China and Globalization

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, in China, increased foreign direct investment, the status as the world's factory, reduced trade barriers and a growing consumer class have contributed to economic growth and improvements in the quality of life; however, this rapid economic development has dramatically altered resource usage patterns at both the consumption and production levels. The author points out that the material impact of China's globalization represents a structuralist analysis, which runs counter to the theories of political individualism and rational choice, which content that, left to its own devices, the market will sort out the environmental damage. The paper argues that the long-term effects of uncontrolled globalization on China and the world will be increased potential political instability as the fight for limited and increasingly polluted resources intensifies.

From the Paper:

"As the Chinese economy grows so too the demand for resources to fuel increases in the form of energy sources and raw materials for industrial process and agricultural production. Since China is currently considered the world's factory, producing more than it consumes, the pattern of resource use is especially harmful to China. The nation imports raw materials, exports finished goods, but is left with the pollutants from that production. These pollutants and environmental damage takes on many forms including sulfur oxide emissions, deforestation, water pollution, over fishing as well as pollution from pesticides, fertilizers, and industrial chemicals."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Dahlman, Carl J. "China and India: Emerging Technological Powers." Issues in Science and Technology 23.3 (Spring 2007): 45-53.
• Grumbine, R. Edward. "China's Emergence and the Prospects for Global Sustainability." BioScience 57.3 (Mar. 2007): 249-255.
• Liu, Jianguo and Diamond, Jared. "China's Environment in a Globalizing World." Nature 435.7046 (30 June 2005): 1179-1186.

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