A New Global Order & Geography

Globalization: single economic system [capitalism] now
 operates around the world

    - Can you think of places in the world that are not greatly affected by capitalism?

    - What ways of life (economic activities) may not be greatly affected by capitalism?

     - worldwide influence of capitalism has a great impact upon global economics, politics, cultures, environment

What is a new global order?

Global Political Order
    - Cold War: who was involved?

     First World-- free market economy--U.S.A., W. Eur.

     Second World--planned economy--Soviet Union

     Third World--Less Developed Countries (LDC)
     (dependence on core countries)

What happened to these 3rd World countries? (Where did they countries stand according to the main contenders? Were they ignored? Pulled into the struggle?)

Post Cold War: bipolar "us versus them" disappears

   -  weapons of mass destruction
   -  collapse of Soviet Union
   -  continued power of the United States
   -  civil wars
   -  regional wars

What are sources of conflict now? 

Global Economic Order

    - capitalism - New Global economic system
     - multinational corporations
     - international agencies (e.g., World Bank)

What are characteristics, advantages, disadvantages of:
a capitalist system?
a communist system?

    - Core & Periphery
     core countries = richer countries
     periphery = poorer countries
     semi-periphery = in transition toward attempting to joining core countries

Global Cultural Order

      - cultures viewed at different scales: local, regional
      - cultural differences prevail
      - "One World" idea of "Westernization" (a.k.a. Cocacola-ization)
      -  local, distinctive cultures persist, sometimes leading to conflict
 

Global Issues in the Natural Environment
    - human impact more seriously impacts Earth in different places, at different times

    - Where are conservation efforts more prevalent: in more developed or less developed places? Why? hint: 

    - The environment will become a more serious issue in the near future
       - increased awareness of the need for a
         sustainable environment
            - allocation of natural resources
        - human impacts on the environment continue to increase (overpopulation, overconsumption, pollution, global warming)
             - anthropogenic effects
        - role of technology

    - How are population and natural resources linked?
 

Geography and a New Global Order

Geography is:

Merriam Webster Dictionary: 1) a science that deals with the natural features of the earth and the climate, products and inhabitants 2) the natural features of a region.

Michael Bradshaw: The study of how human beings live in varied ways on different parts of Earth's surface; the study of the environment and space in which humans live.
 
 

Nature of Geography
    - absolute location - location in a set system, such as latitude and longitude
    - relative location - importance of location relative to another place; amount of interaction
 
 

3 Main Approaches
    - regional geography
    - spatial analysis (the study of location and spatial interaction)
    - human-environment relationships

Nine World Regions

 Geographic Growth of a Global Order

 1. Hunting and Farming (8000 B.C. - 2500 B.C.)

    - nomadic way of life
    - basic plant cultivation
    - domestication of plants and animals

 Early agricultural tools
The image above portrays an ax (bottom), used for clearing,  flint sickles (left) --used for harvesting cereal crops, and a flat rock and rounded stone (center), used for grinding flour.

 Agriculture in ancient Egypt

    - population growth and rise of villages and small towns

 2. First World System: City Civilization and Bronze Age, 2500 - 1000 B.C.

    - irrigated farming in Mesopotamia
    - major achievements of this phase: writing, arts, math,metal, wheel, law
    - trading expanded

 3. Second World System: Expansion in Classical Civilizations of the Iron Age, 1000 B.C. to 600 A.D.

    - Persia, Greece, Rome, India, China
    - expanded geographic influence
    - world religions and philosophy: Confucius, Zoroaster, Buddha, Hebrew prophets, Greek philosophers, Jesus Christ, Mohammed
 

 4. Third World System: Medieval Times 600 - 1450 A.D.

    - Rome, Greece, China, Persia, India - invasions from Central Asia
    - West Europe - backward
    - new empires throughout Asia, West Africa, Americas
    - diffusion of Islam
    - mass migrations
    - development and then Dark Ages in Europe: Mongols, Ottoman Turks, Black Death, colder climate

5. Fourth World System: Modern Times, Capitalism, Industrialization, Socialism, 1450 to Present

    - Mercantile capitalism (~1450-1750)
          European colonization

    - Industrial capitalism
          Industrial revolutions
          - where were cores established?
          - what became the goal of overseas conquest?

 factories in the first industrial revolution

    - 20th century
       Fordism
       technology
       core-periphery relations
       multi-national corporations
       global economy

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