Global systems and governance

• Globalisation is the process of becoming more globally connected on a variety of scales, leading to a 'borderless world'.
• Globalisation involves the movement of people, knowledge, ideas, goods and money across national borders, influencing all countries economically, politically, socially and culturally.
• Globalisation has led to our environments being globalised as pollutants from other countries can affect our climate.
• Laws and regulations are put in place by intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) that affect what we can do to our environment, such as the Montreal Protocol (1987) which called for drastic reductions in the production of CFCs internationally.
• It is impossible to monitor the entirety of the commons, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.
• Protection efforts for the commons are difficult to police and regulate due to their size and isolated, hard to reach nature.
• In oceans, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing still takes place frequently.
• Monitoring boats cannot patrol the whole of international waters or protected areas constantly, allowing many illegal practices to take place.
• There are numerous reports of ships displaying false flags to pose as another country to avoid laws and commit crimes.
• In the 21st Century, our societies are globalised societies, with almost everyone in the world influenced by other countries and people.
• Globalisation allows societies to thrive as it allows for interaction and influences from other countries, enabling societies to develop.
• Flows in globalisation are the movement of money for the purpose of investment, trade or business production (capital), the movement of people who move to work in another country (labour), the movement of physical goods from one country to another (products), services that can be produced in a different country to where they are received (services), and any type of information that can flow from one place to another via the internet, SMS, phone calls etc (information).
• Trading and Marketing Patterns: The majority of TNCs trade with HICs, as the market for consumer goods is concentrated within richer countries.
• Global governance: Global governance is the process of multiple nations acting together in matters that affect the entire world.
• Linkages: TNCs create links between countries and with other companies.
• Global governance has worked to develop global norms, mainly concerning the unfair treatment of people.
• Global governance works on a variety of scales, from local to global.
• Offshoring: Companies that make manufactured products will often have their factories in LICs due to lower labour costs, better taxes, weaker regulations for workers and weaker environmental regulations.
• Global governance maintains global systems (e.g. the environment, politics, economics etc.) through global societal norms, global laws and global institutions.
• Capital flows are the movement of money for the purpose of investment, trade or business production, and occur between core regions, the Periphery regions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and within core regions.
• Links through FDI: TNCs create links with other countries by investing in them, which benefits the country as this creates jobs and contributes to the economy.
• An example of a global norm is gender equality, which is generally a norm for women to be equal to men, however in other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, equality is not a social norm.
• A norm generally refers to a social norm, which is normal and therefore accepted behaviour.
• Links through integration: TNCs often expand their company by creating linkages between other companies.
• Labour flows are essentially migration, with different types of migration including economic migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.
• Trade agreements work to benefit all parties that are involved by removing or lessening certain restrictions in return for another country doing the same.
• Interdependence is the theory that nations depend on each other economically, politically, socially and environmentally.
• Companies can save money by upscaling their production by buying raw products in bulk, making large amounts of products quickly on production lines, and shipping large amounts of products.
• Global supply chains minimise costs because each stage of production is specialised rather than having one factory that has to control every aspect of production.
• Interdependence can cause issues for dependent countries due to unequal flows.
• Outsourcing is the hiring of other companies to complete company tasks that are essential, but are not necessary to complete by the company itself, such as call centres, final manufactures, and advertising.
• A supply chain is the organised management of product flows, from when they are manufactured to when they are delivered to consumers.
• Economies of scale require management by companies to ensure profits are heightened.
• Globalisation has accelerated due to trade agreements across the world.
• In general, migration occurs from low income countries to high income countries due to there being more opportunity in high income countries, such as better employment and more freedom.
• Offshoring is relocating a company process abroad.
• HICs with developed markets have a technological advantage over lower income countries because they can afford to buy the technology.
• Low income countries that lack money and technology have less influence over geopolitical events, which is problematic as they rely on the decisions made by richer countries, and only have the power to respond to the events rather than directly intervene.
• Companies investing technology into lower income countries means that HIC manufacturing jobs are often lost, which can leave many out of work due to job losses, and those with relevant training in manufacturing technology often have nowhere to go.
• Richer, more developed countries are the more powerful countries, having more money and technology, as well as deeper relations with other countries, meaning they are able to influence global systems to their advantage.