1. Globalisation began during the 18th and 19th centuries with the movement of people
through colonialisation and early trade of products across borders. This was further
strengthened after World War 2 with increases in world trade and post war
immigration. However the term “Globalisation” only became common use in the late
1980’s with the explosion of technology around the world. Globalisation is a term
used to describe the integration of world economies (Edge, 2014). This can be seen
through international trade, capital movements, migration and movement of people
through international travel and the distribution of knowledge. The massive
developments in transportation and telecommunications in the twenty-first century
has had a major influence on globalisation with online shopping and social
networking generating further interdependence of economic, social, cultural and
political activities (Edge, 2014).
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2. The state will have us believe that recent reductions in trade barriers and the
deregulation of world financial markets has given countries the opportunity to take
further advantage of trade liberalisation giving opportunity for economic growth and
reduced poverty. However many argue globalisation is an opportunity for increased
exploitation of labour in a growing capitalist world that will neither benefit
developing or developed countries. While large corporations benefit through greater
profits by outsourcing labour to poorer countries, the people in both countries suffer
through loss of jobs in the home country and exploitation of employees in the poorer
countries (Lentin, 2014).
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3. Positives of Globalisation for Australia (Department of Foreign affairs and trade,
2012)
• Globalisation has given Australians the opportunity to access competitively priced
goods and services from around the world.
• As a country we export over $300 billion in goods and service per year building our
nation’s wealth.
• Australian companies investing outside Australia are helping to create employment
and wealth in poorer countries, while foreign investment in Australia helps to create
wealth here.
• There is evidence showing that wages in export sectors are up to 25% higher than
those that simply service the domestic markets.
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4. Negative impacts of Globalisation
• Large Australian corporations are contributing to the exploitation of workers in poor
countries in Asia while reducing jobs prospects within Australia.
• Trade liberalisation in agriculture has opened up markets in poor countries where
Australia’s commodity exports are putting local farmers out of work.
• Australia permits importing of goods from countries that allow child labour and
forbid the formation of free trade unions.
• Multinational organisations operating within Australia have too fewer restrictions
allowing them to take wealth from our country which is not in our best interests.
• Globalisation allows for the ongoing redistribution of wealth from the poor to the
wealthy.
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5. While there is evidence of both positives and negatives for Australia and the world
around the impacts of globalisation it is clear that we can never turn back the clock
on progress and technology. It is therefore essential that governments look outside
their own borders when making decisions which will clearly impact on the lives of
many others around the globe.
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6. There are 3 main categories of democracy:
1. Representative democracy is where an official is elected by the people to stand on
the people’s behalf and represent their needs and views.
2. Direct or participatory democracy is where the people represent themselves.
Direct democracy is usually seen on a smaller scale whereas participatory democracy
can operate on a larger scale through the use of referendum where choices are put
forward to the people rather then decided on by the government.
3. Elite democracy theory is where the minority rules the majority. It believes a small
group of economic elite have the most power and they control the state even though
there is a democratic election process.
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7. Australia along with all modern Western style democracies are all forms of
representative democracies. In this political system, eligible citizens vote for
representatives to make decisions on governing the country on our behalf. Held
defines democracy as “rule by the people” but states that this term is unclear. Who
are to be considered the people? (Held, 1996). The Australian democracy includes
core values such as: freedom of election, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech,
expression and religious belief, rule of law, and other basic human rights for its
citizens but once again we must ask who is considered as a citizen.
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8. Australia currently has a population of almost 23.5 million people, however in the last
election only 16 million were eligible to vote and of those 14.8 million were actually
enrolled to vote (Australian electoral commission, 2014). This means that 8.7 million
people, 37% of the people living within Australia did not vote in the last election.
While a large portion of this 37% is under the legal voting age of 18, the right to vote
also excludes many homeless people, disabled people, prisoners and people living in
remote areas. In addition to this while you may have been a resident of Australia for
decades unless you have gained Australian citizenship you do not share the same
rights as an Australian citizen. Is this representative democracy?
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9. It is compulsory in Australia for all eligible citizens to enrol and vote in federal
elections. If an Australian citizen is unable to provide a sufficient reason for failing to
vote they must pay a penalty or legal action can be taken against them (Australian
electoral commission, 2014). However even with these laws in place statistics from
the Australian electoral commission show us that over 1 million eligible Australians
did not vote in the last election.
While we ask if it is representative democracy to exclude people; we need to also ask
“Is it undemocratic to force people to vote?”
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10. While Australia has come a long way in making voting accessible to all it’s citizens we
still need to ask whether the right to vote actually creates a Representative
Democracy.
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11. A social movement is a group action which has a specific social or political focus.
Social movements can vary in size depending on the issue they are fighting for.
Smaller social movements usually deal with local issues that have a direct impact on
participant’s lives such as the traffic issues residents believe will be caused by the
North West Rail link station at Cherrybrook or Lismore residents fighting with
Metgasco against drilling for gas which may affect their water supply. Larger social
movements can include international organisations dealing with global issues, like
Greenpeace whose aim is to expose global environmental problems.
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12. When we talk about social movements many people think of violent protests, such as
the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 which resulted in hundreds of deaths of
university students after a peaceful protest became a military massacre. However
social movements are not about creating violent situations. The aim of social
movements is to express people’s views on a particular social or political issue while
creating public awareness and involvement. Social movements voice their concerns
through petitions, advertising, strikes, sit-ins, boycotts and social media as well as
peaceful protests and rallies.
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13. Social movements are a collective struggle against power, governments and authority
aimed at protecting and fighting for human rights, our planet and the many other
creatures on earth. Human rights social movement groups focus is usually around
gaining equality. Their focus may be very wide-ranging including women’s rights, the
fight against racism, equal education, unemployment or indigenous rights, but each
of these social movements are fighting for equality and fairness within humanity.
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14. There are many groups who focus on the protection and humane treatment of the
creatures we share our planet with. Some of these include the R.S.P.C.A., P.E.T.A. and
W.S.P.A. Like the human rights groups each of these social movements have their own
focus. The focus of the R.S.P.C.A. is based primarily around the humane treatment of
domestic and farm animals. Whereas P.E.T.A. argues animals are our friends and are
not ours to use for food, clothing, entertainment or experimentation.
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15. One of the most recent Animal welfare social movements we have seen in Australia is
the fight against the culling of sharks in Western Australia. Kate Nelson of W.A. set up
an online petition through change.org and gained over 32,000 online signatures to
stop the tracking and destroying of the great white shark which is a well-known
threatened species. The Culling of sharks has also been strongly criticised by many
animal rights activists including the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Animals
Australia, the Australian Marine Conservation Society and Greenpeace Australia.
While shark culling continues in WA there is still the hope that these social
movements may stop the government before the Great White Shark become extinct.
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