Globalization and Transnational Organizing: An approach to education and development across borders

•  Globalization •  Demystifying •  knowledge economy •  Transnacionalismo •  Coord. Paradigm •  Dev. Critical Mass •  Final thoughts

Globalization and Transnational Organizing: An approach to

Education and Development Across Borders

Jorge A. Garcia

March 31, 2005


Outline

•  What is globalization •  Demystifying the myth •  Academia and globalization in the knowledge economy •  Transnacionalismo •  Coordinating paradigm

–  The triple helix: social communication paradigm –  Alternative model

•  Development of critical mass through information and development –  The quadruple helix: social development paradigm –  The role of the educator in the development of social

consciousness •  Final thoughts and suggestions


So What Is Globalization?


Definitions

•  European commission –  Trend towards integration and interdependence between

countries and regions

•  UN –  Reliance upon the free market –  Growth of international financial markets and institutions

in determining national policy priorities –  Diminution of the role of the state –  Privatization of various functions previously considered to

be the exclusive domain of the state

•  IMF –  Increases in flows of trade, capital, and information, as well as

mobility of individuals, across borders


Definitions

•  Muqtedar khan, assistant professor of political science at Adrian college in Michigan

–  Globalization is interconnectedness of people present and future. This interconnectedness is becoming the dominant character of our political, cultural, economic, -- and natural environments


Definitions

•  Herman Edward, public affair professor at Maryland university –  Process of corporate expansion across

borders and economic linkages that has been growing and changing

–  Globalization is also an ideology, whose function is to reduce any resistance to the process by making it highly beneficent and unstoppable


General Conceptions and Misconceptions

•  Globalization favors rich countries

over poor and developing countries

•  Globalization aims at eradicating poverty through international commerce

•  Globalization is a new phenomena


Realities

•  Globalization, as an economic force, does not recognize borders and nation-states. It moves based on its own self-interest, which are interlinked with global market and capital

•  Globalization is not concerned with

alleviating poverty, if focuses on greater profits for stock holders

•  Globalization is not a new phenomena


Effects of Globalization

•  Positive –  IMF

•  Promote economic growth

•  Per capita incomes have grown faster

•  Facilitated the spread of technologies, which in turn improve health, life expectancy, and literacy

•  Negative –  In spite globalization, the

poverty line has remained 1.2 billion

–  Per capita incomes have fallen in more than 70 countries

–  3 billion people live on under two dollars a day

–  Globalization has helped keep wages down


Demystifying the Myth: Globalization As an

Ideology


The Facts

•  Mexico/NAFTA: point in case. –  Since 1985 Mexico has seen GPD growth of just 1%,

compared to 3.4% from 1960 t0 1980. –  Manufacturing… has seen a net loss… despite a 45%

increase of productivity. –  60% of the employed do not receive benefits. –  One-third of the active population works in the informal

sector. –  Minimum wage is down 60% since 1982, 23% under

NAFTA. –  Manufacturing wages are down 12% under NAFTA. –  Mexican government estimates that the economic costs

of environment degradation have amounted to 10% of annual GDP, or $36 billion per year. Source: American program policy report.


Is Globalization New?


Trivia Questions

•  How many of you know where the first printing took place?

•  Where does the mandarin language originated?

•  Who invented “sine” as the basis for trigonometry?


Answers

•  The printing of the first book in the world was made by the Chinese based on content from India by an Indian half Turk

•  The Chinese word “mandarin”

arrived to china through Malaysia


Answers

•  Trigonometry arrived to India via

England, but the concepts were developed by an Indian mathematician in 499 AD Source: Nobel prize Amartya Sen


If Globalization Is Not New, What Is It Then?


Transnacionalismo

•  Is the movement across borders and regions of ideas, people, and goods for the social development of people by and for themselves


Transnacionalismo

•  What are the mechanisms that support this transnational movement of ideas, people, and goods

•  One tangible mechanism is what we

call social paradigms, which allow us to understand why we do things and how we do them


Triple Helix: The Paradigm Behind the Global Development

of Strategic Partnerships to Develop R&D

Academia and Globalization in the Knowledge Economy


Triple Helix

•  Social communication theory developed by Henry Etzkowitz , Professor of sociology in UNY, and Loet Leydesdorff, Lecturer at UA

•  Premises –  The development of academic research capacities

carries within itself the seeds of future economic and social development in the form of human capital, tacit knowledge and intellectual property

–  Should government policies focus on encouraging and subsidizing strategic alliances among companies and universities… for future product development?


Current Model of DevelopmentTriple Helix

Gov.

Univ.IndustryResearch/Ideas

Resources

Benefi

tsInnov

ation

/rese

arch

ResourcesThe “Triple Helix”

Paradigm, promotes thedevelopment of strategic

alliances between industry,government, and academia

as a catalyzer for thedevelopment of scienceand technology and thuseconomic development

Innovation/educacion


Analyze Every Component


Change the Paradigm: Quadruple Helix

•  Premises for paradigm change – Development does not happen in a

vacuum, people are the main stake holders and supporters

– The social aspect of development cannot be overlooked, without creating social chaos and discontent and long term effects on overall development


Change the Paradigm: Quadruple Helix

•  Premises for paradigm change – Lack of support for the social aspect of

development affects ALL nations and peoples, not just marginalized groups

– The effects of sound policies regarding development will have irreversible consequences on the environment and the social fabric of people


AcademiaCommunities

Paradigm: Theestablishment of

collaborative effortsbetween governmentagencies, academia,multilateral agenciesand local industry is

promoted andsupported, then social,

economic, political,and cultural , as a

fundamental humanright, will be created

from withincommunities

Resources

Innov

ation

/Res

earch

Resou

rces

Gov.

Micro-industry

MultilateralAgencies

Education

Resou

rces

Monito

r Dev

elopm

ent

Regulate

Comply and Cooperate

Eco.

Dev

.Education

Soci

al c

ontra

ctDevelopment

The Quadruple Helix for Social Development


Benefits for Social Movements and Education

•  Utilize their strategies for information sharing –  Industry and capital

•  The financial information that underpins investment decisions flows around the globe to investors who possess the appropriate technology almost instantaneously and in huge volumes nowadays

•  Technological progress has boosted the efficiency with which goods, services, capital,, ideas and people move around the globe and has been a major driving force

–  Social movements •  Relative cost reductions on this scale make the

technology widely available and have been instrumental in hugely increasing global information flows, for instance via the world wide web, which allow knowledge and new ideas to be disseminated around the globe more rapidly and in greater volume


Why Embrace a Transnational Movement for Social Development

•  As the Chilean political scientist Sandra Huenchuan Navarro says, “though indigenous people don’t know it, the most powerful determining factor of their destiny is the new York stock exchange or transnational companies”


Reasons for Doing It •  Reason #1

–  Throughout the Americas, indigenous peoples are losing economic and social ground. Their fragile control over their lands, water, and other natural resources is loosening. In response, indigenous peoples are mounting new forms of resistance and organizing Support these forms of resistance and organizing by implementing new effective models

•  Reason #2, 3, and 4 –  The plan Puebla-panama promotes the construction of highways and railroads, the

development of oil and electricity industries, and the creation of a huge free trade zone in an area throughout Mesoamerica—an area rich in resources and biodiversity

–  The highlands and eastern area of Bolivia are being affected by gas and water projects –  Two million hectares of the Ecuadorian Amazon have been ceded to oil companies, and

50% of the Colombian Amazon is considered by oil companies available for direct contracting Conduct academic research to learn and publish what is happening in the grounds

•  Reason #5 –  For indigenous people, the expropriation of their communal ancestral lands, waters,

territories and resources through colonialism and conquest has left a painful legacy of dislocation and displacement and remains the main cause of the destruction of the environment and their way of life Monitor the compliance of nation-states with international law on human rights

•  Reason #6 –  Economic activities are invariably imposed from the outside; Indigenous peoples are not

consulted or involved in their implementation, nor do they benefit from them Learn to negotiate using their own techniques


Strategic Alliances for Social Development

•  Don’t be afraid to sit in the same table to negotiate and get support: –  Political power is expanded as they deal directly with

multilateral organizations like the world bank, the Interamerican development bank (IDB), the Ibero-American fund for the development of indigenous peoples (a multilateral organizations created by the Ibero-American heads of state, also known as the indigenous fund), and the Andean community of nations, which approach them looking for consent on projects and consensus around political operations

•  Have a vision of your own –  Opponents of globalization… rarely offer a compelling

alternate vision


Hopi Saying: Does This Talk Grow Corn?

ISTEC: An Organizing Model for Transnational Organizing


Reasons for Creating ISTEC

Ø Lack of current information for planning and developing technology

Ø Lack of expertise in the use of information Ø Lack of international cooperation in

developing the critical mass needed for projects and joint efforts

Ø Lack of interaction among academia, productive sector, governments and international agencies

Ø Lack of availability of technology for social, cultural , and economic development


Structure

General Assembly

Board of Directors Exec. Office

UNM, UNICAMP, UVI

State of New Mexico

More than 100 members


ISTEC – Initiatives

Digital Library Linkages (DLL)

Information Technology

Los Libertadores

R&D Laboratories (R&D)

INITIATIVES

Advanced Continuing Education (ACE)


Digital Library Linkages (DLL) Initiative GOAL: design and implement international Science and Technology information-sharing services, by implementing state of the art search and push engines such as, Dspace, Celsius, and Chips and Salsa

Advance Continuing Education (ACE) Initiative GOAL: upgrade of human resources and curriculum development through on-site training, distance learning, and non-traditional exchange programs.

Research and Development (R&D) Initiative GOAL: design and installation of modular, flexible, and expandable laboratory facilities for education, training, and R&D (link with productive sector).

Los Libertadores Initiative GOAL: To provide technical assistance to local and international entities in the development of networks of Centers of Excellence equipped with the telecommunications and computer technology to provide real-time access to a world-wide system of expertise and knowledge for community and economic development to support


Information Communication

Technologies for Social Development

“Bridging the Digital Divide in New Mexico and Building Partnership for Sustainable Community Development And E m p o w e r m e n t t h r o u g h Information Technology and Education”

New Approach for NM: Bridging the Digital Divide


Current Reality in NM

ü NM has ranked second in R&D intensity

ü 11th in federal R&D spent within the state

 Source: American Geological Institute (www.agiweb.org)


Current Reality in NM

ü 29% of federal funding goes to R&D ü Overall expenditures in 2000 in NM

was over 3 billion in R&D ü Infrastructure

ü 3 national labs ü 3 research universities (NM ECONOMY

BASE)

ü 3 development parks

 Source: American Geological Institute (www.agiweb.org)


NM: Current Realities ü In spite of all the investment in technology

new Mexico continues to… ü Be characterized as one of the states with

high poverty rates ü Provide limited opportunities for rural and

disadvantaged communities ü Whose communities are impoverished?

Rural and indigenous communities ü High dropout/lack of education ü Predatory landing ü Loosing right to the land ü Lack of information


Where Is All The Development Going To?

Goverment

UNIVERSITY

University

Government

Industry

Pueblos

Land Grants/rural communities

Urban comm.

National

National

International

International


What Are We Doing Created an initiative that will focus on Bridging the

digital and human divide

•  ISTEC ICT for social development (ICTSD) –  Vision

•  To bridge the digital divide and build partnerships for sustainable community development and empowerment through the use of information communication technologies

–  Mission •  To encourage and develop ways to implement information

communication technologies (ICTs) to support a bottom up approach to social, cultural, economic, and political development in indigenous communities and to promote and encourage the collaboration and strategic alliances between government agencies, multilateral agencies, academia, and communities to design solutions to promote social change, cultural development, political awareness, and economic development


Objectives: •  Encourage the use of ICTs to develop sustainable

practices for economic development •  Provide access to geographical information systems to do

social, economic, and cultural mapping •  Create dialogue between indigenous communities and

academic programs to promote research and educational projects

• Create a grass root continental information network to increase communication between indigenous peoples from north and south • Introduce alternative models of development and the use of technology to do community development • Create a database on the international agreements (human rights, biodiversity, intellectual property rights, etc.) That directly and indirectly involve indigenous peoples, and provide access to them via internet • Promote the use of open source applications to do language and culture preservation


Think Local


Act Global


Education Should Help Bridge the Human Divide

•  Help develop critical thinkers •  Do not support the tendency to create hot dogs

instead of thinkers •  Value the human potential above all and get rid

of all misconceptions about people •  Make the world a better place by creating the

champions of tomorrow with true ethical values •  For communities sharing a common regional

character, there is a need for unity and common goals –  Steve Beffort, rural economic development


Formulas to Remember

Homogeneity + fragmentation = subordination

Heterogeneous + cooperation = self-determination

Unity + Conquest + Conformity = One People


Why Is This Relevant to Future Generations


Tlazokamati Gracias

Thank You

Globalization and Transnational Organizing: An approach to education and development across borders

Documents

Transcript of Globalization and Transnational Organizing: An approach to education and development across borders