Evaluating Globalization
Wealth is increasingly more concentrated in the core regions
As certain economic and political relations are strengthened, other regions continue to be left behind
Global poverty increasing (gap between poorest fifth and wealthiest fifth)
Mobilization against Globalization
Economic globalization increases well-being for some, and undermines the economic, social, and cultural integrity of other places
Economic globalization is “variously embraced, modified, and resisted”
Various struggles – legal, popular protest, political – and often between civil society organization versus international institutions (WTO) or transnational corporations
Concern over “harmonization”, homogenation, and lowering of local sovereignty over environment, regulation, health, and safety
Propose: globalization as a process rather than a thing that can be rolled back; complex reconfiguration of social, political, cultural, and economic life at all scales (local -> global) that yields change
Change, on it’s face, is neither good nor bad
Globalization, and whether it is a good or bad process, depends on who you are, and how you fit within the configuration of change
Winners and losers
Population Geography
Why do we study population?
Population composition and dynamics affect economic, social, and environmental well-being of communities and regions
Rapid population growth requires huge resources in food, education, housing, and health care; political