MKT3000: Globalisation: Patterns, Processes & Challenges

Conclusions & a Possible Reconciliation?

Consider, first, what we might have known when we should have known better
(as a prelude to considering what we should now know so that we can do better): 
Are there lessons from History?

100 years ago (see, also)- 1912 -
The White Star liner Titanic, on her maiden voyage and hailed as ‘the unsinkable ship,’ collides with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sinks; (Moral?  Attempts to defeat nature had better be very careful?  Nature always bits back? Don't take silly short-cuts?  Competition is necessarily destructive? Serves the rich, and those fleeing Europe for the New World, right? Isn't life a bitch or bastard, and can we tell the difference?
Amundsen beats Scott to the South Pole; Moral: - the last of the world's great continents 'discovered' and 'conquered'.
China became a Republic after the last of the Qing emporers abdicated; Moral?  Great emporers (and empires) are not permanent - a message for Europe?
French aviator, Heri Seimet flew non-stop from London to Paris in three hours; Standard Oil established America’s first gas (petrol) station in Cincinnati;   Moral?  - transport is about to be revolutionised
British National Health Insurance Act becmae law; The US Public Health Service was established; Moral?  Governments can take care of health and welfare?
Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda begins publishing; Moral? Publish and be damned?  The pen is mightier than the sword? Communism is serious and for real?
2,500 US marines invade Nicaragua; US remains until 1925;  Moral?  America will protect what it sees as its own, and is big and ugly enough to do so?
World's first cannery opens in England to supply food to the navy; Moral?  Food preservation and distribution revolution?
Did/ could we see WW1 coming? Clark (Cambridge) argues that we need to read 25,000 articles, papers and books to really understand how WW1 happened.  Italy bombed Beirut in the first act of war against the Ottoman Empire; Albanians rose against the Ottoman authorities and seized Shkup (Skopje, Macedonia); The First Balkan War broke out between the members of the Balkan League-- Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro--and the Ottoman Empire. A small Balkan War broke out and was quelled by the major powers. Albanian nationalism spurred repeated revolts against Turkish dominion and resulted in the First Balkan War in which the Turks were driven out of much of the Balkan Peninsula. Austria-Hungary’s 1908 annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina spurred Serbian efforts to form the Balkan alliance with its neighbors.  As a result of the war on Turkey, Serbia doubled its territory with the award of Northern Macedonia. Albanian leaders affirmed Albania as an independent state - Austria denounced Serbian gains in the Balkans; Russia and France backed Serbia while Italy and Germany backed Austria; German Imperial War Council meets, Dec., and concludes that if war is necessary, the sooner the better (in the face of Russian military modernisation and exapansion), though the German navy complained it was not ready to fight the British) - the council decided nothing.  Was WW1 'inevitable and predictable' or an 'arbitrary and unfortunate mistake' (Wikipedia) or the consequence of unrealistic and unsustainable (unreconilable) expectations and aspirations?  Do we really think we are more intelligent and sensible now than then?

50 years ago - 1962 -
"Big Freeze" in Britain: There are no frost-free nights until March 5, 1963  Moral?  The beginning of the next ice age?
The first Walmart  store, then known as Wal-Mart (which is still the corporate name), opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas; The first 'major multiple'?
Telstar  relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal; The term "personal computer" is first mentioned by the media; An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop the Concorde supersonic airliner; U.S. spacecraft Mariner 2 flies by Venus, becoming the first probe to successfully transmit data from another planet; Transport and communications are about to reach new levels
Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring is released, giving rise to the modern environmentalist movement;  The environment matters, and cannot compete with human abuse
The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies, and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation; The UN can have teeth if its members want it to.
The Commonwealth Immigration Bill in the United Kingdom removes free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations; The mother of parliaments has decided that the 'home' country is not 'home' to all its 'children' or 'dependents'
The Cuban missile crisis - US embargoes and blockades Cuba to prevent the USSR installing missile sites in Cuba - the world holds its breath and waits for WW3 and nuclear annihilation - October 28: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he has ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba. In a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, Kennedy agrees to the withdrawal of U.S. missiles from Turkey. The fact that this deal is not made public makes it look like the Soviets have backed down.  Is this how it will end for the human race?  

30 years ago - 1982
Royal Assent given to the Canada Act 1982, setting the stage for the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution  on April 17. Constitutions change
The Falklands War begins: Argentina  invades and occupies the Falkland Islands. The nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, killing 323 sailors (May 2nd). HMS Sheffield is hit by an Exocet missile, and burns out of control; 20 sailors are killed. The ship sinks on May 10. May 21: British landings sparked the Battle of San Carlos; May 22/23 HMS Ardent is sunk by Argentine aircraft, killing 22 sailors; HMS Antelope is lost, May 25 HMS Coventry and Atlantic Conveyor are sunk, June 8: British RFA Sir Galahad is destroyed during the Bluff Cove Air Attacks; June 14 - Formal surrender of Argentine forces, and liberation of the Falkland Islanders, Argentine military dictator Leopoldo Galtieri resigns, in the wake of his country's defeat in the Falklands War. "Little local difficulties" can have far-reaching effects
Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in accordance with the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty. Peace is relative and possibly temporary - see Lebanon war below
Kielder Water, an artificial lake in Northumberland, is opened. Built to supply water-scarce Teeside industry, but never used to deliver water to the Tees - now an environmental and recreational facility (but would never have been built for these purposes
Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the 1st nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955. Nato expanding
The 1982 Lebanon War begins: Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut. see above - how can a lasting peace be brokered?
Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis that quickly spread throughout Latin America.  sounds familiar?
Sony launches the first consumer compact disc (CD) player; The Commodore 64 PC is released (over 20 million will be sold by 1994). is there no end to technological advance - where will it all lead?
November: The Dow Jones Industrial Average surges 43.41 points, or 4.25%, to close at 1,065.49, its first all-time high in more than 9 years. It last hit a record on January 11, 1973 when the average closed at 1,051.70. The points gain is the biggest ever up to this point. Good to see that the finance markets think the future is rosey?
The Thames Barrier is first publicly demonstrated. starting to get serious about climate change?  I don't think so, it cannot cope with sea level rise, only historic storm surges.
The leader of Poland's outlawed Solidarity movement, Lech Wałęsa, is released from 11 months of internment near the Soviet border. - the beginning of the breakdown of the USSR?

25 years ago - 1987
During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
Iraqi warplanes dropped mustard gas bombs on the Iranian town of Sardasht in two separate bombing rounds, on four residential areas. This was the first time a civilian town was targeted by chemical weapons; U.S. warships destroy 2 Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.
The Single European Act is passed by the European Community.
World population reaches five billion, according to the United Nations.
July 17th: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 2,500 mark for the first time (all time high), at 2,510.04.  October 19th: Black Monday: Stock market levels fall sharply on Wall Street ( to below 1800) and around the world. Read the small print - what goes up can (even must?) come down
The World Commission on Environment and Development, also known as the Brundtland Commission, publishes its report, Our Common Future. Sustainablity becomes the watchword and benchmark. Rio +20 (2012) - UN Conference on Sustainable Development following the previous conference of the same name, 20 years ago.
The world's first conference on artificial life is held at Los Alamos National Laboratory - as if what we already have is not causing us enough problems?
The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement is reached but still requires ratification. This agreement would be a precursor to NAFTA.  Free(r) trade now (one year after opening of the GATT Uruguay Round) a goal for regional groupings rather than a world ambition?
Construction of the Channel Tunnel is initiated. Continent will no longer be cut off?

NOW: 2012/3.  The Euro Crisis:  (link is to a recent analysis by Notre Europe)  signs of things to come, or just a 'temporary' and 'local' difficulty? and Martin Wolf (FT) on the same subject, though perhaps growth is now showing some signs of recovery? - which will lead to more pressure on a future which encompasses climate change and associated issues, including food, energy and mineral 'scarcities', and environmental damage, and dangers of terrorism, 'rogue' or failed states, etc.  After 2 decades of strong 'advances' in globalisation (KOF Index), are we now witnessing some retreat?  On the other hand, we can now communicate, and interrogate our collective knowledge bases (e.g. World Bank's IFC - Business Reform Simulators), far more rapidly and widely than even in our history - consider the effort needed to put the previous list of historic events together, just 25 years ago it would have taken a week's expert effort in a well-resourced library, whereas now it can be done by anyone with an internet connection in little more than 1 hour.  And, if the notes and links for this course have confused you more than enlightened, then try Dasgupta's Very Short Introduction to Economics (which is a good deal broader than its title suggests, and certaily addresses many of the issues raised here). Meanwhile, our technological progress is hardly standing still, nor is our population, or our governance capacities (worldwide governance indicators) - so what futures for human development and does globalisation help? e.g. did it help China in its recent development - the largest migration in history?

Future Challenges?

What are the critical challenges?  Your choice.  Mine are: 
Comments or questions?

Back to MKT3000 Index.