G2

• Globalisation is created and runs by public AND private actors
• Hierarchy between territories

  Territories are included (major poles) or peripheral
• Integration can be seen at every scale: only a restricted territory of a State is well integrated into the global network (the core)
• Integration into the global network

  It is the FLOWS WHICH DETERMINE THIS HIERARCHY, and which network the territories
• Regions are unequally integrated into the global economy

  • Core-periphery
  • Global Inequality
  • Regional Inequality
• Core territories


  Well integrated territories at different scale
• Triad power regions


  • North America (USA + Canada)
  • European Union
  • Southeast Asia (Coastal China + Japan + 4 Dragons = (HK), South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan)
• Other developed countries: Australia, New Zealand / Eastern Europe
• Emerging nations


  Increase in wealth per capital, decline in demographic markers of poverty, but maintenance of high internal inequalities
• Global cities

  • New York, London, Tokyo, Paris
• Asian global cities


  • Singapore, Seoul, Hong Kong
• London's command functions

  • Economic and financial functions: Headquarter of TNCs, stock exchange
  • Political and diplomatic functions: seat of government, international organizations
  • Cultural functions: universities, famous museums
• At local scale, within the metropolises, these functions are concentrated in the city center, the CBD (Central Business District) and some parts are less integrated. Ex: Manhattan vs some parts of Queens in NYC
• Global network

  Global cities linked together by flows and form a network
• Megacity

  Several metropolises linked by peripheries meet and which has a global influence
• Megacities

  • Boswash (from Boston to Washington, Northeaster of the USA)
  • European Megalopolis (Londres-Milan + Paris)
  • Japan Megalopolis (Tokyo-Osaka)
• Boswash

  • Political power
  • Diplomatic power
  • Economic and financial power
  • Scientific power
  • Cultural Power
• Boswash


  • Washington, capital city of the 1st world power (White House, Congress)
  • NYC = headquarter of the UN
  • NYC = 1st world stock exchange (NYSE New York Stock Exchange)
  • Prestigious universities (Columbia in NYC, Harvard and MIT near Boston)
  • NYC = headquarters of large media groups (ABC, NBC, CBS), newspapers (New York Times) distributed around the world
• Border areas

  • Mexamerica, transborder area between USA and Mexico. It is widely open to American FDI. The maquiladoras are foreign-run manufacturing operation in Mexico that export goods mostly to the USA, within the framework of an intracontinental division of labor. This area concentrates more than 50% of Mexico's industry. But the border remains closed to immigration, with a Trump wall!
• Special Economic Zone (SEZ)

  Territory with tax and/or customs advantages
• 90% of world trade is carried out by sea
• Harbours and maritimes facades

  Link global flows towards the hinterland, by regional (interior of a continent), national or local flows
• Semi-peripheral territories

  Developing countries (Central and Latin America, some countries in Asia and Africa) are less integrated but not totally excluded, linked by some specific flows to globalisation
• Peripheral territories

  Marginalised or nearly excluded
• Peripheral territories at global scale

  • LDCs (Least Developed Countries) whose economic/development situation is worrying (sub-Saharan Africa = 3% of world trade!)
  • Landlocked (without direct access to the sea)
  • Political instability (war or postwar, piracy, terrorism)
  • Voluntarily exclude themselves from globalization
• Around 50 countries: 0.5% of global GDP for 12% of the population!
• Inhospitable territories

  • "White deserts": very high mountains (Himalayas) or Antarctica
  • Arid deserts: sparsely inhabited but nevertheless crossed by human or material flows
  • "Green deserts": equatorial forests but in decline
• 60% of global GDP on 1% of the Earth in 40 countries!
• Territories integrated by specific and punctual flows
• States' strategies in globalisation

  Integration strategies
• States have made the CHOICE of free trade, global or regional governance = they have created globalisation even though it takes away a part of their autonomy and control over their own territory
• States still play a key role in globalisation:</b><b>By making their territory more attractive notably through Special Economic Zones (SEZs)

  By joining international organisations, Forum of States, or a regional grouping of nations such as Trade bloc to pull its weight in shaping globalisation</b>
• Special Economic Zone (SEZs)

  Duty-free enclaves, considered as foreign territory for the purpose of trade operations, duties and taxes = business and trades laws differ from the rest of the country. Free zone on the scale of a port, a neighborhood, a town, generally within the borders of a country
• Aims of SEZs

  • Increase in trade

  Increase in FDI (Foreign Direct Investment)

  Job creation and development

  Lower prices, higher competitiveness

  Technology transfer
• Different forms of SEZs

  • Enterprise Zone = for small-scale local businesses, to revitalize distressed urban or rural areas

  Freeports encompass much larger areas. They accommodate all type of activities, including tourism and retail sales, permit-on site residence and provide a broader set of incentives and financial grants

  Free Economic Zone = for any company, taxed very lightly

  Free Trade Zone (FTZs) = for any company, no tax! Goods may be landed, handled, manufactured or reconfigured and re-exported without the intervention of customs authorities
• ¾ countries have at least one SEZ: 1st concentration in Asia (85%), 2nd in America. Most vehicles manufactured in the USA are located in FTZs
• Requirements for successful SEZs

  • Clear bureaucratic procedure

  Infrastructures investment (power supply, housing, etc.)

  Connection to the global market such as transports hubs (ports...)
• Criticisms of SEZs

  • Created distortion within a national economy: do not develop backwards linkages in host nations because they are often located in areas where there is already access to better infrastructure and availability to services and labor

  Harsh labor practices: workers tend to work longer hours than workers in other sectors of the economy, often in violation of national law

  Costs for infrastructures investment, forgone tax revenues don't outweigh boosts in jobs and trade

  Transnational criminal organisations and terrorist groups have taken advantage of SEZ and their lack of regulations
• Tax dumping

  • Apple's tax rate in Ireland: 0.005% on its profits in 2014 / 12.5% Tax rate in Ireland / 35% in France!
• Estimate cost of tax havens: + de $420 billion by year (= South Africa's GDP, or more than the GDP of Portugal or Denmark GDP!) = loss of revenue and dvt of other States. At global scale, 40%+ of the profits made by TNCs are artificially relocated to tax havens + 90% of the world's biggest TNCs in at least one tax haven