What is globalisation, what drives it, and who wins and loses from a more connected world?
The causes and acceleration of globalisation, the role of technology, transport, TNCs and global institutions, the switched-on and switched-off places, and the social, economic and environmental costs and benefits of an interconnected world.
An Edexcel A-Level Geography answer to globalisation, covering its causes and acceleration through technology, transport, trade and migration, the role of TNCs and global institutions such as the IMF and WTO, switched-on and switched-off places, and the social, economic and environmental costs and benefits of a more interconnected world.
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What this dot point is asking
Edexcel wants you to explain the causes and acceleration of globalisation, the roles of technology, transport, TNCs and global institutions, identify switched-on and switched-off places, and evaluate the social, economic and environmental costs and benefits of an interconnected world.
What globalisation is and what drives it
Acceleration has been driven by technology (fibre-optic cables, the internet, mobile phones), transport (containerisation, jet aircraft, high-speed rail), trade agreements and the removal of barriers, and by financial deregulation. Containerisation is the standout example: since the standard shipping container spread from the 1960s, the cost of moving goods has collapsed, and a single modern vessel can carry over containers, enabling the "shrinking world" of time-space compression.
Players: TNCs and global institutions
China is the clearest case of a state switching on through these channels. From 1980 it opened Special Economic Zones such as Shenzhen, which grew from a fishing town of around people to a megacity of over 12 million in four decades, becoming a global manufacturing and technology hub. TNCs such as Foxconn located vast assembly plants there, drawn by cheap labour, infrastructure and tax incentives, illustrating the new international division of labour.
Switched-on and switched-off places
The world is unevenly globalised. Switched-on places (global hub cities such as London, New York and Singapore, and emerging economies such as China and India) attract investment, talent and connectivity. Switched-off places (parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, remote rural regions such as the Sahel) are bypassed by flows and remain on the margins, although some are now joining through resource demand and mobile money (M-Pesa in Kenya). The KOF index and the AT Kearney Global Cities Index measure how connected a country or city is.
Costs and benefits
Globalisation has produced rapid economic growth and poverty reduction in emerging economies, the spread of technology and ideas, and cheaper goods. But it has widened inequality, encouraged a race to the bottom in wages and regulation, driven cultural erosion and glocalisation, and caused environmental harm through long supply chains and outsourced pollution. The synoptic frame is clear: different players (TNCs, states, workers, consumers) gain or lose unequally, hold divergent attitudes to free trade and protection, and the futures of switched-off places depend on whether they can plug into global flows.
Examples in context
Example 1: the Pearl River Delta, China. Centred on Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan, this region became the workshop of the world after the 1980 SEZ reforms, attracting FDI, hundreds of millions of internal rural-to-urban migrants and TNC manufacturing. It demonstrates the benefits (jobs, growth, infrastructure) and the costs (long working hours, severe air and water pollution, migrant labour exploitation) of switching on.
Example 2: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Despite vast mineral wealth (cobalt for batteries, coltan for electronics), weak governance, conflict and poor infrastructure leave much of the DRC switched-off, with the resource trade benefiting external TNCs and elites more than local people. It shows that connection to global supply chains does not guarantee development, and that the costs of globalisation fall hardest on the marginalised.
Try this
Q1. Explain how containerisation has accelerated globalisation. [4 marks]
- Cue. Standardised containers cut loading times and freight costs, enabling cheap, reliable global supply chains and trade.
Q2. Suggest one reason why some places remain switched off from globalisation. [3 marks]
- Cue. Poor infrastructure, political instability, lack of investment or remoteness leaves them bypassed by global flows.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of Pearson Edexcel exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Edexcel Paper 2 (style)12 marksAssess the extent to which the benefits of globalisation outweigh the costs.Show worked answer →
Benefits include economic growth and the lifting of millions out of poverty in emerging economies (China, India), the spread of technology and ideas, lower prices for consumers, and increased cultural exchange. Global supply chains and FDI by TNCs create jobs and transfer skills.
Costs include widening inequality within and between countries, the exploitation of cheap labour and sweatshop conditions, the race to the bottom in regulation, environmental degradation, loss of local culture (cultural erosion) and the marginalisation of switched-off places. A balanced judgement might argue that globalisation has raised aggregate wealth but distributed it unevenly, so whether benefits outweigh costs depends on scale, place and who is asked. The strongest answer uses contrasting located examples and weighs economic, social and environmental dimensions. AO1 supplies the dimensions of globalisation; AO2 weighs costs against benefits across contrasting places to reach a judgement.
Edexcel 20218 marksExamine the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in driving globalisation.Show worked answer →
Examine asks you to set out and develop the role with balance, so it is led by AO1 with AO2 development. Explain how TNCs drive globalisation through foreign direct investment (FDI), global production networks, offshoring of manufacturing to low-cost locations and outsourcing to specialist firms, spreading technology, capital and management practice. Use a named TNC such as Apple, whose products are designed in California and assembled by Foxconn in China, or Unilever and its global supply chains.
Develop the analysis: TNCs both respond to and create the enabling conditions (cheap transport, deregulation), and they reshape the new international division of labour. Balance this against the role of states, technology and global institutions so the answer does not treat TNCs as the only driver. Reward located evidence and a clear sense of TNC power relative to other players.
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Sources & how we know this
- Pearson Edexcel A-Level Geography (9GE0) specification — Pearson Edexcel (2016)