TCWD MIDTERMS "The massive displacement and

WEEK 7 victimization of people ... shows that

Burmese security forces are not protecting
UN's Human Rights Chief Just Went
There on Myanmar civilians," said White House press chief
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, per the
'Seems like a textbook example of ethnic
cleansing' Washington Times.

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 12, 2017 12:10 PM CDT And on Tuesday, Bangladeshi Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina visited refugees in
makeshift camps and implored Myanmar to
(NEWSER) – The top human rights official
allow them to return safely, reports the BBC.
for the UN has dropped a damning charge
on Myanmar: "ethnic cleansing." Addressing
"Hundreds of years they are staying there,"
the agency's Human Rights Council, Zeid she said.
Ra'ad Al Hussein said that Myanmar will not
allow investigators to fully assess what's
"How they can deny that they are not their
happening to the Muslim Rohingya
citizens?" Myanmar, however, got an
community,"but the situation seems like a
important note of support from China, which
textbook example of ethnic cleansing," per
said it backed the government's moves
France 24. He's referring to the bloody
toward "stability," per Reuters.
crackdown by government forces against
militants in the western part of the country.
Meanwhile, more than 400,000 people have
The government of Aung San Suu Kyi
signed a petition seeking to have Suu Kyi's
swears troops are going after only "terrorist"
Nobel Peace Prize withdrawn. (A columnist
militants and doing their best to spare
wrote a prescient piece back in 2014.)
civilians
but members of the ethnic group fleeing the
WEEK 8 CONFIGURING
country tell a much different story of
scorched villages of mass killings. Trade War Looms as China Hits Back at
`Z!SAs of Tuesday, about 370,000 had Trump Tariffs
crossed the border into Bangladesh.
Beijing targets 3 biggest US imports
On Monday, the US joined those criticizing
the military operation. By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff
Posted Apr 4, 2018 6:12 AM CDT
 U states that voted for Trump. But both sides
pdated Apr
4, 2018 6:44
AM CDT
(NEWSER) – China says it doesn't
want a trade war—but it's not going to back
down if President Trump starts one. After
the Trump administration recommended
new 25% tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese
goods Tuesday.
Beijing hit back within hours with its
own proposed tariffs on 106 American
products accounting for around $50 billion in
trade, raising fears of an all-out trade war
between the world's two biggest economies,
the New York Times reports. The new
categories of American goods that would
face tariffs under the move include aircraft,
soybeans, and cars, which were last year's
three biggest exports from the US to China,
reports the Guardian. Other goods targeted
include whisky, tobacco, cotton, wheat, and
corn.
As Asian markets tumbled, a Foreign
Ministry spokesman in Beijing slammed
Trump's approach to trade issues. "Those
who attempt to make China surrender
through pressure or intimidation have never
succeeded before, and will not succeed
now," said Geng Shuang. Sources tell the
Wall Street Journal that many of the 106
items on China's list, including sorghum and
beef, were included in an attempt to target
still have a chance to back down from the
brink of trade war. China hasn't said when
its tariffs will take effect, and the US tariffs
are not due to take effect until May 11 at the
earliest. (China announced new tariffs on
another 128 US products earlier this week.)
ADVANCING
Towards Asian Regionalization
The center of gravity of the global
economy is shifting to Asia.
The region’s economy is already
similar in size to those of Europe and North
America, and its influence in the world
continues to increase.
In many Asian countries, the cycle of
poverty has been broken; in others, this
historic aim is within sight.
Asia’s extraordinary success has brought
new challenges—while rapid economic
growth remains a priority, citizens demand
that it also be sustainable and more
inclusive.
And Asia is now so important to the world
economy that it must also play a larger role
in global economic leadership.
Regional economic cooperation is essential
for addressing these challenges.
Asia’s economic rise is unprecedented.
The region is home to over half the world’s
population, produces three tenths of global
output (in terms of purchasing power), and
consistently records the world’s highest
economic growth rates.
The Asian “miracle” (World Bank 1993) did
not end with the 1997/98 financial crisis a
decade ago; for some countries, it marked
the beginning of renewed acceleration.
The question is no longer whether
st
Asia will be central to the 21 century
economy, but rather how it will exercise its
prominent role and how its dependence on
the rest of the world has decreased.
Regionalism is a relatively new
aspect of Asia’s rise.
Asia’s economies are increasingly
connected through trade, financial
transactions, direct investment, technology,
labor and tourist flows, and other economic
relationships.
just to Asia, but to the world.
Asian economies are principally connected
through markets— but where markets lead,
governments are following.
Asian leaders have committed to work
together more closely and have already
taken concrete steps in some areas.
The 1997/98 financial crisis, in particular,
was an important catalyst for this new
regionalism and gave rise to a range of new
initiatives.
What was the important catalyst for the new
regionalism that gave rise to a range of new
initiatives?
1997/98 financial crisis
These have not sought to replicate the
institutions of the European Union (EU), but
have rather focused on finding new and
flexible forms of cooperation that reflect the
region’s diversity and pragmatism nor are
Asia’s regional initiatives intended to replace
global relationships, but rather to
complement them. It is not a matter of
pulling up the drawbridge, but of building
bridges that connect Asian economies
together as well as to the rest of the world.
The stakes could not be higher.
A dynamic and outward-looking Asian
regionalism could bring huge benefits not
It could help sustain the region’s growth,
underpin its stability, and—with the right
policies—reduce inequality.
And it could help marshal a common
response to major new challenges that often
arise suddenly and unexpectedly.
How can regionalism benefit Asia? better.

✓ link the competitive strengths of its How can Asian regionalism benefit the
diverse economies in order to boost world?
their productivity and sustain the
region’s exceptional growth; ✓ generate productivity gains, new
✓ connect the region’s capital markets ideas, and competition that boost
to enhance financial stability, reduce economic growth and raise incomes
the cost of capital, and improve across the world;
opportunities for sharing risks; ✓ contribute to the efficiency and
✓ cooperate in setting exchange rate stability of global financial markets
and macroeconomic policies in order by making Asian capital markets
to minimize the effects of global and stronger and safer, and by
regional shocks and to facilitate the maximizing the productive use of
resolution of global imbalances; Asian savings;
✓ pool the region’s foreign exchange ✓ diversify sources of global demand,
reserves to make more resources helping to stabilize the world
available for investment and economy and diminish the risks
development; posed by global imbalances and
✓ exercise leadership in global downturns in other major
decision making to sustain the open economies;
global trade and financial systems ✓ provide leadership to help sustain
that have supported a half century of open global trade and financial
unparalleled economic development; systems; and
✓ build connected infrastructure and
✓ create regional mechanisms to
collaborate on inclusive
manage health, safety, and
development to reduce inequalities
environmental issues better, and
within and across economies and
thus contribute to more effective
thus to strengthen support for pro-
global solutions of these problems.
growth policies; and
✓ create regional mechanisms to While Asian regionalism is primarily
manage cross-border health, safety, motivated by the desire to advance welfare
and environmental issues in the region, it would not do so by
detracting from development elsewhere. On
the contrary, Asian regionalism can help to infrastructure, and political control as key
sustain global economic progress at a time determinants of international communication
when other major regions are reaching processes and effects.
economic maturity. In the early stage of cultural imperialism,
researchers focused their efforts mostly on
In the 1930s, countries created
nation-states as primary actors in
preferential trade blocks in an attempt to
international relations.
shelter their economies from the great
They imputed rich, industrialized, and
depression.
Western nation-states with intentions and
actions by which they export their cultural
products and impose their sociocultural
WEEK 9
values on poorer and weaker nations in the
Globalization and Media
developing world.
This argument was supported by a number
Cultural Imperialism and the Global Media
of studies demonstrating that the flow of
Debate
news and entertainment was biased in favor
of industrialized countries.
In international communication theory and
This bias was clear both in terms of quantity,
research, cultural imperialism theory argued
because most media flows were exported
that audiences across the globe are heavily
by Western countries and imported by
affected by media messages emanating
developing nations, and in terms of quality,
from the Western industrialized countries.
because developing nations received scant
Although there are minor differences
and prejudicial coverage in Western media.
between "media imperialism" and "cultural
These concerns led to the rise of the New
imperialism," most of the literature in
World Information Order (NWIO) debate,
international communication treats the
later known as the New World Information
former as a category of the latter.
and Communication Order (NWICO)
Grounded in an understanding of media as
debate. Although the debate at first was
cultural industries, cultural imperialism is
concerned with news flows between the
firmly rooted in a political-economy
north and the south, it soon evolved to
perspective on international communication.
include all international media flows.
This was due to the fact that inequality
As a school of thought, political economy
existed in news and entertainment programs
focuses on material issues such as capital,
alike, and to the advent of then-new media
technologies such as communication Kingdom-which resulted in the de facto fall
satellites, which made the international of the global media debate.
media landscape more complex and A second stage of research identified with
therefore widened the scope of the debate cultural imperialism has been associated
about with calls to revive the New World
international flows. Information and Communication Order
The global media debate was launched debate.
during the 1973 General Conference of the What differentiates this line of research from
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and earlier cultural imperialism formulations is its
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Nairobi, emphasis on the commercialization of the
Kenya. sphere of culture.
As a specialized agency of the United Research into this area had been a hallmark
Nations, the mission of UNESCO includes of cultural imperialism research, but now
issues of communication and culture. there is a deliberate focus on transnational
During the conference, strong differences corporations as actors, as opposed to
arose between Western industrialized nation-states, and on transnational capital
nations and developing countries. flows, as opposed to image flows.
Led by the United States, the first group Obviously, it is hard to separate the power
insisted on the "free flow of information" of transnational corporations from that of
doctrine, advocating "free trade" in nation-states, and it is difficult to distinguish
information and media programs without clearly between capital flows and media
any restrictions. flows. Therefore, the evolution of the debate
The second group, concerned by the lack of is mainly a redirection of emphasis rather
balance in international media flows, than a paradigm shift.
accused Western countries of invoking the It has become fashionable in some
free flow of information ideology to justify international communication circles to
their economic and cultural domination. dismiss cultural imperialism as a monolithic
They argued instead ·for a "free and theory that is lacking subtlety and
balanced flow" of information. The chasm increasingly questioned by empirical
between the two groups was too wide to be research.
reconciled. Cultural imperialism does have some
This eventually was one of the major weaknesses, but it also continues to be
reasons given for withdrawal from UNESCO useful.
by the United States and the United
Perhaps the most important contribution of Second, according to John Tomlinson
cultural imperialism is the argument that (1991), globalization replaced cultural
international communication flows, imperialism because it conveys a process
processes, and effects are permeated by with less coherence and direction, which will
power. Nevertheless, it seems that the weaken the cultural unity of all nation-states,
concept of globalization has in some ways not only those in the developing world.
replaced cultural imperialism as the main Finally, globalization has emerged as a key
conceptual umbrella under which much perspective across the humanities and
research and theorizing in international social sciences, a current undoubtedly
communication have been conducted. affecting the discipline of communication.
In fact, the globalization of culture has
Media, Globalization, and Hybridization become a conceptual magnet attracting
research and theorizing efforts from a
Several reasons explain the analytical shift variety of disciplines and interdisciplinary
from cultural imperialism to globalization. formations such as anthropology,
First, the end of the Cold War as a global comparative literature, cultural studies,
framework for ideological, geopolitical, and communication and media studies,
economic competition calls for a rethinking geography, and sociology.
of the analytical categories and paradigms International communication has been an
of thought. active interlocutor in this debate because
By giving rise to the United States as sole media and information technologies play an
superpower and at the same time making important role in the process of
the world more fragmented, the end of the globalization.
Cold War ushered in an era of complexity
between global forces of cohesion and local Although the media are undeniably one of
reactions of dispersal. the engines of cultural globalization,
In this complex era, the nation-state is no
longer the sale or dominant player, since the size and intensity of the effect of the
transnational transactions occur on sub media on the globalization of culture is a
national, national, and supranational levels. contested issue revolving around the
Conceptually, globalization appears to following question:
capture this complexity better than cultural Did the mass media trigger and
imperialism. create the globalization of culture?
 Or is the globalization of culture an engine that brings Jihad and McWorld in
old phenomenon that has only been contact and motivates their action, his
intensified and made more obvious with the model has two limitations.
advent of transnational media technologies? First, it is based on a binary opposition
Like the age-old question about whether the between Jihad, what he refers to as ethnic
egg came before the chicken or vice versa, and religious tribalism, and McWorld, the
the question about the relationship between capital-driven West. Barber (1996, p. 157)
media and the globalization of culture is seemingly attempts to go beyond this binary
difficult to answer. opposition in a chapter titled “Jihad Via
One perspective on the globalization of McWorld," in which he argues that Jihad
culture, somewhat reminiscent of cultural stands in "less of a stark opposition than a
imperialism in terms of the nature of the subtle counterpoint." However, the evidence
effect of media on culture, but somewhat offered in most of the book supports an
different in its conceptualization of the oppositional rather than a contrapuntal
issue, is the view that the media contribute perspective on the globalization of culture.
to the homogenization of cultural
differences across the planet.
The second limitation of Barber's book is
that he privileges the global over the local,
This view dominates conventional wisdom
because, according to him, globalization
perspectives on cultural globalization
rules via transnational capitalism. "[T]o think
conjuring up images of Planet Hollywood
that globalization and indigenization are
and the MTV generation.
entirely coequal forces that put Jihad and
One of the most visible proponents of this
McWorld on an equal footing is to vastly
perspective is political scientist Benjamin
underestimate the force of the new
Barber, who formulated his theory about the
planetary markets .... It's no contest" (p. 12).
globalization of culture in the book Jihad vs.
Although it would be naive to argue that the
McWorld (1996). The subtitle, "How
local defeats the global, Barber's argument
Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the
does not take into account the dynamic and
World," betrays Barber's reliance on a
resilient nature of cultures and their ability to
binary opposition between the forces of
negotiate foreign imports.
modernity and liberal democracy with
Another perspective on globalization is
tradition and autocracy.
cultural hybridity or hybridization.
Although Barber rightly points to
This view privileges an understanding of the
transnational capitalism as the driving
interface of globalization and localization as
a dynamic process and hybrid product of Candini, there are three main features of
mixed traditions and cultural forms. cultural hybridity.
As such, this perspective does not give The first feature consists of mixing
prominence to globalization as a previously separate cultural systems, such
homogenizing force, nor does it believe in as mixing the elite art of opera with popular
localization as a resistive process opposed music.
to globalization. The second feature of hybridity is the
Rather, hybridization advocates an deterritorialization of cultural processes from
emphasis on processes of mediation that it their original physical environment to new
views as central to cultural globalization. and foreign contexts.
The concept of hybridization is the product Third, cultural hybridity entails impure
of interdisciplinary work mostly based in cultural genres that are formed out of the
intellectual projects such as post mixture of several cultural domains.
colonialism, cultural studies, and An example of these impure genres is when
performance studies. artisans in rural Mexico weave tapestries of
Hybridization has been used in masterpieces of European painters such as
communication and media studies and Joan Mira and Henri Matisse, mixing high
appears to be a productive theoretical art and folk artisanship into an impure
orientation as researchers in international genre.
media studies attempt to grasp the complex In media and communication research, the
subtleties of the globalization of culture. main question is "Have transnational media
made cultures across the globe hybrid by
One of the most influential voices in the bringing into their midst foreign cultural
debate about cultural hybridity is elements, or have cultures always been to
Argentinean Mexican cultural critic Nestor some extent hybrid, meaning that
Garcia-Candini. In his book Hybrid Cultures transnational mass media only strengthened
(1995), Garcia-Candini advocates a an already existing condition?" There is no
theoretical understanding of Latin American obvious or final answer to that question,
nations as hybrid cultures. because there is not enough empirical
His analysis is both broad and incisive, research about media and hybridity and
covering a variety of cultural processes and because of the theoretical complexity of the
institutions such as museums, television, issue. What does exist in terms of
film, universities, political cartoons, graffiti, theoretical understanding and research
and visual arts. According to Garcia- results points to a middle ground?
This position acknowledges that cultures
have been in contact for a long time through
warfare, trade, migration, and slavery.
Therefore, a degree of hybridization in all
cultures can be assumed.
At the same time, this middle ground also
recognizes that global media and
information technologies have substantially
increased contacts between cultures, both
in terms of intensity and of the speed with
which these contacts occur.
Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that
transnational mass media intensify the
hybridity that is already in existence in
cultures across the globe.
Consequently, the globalization of culture
through the media is not a process of
complete homogenization, but rather one
where cohesion and fragmentation coexist.
Source: Kraidy, M.
(2002). Globalization
of culture through
the media. In J. R.
Schement
(Ed.), Encyclopedia of
communication and information (Vol. 2, pp.
359-363). New York, NY:
Macmillan Reference USA. Retrieved from
WEEK 10
ADVANCING
Religion in the New Global War
Mark Juergensmeyer
When Mohammed Atta boarded the airline
on September 11, 2001 that soon thereafter
slammed into the World Trade Center
towers, he left behind a manual of
instruction.
Apparently prepared by his
colleagues in the al Qaeda network, it
instructed him and his fellow activists how to
behave and what to do in preparation for
their fateful act. What is interesting about
this document is not only the text, but the
subtext. Lying beneath the pious rhetoric of
the manual and its eerie ties to the World
Trade Center tragedy are hints about the
perplexing issue of the role of religion in the
contemporary world, and answers to the
persistent question, how could religion be
related to such vicious acts of political
violence? The common sense way of
putting this question about the September
11 attack and all of the other recent acts of
religious terrorism is “what’s religion got to
do with it?”
The common sense answers to this
question are varied, and they are
contradictory. On the one hand some
political leaders—along with many scholars
of comparative religion—have assured us
that religion has had nothing to do with
these vicious acts, and that religion’s
innocent images have been used in
perverse ways by evil and essentially
irreligious political actors. On the other hand
there are the radio talk show hosts and
even a few social scientists who affirm that
religion, especially Islam, has
everything to do with it—and not just
ordinary religion, but a perverse strain of
fundamentalism that has infected normal
religion and caused it to go bad.
The Role of Religion
What is odd about this new global war is not
only the difficulty in defining it and the
nonstate,
transnational character of the opposition,
but also the opponents' ascription
ideologies based on religion. The tradition
of secular politics from the time of the
Enlightenment has comfortably ignored
religion, marginalized its role in public life,
and frequently co-opted it for its own civil
religion of public religiosity. No one in the
secular world could have predicted that the
first confrontations of the 21st century would
involve, of all things, religion--secularism's
old, long banished foe.
Religious activists are puzzling anomalies in
the secular world. Most religious people and
their organizations are either firmly
supportive of the secular state
quiescently uninterested in it. Osama bin
Laden's al Qaeda network, like most of the
new religious activists, comprise a small
group at the extreme end of a hostile
subculture that itself is a small minority
within the larger world of their religious
cultures. Osama bin Laden is no more
had representative of Islam than Timothy
McVeigh is of Christianity, or Japan's Shoko
Asahara is of Buddhism.
Still one cannot deny that the ideals
and ideas of activists like bin Laden are
authentically and thoroughly religious and
could conceivably become popular among
their religious compatriates. The authority of
religion has given bin Laden's cadres the
moral legitimacy of employing violence in
their assault on the very symbol of global
to economic power. It has also provided the
metaphor of cosmic war, an image of
spiritual struggle that every religion has
within its repository of symbols--the fight
between good and bad, truth and evil. In
this sense, then, the attack on the World
Trade Center was very religious. It was
meant to be catastrophic, an act of biblical
proportions.
Though the World Trade Center
assault and many other recent acts of
religious terrorism have no obvious military
goal, they are meant to make a powerful
impact on the public consciousness. These
or are acts meant for television.
They are a kind of perverse
performance of power meant to ennoble the
perpetrators' views of the world and to draw
us into their notions of cosmic war.
 In my comparative study of cases of large part because of the worldwide and
religious terrorism around the world I have instantaneous coverage of transnational
found a strikingly familiar pattern. news media.
In all of these cases, concepts of This has been terrorism meant not only for
cosmic war are accompanied by strong television but for global news networks such
claims of moral justification and an enduring as CNN--and especially for al Jazeera, the
absolutism that transforms worldly struggles Qatarbased news channel that beams its
into sacred battles. talk-show format throughout the Middle
It is not so much that religion has East. Increasingly terrorism has been
become politicized, but that politics have performed for a televised audience around
become religionized. Worldly struggles have the world. In that sense it has been as real
been lifted into the high proscenium of a global event as the transnational activities
sacred battle. of the global economy and as vivid as the
Global War globalized forms of entertainment and
The September 11 attack and many other information that crowd satellite television
recent acts of religious terrorism are channels and the internet. Ironically,
skirmishes in what terrorism has become a more efficient
global force than the organized political
their perpetrators conceive to be a global
efforts to control and contain it. No single
war. This battle is global in three senses.
entity, including the United Nations,
The choices of targets have often been
possesses the military capability and
transnational. The World Trade Center
intelligence-gathering capacities to deal with
employees killed in the September 11
worldwide terrorism. Instead, consortia of
assault were citizens of 86 nations. The
nations have been formed to handle the
network of perpetrators was also
information-sharing and joint operations
transnational: the al Qaeda network that
required to deal with forces of violence on
was implicated in the attack--though
an international scale.
consisting mostly of Saudis--is also actively
This global dimension of terrorism's
supported by Pakistanis,
organization and audience, and the
Egyptians, Palestinians, Sudanese,
transnational responses
Algerians, Indonesians, Malaysians,
Filipinos, and a smattering of British, to it, gives special significance to the
French, Germans, Spanish and Americans. understanding of terrorism as a public
The incident was global in its impact, in performance of violence--as a social event
that has both real and symbolic aspects. As First, they reject the compromises
the late French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu with liberal values and secular institutions
has observed, our public life is shaped by that most mainstream religion has made, be
symbols as much as by institutions. For this it Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh or
reason, symbolic acts-the "rites of Buddhist.
institution"--help to demarcate public space Second, radical religious movements
and indicate what is meaningful in the social refuse to observe the boundaries that
world. In a striking imitation of such rites, secular society has set around religion--
terrorism has provided its own dramatic keeping it private rather than allowing it to
events. These rites of violence have intrude into public spaces.
signaled alternative views of public reality: And third, these movements try to
not just a single society in transition, but a create a new form of religiosity that rejects
world challenged by strident religious what they regard as weak modern
visions of transforming change. substitutes for the more vibrant and
demanding forms of religion that they
imagine to be essential to their religion's
Empowering Religion
origins.
(Retrieved from:
Such religious warfare not only gives
http://wcfia.harvard.edu/files/wcfia/files/614_
individuals who have engaged in it the
juergensmeyer.pdf.)
illusion of empowerment, it also gives
religious organizations and ideas a public
Beyond the Secularization Debate
attention and importance that they have not
enjoyed for many years.
In modern America and Europe, the ✓ There is a discontinuity between

warfare has given religion a prominence in research agenda that focus on

public life that it has not held since before secularization and globalization.

the Enlightenment, more than two centuries ✓ Social Scientists have debated the
ago. scope, nature, extent and
Although each of the violent religious parameters of secularization in an
movements around the world has its own effort to unveil the overall patterns
distinctive culture and history, I have found and/or trajectories of the modern
that they have three things in common world.
regarding their attitudes towards religion in
society.
 ✓ Initially, secularization had a strong maintain the most important place
following but eventually it was for local immigrant communities.
superseded by re-evaluation.

✓ Various debates lead to re-appraisal.

Religion in Global Conflict

✓ Secularization debates have been

✓ Religious ideas, values, symbols and
reframed.
rites relate to deep issues of
✓ Secularization is understood as a existence; it should not be surprising
shift in the overall frameworks of when religion enters the picture in
human condition; it makes it possible times of crisis.
for people to have a choice between ✓ The ere of globalization brought with
belief and non-belief in a manner it three (3) enormous problems,
hitherto unknown. namely:

Transnational Religion and Multiple • Identity

Glocalizations
• Accountability

✓ Migration of faiths across the globe • Security

has been a major feature of the
world throughout the 20th century. Religion provides answer to these concerns:
✓ Transnational religion emerged
through the post-World War II. ✓ It provides a sense of

✓ Two distinct blends of religious identity

universalism and local particularism. ✓ Traditional religious

✓ It is possible for religious leadership provides a

universalism to gain the upper hand, sense of accountability

whereby religion becomes the ✓ Religion offers a

central reference for immigrants. sense of security
Religion transnationalism- “religion
going global”.
✓ It is possible for local ethnic or
national particularism to gain or WEEK 11
ADVANCING
What is a Global City?
Global City
✓ The idea emerged in the social
science literature in the 1980’s,
shortly after the concept of
globalization.
✓ It has a central place in
understanding contemporary spatial
patterns of globalization
✓ It is the main physical and
geographic playground of the
globalizing forces
✓ The global flows of people, capital
and ideas are woven into the daily
lived experiences of its residents
✓ It means power, sophistication,
wealth, and influence.
✓ The ideas and values of the
metropolis shape the world.
✓ Embodies both the good and the bad
effects of globalization.
✓ The global city transcends
boundaries of nation-states
✓ According to Sassen (1991), global
cities are characterized by
occupational and income
polarization, with the highly paid
professional class on the one end
and providers of low-paid services
on the other.
✓ The lifestyle and needs of the well-
off professional classes bring into
the global city an army of low paid
workers who deliver personal and
labor-intensive services like
cleaning, child-care, delivery,
restaurants and eateries, catering,
maintenance, transport, hotels,
domestic help and retail.
✓ Sassen (2005) introduces global
cities as global command centers of
the world economy.
✓ Cosmopolitanism
✓ It is the phenomenon most readily
associated with the global city.
Large, diverse cities attract people,
material and cultural products from all over
the world.
✓ The idea of cosmopolitanism invokes
pleasant images of travel,
exploration, and ‘worldly’ pursuits
enjoyed by those who have
benefited from globalization
✓ Everyday life is significantly shaped
by commercial culture, retail and
shopping as well as cross cultural
variety of food, fashion,
entertainment and various other
consumables and artifacts.
 ✓ Consumption is costly in resources  Accessibility
Features of The Global Power City Index
✓ Networks and groups rely on
(GPCI)
geographic proximity

1. As opposed to limiting the ranking

Global Cities are livable cities because:
to particular areas of research such as
“Finance” and “Livability,” the GPCI focuses
 They provide jobs that pay an
on a wide variety of functions in order to
adequate wage
assess and rank the global potential and
 They provide basic services,
comprehensive power of a city.
including safe water and adequate
2. 44 of the world’s leading cities
sanitation
were selected and their global
 They are void of discriminatory
comprehensive power evaluated based on
practices
the following viewpoints: six main functions
 People have access to educational
representing city strength (Economy,
opportunities and health care
Research and Development, Cultural
 People are not at risk of forced Interaction, Livability, Environment, and
eviction Accessibility), and five global actors who
 People enjoy security of tenure in lead the urban activities in their cities
affordable housing (Manager, Researcher, Artist, Visitor, and
 People live in communities that are Resident), thus providing an all-
safe and environment that are clean encompassing view of the cities.
 The cities are governed through
inclusive local democratic processes 3.The GPCI reveals the strengths
Japanese Mori Foundation’s and weaknesses of each city and at the
Global Power City Index same time uncovers problems that need to
It measures the global power of cities using be overcome.
the combination of six (6) criteria:
 Economy 4.This ranking has been produced

 Research and Development with the involvement of the late Sir Peter

 Cultural Interaction Hall, a global authority in urban studies, as

well as other academics in this field. It has
 Livability
been peer reviewed by third parties, all
 Environment
international experts from both the public Economy, and for Attractiveness of
and private sectors. Dining
Key Findings of the GPCI-2017 Options and Number of Visitors from
GPCI-2017 Characteristics Abroad in Cultural Interaction.
✓ New York (No. 2) increases its
✓ In the GPCI-2017 comprehensive
scores for the Economy indicators
ranking, the top five cities of London
of Nominal GDP and GDP Growth
(No. 1), New York (No. 2), Tokyo
Rate, but fails to make any
(No. 3), Paris (No. 4), and Singapore
significant headway in
(No. 5) all maintain their respective
comprehensive score, having
positions from last year. These cities
returned weaker scores this year in
have remained in the top 5 for nine
Cultural Interaction indicators such
consecutive years.
as Number of World-Class Cultural
✓ Sydney (No. 10) climbs four spots
Events Held and Livability
this year to edge its way into the top
indicators like Variety of Retail
10 for the first time in seven years.
Shops .
Cities such as Los Angeles (No. 11),
Tokyo claimed the No. 3 ranking for the first
Beijing (No. 13), and San Francisco
time last year and closes the gap on New
(No. 17) also largely improve their
York (No. 2) this year. This is a result of the
rankings from last year.
American city’s score stalling while Tokyo
✓ By region, the European cities on the
continues to improve every year in the
whole score highly in Livability and
Cultural Interaction indicator of Number of
Environment. The cities of Asia,
Visitors from Abroad. However, Japan’s
which rank highly overall, earn
capital city slips from No. 1 to No. 4 in
strong scores in Economy.
Economy due to weaker scores in “Market
Trends for the Top 3 Cities Size” and “Market Attractiveness.”

✓ London, the No. 1 city in the Results for New Cities in GPCI-2017

comprehensive ranking for the sixth

year in a row, further extends its lead ✓ Dubai and Buenos Aires make their
over the competition by improving its first-ever appearances in the GPCI
scores for such indicators as GDP in 2017 with respective
Growth Rate and Level of Political, comprehensive rankings of No. 23
Economic and Business Risk in and No. 40.
✓ Dubai boasts strengths in Cultural
Interaction (No. 9) and Economy
(No. 11) mainly thanks to strong
evaluations for Corporate Tax Rate
in Economy, and Number of Luxury
Hotel Guest Rooms in Cultural
Interaction.