Unit 9: Globalization

Seeing Globalization Clearly: What It Is and Why It

Accelerates After 1900
Globalization is the increasing interconnectedness of the world economically, culturally,
politically, and environmentally. A useful way to picture it is as the tightening and thickening of
“links” between distant places so that decisions, products, ideas, money, and problems move
faster and affect more people than before.
Globalization is not new in world history. Long-distance trade networks such as the Silk Roads
and Indian Ocean routes connected Afro-Eurasia for centuries. What changes after 1900 is the
speed, scale, and everyday reach of those connections. In earlier eras, a “global” connection
often involved merchants, states, and port cities; in the modern era, globalization increasingly
reaches ordinary people through consumer goods, media, migration, and employment tied to
global supply chains. The end of the Cold War removed a major political barrier to cross-border
integration, and the rapid spread of internet-based communication helped produce a particularly
strong late-20th-century wave of global connection.
The main drivers of modern globalization
Modern globalization accelerates after 1900 because several forces stack together.
1. Technological change: New transportation and communication technologies reduce
the friction of distance. When it becomes cheaper and faster to move goods, people,
money, and information, global connections become routine rather than exceptional.
2. Economic integration: The world economy becomes more tightly integrated through
trade agreements, financial institutions, multinational corporations, and policies that
reduce barriers.
3. Political frameworks and international institutions: After major global conflicts,
especially World War II, governments create rules and organizations meant to stabilize
the international system (often tied to economic priorities).
4. Cultural diffusion: Global media and consumer culture spread music, fashion, film,
food, and language faster than ever. This can create shared global references, but it can
also provoke backlash when communities fear cultural loss.
5. Environmental interdependence: Industrialization and mass consumption generate
cross-border environmental effects (pollution, climate change, resource depletion),
turning many environmental debates into global debates.
A useful way to avoid confusion: “Globalization” is not the same as
“Westernization”
A common misconception is to treat globalization as a one-way spread of “Western” culture and
power. Western states and corporations have been extremely influential in shaping modern
globalization, but globalization also includes shifting centers of power and multidirectional
cultural exchange. Examples include the rise of new economic centers (especially in East and
South Asia) and global popularity of cultural forms such as anime, K-pop, Bollywood films, and
global cuisines.
A related point is language: English has become a dominant language of global business and
communication, but that dominance exists within a larger system of exchange, adaptation, and
resistance rather than a simple one-way “replacement” of local cultures.
Globalization creates winners and losers—and sometimes both at
once
Another misconception is that globalization is simply “good” (more trade, more ideas) or simply
“bad” (exploitation, inequality). AP World History expects you to handle complexity:
globalization often produces economic growth and new opportunities while also deepening
inequality, encouraging labor exploitation, and accelerating environmental damage.
A practical way to show complexity in writing is to track effects at multiple levels:
Individuals: new jobs, migration opportunities, and consumer choices, but also job
insecurity and cultural pressure
States: growth through exports and investment, but also reduced economic autonomy
due to debt or market dependence
Environment: higher resource extraction and pollution, but also new global
environmental activism
Exam Focus
Typical question patterns:
Explain the most important causes of increased global interconnectedness in
the late 20th century.
Describe continuities and changes in global networks of exchange from earlier
periods to the present.
Use a specific example to show how globalization affected a society
economically and culturally.
Common mistakes:
Treating globalization as a single event rather than an ongoing process with
accelerations and setbacks.
Using vague phrases (“technology improved”) without explaining mechanisms
(cheaper shipping, faster communication, etc.).
Writing as if globalization affects everyone equally; exam readers look for
evidence of uneven impact.
Technological Advances and the “Shrinking” of the World
When historians say technology made the world “smaller,” they mean time and cost changed,
not geography. A trip or message that once took weeks might take hours or seconds, and that
transformation reshapes trade, politics, culture, and how people imagine their place in the world.
Transportation: moving people and goods faster and cheaper
Modern globalization depends heavily on technologies that reduce the cost of moving physical
things.
Containerization (standardized shipping containers) is a key example. Before containers,
shipping required slow, labor-intensive loading and unloading of many different crates and
packages. Standard containers allow goods to be packed once and transferred efficiently among
ships, trains, and trucks. The mechanism matters: containerization lowers costs, reduces theft
and damage, and makes long-distance manufacturing supply chains practical.
Air travel, especially widespread commercial jet travel, also changes globalization by enabling
rapid business travel, tourism, and faster movement of high-value or time-sensitive goods. It can
also change migration patterns by making long-distance relocation more feasible.
Example in action: A company can design a product in one country, source components from
multiple regions, assemble it where labor is cheaper, and ship it globally at competitive prices.
This is globally distributed production, not just “trade.”
Communication: the acceleration of information flows
Globalization intensifies when information moves nearly instantly.
Satellites enable global telecommunications and broadcasting.
The personal computer developed in the 1980s became part of everyday life in many
places by the 1990s as computers became commonplace in homes.
The internet expands communication and coordination across borders at minimal cost.
Mobile phones expand connectivity even in regions without extensive landline
infrastructure.
Social media changes how information spreads and can bring people closer together
by enabling rapid sharing, networking, and mobilization.
The key mechanism is not simply “people can talk more.” Fast communication changes:
Markets: prices, investment, and orders respond quickly to global conditions.
Politics: activists, journalists, and governments communicate and mobilize rapidly.
Culture: music, videos, and ideas spread widely, creating shared global trends.
Global media and cultural diffusion
Cultural diffusion is the spread of cultural elements—language, religion, art, technology, food,
and norms. In the modern era, global media accelerates diffusion through film, television,
streaming, sports broadcasting, advertising, and consumer branding.
This diffusion does not always erase local cultures. Often it produces cultural hybridity—
blended forms that combine global and local elements.
A built-in tension: cultural exchange vs. cultural homogenization
A recurring debate in Unit 9 is whether globalization creates:
Homogenization (cultures becoming more alike, often through dominant global brands
and languages)
Hybridization (mixing and new local-global forms)
Revivalism/backlash (efforts to protect or “purify” local traditions)
AP World History rewards you for recognizing that all three can happen, sometimes in the same
society.
Exam Focus
Typical question patterns:
 Explain how a specific technology facilitated global economic or cultural
exchange after 1900.
Compare the effects of new communication technologies on political
movements in two regions.
Evaluate the extent to which technological innovation changed the nature of
globalization.
Common mistakes:
Naming a technology without explaining how it changes costs, speed, or
coordination.
Treating cultural diffusion as passive (“culture spread”) rather than driven by
media industries, advertising, migration, or state policies.
Forgetting that technology can intensify inequality (who gets access first, and
who profits).
Technological Limits, Inequality, and the Digital Divide
Technological change can create new opportunities, but it does not automatically produce equal
benefits. Globalization is shaped by unequal access to technology and by the reality that new
systems can create new vulnerabilities.
The “digital divide”: unequal access to connectivity
The digital divide is the gap between those who have reliable access to modern information
technologies (devices, internet, digital literacy) and those who do not. This divide can exist
between countries (wealthier vs. poorer), within countries (urban vs. rural), and within cities
(wealthy neighborhoods vs. informal settlements).
Why it matters: If jobs, education, banking, government services, and political participation
increasingly depend on digital access, then lack of access becomes a form of exclusion.
Example in action: Online job applications or digital banking can expand opportunities for many
people, but can also lock out communities without reliable infrastructure, literacy, or affordability.
Technology’s “unintended consequences”: vulnerability and
disruption
New technologies often create new forms of risk.
Job displacement: Automation and computerized logistics can reduce demand for
certain kinds of labor.
Surveillance and censorship: Digital tools can be used by states (and sometimes
corporations) to monitor citizens, limit dissent, and shape information.
Cybersecurity threats: Critical systems become vulnerable to hacking or disruption.
Privacy concerns: The internet also enables government surveillance and large-scale
storage of user data, which many view as a breach of privacy.
A strong historical move is to show two-sided effects: the same communication tools that
empower coordination (for business or social movements) can also empower control
(surveillance and censorship).
Technology and uneven development
In AP World History, development is not just “having technology.” It involves infrastructure,
institutions, education, health, and economic diversification. Globalization can intensify uneven
development because capital and high-profit industries often concentrate in places with stable
institutions and infrastructure, while lower-income regions may be pulled into global markets
mainly as sources of raw materials or low-wage labor. Debt and trade terms can limit policy
choices.
This is why the modern world economy is sometimes described using “core” and “periphery”
language (from world-systems approaches), though those terms should be used carefully and
always supported with evidence.
Exam Focus
Typical question patterns:
Explain how new technologies affected economic inequality within or between
societies.
Analyze responses to the challenges created by new communication
technologies (surveillance, censorship, misinformation).
Describe continuities in global inequality despite technological change.
Common mistakes:
Assuming technology spreads evenly and immediately; diffusion is uneven and
often shaped by wealth and policy.
Writing about inequality only as a moral issue rather than explaining the
mechanisms (infrastructure gaps, education, capital flows).
Ignoring state power—governments can accelerate access (investment) or
restrict it (censorship).
Globalization and the Environment: Debates, Tradeoffs,
and Activism
Modern globalization is inseparable from environmental change because industrial production,
mass transportation, and consumer societies depend on high resource use. Environmental
effects also cross borders, turning local ecological problems into global political issues.
Why environmental debates become global after 1900
Environmental issues become more globally significant because industrial production scales up
dramatically, fossil-fuel-driven transportation and electricity tie everyday life to greenhouse gas
emissions, global supply chains increase resource extraction (mining, logging, industrial
agriculture), and pollution and climate effects do not respect borders.
Key environmental challenges associated with modern globalization
Instead of memorizing isolated facts, focus on major categories and the mechanisms behind
them.
Deforestation: Often linked to logging, agricultural expansion, and cattle ranching.
Desertification and soil degradation: Intensified by overgrazing, poor land
management, and climate pressures.
Water and air pollution: Industrial waste, chemical runoff, and urban smog.
 Climate change / global warming: Worsening rapidly due to human activity; outcomes
are uncertain, and debates often focus on whether industrialized countries are doing
enough to limit environmental damage.
A clear mechanism to emphasize: global demand increases extraction and production; extraction
and production generate pollution; pollution and climate effects create cross-border
consequences.
The Green Revolution as an environmental and social tradeoff
The Green Revolution refers to mid-to-late 20th-century agricultural changes that increased
crop yields through improved seed varieties, irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides.
This is a classic Unit 9 example of tradeoffs. Benefits included increased food production and
reduced famine risk in some regions, producing inexpensive food in many contexts. Costs could
include destruction or reshaping of traditional landscapes, reduced species diversity, chemical
runoff, soil issues, dependence on purchased inputs, and unequal benefits (often favoring larger
landowners over small farmers). In some places, these changes contributed to social conflicts
over land, water, and access to new inputs.
Global environmental governance and activism
As environmental issues globalize, solutions increasingly require international cooperation.
The United Nations provides forums for international environmental discussions.
International agreements and conferences (including late-20th-century global
environmental summits) represent attempts to coordinate policy.
NGOs (non-governmental organizations) help publicize problems, pressure
governments and corporations, and coordinate transnational activism.
Environmental governance is difficult because countries face different development levels and
priorities. Lower-income countries may argue they need industrial growth, while higher-income
countries may push emission reductions without fully addressing historical responsibility or
funding transitions.
Example in action: A campaign against deforestation can involve local communities, national
policies, global consumer demand (for beef, timber, or palm oil), and international pressure on
corporations—globalization as a web of connected incentives.
Exam Focus
Typical question patterns:
Explain one environmental consequence of increased global economic activity
after 1900.
Analyze different responses to environmental change (state policies vs. NGO
activism).
Evaluate the extent to which globalization caused environmental change, using
specific evidence.
Common mistakes:
Treating environmental damage as accidental rather than tied to economic
incentives and state policies.
Describing activism without naming what tools activists use (media
campaigns, boycotts, lobbying, international coordination).
 Forgetting to connect environment to other unit themes (technology, trade,
inequality).
The Global Economy: Institutions, Multinational
Corporations, and Shifting Production
Unit 9’s economic story is about how the world becomes more integrated through trade, finance,
and production networks—and how this integration produces both growth and controversy.
Bretton Woods and the architecture of the postwar global economy
After World War II, many leaders wanted to avoid a repeat of the instability of the interwar period.
The Bretton Woods Conference (1944) helped create major institutions that shaped the global
economy:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The World Bank
These institutions were designed to promote monetary cooperation, reconstruction, and
development, though critics argue their policies often advanced the interests of wealthier
countries and promoted particular economic models.
Global trade governance also developed through the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) (sometimes confused in notes as “GAFF”), and later the World Trade Organization
(WTO) (established in the 1990s). These institutions aim to reduce barriers to international trade
and manage trade disputes; the WTO has over 150 member states (and today includes well over
150).
“Global alphabet soup”: major forums and groupings
Late-20th- and early-21st-century globalization is shaped not only by formal institutions but also
by recurring high-level forums.
Group of Six (G6): a forum for major industrialized democracies—originally the United
States, Britain, West Germany, Italy, Japan, and France.
G7: expanded in 1977 with Canada.
G8: expanded in 1997 with Russia; later reverted to G7 after Russia’s involvement in
Ukraine.
G20: a separate grouping involving 20 finance ministers and central bank governors,
reflecting the growing importance of broader coordination beyond the richest
democracies.
Neoliberalism and market-oriented reforms
Neoliberalism (late-20th-century policy usage) generally refers to market-oriented reforms such
as reducing trade barriers, privatizing state-owned industries, deregulating parts of the economy,
and cutting some social spending while emphasizing balanced budgets.
Supporters argue these reforms increase efficiency and growth. Critics argue they can deepen
inequality, weaken labor protections, and reduce state capacity to provide social services.
Structural adjustment: how debt and policy become linked
Countries facing debt crises may seek loans from the IMF or World Bank, and those loans have
sometimes been tied to structural adjustment programs—policy conditions requiring reforms
(often market-oriented) as a condition for receiving funds.
This shows globalization is not only “trade happening.” It is also rules and leverage: access to
capital can shape domestic policy.
Example in action: If a government must cut subsidies or open markets as a loan condition, that
can stabilize budgets but also raise prices for ordinary people or threaten local industries—
provoking protests and political change.
Multinational corporations and global supply chains
Multinational corporations (MNCs) operate in multiple countries, and their growth is tied to
improved logistics, communication, and trade frameworks.
A common pattern:
1. Firms seek lower costs, access to resources, and proximity to markets.
2. Production is broken into steps across different locations.
3. Countries compete for investment through infrastructure, tax incentives, and labor
conditions.
This can create jobs and industrial growth, especially in export-oriented economies, but it also
creates incentives for low wages and weak labor protections, outsourcing and job insecurity in
higher-wage regions, and environmental “cost shifting” (pollution-intensive production placed
where regulation is weaker).
Regional trade blocs and economic integration
Globalization is also regional.
The European Union (EU) illustrates deep regional integration through a single market
that increased mobility of goods, services, and (in many cases) people and capital. It is
often described as having executive, legislative, and judicial branches (a way to
remember that it is more than just a trade deal). The Eurozone, a monetary union
formed in 1999, did not include every EU country; notable non-participants included
the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark.
The EU’s economic influence expanded in the 1990s, and it is often framed as creating
a European single market large enough to compete with the United States in certain
sectors.
During the late-2000s economic crisis, some economies proved more resilient than
others; stronger economies such as Germany remained more stable, while some over-
extended economies faced severe collapse and debt crises.
Another major example is NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), created to reduce
barriers and deepen trade integration in North America.
Shifting production and the rise of China and India
A major change in modern globalization is the shifting geography of industrial production and
technological services.
China has become a massive economic and industrial force. One important strategy
was the creation of special economic zones, areas designed to attract investment and
production by allowing market-oriented practices that were more flexible than strict
communist economic rules. These zones became major global production centers worth
hundreds of billions of dollars in output.
 China’s global economic integration also highlights political tension: it has severely
limited internet freedom and remains politically authoritarian.
India has become one of the fastest-growing economies. After being much poorer until
the 1990s, highly educated Indians and diaspora links helped connect Indian cities to
global tech networks; ties to places like Silicon Valley contributed to India’s emergence
as a global hub for technology and services.
Both China and India are nuclear powers with large military forces, and both face
serious challenges involving poverty and global emissions.
Exam Focus
Typical question patterns:
Explain how an international economic institution shaped a country’s economic
policy after 1945.
Analyze the causes and effects of the growth of multinational corporations.
Compare arguments for and against free trade or market liberalization in the
late 20th century.
Common mistakes:
Listing IMF/World Bank/WTO without explaining what they do and how they
influence states.
Treating “free trade” as purely economic; it has social and political
consequences that often appear in prompts.
Ignoring agency in the developing world—some governments strategically
used global markets, while others faced harsher constraints.
Migration, Urbanization, and Global Culture in Everyday
Life
Globalization is not only about states and corporations. It also shapes everyday life: where
people work, what they watch, what they eat, and how identities form.
Migration as a feature of modern globalization
Migration increases and changes in character due to faster and cheaper transportation, demand
for labor in different regions (including oil economies, manufacturing centers, and service
economies), conflict producing refugees, and transnational family networks that make later
migration easier.
Migrants often create diasporas, communities living outside ancestral homelands while
maintaining cultural, economic, and family connections across borders.
A key mechanism is remittances (money migrants send home). Remittances can support
families, education, and small businesses, tying household survival to the global labor market.
Example in action: A worker employed abroad sends money back home; that money funds
schooling or housing; the household becomes more resilient, but the community may also
experience “brain drain” or social strain when many working-age adults leave.
Global cities and urbanization
Urbanization intensifies in many regions, and cities become nodes in global networks because
they concentrate finance and corporate headquarters, ports and logistics, universities and
research, and media industries. This creates opportunity and inequality side by side, with high-
income professional sectors existing near informal settlements and precarious labor.
Consumer culture and global brands
Modern globalization spreads consumer culture, the idea that identity and status are expressed
through consumption (clothing, electronics, cars, and lifestyle products). Advertising and media
create aspirations, global supply chains make products widely available, and credit expands
purchasing power for some consumers.
This is historically significant because consumer demand shapes labor systems (pressure for
cheap production), resource use (extraction), and cultural identity (norms and status symbols).
Global culture: shared references and cultural diffusion
Global culture spreads through entertainment, sports, tourism, and digital media. Widely
recognized examples of global popular culture include the Olympics, World Cup soccer, reggae
music, Bollywood, social media, and global brands such as McDonald’s. These examples are
useful evidence because they connect culture to economics (media industries, advertising, and
multinational distribution).
Cultural responses: adoption, adaptation, and resistance
Communities respond to global cultural influences in varied ways:
Adoption: embracing foreign cultural forms
Adaptation: reshaping them to fit local values (hybridity)
Resistance: protecting local languages, traditions, or religious norms
Resistance is often selective rather than total; a society may adopt technology and reject certain
cultural messages, or use global media to promote local identity.
Exam Focus
Typical question patterns:
Explain one cause and one effect of increased migration after 1900.
Analyze how globalization shaped culture in a specific region (through media,
consumer goods, or diaspora communities).
Compare responses to global cultural influences in two societies.
Common mistakes:
Describing migration only as voluntary economic movement; forced migration
and refugees are also central.
Forgetting to connect culture to economics (consumer demand drives
production networks).
Writing about “Western culture spreading” without evidence of local
adaptation or resistance.
International Security, Terrorism, and War in a Globalized
Era
After World War II, there was increased interest in maintaining international security and building
institutions to manage conflict and humanitarian crises. This security-focused side of
globalization matters because wars, interventions, refugees, and terrorism cross borders,
reshape international norms, and often intersect with global economic and cultural tensions.
International security institutions and humanitarian actors
Governments and civil society built new structures to address security and human rights.
The United Nations (UN) (founded 1945) became a central forum for diplomacy,
collective security efforts, and humanitarian coordination.
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) reflected Cold War-era collective defense
commitments that continued to shape post–Cold War security.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague prosecutes individuals for
serious international crimes (often discussed in class as “war crimes,” along with related
crimes under international law).
NGOs contribute international aid and advocacy, including organizations such as
Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières).
War in the Gulf (Iraq, Kuwait, and the aftermath)
In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait under Saddam Hussein, motivated in part by the desire for greater
control over oil reserves and regional influence. A UN-authorized coalition drove Iraqi forces out
in early 1991, often called the Persian Gulf War.
After Kuwait’s liberation, Iraq faced severe limitations on its military and economic activity,
including sanctions and inspections, while Hussein remained in power for years. In 2003, a
coalition led primarily by the United States and Britain invaded Iraq to oust Hussein. Hussein
was captured in December 2003, and a new political system took shape, including the formation
of a democratic government framework by 2005.
Despite elections, Iraq faced intense instability, including conflict and terrorism involving Sunni,
Shi’a, and Kurdish groups. Political leadership reflected this complex landscape, including a
Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani, and a Shi’a prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, alongside
continuing governance and security challenges.
Afghanistan, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and September 11
The roots of late-20th-century conflict in Afghanistan include Cold War intervention and the
collapse of state authority.
In 1979 (often discussed broadly as the early Soviet-Afghan war period), the Soviet
Union sent troops into Afghanistan to support a Marxist-aligned government amid
internal turmoil in the Afghan communist leadership (which included figures such as
Nur Muhammad Taraki).
Many Afghans opposed communist reforms and foreign intervention; after years of war,
the Soviets withdrew, leaving a power vacuum that warring factions competed to fill.
The Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist regime, eventually filled much of that vacuum
after prolonged conflict.
The Taliban provided a haven for Osama bin Laden, a Saudi leader of the international terrorist
network al-Qaeda, which targeted the United States. Motivations attributed to bin Laden and al-
Qaeda included opposition to U.S. support for Israel, U.S. troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, and a
belief that the United States was a primary agent of globalization “infecting” Islamic culture.
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda hijacked four U.S. planes, flying two into the World Trade
Center in New York, one into the Pentagon, and one into a field in Pennsylvania; about 3,000
people were killed. The United States declared a “war on terrorism” and invaded Afghanistan; the
Taliban was removed from power. Bin Laden was later killed, though al-Qaeda and related
networks persisted, and attacks linked to Islamist extremist movements have continued to occur
in parts of Europe and the Middle East.
Exam Focus
Typical question patterns:
Explain how global institutions (UN, NATO, ICC) shaped responses to conflict
after 1945.
Analyze causes and effects of a post–Cold War conflict (for example, the Gulf
War or the Afghanistan war) in a globalization context (oil, ideology,
migration/refugees, media).
Evaluate how terrorism and counterterrorism policies affected civil liberties,
migration, or international cooperation.
Common mistakes:
Treating modern conflicts as purely “religious” or purely “economic” without
showing multiple causes (oil politics, Cold War legacies, state collapse, and
cultural backlash).
Forgetting to connect war to globalization mechanisms such as global media,
refugee flows, sanctions, and multinational alliances.
Writing as if international institutions automatically solve conflicts; their power
depends on member-state cooperation.
Global Health Crises in an Interconnected World
Globalization links health outcomes across borders because pathogens travel with people and
goods, and because unequal access to sanitation, medicine, and infrastructure creates stark
differences in vulnerability.
Epidemics, sanitation, and international coordination
Epidemics remain especially dangerous in places with poor sanitation and limited healthcare
infrastructure. The World Health Organization (WHO) works to combat global health crises by
coordinating surveillance, research guidance, and international responses.
HIV/AIDS as a global crisis and a lens on inequality
AIDS/HIV has been a major global health crisis, hitting some regions—especially parts of sub-
Saharan Africa—extremely hard. In the most severely affected countries, adult prevalence at
certain points reached roughly one-fifth to one-quarter of the adult population, and treatment
has often been expensive or difficult to access.
Global health issues highlight global disparities because the burden of disease and the costs of
treatment disproportionately affect low-income individuals and communities.
Exam Focus
Typical question patterns:
 Explain how globalization increased the spread or significance of a modern
health crisis.
Analyze how international organizations (such as the WHO) respond to global
problems and the limits of those responses.
Connect health outcomes to other Unit 9 themes such as development,
inequality, urbanization, and migration.
Common mistakes:
Treating health crises as purely medical events rather than historical events
shaped by infrastructure, inequality, state capacity, and international
cooperation.
Using “globalization spreads disease” without a mechanism (migration, air
travel, refugee flows, trade routes, urban crowding).
Ignoring uneven impacts—who is most vulnerable and why.
Calls for Reform, Global Civil Society, and Backlash
Against Globalization
As globalization intensifies, so do debates about who benefits, who pays the costs, and who gets
to set the rules. Unit 9 expects you to understand both reform movements (efforts to make
globalization fairer or more sustainable) and backlash movements (efforts to limit, reverse, or
redefine globalization).
What is “global civil society”?
Global civil society refers to networks of organizations and activists operating across borders
outside formal governments. This includes human rights organizations, environmental NGOs,
labor advocacy networks, women’s rights movements, and humanitarian organizations.
Examples of prominent NGOs include Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders,
which illustrate how non-state actors can publicize abuses, provide emergency assistance, and
pressure governments.
Human rights as a transnational framework
After World War II, “human rights” became a powerful global language for political claims. The
United Nations helped institutionalize international discussion of rights and humanitarian
concerns.
The key historical skill is explaining how “rights talk” changes politics: activists can appeal to
international audiences, governments face reputational costs, and international pressure can
shape domestic policies (though enforcement is uneven). International human rights language
can be influential without automatically preventing abuse.
Anti-globalization movements and critiques of global capitalism
Opposition to aspects of globalization often focuses on labor exploitation and unsafe conditions,
environmental degradation, corporate power over democratic decision-making, inequality within
and between countries, and austerity policies tied to international financial institutions.
These critiques became highly visible in late-20th-century protests targeting global economic
meetings and trade agreements.
Example in action (argument structure):
Claim: Certain trade and investment rules disadvantage workers.
 Evidence: Firms can relocate production to lower-wage regions, weakening unions.
Reasoning: When labor cannot move as freely as capital, bargaining power shifts toward
employers.
Religious and nationalist responses
Globalization can provoke identity-based movements emphasizing national sovereignty, religious
revivalism or fundamentalism, and protection of traditional social norms. These movements may
reject parts of global cultural influence while still using global tools (satellite TV, social media,
diaspora funding) to spread their message—an important paradox for demonstrating complexity.
Reform efforts: making globalization more humane and sustainable
Reform movements often aim to change how globalization operates rather than end global
connections. Common goals include fair labor standards and corporate accountability, debt relief
or alternative development strategies, environmental protections and sustainable development,
and expanded rights for women and marginalized groups.
When writing about reform, specify the “lever” reformers use: consumer pressure (boycotts,
ethical sourcing campaigns), legal changes (labor laws, environmental regulation), international
agreements, or public awareness through media.
Exam Focus
Typical question patterns:
Analyze the causes of a reform movement or protest against globalization in
the late 20th or early 21st century.
Explain how NGOs or international organizations attempted to address global
problems.
Evaluate the extent to which globalization created cultural or political backlash.
Common mistakes:
Describing protests as spontaneous anger without identifying specific
grievances (labor, environment, debt, sovereignty).
Treating “the UN” or “NGOs” as all-powerful; their influence varies and often
depends on state cooperation.
Ignoring complexity by portraying reformers as uniformly successful or
uniformly unsuccessful; results are usually mixed.
Writing Globalization on the AP Exam: Turning Evidence
into Historical Reasoning
Unit 9 is often assessed through skills—causation, comparison, continuity and change, and
complexity. Knowing facts matters, but your score depends on how you use them.
Causation: showing chains, not single triggers
When asked for causes of globalization or its effects, aim for a chain:
Underlying conditions (postwar institutions, market policies)
Immediate catalysts (new technologies, trade agreements)
Mechanisms (lower shipping costs, faster coordination, capital mobility)
 Outcomes (job growth in export zones, deindustrialization elsewhere, cultural diffusion)
Mini-model (how to write it): Instead of writing “The internet caused globalization,” write:
improved digital communication reduced the cost and time of cross-border coordination,
enabling firms to manage supply chains across continents and allowing activists to mobilize
transnational campaigns.
Comparison: choosing meaningful categories
Strong comparisons use the same categories for both sides, such as economic effects (jobs,
wages, inequality), political responses (liberalization, censorship, regulation), cultural outcomes
(hybridity, homogenization, backlash), and environmental impact (resource extraction, pollution
controls).
Example comparison idea: Compare how two regions experienced export-oriented
industrialization: one may gain rapid growth and urbanization; another may remain tied to
commodity exports and face greater vulnerability to price shocks.
Continuity and change: what persists even as the world connects
Some patterns persist even as global links intensify: wealth and power remain unevenly
distributed, labor exploitation continues even if locations and industries change, and migration
continues with both voluntary and forced movement. The “change” is often in scale and speed,
and in the institutions and technologies involved.
Complexity: the skill that separates top responses
To show complexity, you can explain both positive and negative effects with specific evidence,
show outcomes differ by class/gender/region or rural vs. urban, and explain globalization can
simultaneously increase cultural exchange and cultural conflict.
Example complexity move: A country may experience GDP growth through exports while many
workers face low wages and poor conditions; at the same time, consumer access to goods
increases and new middle classes emerge.
Exam Focus
Typical question patterns:
LEQ prompts asking you to evaluate the extent of change in global interactions
after 1900.
DBQ prompts using sources about trade, technology, environment, or cultural
change, asking you to analyze causation and responses.
SAQs asking for one specific piece of evidence and one explanation of
significance.
Common mistakes:
Dropping named evidence (IMF, WTO, internet) without linking it to an
argument.
Writing broad claims (“globalization improved life”) without specifying for
whom and in what ways.
Ignoring time period boundaries—explain whether your evidence fits early 20th
century, post-1945, late 20th century, or 21st century trends.