Unit 9: Globalization

Before the container revolution of the mid-twentieth century, cargo was loaded in a process called 'breakbulk shipping,' where dockworkers loaded individual crates, barrels, and sacks by hand. This labor-intensive method meant that ships spent up to two-thirds of their time idle in ports, and shipping costs accounted for a substantial portion of the retail price of manufactured goods. The standardized cargo container, introduced in 1956, allowed goods to be loaded onto trucks at a factory, moved directly to railcars, and stacked onto specialized ships without ever being handled by dockworkers. By reducing transit times and cargo handling costs by over 90%, the container transformed global commerce.

Which of the following best explains how the technological development described in the passage affected the global economy in the late twentieth century?

“We are here to defend our water, which is a gift from God and a right of all people, not a commodity to be bought and sold by a transnational corporation. The World Bank told our government that we must privatize our water system to receive loans. Now, a foreign company has raised our water rates so high that families must choose between eating or paying for water. We will not accept this neoliberal recolonization of Bolivia. We will protest in the streets until the contract is cancelled and our water is returned to the public.”

—Oscar Olivera, spokesperson for the Coalition in Defense of Water and Life, Cochabamba, Bolivia, 2000

The protests described in the excerpt are most representative of which of the following developments in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries?

The following passage is an excerpt from a speech by U.S. President Bill Clinton at the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Side Agreements in 1993.

"This agreement is not just about trade; it is about building a partnership for the future. By lowering trade barriers, we are not only expanding markets for our goods but also fostering closer cooperation among our nations. In a rapidly integrating world, such regional agreements are essential to ensuring that we can compete and thrive together, rather than turning inward."

Based on the passage and your knowledge of world history, the creation of regional agreements like NAFTA in the late twentieth century was primarily a response to which of the following global developments?

“Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people...

Now, therefore, the General Assembly proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights...”

—Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations, 1948

The passage above is best understood as a global response to which of the following historical developments?

"We cannot accept that the developed countries, having achieved their high standard of living through centuries of unrestricted industrialization and carbon emissions, should now demand that developing nations restrict their own industrial growth in the name of global environmental protection. Environmental sustainability must not come at the expense of our right to lift our people out of poverty."

— Representative of the Group of 77 (G77) coalition of developing nations, statement at a United Nations conference on climate change, 1997

Based on the passage, which of the following best explains the primary source of tension in late-twentieth-century global environmental negotiations?

"Beginning in the mid-1970s, our economic policy underwent a revolutionary shift. We dismantled the protective barriers of the past, privatized dozens of state-owned banks and corporations, and opened our domestic markets to foreign investment and competition. By embracing the principles of the free market, we sought to integrate our national economy into the global financial system, moving away from state-directed industrialization."

—Excerpt from a report by a Chilean government economic advisor, 1981

The economic policies described in the passage are most representative of which of the following global developments in the late twentieth century?

Read the passage below and answer the following question.

'We are a product of 500 years of struggle: first against slavery, then during the War of Independence against Spain led by insurgents... then during the French invasion... and later when the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz denied us the application of the Reform Laws... We have been denied the most elemental conditions of life so that others can pillage the wealth of our homeland. They do not care that we have nothing—no land, no work, no health care, no food, no education... Today we say: Enough is Enough!'
— Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), *First Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle*, Chiapas, Mexico, 1993

Which of the following best explains the historical context of the concerns expressed in the excerpt?

The introduction of commercial jet aircraft in the mid-twentieth century transformed global transportation. Prior to this development, intercontinental travel was dominated by passenger ships and slower propeller planes, making long-distance journeys time-consuming and expensive. The speed and capacity of commercial passenger jets not only enabled rapid transnational corporate travel and the expansion of mass international tourism but also facilitated the rapid transport of high-value freight and perishable goods across oceans in hours rather than weeks.

Based on the passage and your knowledge of world history, which of the following best describes a major global consequence of the technology discussed?

"While we celebrate the eradication of smallpox and the development of sophisticated therapies for heart disease, my country still loses thousands of children annually to dehydration from diarrheal diseases. The technology to save them is inexpensive and simple, but our clinics lack clean water and refrigeration. The modern world has conquered the microbe in theory, but in practice, poverty remains the ultimate disease vector."
—Representative of a West African nation to the World Health Assembly, 1995

Which of the following developments in the late twentieth century most directly contributed to the disparity described in the passage?

“We are witnessing a global system that operates primarily to protect the rights of capital rather than the rights of citizens. The international financial institutions and trade agreements of the late twentieth century have consistently subordinated local agricultural systems, environmental protections, and labor standards to the demands of transnational corporations. By imposing structural adjustment programs and deregulation on developing nations, these bodies have widened the gap between the wealthy and the poor, dismantling the economic sovereignty of local communities in the name of free trade. We must reclaim our local economies, protect our environments, and demand democratic control over our resources.”
—Manifesto of the International Coalition for Economic Justice, 1999

The arguments expressed in the passage are best understood as a reaction to which of the following late-twentieth-century developments?

In Senegal, hip-hop has been embraced by youth not simply as an imitation of African American culture, but as a vehicle for reviving traditional Wolof oral poetry (*taasu*) and addressing local political issues. Known as *Rap Galsen*, the genre merges imported electronic beats with traditional sabar drumming and lyrics in local languages that critique government corruption. Senegalese artists argue that rather than losing their heritage to Western imports, they are using globalized media to amplify local voices and preserve historical storytelling traditions.

Based on the passage, the development of *Rap Galsen* in Senegal best illustrates which of the following trends in globalized culture in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries?

“For us, the fight against the McDonald’s in Millau is a symbol of our resistance against a form of agriculture that wants to feed the world with standardized food, and against a global trade system dominated by the World Trade Organization. This system seeks to dismantle local cultures and replace them with a single global consumer monoculture, where profit is the only value. We are defending the right of communities to feed themselves and maintain their culinary traditions and agricultural livelihoods against the dictums of transnational corporations.”
—José Bové, French agricultural activist, interview, 1999

Based on the passage, the protest against the multinational fast-food chain is best understood as a reaction against which of the following global trends?

"We must not sign any treaty that exempts developing nations from mandatory greenhouse gas reduction targets while imposing binding targets on our own economy. Doing so would place our domestic industries at a severe competitive disadvantage, resulting in massive job losses and the relocation of manufacturing to countries with lax environmental standards. Economic growth is the true engine of environmental improvement; a weaker economy will only reduce our ability to invest in clean technologies."

—Statement by a business coalition lobbying against the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, United States, 1997

The perspective expressed in the statement is best understood in the context of which of the following late-twentieth-century developments?

Basketball was introduced to the Philippines by American teachers in the early twentieth century. By the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the sport had become deeply embedded in Filipino culture. In neighborhoods (barangays) across the archipelago, basketball courts—often makeshift hoops mounted on coconut trees or utility poles—became centers of community life. Local tournaments are held during town fiestas, often sponsored by local politicians and integrated with traditional religious festivals. The game is played with a distinct local style emphasizing speed, agility, and street-smart playmaking over the height-dominated play typical of North American professional leagues.

The development described in the passage best illustrates which of the following processes in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries?

"The emergence of British-Asian bhangra music in cities like Birmingham and London during the 1980s and 1990s represented a complex cultural fusion. British-born youth of South Asian descent combined traditional Punjabi folk rhythms and instruments, such as the dhol drum, with contemporary Western genres like synth-pop, electronic dance music, and hip-hop. This new hybrid style served not only as a means for young British Asians to assert their identity in a multicultural society, but it also quickly gained popularity worldwide, circulating back to South Asia where it transformed mainstream Indian popular music."

Based on the passage, the global spread and evolution of bhangra music is best understood as an example of which of the following processes?

The following passage is from an academic study of consumer culture in East Asia published in the late 1990s.

"In Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei, McDonald’s was initially embraced as a symbol of Americana and modernity. However, local consumers quickly adapted the franchise to fit their own cultural needs. Rather than treating it as a place for rapid, convenient dining, middle-class families and students transformed these restaurants into leisure centers. Customers frequently spent hours socializing, studying, or celebrating family milestones over coffee and fries. In doing so, East Asian consumers stripped the establishment of its original American association with speed and efficiency, embedding it instead into local patterns of hospitality and community life."

Based on the passage, the behavior of East Asian consumers best illustrates which of the following features of globalized culture in the late twentieth century?

“If the present growth trends in world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on this planet will be reached sometime within the next one hundred years. The most probable result will be a rather sudden and uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial capacity. It is possible to alter these growth trends and to establish a condition of ecological and economic stability that is sustainable far into the future.”

— Club of Rome, *The Limits to Growth*, 1972

Which of the following late-twentieth-century developments was most directly influenced by the arguments expressed in the passage?

Source: Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and founder of the Green Belt Movement, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, 2004.

"Although the Green Belt Movement’s tree-planting campaign did not start as a political movement, it soon became clear that responsible governance of the environment was impossible without democratic space. Therefore, the tree became a symbol for the democratic struggle in Kenya... In time, we came to see that environmental degradation, poverty, and war are intimately linked."

Based on the passage, the perspective expressed by Maathai most directly reflects which of the following developments in the post-1900 world?

“Despite the introduction of highly effective vaccines in the mid-twentieth century, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, launched in 1988, faced persistent hurdles. In several regions of the Global South, political instability, active military conflict, and deep-seated local suspicions of international agencies disrupted vaccination campaigns. Public health workers struggled to maintain the 'cold chain' necessary to keep vaccines viable in remote areas without electricity. While polio was successfully eliminated from the Americas and Europe, transmission continued to persist in localized pockets of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa into the early twenty-first century.”
—Adapted from a report by the World Health Organization, 2005

Based on the passage, the difficulties in eradicating polio most directly illustrate which of the following aspects of global health in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries?

"The shift of Western Europe’s energy base from domestic coal to imported oil was one of the most significant developments of the post-Second World War era. In 1947, coal met about 80 percent of Western Europe's energy needs, while oil accounted for only about 10 percent. By the mid-1950s, however, the rapid expansion of automobile ownership, diesel-powered merchant shipping, and oil-fired industrial boilers had doubled oil’s share of energy consumption, with the vast majority of this petroleum arriving via tankers from the Middle East."
—Report by the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, 1956

The technological shift described in the passage was most significant in facilitating which of the following global trends in the late twentieth century?