1. Is Globalisation hollowing out
the nation state?
What is it that national governments
usually do?
Globalisation is a fact – but is it a good
thing?

2. The New Right and Marxists argue
over what has happened since the
fall of the Berlin Wall.
Fukuyama argues that it lead to the ‘end of ideology’
Marxists that it allowed for the spread of capitalism –
neo-liberalism.
Explain what each means.

3. Recently – March 2012
• Brazil overtook the UK as the sixth largest
economy in the world.
• Asian now spends more on the military than
Europe.
• What does this show?
• However some nations are clearly getting left
behind the so-called ‘failed states’ – what
does this mean?

4. Lash and Urry (1987)
• MNCs now exist separately from a home country
(‘If GM sneezes the US gets a cold’) – they switch
production to where labour costs are cheaper.
• This has changed the nature of the working class
in the former host nations and the economies of
these nations and their politics. Why?
• According to Brecher et al – of the 100 most
powerful economies in the world 51 were
corporations in 2001. What are the possible
consequences of this?

5. Is the nation state dead?
• Hirst (1993) argues that when companies
fail, the state still intervenes to bail them out –
the banking crisis was an example of this; RBS
failed and the government nationalised it –
why?

6. Will globalisation lead to the end of
nation identities?
• The fear is that globalisation is really
‘cocoalisation’ - or cultural homogenisation.
• What examples can you think of?
• How does the rise in popularity of Al Jazeria fit
into this analysis?

7. Cultural resistance
• In many polities there has been strong
resistance to the spread of western values.
Can you think of examples?
• The emergence of new identities – of
hybrididty – can you think of examples?

8. The rise and fall of the Celtic tiger.
• An AQA sociology text book quotes Ohmae
‘He looks at thriving regions such as
Ireland, Finland and Dalien in China, and
explains how they have capitalised on
emerging trends.’ Since then the Irish
economy has collapsed and has to ask for
bailouts from the EU. – What does this prove
about the process of globalisation?

9. Anti-globalisation protests
• Every time the worlds leaders meet to discuss
the problems of the world there has been
huge fight backs from protestors starting in
Seattle in 1999 to the ‘Occupy’ movements in
2011. The Marxist Alex Callincos argues that:
‘The fact remains that this is the greatest
opening for the Left since the 1960s.’ – what
do you think he meant by this?

10. Synoptic note
• How could you link this with crime and
deviance – think green crime and corporate
crime or the world trade in illegal drugs.