Globalisation: opportunities and challenges

You will gain more insight as we analyse globalisation including its history, reasons for growth, key terms and the dimensions involved. Globalisation is a contested concept and we will consider a range of viewpoints. You will practise critical thinking skills.

You will master some major theories on international trade. You will see how trade works in practice including trading relationships and fair trade. We will explore different types of trade barriers.  You will gain an understanding of the different types of trading blocs and their role. You will appraise the role of transnational corporations and Foreign Direct Investment. We will look at different sectors from the resource sector, manufacturing and services.  Concepts such as the shrinking world (time space compression), product life cycle and the New International Division of Labour will be examined.

You will gain an oversight of global governance. States attempt to coordinate their efforts to respond to global challenges through the establishment of international institutions. This has been with varying degrees of success. This has resulted in non-state actors increasingly being involved in providing solutions. You will investigate and critically evaluate the role of major global governance institution such as the World Bank or a United National Fund or Programme. You will evaluate the policymaking that affects globalization.

Finally, we will critically analyse the impact of globalisation, including an assessment of the winners and losers both economically but also environmentally and socially. We will also do this through the lens of Environmental Social Governance criteria.

There are additional resources from quizzes to short assignments, and a list for further reading.

I look forward to welcoming you to the course.

Mike Ashby