CHAPTER EIGHT: Pax Britannica, Pax Americana, and Globalization Today

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KOF Index of Globalization
Sponsored by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, this Web site contains detailed, quantitative analyses of globalization levels for 123 countries in recent years.

Read the "Method of Calculation" document and the "Variables and Weights" document. Now click on the "Detailed Rankings" link. Which country has the highest globalization index? In which of the three individual areas of globalization (economic, political, social) does it rank the lowest? According to the methods of measurement and what you know of this country, what could account for this?


Globalization
This page, created as a part of Stanford University's Encyclopedia of Philosophy, details the philosophical and ideational roots of globalization.

Click on the link titled "Globalization in the History of Ideas" and read this section in its entirety. Who does this article say created the first theory of "territorial compression" in 1848? What was the substance of this theory? What metaphor did American philosopher John Dewey use to describe globalization, and why did he choose this comparison?


OPEC
This link is the official site for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Counties.

Click on "About us," then click on "Countries." Look up the statistics for Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Which country has the greatest value of petroleum exports? Which has the largest current account balance? Which has the largest consumption of refined products? What are some things that might account for these differences?