Some Terms: 1) COLONIALISM: (a book def) The maintenance of political, social economic, and cultural dominatin over a people by a foreign power for an extended period of time. Often occur originally through military, but sometimes economic ways. Examples: a) The US (the the 17th/18th century) b) Africa (by europe) c) India (by english) Today, the countries that were colonists are among the richest, largely because of the econ and other (eg, military) advantages they gained --- A characteristic of colonialism is the unequal use and distribution of the colonized nation's resources to the advantage of the colonist. 2) Neo-colonialism -- continued dependency, usually through economic means, by the original host country even after the "master country has left (eg, US in central america th rough the 1960s 3) Econ dependency: as countries become MODERNIZED, they often have their economy shaped in a way that may not be "natural," or that may not facilitate their growth (AFTER formal independence) DEF: MODERNIZATION is: The transition form an undeveloped society into one more economically developed and increasingly integrated into the global community. In the past, countries dominated with military might. In this century, especially in last 50 years, this occurs through MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS, which are commercial organizations which, while headquarted in one country, control substantial resources in another. Most of the top corps are in the US, but Japan is also influential in electronics, finace, and motor vehicles. Why is a nation's status important? Some quickie issues: 1) Reduces political autonomy 2) Historically, prevents middle class from developing (wealth channelled to home country, reducing "pie" 3) Emphasis on needs of dominant country reduces emergence of needs of host country (ie, manufacturing, etc, artificially focused: EXAMPLE: Agricultural countries (eg, central america) where resources in 50s/60s were channeled there, and political dictatorships emerged to keep political opposition down EXAMPLE: Think if NIU were controlled by "outsiders" who required a curriculum of math, french, and soci 170, and limited other courses.....and, on graduation, most jobs available were in those areas. POINT: Limitations on freedom of choice and opportunity that we take for granted. THEORIES TO KNOW: 1) Modernization theory: Links global inequality to different levels of economic development and lower ranked countries can move up by self-sustained economic growth 2) Dependency theory: Low income countries are exploited by higher ranked ones 3) World systems theory: Divides world into Core, Semiperipheral, and peripheral nations 4) New International Division of Labor theory So, from this chapter, what to remember: 1) We live in a global village in which we are highly integrated with each other 2) What we see as a normal way of doing business may be seen by those in other countries as a form of explotiation 3) Understanding the links between countries helps us better understand the consequences of foreign policy 4) ideology -- we think what we do is "OK," (ideology), but others may not