The political economy of the flu

In response to the email I sent out yesterday with a link to an interesting analysis of  the geopolitics of the flu , Bradie Williams from our class responded with this:

Something else that one could find interesting in this whole ‘swine’ flu hysteria is the impact on global economics. With reports being released about the pandemic potential of the flu, it seems that many governments defense mechanisms may be stretched too far. For example, the Chinese government has recently banned all pork imports from the United States, a severe overreaction considering the illness is not  food-borne at all. This action taken by China could lose farmers in the US upwards of a billion dollars. In terms of space and globalization, it’s amazing how a disease that will most likely never affect the farming communities here in the US may lead to their demise.

Bradie recommends this link to more debates and discussions on the political economy of the flu

Slumdog Millionaire: developmentalism on film?

The film Slumdog Millionaire has set of a heated debate in India, and rippled across the western World.

Protests outside the studio of actor Anil Kapoor

Alice Miles a reporter for the Times London Calls the film an example of ‘poverty porn’ – where a a grassroots, insiders view of the ‘the slums’ is served up for a voyeuristic western audience.

Sadia Sheppard, documentary filmmaker and author writes:

More troubling than Mr. Boyle’s facile characterization of life in Asia’s largest slum is how the national argument over India’s representation in popular culture seeps into the urban solutions proposed for Dharavi, notably a new redevelopment plan which would demolish the slum and relocate some of its residents to a complex of towers…a sentiment that goes hand in hand with Bollywood’s glossy view of reality.

Here is a link to a blog on the story : ‘The Real Roots of the ‘Slumdog’ Protests’

and the article in the NYTs.

Mumbai: Everyday Contradictions of Urbanization and Globalization

Mumbai

A recent essay by Anand Giridharadas in the NYT speaks volumes to the contradictions of Mumbai in the face of urbanization and globalization. This is a city where “luscious skyscrapers sprout beside mosquito-prone shantytowns”; where Bollywood–India’s answer to Hollywood–meets Dharavi, a slum where one million people inhabit one square mile. Giridharadas remarks that “these dueling claims on Mumbai explain its mongrel look: like a duty-free mall in parts, in parts like a refugee camp.” What does it mean to be an emerging global city and home to one of the largest slums in Asia? What do plans for Dharavi’s redevelopment have to do with the need for cities to compete in an increasingly globalized marketplace?

Processes of displacement within the context of urban redevelopment are not confined to places like Mumbai. As we begin our discussion of urbanization and gentrification we’ll begin to see similarities between what’s happening in Mumbai and Dharavi and cities in the western world. Read Giridharadas’ story, published along with a slide show, in the New York Times here

Fox News Interview with Mayor of Lansing on Auto Bailout

Mayor Bernero offers an impassioned overview of the uneven geographies of bailout conditions.

Iceland vs India: Globalization ‘resisters’ fairing better in current economic crisis

A Harvard economist attending the World Economic Form at Davos said that countries like India that have had been comparatively stringent with global capital flows have fared much better in this current era of global turmoil. One Indian businessman praised the strong regulatory approach to financial investment adopted by the Indian state. On the other hand, countries that fully deregulated their markets to entice global capital flows, have suffered the most. Iceland for example. As the article in the NYTs reports it: ‘Iceland was the wonder economy of the world; now it is broke.’ In a noteworthy shift of mind,  IMF economists appear to now be calling for a new global financial regulator. Read the full report in today’s NYT here.

Bailouts and ‘Buy American’ policies ‘distorting competition’ say leaders in Davos

World Economic Forum 2009

The bailout of the banks and the auto industry, the recent measures proposed by Obama’s administration to protect the domestic  steel industry,  all have come under attack at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. These measures, warned foreign officials at Davos  ‘have serious consequences for Washington and the rest of the world.’ According to an article in today’s NYTs, Germany’s chancellor condemned US protectionist policies, warning that they must not be allowed to ‘completely distort’ market forces and global free trade. Read the full article here

“Geography Is Dividing Democrats Over Energy”

An article in the NYT  yesterday detailed a debate in Congress over proposed environmental legislation that will inflict tougher regulations over greenhouse gas emissions. The effects of these new regulations would play out unevenly over the US. According to the NYT, Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio said:

“There’s a bias in our Congress and government against manufacturing, or at least indifference to us, especially on the coasts…It’s up to those of us in the Midwest to show how important manufacturing is. If we pass a climate bill the wrong way, it will hurt American jobs and the American economy, as more and more production jobs go to places like China, where it’s cheaper.”

How are real material practices –like the manufacturing economy– tied to a Midwest identity and sense of place, as well as broader notions of American identity? How is this identity harnessed to differentiate between ‘us’ and ‘them’ at two different scales? Read the full article here.

Globalization…in a Box

In mid-September 2008 the BBC embarked on a year long project to track the the route of a shipping container around the globe as it travels from port to port, carrying

The BBC container. A GPS device tracks its movement around the globe in real time

the goods and services that sustain the networks of international trade that we now call ‘globalization’. ‘Containerization’ and the various regulatory and landuse changes that support the shipping industry revolutionized  the speed and ease with which goods flow around the world. Marc Levine, an economist, recently published a book “The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger”. Read a review in the New York Times here. Follow the container’s journey around the world on the BBC’s website here.

The Midwest as a scale of geographic analysis

Turns out that the US Census Bureau has an official definition for the Midwest. So ‘Midwest’ is not just a cultural identity or historical term associated with a particular place, but also a scale of analysis with defined borders  to measure characteristics about this population and make policy decisions.

Globalization: A working definition

Based on your brainstorming in today’s class, I’ve compiled a set of short phrases to help guide our working definition of globalization:

1. The diffusion of ideas and culture from one place to another. Like  Obama Fever – its migration from US to Madagascar, Kenya, Ecuador.  Obama and Michelle are now popular baby names in Kenya.

2. The migration of people from the ‘global south’ to the ‘global north’.

3. The rapid movement of economic goods and services across national and regional borders.

4. The integration of systems of transportation and communication.  Global networks of communication.

6. The rise of international organizations like the World Bank to facilitate the trade of goods and services.

And here is a haiku, composed by a group of your classmates:

Globalization
Expansion of Ideas
Around the World