, decolonisation of India and Africa, the Cold War and the environmental
The trajectory of global politics has dramatically changed after the end the World War II and after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. In fact, many countries around the globe became economically competitive, politically stable, and culturally optimistic. As the result, many nations started affirming themselves on the global arena while others continued to struggle internally and beyond the borders. The combinations of these factors have perhaps led to interdependency.
“Globalization has produced a new of level of interdependence among us. The economy and multinational supply chains do not abide by political boundaries. A computer ordered in Brazil is designed in California and assembled in several other countries. Economic integration was the first strong evidence of a new era” – Eduardo Paes. It can be seen now that globalization is something that cannot be stopped. This process of international integration has come as a result of an interchange of world views, ideas, product, and other aspects of different cultures. The rapid development of transportation and telecommunication and furthermore the internet, has boosted globalization greatly and as a result a greater interdependence of economic and cultural activities. Interdependence is one the main factors of the economic welfare of the countries. Both regional and international organizations preach this idea among their member states and this is one of their main objectives. Nevertheless regional and international organizations have different geographical areas of operations and different laws which at some cases might result into conflict with each other. Both the European Union and NATO, in which I’ll focus my essay on, show proof that there might be cases where the UN’s and international law’s influence is nullified. I believe that regional organizations should be in a continuous cooperation with the international organizations, but it should be regional organizations as the
As technology of the past gives way to the technology of the future, the world is becoming a smaller and smaller place. In economic terms, Global Interdependence is increasing as time goes on. In other words, we as the United States, as well as other countries, rely on each other for the three factors of production, Land, Labor and Capital. As noted in Thomas L. Freidman’s book, The World is Flat, there are several instances in which the Global Interdependence started. For example, the introduction of the Internet created a common forum in which people could connect to each other instantly was revolutionary in the interdependence process. In addition, the Global Interdependence Center, located in Philadelphia, PA is a non-profit
Global Integration “Global integration is shrinking time, shrinking space and eroding national boundaries.” (IMF & World Bank) Globalisation possibly the most important force at work at this time in history describes the process of increase integration and interdependence between national economies. It depicts the breaking down of national boundaries leading to the establishment of a single world market. This inevitable process of globalisation has and will continue to be accelerated by the electronic revolution. Advancement in telecommunications and information technology has lead to growth in cross border relationships initiated by the drivers of globalisation.
Global interdependence never really crossed my mind when thinking about company’s and what they must go through. As I acquired knowledge about globalized companies in other classes, I never dove this deep into it like this class. Overall, this class has taught me a great deal about all aspects of a company from the management standpoint to the logistics that go into getting products to where they need to go. Global interdependence is a huge topic in every company and is a topic that must be perfectly in sync with the company’s beliefs to be successful overseas. Global interdependence includes changes, interconnectedness, and diversity.
The Wall Street Market Crash of 1929 led to one of the most devastating and unanticipated economic crisis in history worldwide known as the Great Depression. The effects of the Great Depression were not limited to the United States, instead they expanded worldwide to different continents ranging from South America to Europe. The Great Depression as it pertains to Europe had a peculiar twist. Prior to the crisis, Europe faced challenges such as mass unemployment, despair in poverty, and ignorant politicians who then saw it as a poor man's problem before realizing the severity of the economy when the more fortunate who invested in stocks, lost entire earnings. Similarly, South America relied heavily on their export led development model while being blindsided by the crash because they had the goods to sell, but the recipients were not in the position to purchase the goods causing them to greatly lose profit. There is no single definitive cause that one can attribute to the market crash, but rather summarize it as a lethal concoction of economic, political, and social turmoil.
By analyzing the battle over global communication networks and historical trends throughout the years, and Mattelart goes on to claim that, over time, globalization will cause the world to become progressively economically and culturally aligned. Mass consumption, large economic blocs, real time networks, and free trade will result in a