Globalization since the 1940s - Policy Change

16 important questions on Globalization since the 1940s - Policy Change

What two kinds of policy innovation altered the framework for globalization?

- Some key new international institutions, and the values and functions they embodied
- Crucial national decisions about relationships with global society.

Which two types of institutions were sketched after WW II? What did it reflect?

- In the later stages of World War II, two types of institutions were sketched, one for world politics, the other for the world economy.
- This reflected the wide desire to find global solutions for the kinds of problems that had torn the world apart in the previous two decades.
- The economic institutions also reflected the growing role of the United States in world affairs and its commitment to free market capitalism.

Who is the United Nations? What did the creators of it hope?

- The United Nations is the replacement of the League of Nations. It began functioning in 1946.
- It was hoped that the new organization would be far more decisive in resolving conflicts and assuring peace than the League had been, and while the Cold War and later tensions disrupted this goal the UN did in fact play an effective role in a number of trouble spots, winning agreements to send troops from member countries in many instances.
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What happened at Bretton Woods? What was the goal there?

- Meetings at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, 1944 established new institutions and policies to help regulate the global economy and prevent the kinds of instability that had marked the decades between the two world wars.
- The main goal of the conference was to win agreement from each participating country to maintain the exchange value of its currency in relationship to the price of gold, in order to prevent incapacitating fluctuations that could disrupt international trade and domestic economic performance alike.

Which institutions resulted from the meetings in Bretton Woods? What did these institutions do?

- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which later essentially became the World Bank.
- Both organizations established voting rights for member nations, based on levels of economic contribution. The basic idea was to assure a free flow of trade and a commitment to collaboration in economic matters to prevent the kind of selfish national separatism that had clearly exacerbated the Depression.

What did the International Monetary Fund (IMF) do?

- The IMF helped oversee the stability of exchange rates while advising countries on policies that might affect the international monetary system.
- The organization also had a fund that could provide loans to members to cover temporary trade deficits, while insisting on the adoption of economic policies it found suitable in return.

What was the task of what became the World Bank?

What became the World Bank had the more straightforward task of providing investment money to help in postwar economic recovery (particularly in Europe) and, later, to aid developing nations in accelerating their economic growth and occasionally to provide debt relief.

For what purpose was the World Trade Organization founded?

International discussion also focused on tariff levels, with various agreements on lowering rates in the interest of freer trade from 1947 onward, and with another new institution, the World Trade Organization, ultimately set up in 1995 to encourage and monitor the process with even greater vigor.

What results did the World Trade Organization have?

- A number of countries held back or were not admitted to the international organizations because of seemingly illiberal economic practices.
- Disputes over items like agricultural tariffs - where industrial nations tried to protect farming groups by limiting entry of foods produced, often more cheaply, elsewhere - were recurrent, and a number of international meetings ended in failure.
- Still, the effort was unprecedented and it had some obvious results. A number of countries, like China (admitted to the WTO in 2002) undertook significant reforms in order to participate fully in the global trading system.

What did critics say about the WTO?

- Many developing nations, and other critics, argued that the new funds were excessively under American control (an American, for example, always headed the World Bank) and unduly committed to free trade policies that interfered with local goals and often operated to the benefit of the industrial regions (particularly the West, but also Japan).
- While massive depression was avoided, periodic regional crises continued and certainly the funds did not manage to lift all areas into sustained growth.

What does Interpol do? When was it founded?

- Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization), which had been founded in 1923 but taken over by Nazi Germany in the 1930s, gained renewed voice after 1945.
- The organization coordinated police activities among member states, sharing data bases and playing an active role in dealing with crimes, such as terrorism or sex trafficking, that cross national borders.

Who became leading players in world trade and other global interchange?

The United States, Japan, and Germany moved away from earlier policies quickly after the war and became leading players in world trade and other global interchange - qualified only some lingering suspicions of the former Axis powers.

When did China embrace world market?

China underwent a massive shift in orientation in 1978, when communist leaders, though eager to preserve a separate and authoritarian political system decided to embrace the world market and to open to unparalleled interest in hosting international visitors and in sending students and others abroad, with the broad goal of learning as much as possible from the rest of the world, and particularly from the industrial leaders.

When did Russia became more oriented towards a more market-based economic approach?

Russians leaders in 1985 developed a more market-based economic approach and a more open political style, which also led to new levels of international exchange.

What consequences did the fall of European communism in 1989-91 have?

- The fall of European communism in 1989-91 destroyed the barriers between eastern and western Europe, including the Berlin wall, and embraced virtually the entire region in active global interactions.
- Even Albania, long isolated even within the communist bloc, soon joined the parade. By the earlier twenty-first century only a few countries, notably North Korea and Burma (Myanmar), stood apart from.active international engagement, including extensive trade and travel, and by 2015 Myanmar was opening up to greater trade and tourism as well.

What did most regions decide about the importance of globalism?

The costs of isolation, including missing out on the latest technologies and participation in potentially profitable world trade, were simply too great to bear.

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