The dimensions of globalisation; the factors driving it including technology, transport, finance and transnational corporations; the global shift; and the lengthening and deepening of global connections.

What this dot point is asking

AQA section 3.2.1 opens the human core with globalisation: its different dimensions, the drivers that have accelerated it (technology, transport, finance, security, communications and transnational corporations), the global shift of economic activity, and how global connections have lengthened and deepened. It is the conceptual foundation for global systems and governance.

What globalisation is

It is best understood through its dimensions: economic (trade, investment, production networks), social (migration, diaspora, shared lifestyles), cultural (the spread of media, brands and ideas) and political (global governance and shared rules).

The drivers of globalisation

Several forces have accelerated globalisation:

• Transport technology: containerisation, larger ships and wide-bodied jets cut the cost and time of moving goods and people, the shrinking world.
• Communications technology: fibre-optic cables, satellites, the internet and mobile phones let information and money move instantly, enabling dispersed production and real-time finance.
• Financial liberalisation and deregulation: freer movement of capital and the opening of markets.
• Trade policy: the reduction of tariffs and the growth of free-trade agreements and bodies such as the WTO.
• Transnational corporations (TNCs): firms that organise global production networks and spread foreign direct investment.

The global shift and deepening connections

Global connections have both lengthened (supply chains and relationships now stretch across continents) and deepened (they are more frequent, more significant and harder to unwind). A product may be designed in one country, financed in another, assembled from parts made in several more and sold worldwide. This interdependence brings efficiency and growth but also vulnerability: a shock in one place (a factory closure, a financial crisis, a pandemic) ripples globally.

Try this

Q1. Define globalisation. [2 marks]

• Cue. The growing interconnection and interdependence of people, places and economies through flows of capital, goods, services, information, labour and culture.

Q2. Explain the role of containerisation in globalisation. [3 marks]

• Cue. Standardised containers cut the cost and time of moving goods, making long, dispersed global supply chains economically viable.

Q3. Define the global shift. [2 marks]

• Cue. The relocation of manufacturing (and services) from high-cost developed economies to lower-cost emerging economies, driven by TNCs.