Extra Posting3./Jungho Kang

Q. What's the difference between EU and APEC?
In the last lesson, we compared EU and ASEAN. In this question we will compare the EU and APEC.

European Union The European Community (EU)
The background of the establishment of the European Community is that many countries in Europe have struggled to make Europe united by lack of labor power, land and resources to confront economic power such as Japan and America.
Europe is easy to integrate and favorable because of the same culture.
European integration began in 1952 with European coal, iron ore community ECSC, France, Italy, Germany, and Benelux. Three Benelux countries are Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.
In 1967, it was reorganized into the European Community (EC). Since then, it has been re-named as the EU in 1993, and its membership has increased to 15 in 1995, and a number of countries in Eastern Europe It is expected to develop into integration.
The Council of the European Union is located in Strasbourg, France and the Council of Europe and the Council of Ministers
 Located in Brussels, Belgium, the European Court of Justice is located in Luxembourg.

Asia and the Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
The members were Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, but after 1984, Brunei, Vietnam joined in 1995, and then Laos, Myanmar,
 Cambodia joins and ASEAN has grown to 10 countries. This organization is a member of Southeast Asia
 Establishing an economic and social basis and improving peaceful and progressive living standards in each sector
 The purpose. The headquarters is located in Singapore.

Common features and differences
The biggest commonality between the EU and APEC is the economic community for the benefit of their country. The EU has a common goal for the national interests of its member countries. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is also a community for economic cooperation and trade liberalization among countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The difference is that APEC is more likely to have a stronger community orientation towards the economy, while the EU is a broader community, such as tariffs, the same currency, freedom of movement, and the sharing of political goals.

W14. Econimic Globalization / Jungho Kang

1. Summary

This article focuses on the big topic of economic globalization, especially the multinational corporations (TNCs). We think that most of us live in a global corporate world, and that these global corporations have led to a decline in the rule of the state itself. But this article says that this idea is wrong. This article can be summarized in four themes.

1-1. Geographical distribution of multinational corporations

 The beginning of a multinational corporation can be regarded as a trading company. East Indian companies that existed in Europe in the 15th century and trade companies such as Hudson Bay are today the ancestors of world trade. Over time, these trading companies have become increasingly multinational, and today, the most comprehensive definition of TNC today is 'companies that have the power to coordinate and control operations in many countries, even though they do not own it'. They are common in that they operate in different political, social and cultural environments. At present, the number of TNCs is not much, but it accounts for one tenth of the world's total production and accounts for one-third of the world's exports.

 TNC activities are generally measured using statistics on foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI is a direct investment that occurs beyond a national boundary, such as a company investing in one company in another country or operating its own subsidiary. Over the past two decades, FDI has grown at a very rapid pace. This shows that multinational corporations play a very important role in the global economy. FDI generally occurs in developed countries, and developing countries are also only one-third of developed countries, although FDI is on the rise.

1-2. Why are companies engaged in multinational activities?

 There are two main reasons why a company is expanding its business outside its own country. First, it is a market-oriented investment in which the domestic market has reached saturation and must go out of its own territory to increase profitability. Second, it is due to the imbalance of assets in the world. Most of the early multinationals are companies in the natural resources sector because of the uneven distribution of natural resources around the world. Over time, these assets vary from factory branch and labor force, and so on.

 Two ways companies develop transnational activities are Greenfield investment and strategic collaboration. Greenfield investment is a new business in foreign countries, and strategic collaboration is the acquisition or merger of existing companies in foreign countries. Most FDIs do more acquisitions and mergers than greenfield investments. This is because acquisitions or mergers can be implemented faster than greenfield investments. The host company is less risky because it can get the assets it wants from the beginning, and the home company can increase the efficiency by transferring the existing technology and capital. But there is no clear standard of what is good or bad. It just depends on the situation.

 It is known that the order of TNC development generally develops in the domestic market with the position of power and moves into the overseas market. First, the overseas market generally conducts direct exports using a local independent sales agent. Then, as local demand increases, TNC establishes its own overseas sales agent to control the overseas market. Here it is decided whether to use Greenfield or strategic collaboration. However, with the advent of new TNCs in knowledge-intensive industries as time passed, a business called 'globally' arose. These are entrepreneurial ventures that go beyond their home territory from scratch, and Facebook can be the case.

1-3. Geographically embedded multinationals

 Geography is an area that can never be ignored by the TNC. Every business enterprise is influenced by the cultural, social, political and economic characteristics of the mother country. Thus, the TNC also interacts with the specific locality characteristics of the community, along with the parent country. In the same garment industry, East Asian companies establish direct manufacturing plants, while US and European companies tend to operate through a network of local agents and traders. Therefore, even if multinational corporations act actively, the form of business organization does not converge into one 'irresponsible' type. It is like capitalism. Even within one ideology of capitalism, it is divided into various types. ‘Diversity, not uniformity, therefore, related at least in part to the place-specific contexts in which firms evolve, continues to be the norm.’

1-4. Multinational production network

 When we think of a company, we often think of an independent organization called a 'company'. However, in practice, a corporation is a non-independent organization consisting of a highly complex and dynamic production, distribution and consumption network. The TNC can likewise be regarded as a dense network at the heart of relations. TNC is much more difficult to control than a typical company because of its geographical nature, which is dispersed in different political, cultural and social environments. Therefore, they have a sophisticated organizational structure, while at the same time developing their own functions according to their own space, separating their roles according to their geographical composition. Nonetheless, in general, the majority of TNCs remain unchanged in the company's home country.

 Over time, the TNC continues to be interested in the restructuring, reorganization and rationalization processes to respond appropriately to changing circumstances. The TNC network is always fluid and ready to cope with the situation at any time. As competition intensifies and companies continue to improve profitability, the TNC relies heavily on other companies to meet their needs. Especially in the automobile industry, many multinational corporations depend on each other for lower prices. The geographical scope of these multinational production networks varies, but cannot be GLOBAL in the true sense. In recent years, these networks have been at the local level. Simple geographic proximity itself is a strong stimulus for integration. This 'regional strategy' can effectively address organizational barriers while providing many efficiency benefits of globalization. Multinational production networks organized on a regional scale, such as NAFTA, the EU and the 'Four Tigers', are effective.

1-5. conclusion

 Transnational corporations are undoubtedly the most important role in the modern world economy. The network of transnational corporations is multinational, which inevitably creates tension among various entities such as the state, the community, labor, consumers, and civil society organizations. The TNC has the potential to take advantage of the availability of resources and the geographical differences of governments' policies and to switch and re-switch regional operations. However, the power of these TNCs is not always an advantage. In addition to international regulatory bodies such as the WTO, sub regional regulations in each country still have regulatory measures on the power of the TNC, such as controlling access to territories and defining operational rules. Or nations increase their strength by working with other nations. Therefore, it is nonsense to argue that the nation is helpless while facing the enormous threat of 'global corporations'. The TNC may be powerful, but it does not possess absolute power.

2. Interesting Point

I have further explored what foreign direct investment (FDI) is talking about in this article. I was interested in achieving the world's second largest FDI for the UK, which was voted out by the Brexit in 2016 and then withdrew from the EU. It is not right in the sense of 'globalization of cooperation' as well as of the Brexit. But it is different from economical point of view. In the UK, the total amount of FDI in 2016 has increased by £ 33 billion from 2015 to £ 19 billion after voting on the Brexit. Even after the decision to UK withdraw from the EU on June 23, Japan's Softbank Group, Korea's Equinix, Nissan Motors and Google continued to invest in the UK. After examining several reasons, I have summarized these increase factors into three. The first is the depreciation of the pound. Because of the decline in the value of the pound, not only has the purchase price of the overseas company merged with the UK company lowered, but the value of the enterprise has been lowered even after the merger, resulting in a greater income. Second, because of the positive economic outlook supported. According to a survey by the UK accounting firm Deloitte, CEOs of large corporations and overseas corporations have confirmed that negative views on Brexit have diminished and positive prospects have increased. Finally, the UK government has taken an active role in attracting FDI by announcing its policy to reduce its corporate tax rate by 17% by 2020 as FDI plays an important role in job creation, growth and productivity.

source: https://news.kotra.or.kr/user/globalBbs/kotranews/6/globalBbsDataView.do?setIdx=322&dataIdx=158561

3. Conclusion

This article said, "The transnational corporation certainly has a lot of power, but it does not have the power to control the world.". However, this presupposes that the regulations of the countries where there are multinational corporations operate effectively. If the legal system of the state is insufficient, the multinational corporations have at least a great deal of power in their fields. This does not shake the country's base, but it can pose a threat to some small businesses and small traders. In making regulations, if the state is serious about corruption, it can also be difficult to create regulations. But multinational corporations still increase the overall efficiency of the global economy. In other words, for a multinational corporation to be in the interests of the state, corruption must be addressed first. What do you think?

W10. Political Globalization / Jungho Kang

1. Summary

 Political globalization is about access to a social world that emphasizes post national and transnational processes. Political globalization opens new possibilities to any country, while a country causes loss of autonomy and division of society. In general, the most pervasive form of political globalization is the spread of democracy. This spread of democracy has become the basis for so - called 'New World Order' such as the ‘US global hegemony(Bushism)’ and the ‘Gulf War’. Today, political communication is taking place all over the world and not limited to the geographical conditions of the border. This global political communication has become the basis of world normative culture. In the past, the state itself was the norm, but today the world norm exists beyond the state. These global norms provide role model. Apart from this, there exists a polycentric network in the form of non-national politics. The world political order provided by the United Nations (UN) is based on leading countries, but a polycentric network is creating a new space beyond the boundaries of the state and government through the concept of civil society. This global civil society character is centered on INGO, various grass-roots organizations and numerous social movements. In summary, political globalization consists of three things. Global geopolitics, global normative culture, and polycentric networks. This is seemingly remote, but in fact they are related.

 As Iron Curtains disappear and democracy becomes universal throughout the world, there are two positions on the nation states. The first position is that new economic forces are challenging the nation-state as the state-led economy is transformed into a world-led economy. Nations are not fighting for territory anymore, but fighting for control power. So, the government must share sovereignty with the governments of other worlds. On the other hand, it is argued that the national state should share its sovereignty with the non-governmental bodies, and therefore move toward a multi-governance structure, which places more emphasis on the influence of global civil society. Both arguments agree that the state is the sole source of political power. These two positions are driven by the question of whether the state is becoming weaker under the process of globalization. In the case of Europe, it is generally interpreted that the transnationalization represented by the EU is stronger than the country.

 Communication has been the center of politics since ancient times. And now globalization has a more complex and advanced communication system than any other time. Global communication has continued to expand, and these communications have formed a global public discourse that goes beyond the public domain that Habermas advocated. This global discourse contributed to creating a world normative culture. The world normative culture is spreading in various ways in the public domain, and in the communication aspect, it is different from the world designated department which led to the rise of the world economy and the Global geopolitics

 The background of transnationalization and world normative culture mentioned above is global civil society. In order to understand this global civil society, it is necessary to understand ‘Civil Socialization’ first. 'Civil socialization' means the commonality of political forms at regional, global, national and transnational level. Global civil society provides a model for new forms of state governance, but at the same time has new instability and risks. The reason for this is that not only do the subjects that make up the global civil society work for peace and freedom, but also for undermining world politics such as crime and terrorism.

 Due to political globalization, we now deal with more subjects. Political globalization is working to spread various political conflict places where we can talk about the various worries around us.


2. Interesting Point

 At the same time as working to individuate and fragment, these processes also open the possibilities of new cosmopolitan collectivities created in the recognition that the needs of humanity are prior to those of democracy, and new communities of fate emerging from the recognition that we live in a ‘world risk society’ (Beck 1999). I was interested in Ulrich Beck's ‘world risk society’. According to Ulrich Beck, we are now living in many dangers from industrialization and technological advancement. In the case of Korea, we are living with danger of North Korea's nuclear weapons, but we don’t realize this risk. However, this risk is not a problem of one 's own but a whole society. Ulrich Beck insisted on 'transnational cooperation' to address this danger. If the state is not able to resolve the problem on its own, the other way to solve it is to have a global city with many people. This means that if you look small, you have a way to get a lot of citizens involved in the national policy, and that you must come up with global citizenship solutions internationally. I also agree with Ulrich Beck's idea. However, to set up a global civilian solution, it is possible to overcome conflicts of interests and the difference in the speed of national development among countries that regard their own interests as the most important.


3. Discussion Point

 Global civil society contributes to the creation of universal human rights humanism. At the same time, however, terrorists such as drugs, traffickers and organized crime are creating new political spaces and multinational networks in a way that undermines early world politics. I would like to ask, "Can drugs, traffickers and organized crime be part of global civil society?" Of course, I think that human trafficking, crime, and terrorism, which are damaging to innocent people, cannot be part of the global civil society. But I think differently about in the case of drugs. The reason why drugs are regulated nationally is attributed to the legitimacy of drugs that harm social order. But I think that I can interpret it as a national policy to control the change from drug to so-called "madness" as seen in Foucault's "History of madness(1961)". I don't think that ‘universal-justice’ is always correct in political globalization. What do you think?

Extra posting2./Jungho Kang

10.30~10.31

Q. looking at this traditional, print media (magazine), how useful it is for learning about globalization? Is it better or worse compared to new online media like twitter?

I think first of all I should know the difference between print media and online media. Print media and online media can be divided into systematic aspects and quickness of information. In the case of print media, various information is systematically described. However, the printing time and the delivery time are relatively longer in the printing media than in the online media. In the case of online media, the systematicity of information is relatively inferior to that of books, but you can quickly search for topics you are interested in, and you can quickly acquire new information by following them.

 From the reader's point of view, online information is less critical than print media. Also, if you read the comments below on an online article, (in the comments, the average person fights part way). In psychology, when people are judging information, beliefs and preconceptions (stereotypes) work (very conservative). When they have stereotypes, when conflicting evidence is presented, Contrary evidence is critically judged and rejected, especially in online such as soap. Print media, on the other hand, are more likely to be able to read and write their thoughts on their own.

 So what's more useful in print and online media in relation to the topic of globalization? I think online media will be more useful. As we learned in the last lesson, it is difficult to define globalization clearly. In a situation where the definition of globalization is unclear, it is doubtful whether the systematicity of print media works properly. Given that globalization is ongoing, there may already be other topics to be discussed by the time print media is delivered to readers. On the other hand, there is a risk that online media can be accepted uncritically by readers, but these risks can be overcome through individual training. Online media will be more useful than print media if you can self-judge the information provided by online media through personal training. If you look at a simple example of an encyclopedia and Wikipedia, the encyclopedia has collapsed and Wikipedia has won. This is a victory that captures both systematic and rapid information. The same is true of the confrontation between the two media on globalization. In this time, online media and print media are fighting, but winners will eventually become online media.

https://gleesongleanings.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/wikipedia-vs-peer-reviewed-sources/

W6. Cultural Globalization /Jungho Kang

1. Summary

This article explains cultural globalization.  First of all, globalization is a complex and accelerated process that increases "connectivity." What does 'connectivity' mean here? Connectivity is the use of communication technology through electronic devices in our daily lives. We are interdependent with other things through the use of these technologies. This level of interdependence can be asserted historically unprecedented.

 If you agree with the process of increasing globalization, you should consider the various complexities in this process. The most important of the complexities is that the economic sphere is an essential element in increasing connectivity. Under capitalism, economic meaning can never be ignored. But we have to be wary of saying that the economic sphere is causally superior in the process of globalization (It was called economic reductionism). There are two reasons for this worry. First, economic redistribution can be viewed as an unrealistically narrow economic concept of the world, because it sees the economy as a machine-like sphere. As a second reason to oppose causality, we can passively overlook the culture, neglecting the active or transformative nature of culture itself, with the influence of globalization on culture. Culture is a dimension that is created and formed at the same time as globalization.

Next is world culture. Most scholars assume that the globalization process will lead to a single culture of the world. I cannot say that this is wrong, but I cannot say it is right. I have previously stated that globalization is a process of increasing connectivity, but increasing connectivity does not mean that the world is unified economically, politically, and culturally. For example, it cannot be said that the global economic system has a significant impact on the 'Third World' like Africa. So we must say that the word globalization is a process that does not work equally in all regions. Most critics are concerned that globalization may dominate the world culture due to the products of multinational corporations. However, it is dangerous to simply refer to cultural products as culture itself. It is because cultural products alone cannot discuss the value of culture itself.

 In fact, the idea of ​​world culture has existed for a long time. A map produced in Europe in the thirteenth century shows the world where the religion of Christianity is central. The communist world imagined by Karl Marx is a unified world of international cultural tastes that incorporate language and literature. And Marx also destroys non-Western cultures and praises the world of Euro centrism. These Marxian ideas need to be reconciled in modern times, but what is important is that they can coexist with the Western ethnocentric tendency to universalize the world culture and the vision of a rational and progressive humanism, the root of an equitable communist society, it is. Without these 'models' like Marx, this can cause another problem in globalization.

 Another way to understand cultural globalization is 'decontamination'. If globalization is an increase in connectivity, de-territorialization refers to the extent of connectivity to areas of everyday life. Traditionally, when you understand cultures traditionally, the notion of culture is implicitly associated with that territory. The concept of de-territorialization means the loss of the "natural" relationship of culture to geographical and social territory. That does not mean, however, that de-territorialization loses its local culture. Did large cities such as London, New York, Madrid, and Tokyo in the world lose their local culture? It's not like that. The decontamination means everyday dependence, such as watching American dramas at home, eating Italian food, and buying Japanese figures. Decontamination can change the experience of the community and promote a new sense of cultural openness, human reciprocity and global ethical responsibility. Most people think that globalization threatens cultural identity. But this article suggests a combination of cultural identity and global citizenship. It is to understand global humanism and human rights and duties as a place of specific identity throughout the world. From this standpoint, globalization can be used not only as a position for a specific country, but also as a basis for understanding various ideas.

2. What was interesting?

 Every time I get to know various theories about sociology and see various articles, I feel the lack of knowledge about other fields. To understand sociology, we need to require deep and broad understanding of philosophy, politics, economics, and so on. After reading this article, I thought "Is it possible for various ideas to coexist within the capitalist system?" Most people will agree that culture can be determined by the economy. The capitalist system is so solid and clever that it seems impossible to overcome. But I thought this think is wrong because I live in a world of capitalism. People in the middle Ages might have thought that it was impossible to overcome the serfdom in the same way. Maybe I can’t see the fall of capitalism, but I wondered about the system after that.

3. Discussion Point

 I think that it is not enough to explain the 'cultural product' and 'practice of culture itself' of multinational corporations. Especially, this sentence ‘But they do not in themselves provide much solid evidence of a capitulation to deeper Western cultural values.’ If consumption of such products instead of drinking domestic hamburger brands, domestic tobacco, and domestic drinks is interpreted as surrender to Western cultural values? Within the capitalist system, the value of these multinational corporations' cultural products is getting higher and higher, and I think they have a danger of being connected with a ‘Gentrification’ in a small sense and a ‘Culture Of Totalitarianism’ to a large extent. What do you think?

W3. What is Globalization? / Jungho Kang

1. Summary

This article is about 'Globalization'. What is globalization? Globalization is common because it appears in many countries, and it is also specific because it deals with the unique word of globalization. Definition of globalization is abstract and there are many perspectives. The reason is due to the difference in perspective around the world. In this reason, a number of scholars also said globalization in the plural. Therefore, this article attempts to introduce many definition of globalization and offer coherent statements. 

 The concept of globalization was started many centuries ago, but explicit discussed of globalization was started by 1970~1980. At the beginning, because of collapse of communism, Neo-liberalism, FTA, WTO, IMF, and so on, globalization has been addressed in economic terms.  But it is now being addressed not only in economic terms but also in social and cultural aspects. 

 The most important feature of globalization is connectivity and consciousness. In general, connectivity has been researched by political scientists, international relations specialists and economists. Consciousness has been studied more by anthropologists, sociologists and cultural historians. These features related to economic-materialistic or about policies and ideologies surrounding access to such resources, and this significance of the material resource are important in present international conflict.

 There are many dimensions of globalization. This article shows four important dimensions of globalization; the economic, the political, the social, and the cultural. The cultural aspects were more and more importance because of the concern of globalization. Social aspects are also important, but many sociologists were neglect social aspects (especially, communication) of globalization. However, we cannot explain globalization aside from social aspects. This dimensions also does not indicate that one of these dimensions is more important than another dimension. we must know environmental or ecological change are also important aspects.

 We should be wary of thinking that globalization is becoming a 'ONE' world. We must think in a multidimensional way. We should be considered nation-states, sex, gender, aged, and so on. We also worried about globalization is not 'Globalized world'. Globalization is ongoing, so it is impossible to image 'Globalized world'.

 In the end, this article summary four part. First, globalization is increasing global connectivity and global consciousness.  Second, globalization has a form like UN (United Nations). Third, there is four important dimensions of globalization (economic, political, social, cultural). Most important thing is, we wary about reifying globalization. There is no clear definition of globalization. 

2. Interesting Point

 I'm always interesting about history, so I was interested in the relationship between world history and globalization. We usually think we can lose the national identity through globalization, but at the same time, we can also make the nation's identity more solid through more 'interaction' with other countries. "Indeed, one of the most striking features of the highly compressed world in which we presently live is an often contentious rewriting of histories of ethnic groups, nation-states and regions in order that the members of such entities may have an ‘authentic identity’". I was totally shocked by this sentence. For example, we usually think only about the negative effects of globalization on our culture through the term "socialism". We were taught in middle and high schools that we must observe our own culture that could be lost because of the socialism. But also, we can learn more about the uniqueness of our nation through comparison with America and our culture! There is another example, too. Let's also look at the case of Dokdo. By arguing more about the history of the Dokdo area, our people can have more solid cohesion through Dokdo area. In addition, you can also get to know the history of your nation area(Dokdo).  I never thought about it before. I think this historical point is very interesting and unusual items.

3. Discussion Point

Before I read this article, I was convinced that there is clear definition of globalization. However, I was wrong. globalization was not defined clearly. However, I think without a clear definition maybe has danger of concept confusion. Maybe I had misunderstood, but I thought that this article define 'globalization' is too abstractly expressed. I do not mean that it is wrong, but I think it is necessary to take a more specific look. 

 Another question is beginning with the following sentence, "Understandably, many people in developing countries are not exactly eager to accept definitions of globalization deriving from more privileged societal contexts." This sentence is one of the problems caused by globalization as well as the point of view of globalization. The world is still subject to the laws of survival of the fittest. A strong country has a strong influence in all aspects of economy, politics, culture and society. A weak country is the opposite. Globalization will continue in the future. Is there a globalization where various ideas are respected in this situation? If it is not possible now, how can various aspects of globalization be respected?

Extra posting1./Jungho Kang

2017.09.11~12 


Q1. How could we measure cultural globalization?

 I think measuring the cultural globalization is to find 'Media Products'. Culture is abstract. Maybe we will never know exactly to cultural globalization. But also, we can measure to cultural globalization to find 'Media Products'. For example, We know our K-POP is popular in southeast Asia, but we don't know how many people enjoying it. However, We can to find our K-pop albums sales rate, number of music streaming, our drama rating, and so on. Like this results can measure cultural globalization. The more consuming media products in countries, the more advanced cultural globalization. 

Q2. How could a fusion culture look in 100 years?

 I don't think culture has power in itself. I think the power of culture is the power of the country. In this time, western countries are masters of world. East countries and Africa countries have a history of colonies. When the globalization was begin, the western countries had more power of culture than Eastern countries. Fusion culture was more related to western. But now, the China has a more power than most of western countries. Now we can find China's cultural product like game, movies, and so on. I think 100 years later, the powerful nations of that era will be leading the culture.

Most of the things in this picture are Western things

Image source

https://poyntofview.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/com101.jpg