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Craft an argument that uses this an example to answer the following question. 

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Craft an argument that uses this an example to answer the following question. 

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Qn: Is it true that the more interconnected the world becomes, the more danger there is?

It is untrue that more interconnectedness of the world will necessarily pose more danger to the world. The net effect of greater interconnectedness depends on the nature of the particular interconnection. The interconnection of supply chains in the world has created bubble of security which may arise from this interconnectivity. When this bubble is popped by external factors, companies and people utilising their service or product may suffer. For example, when USA banned Huawei, people suffered as Huawei provided a cheap supply of broadband connectivity. With this ban, people are deprived of cheap and some were even cut off of the internet due to the unavailability of affordable internet connectivity. Hence people are denied of some economic opportunities. Therefore, it can be said that the danger of globalisation is ironically created by the idea of interconnectivity of globalisation.

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Read/watch the resources below and answer the questions that follow.

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Choose any MNC company to explore on the implications of globalisation (for example: Coco-Cola, Shell, Exon-Mobil etc.)

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Choose any MNC company to explore on the implications of globalisation (for example: Coco-Cola, Shell, Exon-Mobil etc.)

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Apple Incorporated.

https://studycorgi.com/apple-inc-affected-by-globalization-and-technology/

https://theawarenessnews.com/2022/03/30/slaves-of-the-cheap-the-labour-exploration-cycle/

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At Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, world demand for flowers has become so high that it has a dedicated flower terminal.

Tambuzi's flowers travel 180km (112 miles) by road to the airport. A Boeing 747 can carry 90 tonnes of flowers. In a slow week, about 30 flights loaded with passengers and a hold full of flowers will leave the airport. But in the run-up to Valentine's Day this figure may rise to 100.

The introduction of direct flights over the years has resulted in major developments in trade relations between countries such as America, the UK and China.

Flying flowers thousands of miles undoubtedly uses more energy than transporting them shorter distances, but being on the equator means flower farms themselves can be less energy intensive. "You don't need to heat your greenhouses, you have more sun exposure - energy usage would be much less than growing flowers in Europe," says Union Fleurs' Sylvie Mamias.

For this reason, roses grown in Kenya and sold in Europe produce 5.5 times fewer greenhouse gas emissions than those raised in the Netherlands, even taking into account air transport, according to research commissioned by the Fairtrade Foundation.

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At Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, world demand for flowers has become so high that it has a dedicated flower terminal. Tambuzi's flowers travel 180km (112 miles) by road to the airport. A Boeing 747 can carry 90 tonnes of flowers.

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Read/watch the resources below and answer the questions that follow.

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Why Brexit happened -- and what to do next

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We are embarrassingly unaware of how divided our societies are, and Brexit grew out of a deep, unexamined divide between those that fear globalization and those that embrace it, says social scientist Alexander Betts. How do we now address that fear as well as growing disillusionment with the political establishment, while refusing to give in to xenophobia and nationalism? Join Betts as he discusses four post-Brexit steps toward a more inclusive world.

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Group members: (kai xin, runxi, audrey, edbert)

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Group members: (kai xin, runxi, audrey, edbert)

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Read/watch the resources below and answer the questions that follow.

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Read/watch the resources below and answer the questions that follow.

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Read/watch the resources below and answer the questions that follow.

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Read/watch the resources below and answer the questions that follow.

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Does the Ukraine war mark the end of globalisation? | The Bottom Line

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How the NBA is taking over China | CNBC Sports

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Group members: (Kaleb, Aden, Ejay, Hongsheng)

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Group members: (Kaleb, Aden, Ejay, Hongsheng)

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Read/watch the resources below and answer the questions that follow.

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What does this example tell you about globalisation? Capture the key details. 

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What does this example tell you about globalisation? Capture the key details. 

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What is a multinational? BBC Learning English

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The life cycle of a t-shirt - Angel Chang

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Group members: (ashlose, goat, khengzheng, jw)

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Group members: (ashlose, goat, khengzheng, jw)

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Read/watch the resources below and answer the questions that follow.

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Craft an argument that uses this as an example to answer the following question. 

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Qn. (Craft your own essay question here and craft an argument, using your example to address it)

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Coronavirus lockdowns hit flower farms in Kenya

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America v China: why the trade war won't end soon

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Singapore International Student Film Festival

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Domestic Helpers In Singapore   Christopher Chan   Documentary   High

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Huawei and TikTok were two of the most successful examples of globalisation. Huawei started as a small private firm in 1987 and has risen in just over 30 years to become a world champion in telecommunications. TikTok has succeeded over a much shorter time period. Having only launched in 2016, the video-sharing service is now the fourth most popular app in the world and has achieved 1.9 billion downloads worldwide.

Both of these Chinese companies are now at the mercy of a widening geopolitical divide. The US has led an increasingly successful campaign to eliminate Huawei from the global market over alleged security fears, and is threatening to ban TikTok too. There has also been speculation that other Chinese tech companies such as Lenovo, ZTE and Xiaomi could be at risk. Meanwhile, HSBC has risked getting caught in the crossfire by expressing support for China's security crackdown on Hong Kong.

These developments are signs of attempts by the US to decouple from China's economy and concentrate on alliances within its own political and economic sphere. It chimes with the wider drift away from globalisation towards a more regional approach to trade, reflected in the difficulties of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the rise of regional trading blocs.

Regional retrenchment

In response to the US moves to restrict its activities, Huawei is now trying to forge closer supply alliances with companies in China and elsewhere in Asia, such as Samsung. TikTok could be making a similar move but in the opposite direction, amid reports that several US investment capitalists might buy the brand from owner ByteDance and separate it from its Chinese version, which is called Douyin. In both cases, these companies appear to be retrenching from a global to a regional focus.

These developments are being driven by the growing antagonism between China and the US - but many other multinationals are facing a similar dilemma, because the global trade system is at risk of breaking down. Multinationals established their dominance by forging global supply chains that maximised the comparative advantages of each country involved.

They have been encouraged since the 1940s by global trade policies that have struck down national trade barriers and deepened global economic integration. In recent years, this has been done through WTO agreements.

But the wealth created by globalisation has been very unevenly distributed, which has caused domestic political disturbance in many corners of the world. Nationalist governments have responded to this new reality with protectionist measures, of which the US-China trade war is only the most prominent example.

As a result, the trade liberalisation promoted by the WTO has run into difficulty. This was clear from the breakdown of the Doha Round of negotiations in the mid-2010s due to unsolvable tensions between the member states. The WTO's system for resolving trade disputes between countries has also become dysfunctional, stemming from a row over how it operates. Regrettably - but not surprisingly - the WTO's director-general, Roberto Azevedo, announced he was stepping down a few weeks ago - a year before his term was due to end.

The emerging trading order

In parallel with the rise in protectionism and the WTO problems, countries have increasingly been building regional trade blocs. Examples include the renewed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Pacific rim's Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP), and the forthcoming China-led Regional Inter-sessional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

These agreements are all about further liberalising trade between member states within a region. They do this by cutting tariffs, reducing administrative burdens by mutually recognising one another's technical standards, harmonising public procurement rules, establishing similar employment levels and environmental protections, and giving easier market access to services.

These measures significantly reduce companies' operating costs, particularly if their production lines are spread across the countries in the bloc. Ultimately they make supply chains more regional, making it easier to buy and sell goods and services within the zone.

But just like the US-China conflict has caused difficulties for Huawei and TikTok, this regional approach to free trade creates tensions with the multilateralism of the WTO. Regional trading blocs run against the principle on which the WTO is founded, namely "most favoured nation treatment". This says that whenever one nation grants a trading concession to another, it should be extended to all other nations in the world.

Whenever regional blocs expand trade within their region, producers outside the bloc who can make the same goods more cheaply end up being discriminated against. Global welfare suffers as a result. For multinationals trying to operate global supply chains and trade around the world, this also represents a spaghetti bowl of red tape.

Yet the fact that we are now going to have rival trade blocs in Asia when RCEP launches at the end of the year suggests that more regionalism could be the shape of things to come. If so, this could further fragment the global trade system.

It is of course possible that more regionalism could stimulate global free trade in the long run. Once the nations within a bloc have become highly economically integrated, it may encourage outsider countries to join in a attempt to take advantages of the bloc. The UK's move to participate in the CPTTP could be an early example. If this eventually encouraged multinationals to trade across regional blocs, global trade liberalisation could move back up the agenda.

Equally, the superiority of certain players within certain blocs might make this happen by necessity. For example, Huawei's dominance in 5G technologies and its efforts to establish an alliance in Asia and other developing countries raises the possibility that it might one day overtake the US tech giants. If so, it may make western governments think again about whether protectionism was working as intended, and encourage them to re-embrace the system of global trade.

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Huawei and TikTok are at the forefront of a new drift to regionalism - many others will follow

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Huawei and TikTok were two of the most successful examples of globalisation. Huawei started as a small private firm in 1987 and has risen in just over 30 years to become a world champion in telecommunications. TikTok has succeeded over a much shorter time period.

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Hallyu, Korean pop culture, is in an all-time high demand, with tv-series like Netflix's Squid Game, Oscar award-winning films like Parasite and K-Pop stars like BTS and BlackPink dominating entertainment across the globe, from the US to the Philippines and Thailand to the United Kingdom. But what is it about these Korean hits that makes them so appealing to the Western world and beyond?

The Asia connection

There has been a deliberate government initiative to push the Korean wave to the world on a global scale, says Margot Peppers, Foresight Factory, consumer trends editor. An effort stemming from the 90s as a way to build Hallyu towards the world through media and music.

However, it does not come as a great surprise that Korean culture would be so successful considering the Western world has been obsessed with Asian entertainment for quite some time. In the 90s and early noughties, Japan had some of its most successful moments with Anime, Manga, the J-pop scene, and cultural hits like the Studio Ghibli, Pokémon, Ring and Audition.

But what Japan did not have in that time is what Korean culture strives on now, a digitally globalized world. "There's something very accessible about it," says Peppers.

"They [Japan] are still seen as offbeat, quirky and are cool to like, but it is not necessarily mainstream. Whereas Korean culture is very accessible and there has been such a push for K-dramas and stories that are rooted in Korean settings but have universal themes and archetypes that everyone across the globe can relate to. They are built on this accessible universality that has really resonated with people."

Hallyu has especially benefited from global digitalisation where K-pop fandoms have thrived on platforms like Twitter.

YeonJeong Kim, head of global K-pop and K-content partnerships at Twitter explains that the success of Korean content comes from the dedicated, organized, and smart fandom culture that started from K-pop music.

"There is a huge community around the world that is centered around K-pop and K-content," adds Kim. "After third generation, Kpop music acts, fandoms began to evolve into open global communities thanks to the development of SNS platforms. These fandoms radiate influence, and their explosive power has created synergy in the new media environment known as Twitter.

"Twitter has been called the "Holy place of Kpop" because anyone can become a content producer or consumer, start a conversation, or become the one who spreads new information. "

In recent years, we can also accredit TikTok to the Korean Wave. Jureeporn Thaidumrong, Chief Creative Officer, GREYnJ United expresses that active communication with fans through social media accounts for K-pop's ever-growing popularity. "Group members are devoted to real-time communication with their fans from around the world through Twitter and other platforms, thereby quickly building a strong, authentic and close bond with them.

"The rise of TikTok (with a fan base from China as well as the U.S) has also had an impact and allowed the bands to cross borders and become global. Most have their own Tik Tok account with millions of followers and Kpop music and dance moves are popular to emulate - this has resonated

A brand paradise

Brands need to be jumping at the opportunity to benefit from Hallyu, especially as it resonates not just with Gen Z but also older generations. It is a truly global experience.

For Twitter, it is the place people connect to speak with their favorite K-pop artists and the #KpopTwitter community around the world. During the pandemic, K-pop continued to dominate the conversation over a 12-month period from June 2020 to July 2021, there were 7.5 billion Tweets about K-pop.

"This passionate community has proven to drive results for brands," explains Kim. "Over the past 10 years, Twitter and Kpop have become a true dream team. #KpopTwitter's growth analysis shows how the passionate global K-pop community shares their love and connects with their favorite artists."

Back in April, McDonalds announced 'The BTS Meal,' the 'Famous Order' launch blew up on social media which became the number one trend in the US and number two globally. Brands are benefiting from partnering up with K-pop stars.

K-pop bands engage fully with their fans. Whether that is addressing them directly in interviews, replying to a tweet, musicians like BTS would never forget to thank their fans.

"They acknowledge them all the time," says Sandeep Dutta, vice president of insights at Kantar Group, "It makes them feel especially important and immensely proud. That is a huge lesson for brands. They must learn to express their gratitude towards the consumers and make them believe that their success, their growth, everything depends on the consumers."

Over the past two decades, Korean culture has been moving across Asia and in 2020, GREYnJ United, Thailand launched a campaign with K-pop girl group Black Pink for their client Kbank. They saw a surge of more than 500,000 new accounts within the first four weeks and introduced a branded debit card with a successful one million cards issued.

Thaidumrong, explains that "Finding a shared message between the K-pop celebrity bands and brands is critical. The Kbank and BlackPink campaign was aimed at connecting with Gen Z - who account for one-third of Thailand's population and are the age bracket that will hold high purchasing power in the future. The key message - empower your belief - was blended in between the brand message and the behind-the-scene success story of the girl group. It was the right approach for the target age group that K-Bank was trying to penetrate."

In Spring 2020, SMART Telecom in the Philippines relaunched its brand positioning with South Korean actor, Hyun Bin at the height of popularity of the K-drama series Crash Landing on You.

Agnes Martinez, Chief Strategy Officer, GREY Philippines says, "SMART Telecom (Philippines), was one of the first brands to bring in Korean superstars as brand endorsers and we found having these Korean stars helped with brand awareness, consideration, and brand love.

"With the emergence of COVID lockdowns, the Hallyu wave just got stronger and broader -it was no longer a niche and quickly became mainstream. As people were stuck at home, this translated into more hours of digital entertainment and access to Korean movies and music.

"Since our client is a digital brand that leads on what is new in pop culture and enables passion points for their subscribers, we wanted to support their love for Hallyu. We included their favorite Korean stars in communications by creating specific Korean data plans, merchandise, and special edition kits (BTS), etc."

The Kpop fandoms are huge and incredibly influential, adds Peppers. In the past couple of years, we have seen them mobilising online to achieve social or political goals, whether it is raising money for Black Lives Matter or hijacking racist hashtags.

"People expect to be active members of a brand and influence how products get made and where NPD comes from," she explains. "Korean cultural fans that have a lot of collective power expect to have influence over brands, culture, and the directions that they are heading. Brands need to heed just how much power they have and how much influence they bring to that."

Kim backs up the idea that fans are also devoted to the causes and philanthropic activities that their idols support.

BTS recently accompanied South Korean President Moon Jae-in to the UN General Assembly, where they spoke about vaccinations and climate change. Kim explains that in order to support their idols, the BTS Army launched a new Twitter campaign called #ARMYvaccinatedtoo, where they shared their vaccination stories.

"The campaign trended worldwide and generated buzz from fans across the globe," she adds. "As K-pop fans are a very engaged audience on Twitter, it makes Twitter the best place for brands to introduce something new.

"However, K-pop fans are very cognizant of brands who try to ride the K-wave for the sake of it without truly understanding or appreciating the culture and work, so authenticity certainly is key to winning the hearts of K-pop fans on Twitter."

Crash landing on diversity

As we live in a digitally globalised world, Hallyu has been given the best circumstances to thrive. On the other end, Peppers explains that for it to continue there needs to be a consumer appetite for global content as well.

Within the Foresight Factory platform, one of the newest trends Peppers has seen from its framework is called diversify and decolonize. She explains, "This looks at how consumers want to see brands and companies, dismantling exploitative power structures, and amplify the voices of those who are underserved or underrepresented. When you look at media, part of this is about questioning, the sort of 'west is best' mindset that has really dominated much of global pop culture for the past few decades."

Dutta adds that while western culture will always continue to dominate the media what is coming from South Korea is fresh and new. "People have become more interested and hungrier for diverse cultural content. And today people get so bored easily. They just want something different, and Korea is giving a lot of that."

And it's routed in bringing back old traditional values, Dutta explains. "The values that groups like BTS perpetuate like gratitude, respect and humility are something that the audiences are currently missing in their everyday lives. And the way it is presented is very modern, contemporary, and aspirational. People eat that up."

With Netflix's strategy to really push out these global stories we are witnessing what looks like the beginning of the end of the domination of English in media, adds Peppers.

"South Korea is creating these Hollywood quality films that people really resonate with and Netflix subscribers aren't just open to this, they're actually seeking it out. They want to see those diverse stories and characters on screen and to participate in those different cultures. It's something that we'll definitely see growing as that trend continues to rise."

The future looks bright for Hallyu, it is clearly not a fad as some may have thought says Martinez. It is a cultural phenomenon that has seeped its way into music, K-series, movies and now there is an increase in Korean technology, Korean cuisine as well as people learning the Korean language.

She adds, "In the Philippines, Korean skincare products are also flooding the market because everyone suddenly sees the "Korean dewy glow" as the ideal skin to have, and Korea is also one of the top travel destinations for Filipinos - influenced by their movies and Korean series.

"Filipinos are very 'personality' focused and tend to hero-worship their idols; the fans are loyal and will stick with them for the long haul - I expect Hallyu will only continue to get bigger and become even more influential."

Peppers concludes, "How interesting it is, and how much richer the content landscape in the media landscape will be once we're open to all these diverse stories. Non-English content is only going to continue to grow but it is the strategy of focusing on a story that is specific but has those universal themes that really unites us and shows just how much we share across cultures as different as they may seem."

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Hallyu to the world: the incredible rise of Korean culture

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As we take a Deep Dive into how the pandemic has sped up the globalization of the marketing industry, The Drum looks at the incredible buying power of the Korean pop culture (Hallyu) audience and how something so seemingly hyper localised transcended borders to become the biggest cultural export the world has seen for some time.

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A scene from "Squid Game" on Netflix. (Youngkyu Park/Netflix)

Like millions of other people around the world, I binge-watched all nine episodes of " Squid Game " last week. This Korean-language series has become a breakout hit on Netflix, enthralling viewers with its dystopian story of indebted people playing children's games for the highest stakes possible: If they win, they get rich; if they lose, they die. It's insanely watchable, with cliffhangers at the end of every episode ensuring that you come back for more.
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It is also a brutal satire of the wealth inequality produced by unbridled capitalism. It is ironic, then, that the worldwide success of "Squad Game" is, in fact, the ultimate tribute to the power of capitalism - and in particular to two of its much-maligned outgrowths: globalization and free trade. Both have done a great deal to improve our entertainment experience.

When I was growing up in the 1980s, watching TV meant watching three major broadcast networks, PBS or a handful of local independent stations. It was a grab-bag of reruns and new shows. Some were great if still low-rent by modern standards: " Get Smart," " The Rockford Files," " Cheers." Most were simply trashy: " The Dukes of Hazzard," " Starsky & Hutch," " CHiPs," " The Love Boat," " Charlie's Angels." All of the episodes were self-contained (story lines were resolved every week), all were interrupted by commercials, and all were U.S. productions. The only foreign shows available back then were the British costume dramas on PBS.

Better dramas with longer story arcs, such as " St. Elsewhere" and " Hill Street Blues," began to appear in the 1980s, but it was not until the 2000s that U.S. television achieved a new golden age with shows such as " The Sopranos," " The Wire," " Mad Men," and " Breaking Bad." But that age has now ended. " Game of Thrones " aired its last episode in 2019, and there has not been a U.S. series since then that has achieved a similar cultural impact.
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I love shows such as "Ozark," " Succession" and "Ted Lasso," but that still leaves me and lot of other Americans watching foreign offerings - in particular on Netflix, which has smartly led the way in building an international streaming platform. I have been greatly entertained not just by South Korea's "Squid Game" but also by Israel's " Fauda" and " Shtisel," France's "Lupin" and " Call My Agent!," Germany's " Babylon Berlin," Norway's " Occupied," and Britain's " The Crown." My favorite is the French series " The Bureau " on Amazon Prime. It is, in my opinion, the best spy show ever - and one of the greatest TV shows, period.

No one should be surprised that so many of the best shows are no longer made in America. The United States, after all, has only 4 percent of the world's population. It stands to reason that the other 96 percent would produce a lot of great content. The miracle is that we are now able to see so much of it. The Internet offers an infinity of choices, and the more choices you have, the better the prospect of finding something great to watch. Good thing Washington isn't limiting imports of foreign shows to protect producers grousing in Malibu diners about how they can't get their shows on the air anymore. Globalization has opened up a vast marketplace for the U.S. entertainment industry - but also ensured that it no longer enjoys a monopoly on the domestic market. That's a good thing.

Every time you watch a foreign TV show, you are seeing the benefits of globalization and free trade - concepts that have practically become curse words. President Biden doesn't demonize globalization or trash trade agreements the way that President Donald Trump did, but he is continuing the same protectionist policies that Trump initiated. The Biden administration has shown no interest in rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership or in lifting tariffs on Chinese goods whose cost is paid by U.S. consumers.

Much of the debate focuses on the people who are hurt by trade - workers in industries that can't compete with more cost-effective competitors abroad. We forget or take for granted the benefits of trade - namely, all of the economic activity that creates jobs, raises household incomes and improves the quality of life for consumers (i.e., all of us).

What is happening on TV is a microcosm of an entire economy that has benefited from imports of everything from textiles to electronics to automobiles. When you buy a new car, your choices are no longer limited to Ford, General Motors or Chrysler - and Chrysler isn't even U.S.-owned anymore. Indeed, in the age of globalization, the lines between "foreign" and "domestic" blur. An American company, Apple, sells iPhones, but their components are made all over the world. Another U.S. company, Netflix, shows TV programs that originate in many other countries.

We don't need tariffs to protect workers in dying industries; we can offer them retraining assistance or welfare benefits to make their lives better despite the dislocations of a changing economy. And, in the meantime, we can make life better for everyone by lifting tariffs and encouraging greater globalization.

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Opinion | The success of 'Squid Game' illustrates the benefits of globalization and free trade

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Like millions of other people around the world, I binge-watched all nine episodes of " Squid Game " last week. This Korean-language series has become a breakout hit on Netflix, enthralling viewers with its dystopian story of indebted people playing children's games for the highest stakes possible: If they win, they get rich; if they lose, they die.

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Ukraine-Russia conflict: has globalisation helped or hindered responses? (NATO Review)

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What does this example tell you about globalisation? Capture the key details. 

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What does this example tell you about globalisation? Capture the key details. 

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Globalisation allows seamless exchange of goods between
countries, thus encouraging trade. This results in the emergence
of big businesses such as the Kenyan flowers, since global
demand for local goods are higher than local demand, thus
expanding the flowers' market. Therefore, the expansion of
markets provides people from developing countries more job
opportunities, boosting their economies.

Globalisation also has a negative impact as many economies are
interconnected and any restriction on exports can cause people
in developing countries to lose their jobs in the manufacturing
sector.

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LONDON - The end of the pandemic is finally in view. So is rescue from the most traumatic global economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. As Covid-19 vaccines enter the bloodstream, recovery has become reality.

But the benefits will be far from equally apportioned. Wealthy nations in Europe and North America have secured the bulk of limited stocks of vaccines, positioning themselves for starkly improved economic fortunes.

Developing countries - home to most of humanity - are left to secure their own doses.

The lopsided distribution of vaccines appears certain to worsen a defining economic reality: The world that emerges from this terrifying chapter in history will be more unequal than ever.

Poor countries will continue to be ravaged by the pandemic, forcing them to expend meager resources that are already stretched by growing debts to lenders in the United States, Europe and China.

The global economy has long been cleaved by profound disparities in wealth, education and access to vital elements like clean water, electricity and the internet.

The pandemic has trained its death and destruction of livelihood on ethnic minorities, women and lower-income households.

The ending is likely to add another division that could shape economic life for years, separating countries with access to vaccines from those without.

"It's clear that developing countries, and especially poorer developing countries, are going to be excluded for some time," said Richard Kozul-Wright, director of the division of globalisation and development strategies at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva.

"Despite the understanding that vaccines need to be seen as a global good, the provision remains largely under control of large pharmaceutical companies in the advanced economies."

International aid organisations, philanthropists and wealthy nations have coalesced around a promise to ensure that all countries gain the tools needed to fight the pandemic, like protective gear for medical teams as well as tests, therapeutics and vaccines.

But they have failed to back their assurances with enough money.

The leading initiative, the Act-Accelerator Partnership - an undertaking of the World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others - has secured less than US$5 billion (S$6.65 billion) of a targeted US$38 billion.

A group of developing countries led by India and South Africa sought to increase the supply of vaccines by manufacturing their own, ideally in partnership with the pharmaceutical companies that have produced the leading versions.

In a bid to secure leverage, the group has proposed that the World Trade Organization (WTO) waive traditional protections on intellectual property, allowing poor countries to make affordable versions of the vaccines.

The WTO operates on consensus.

The proposal has been blocked by the US, Britain and the European Union, where pharmaceutical companies wield political influence.

The industry argues that patent protections and the profits they derive are a requirement for the innovation that yields lifesaving medicines.

Proponents of suspending patents note that many blockbuster drugs are brought to market via government-financed research, arguing that this creates an imperative to place social good at the heart of policy.

"The question is really, 'Is this a time to profit?'" said Mustaqeem De Gama, counsellor at the South African mission to the WTO in Geneva.

"We have seen governments closing down economies, limiting freedoms - yet intellectual property is seen to be so sacrosanct that this cannot be touched."

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One Covid-19 vaccine side effect: Global economic inequality

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LONDON - The end of the pandemic is finally in view. So is rescue from the most traumatic global economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. As Covid-19 vaccines enter the bloodstream, recovery has become reality. But the benefits will be far from equally apportioned.

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Why Europe's nationalist parties all sound alike

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Three positive changes China has made during the trade war

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The Sino-US trade war could hold back technological development and sow distrust between the world’s two biggest economies. But Beijing has used the rivalry as an opportunity to open up to other countries and stimulate domestic innovation.

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Korean Baseball 101: Way Beyond the Bat Flips

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(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters)

LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - When former Chinese army officer Ren Zhengfei founded Huawei in 1987, his business plan appears to have been relatively simple. By reverse engineering foreign-built phone switches and other basic telecoms equipment, the firm could undercut international rivals and become a worldwide market leader.

For the first three decades of its life, that strategy appeared to serve the firm just fine. By 2011, Huawei was operating in more than 170 countries, serving 45 of the world's largest 50 telecom providers and reaching about a third of the world's population.

More recently, however, the strategy has started to unravel. Seen as too close to the Chinese government, the company finds itself at the heart of a growing geopolitical confrontation between Beijing and Washington. It stands accused of allowing various forms of Chinese state espionage, while its chief financial officer is on bail in Canada after being arrested on a U.S. warrant last year. Whatever the truth of such allegations, it has become simply too controversial and distrusted for a growing number of nations to work with.

The company strenuously denies wrongdoing and says it remains entirely independent of the Chinese authorities. In many respects, however, that barely matters. The saga - which now includes a series of lawsuits and political crises - points to a much larger trend, one that challenges almost all companies which thrived on unfettered globalisation. In an environment of growing international distrust and geopolitical tension, it is simply becoming more difficult for large firms to operate worldwide without facing serious political headwinds in a whole range of jurisdictions.

DISTRUST

Huawei is not the first firm to lose out in this new era of distrust - particularly in the technology sector, where growing nerves over espionage and cyber warfare mean Russian and Chinese firms are judged increasingly suspect by other countries.

Another high-profile casualty of this trend has been IT security and antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab. Founded by former Russian intelligence official Eugene Kaspersky and his wife Natalya in 1997, it became the third-largest vendor of consumer IT software worldwide. More recently, however, it too has come under mounting suspicion, banned by the Department for Homeland Security in 2017 for use by the U.S. government.

Like Huawei, Kaspersky protests its independence, moving many of its servers from Moscow to Switzerland to reassure its foreign private clients. Such steps, however, can only go so far to limit the damage. Fundamentally, both firms are now seen by growing numbers as simple proxies for their states of origin and that is viewed as enough to make them permanently untrustworthy.

Such trends have been a long time coming. Some firms, particularly energy giants like Russia's Gazprom, have always been largely seen as organs of state power. What is different now, however, is that firms from Russia and China are simply viewed as suspect. That doesn't mean they can't find business - but it does make deals with them much more controversial.

Some European governments - particularly Italy, Greece and, to a lesser extent, Germany - remain keen to engage with Chinese firms, which have taken growing stakes in infrastructure, including some Mediterranean ports. Others, particularly Britain, still agonize publicly over what they should do.

LEAKING

Last week, that cost Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson his job after he was accused of leaking a highly contested National Security Council decision to allow Huawei to operate parts of the British 5G network. Prime Minister Theresa May remains keen to keep the Chinese firm involved, not least because of the cost savings it delivers, and perhaps also to keep open lucrative business opportunities with Beijing. The question, however, is whether the worsening international situation makes such things tenable at all.

Some countries - particularly in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East - can still straddle the divide, welcoming Chinese investment while also dealing with the West. In Southeast Asia and northern Europe, however, where confrontation with Moscow and Beijing is escalating, such options are fast diminishing.

NATO member Turkey, which has tried to keep its doors open to both the West and Moscow, will soon have to decide between buying Russia's S-300 missile-defence system or taking delivery of the U.S.-built F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Concerned that its high-tech secrets will fall into Russia's hands, Washington is making it clear that Turkey cannot do both. The Pentagon has also criticised U.S. tech firms working in China, saying their presence risks giving Beijing an advantage in areas such as artificial intelligence.

Against this backdrop, attempts like Britain's to operate with firms such as Huawei will become increasingly difficult. The United States, Australia and New Zealand - among its partners in the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing community - have decided they cannot deal with the firm, and say cooperation may suffer if Britain chooses a different course. Internal reports have already criticised the security of Huawei's previous infrastructure projects. Ultimately, these growing complexities may simply make its presence in Britain unworkable, even if it can undercut on price.

Keeping potential foes from essential national infrastructure makes sense for the West, particularly at a time of growing tension. Still, cross-border investment and globalisation - including encouraging Russian and Chinese firms to connect more with the West - was until recently seen as one of the major guarantors of international peace. If that is now becoming all but impossible to countenance, it may have alarming implications for the future. *** Peter Apps is a writer on international affairs, globalisation, conflict and other issues. He is the founder and executive director of the Project for Study of the 21st Century; PS21, a non-national, non-partisan, non-ideological think tank. Paralysed by a war-zone car crash in 2006, he also blogs about his disability and other topics. He was previously a reporter for Reuters and continues to be paid by Thomson Reuters. Since 2016, he has been a member of the British Army Reserve and the UK Labour Party, and is an active fundraiser for the party. (Editing by Giles Elgood)

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cyclical consumer services (trbc level 2)

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COLUMN-Huawei and the unravelling of globalisation: Peter Apps

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(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters) LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - When former Chinese army officer Ren Zhengfei founded Huawei in 1987, his business plan appears to have been relatively simple. By reverse engineering foreign-built phone switches and other basic telecoms equipment, the firm could undercut international rivals and become a worldwide market leader.

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Arts and Culture

BTS scored two number one albums in the Billboard Top 200 in 2018. Image: REUTERS/Bobby Yip

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Here's what a Korean boy band can teach us about globalization

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The rise of K Pop sensations like BTS show that the Americanization of global culture is not inevitable.

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Qn: Is it true that the more interconnected the world becomes, the more danger there is?

It is true that there is higher danger the more interconnected
the world becomes. increased vulnerability. As globalization allows for various countries all over the world to stay interconnected in terms of trades and businesses, many benefits arise to the extent that a certain level of dependence is encouraged as a result. With the benefits that interconnectedness brings (increased access to markets, development opportunities for countries), the risks and vulnerabilities are correspondingly great. There are many businesses and whole industries that solely depend on buyers from all over the world and thrive on the demand from other countries. This poses a huge problem as their longevity on their own is then put into question. The extent of industries' reliance on other countries has gotten to the point that without them, the industry will not be able to survive on their own. This has been clearly demonstrated by the ongoing global pandemic, in which industries like the flower trade in African countries like Kenya are significantly affected. The pandemic has resulted in lockdowns all over the world and as a result, there is little to no demand for flowers at the moment. Flower farms, distributors and all related businesses in Africa especially, have found themselves redundant in the current context. Thus, with no
business, thousands of workers in the flower industry in Africa have found themselves jobless and with no income at all. Hence, this example shows how dangerous it is for industries to depend heavily on other countries, especially when global crises like the ongoing pandemic are truly unexpected and could occur anytime. Therefore, how the world has gotten increasingly interconnected has surely increased the risk of danger.

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Globalisation is actually to benefit everyone that is involved. However, many people do not perceive themselves as beneficiaries but instead, they see themselves as victims to globalisation, where immigrants are taking their jobs and threatening their livelihoods. They are also intolerant of immigrants. Also, they are ignorant of the benefits. Many people are not educated in these areas of globalisation.

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The US-China trade war shows how globalisation have unintended consequences due to the interconnectedness it brings. Globalisation lead to a more connected global economy where one's country economy is highly dependent on its trade rather than the productive capacity of the country. This lead to problems mentioned in the video whereby there is a tension between prioritising one's country or ensuring global economic growth. The US is concern that when there is excessive China imports coming to US, US economy will be too dependent on China and thus, more vulnerable to any changes in China's economy. Not only that, US goods will be competing for market power with Chinese goods which leads to lower consumption of US goods and services which inhibit US economic growth.

From China's perspective, the protectionist policies US implementing with its tariffs is seen as a way to inhibit China's economic growth and in retaliation, China is increasing US goods tariffs as well which lead to the trade war. The trade war will have undermine global economic growth due to uncertainty of investment decisions and ensuring a stable and reliable supply chain without price fluctuation due to tariffs.

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People relocate to other places for better economic opportunities, potentially leaving behind their family in the process. However, there is a downside to globalisation as foreign domestic workers get mistreated.

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Globalisation is the process of the interconnectedness and interdependence between people, countries and firms etc.

Globalisation has facilitated the integration of national economies into the global economic system. However, this increase competition and hence conflict between super-countries.

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They call it Hallyu, the Korean wave: the idea that South Korean pop culture has grown in prominence to become a major driver of global culture, seen in everything from Korean dramas on Netflix to Korean skincare regimens dominating the cosmetics industry to delicious Korean tacos on your favorite local menu. And at the heart of Hallyu is the ever-growing popularity of K-pop - short, of course, for Korean pop music.

K-pop has become a truly global phenomenon thanks to its distinctive blend of addictive melodies, slick choreography and production values, and an endless parade of attractive South Korean performers who spend years in grueling studio systems learning to sing and dance in synchronized perfection.

Hallyu has been building for two decades, but K-pop in particular has become increasingly visible to global audiences in the past five to 10 years. South Korean artists have hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart at least eight times since the Wonder Girls first cracked it in 2009 with their crossover hit "Nobody" - released in four different languages, including English - and the export of K-pop has ballooned South Korea's music industry to an impressive $5 billion industry.

Now, with South Korea hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang at a moment of extremely heightened geopolitical tensions, K-pop has taken on a whole new kind of sociopolitical significance, as South Korea proudly displays its best-known export before the world.

Watch now on Netflix.
What the Winter Olympics' opening and closing ceremonies told us about K-pop (and vice versa)

During the Olympic opening ceremonies on February 9, 2018, athletes marched in the Parade of Nations to the accompaniment of a select group of K-pop hits, each playing into the image South Korea wants to present right now: one of a country that's a fully integrated part of the global culture.

The Parade of Nations songs all have significant international and digital presences, and each advertises the cross-cultural fluency of K-pop. Twice's "Likey" is a huge recent hit for the group, and recently made it to 100 million views on YouTube faster than any other song by a K-pop girl group. (The video prominently features the girls on a fun field trip to Vancouver, marketing the idea that they're at home all over the world.) Big Bang's "Fantastic Baby" was one of the first K-pop hits to make inroads in American culture and was featured on Glee's K-pop episode along with "Gangnam Style," which also played during the Parade of Nations.

Psy's ubiquitous 2012 hit is part doofy comedy and part clear-eyed satire, made by a musician who's part of a wave of South Korean musicians who've studied at American music schools. "Gangnam Style" spent five years racking up more than 3 billion views on YouTube, reigning as the most-viewed video in the platform's history before being dethroned in 2017.

As a whole, these songs and performers show us that K-pop stars can excel at everything from singing to comedy to rap to dance to social commentary. And their fun, singable melodies make it clear that the South Korean music industry has perfected the pop production machine into an effervescent assembly line of ridiculously catchy tunes sung by ridiculously talented people in ridiculously splashy videos. When Red Velvet sing, "Bet you wanna (bet you wanna) dance like this" in their single "Red Flavor," they're sending a message to the world that South Korea is modern but wholesome, colorful, inviting, and fun.

And at the Olympics closing ceremonies, we saw live performances from two more K-pop icons: solo artist CL, formerly a member of the powerhouse girl group 2NE1, and multi-national band Exo. CL's appearance was a testament to her success in achieving one of the holy grails for K-Pop - a crossover into US fame, or at least onto the Billboard Hot 100. CL has landed on the list twice since 2015.

Exo, meanwhile, is arguably one of the two or three biggest K-Pop successes going right now. The band was a perfect fit for the Olympics - they're multilingual and were formed with the intention of performing in Mandarin and Japanese as well as South Korea. And for several years, Exo was split into two subgroups, one performing mainly in Korea and one mainly in China.All of this made them a great choice to serve as a symbolic transition between nations,as Tokyo gets ready to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, followed by Beijing hosting the Winter Olympics in 2022.

Prominently missing from the live performance roster at the Olympics was the most popular K-pop band in the universe at the moment: BTS. BTS became an uncontested US phenomenon in 2017, with two songs hitting the Billboard Hot 100, a huge performance at the American Music Awards, a New Year's Eve performance in Times Square, and a remix of their latest single, "Mic Drop," done by Steve Aoki. If it's possible to ascribe a tipping point to a "wave" that seems to be endless, BTS might be it; it certainly seems that the all-boy group has gone as far as a South Korean band can go in terms of making inroads into American culture - they recently graced the cover of American Billboardmagazine. But while the band was missing from the Olympics, their song "DNA" - the other of their pair of 2017 hits - did at least play during the opening ceremonies, much to the delight of fans.

None of this is accidental. K-pop has become the international face of South Korea thanks to an extremely regimented, coordinated production system. More than any other international music industry, K-pop has been strategically designed to earworm its way into your brain - and to elevate South Korea and its culture onto the world stage.

How did we get here? Through a combination of global political changes, savvy corporatization and media management, and a heck of a lot of raw talent being ground through a very powerful stardom mill.

K-pop began in 1992 with one electric hip-hop performance

K-pop as we know it wouldn't exist without democracy and television - specifically, South Korea's reformation of its democratic government in 1987, with its accompanying modernization and lightening of censorship, and the effect this change had on television.

Prior to the establishment of the nation's Sixth Republic, there were only two broadcast networks in the country, and they largely controlled what music South Koreans listened to; singers and musicians weren't much more than tools of the networks. Networks introduced the public to musical stars primarily through weekend music talent shows. Radio existed but, like the TV networks, was under tight state control. Independent music production didn't really exist, and rock music was controversial and subject to banning; musicians and songs were primarily introduced to the public through the medium of the televised talent show, and radio served as little more than a subsidiary platform for entertainers who succeeded on those weekend TV competitions.

Before the liberalization of South Korean media in the late '80s, the music produced by broadcast networks was primarily either slow ballads or "trot," a Lawrence Welk-ish fusion of traditional music with old pop standards. After 1987, though, the country's radio broadcasting expanded rapidly, and South Koreans became more regularly exposed to more varieties of music from outside the country, including contemporary American music.

But TV was still the country's dominant, centralized form of media: As of 1992, national TV networks had penetrated above 99 percent of South Korean homes, and viewership was highest on the weekends, when the talent shows took place. These televised talent shows were crucial in introducing music groups to South Korean audiences; they still have an enormous cultural impact and remain the single biggest factor in a South Korean band's success.

As Moonrok editor Hannah Waitt points out in her excellent series on the history of K-pop, K-pop is unusual as a genre because it has a definitive start date, thanks to a band called Seo Taiji and Boys.Seo Taiji had previously been a member of the South Korean heavy metal band Sinawe, which was itself a brief but hugely influential part of the development of Korean rock music in the late '80s.After the band broke up, he turned to hip-hop and recruited two stellar South Korean dancers, Yang Hyun-suk and Lee Juno, to join him as backups in a group dubbed Seo Taiji and Boys. On April 11, 1992, they performed their single "Nan Arayo (I Know)" on a talent show:

Not only did the Boys not win the talent show, but the judges gave the band the lowest score of the evening. But immediately after the song debuted, "I Know" went on to top South Korea's singles chartsfor a record-smashing 17 weeks, which would stand for more than 15 years as the longest No. 1 streak in the country's history.

"I Know" represented the first time modern American-style pop music had been fused with South Korean culture. Seo Taiji and Boys were innovators who challenged norms around musical styles, song topics, fashion, and censorship. They sang about teen angst and the social pressure to succeed within a grueling education system, and insisted on creating their own music and writing their own songs outside of the manufactured network environment.

By the time Seo Taiji and Boys officially disbanded in 1996, they had changed South Korea's musical and performance landscape, paving the way for other artists to be even more experimental and break even more boundaries - and for music studios to quickly step in and take over, forming an entire new studio system from the remnants of the broadcast-centered system.

Between 1995 and 1998, three powerhouse music studios appeared: SM Entertainment (often referred to as SM Town) in 1995; JYP Entertainment in 1997; and YG Entertainment in 1998, created by one of the members of Seo Taiji and Boys, Yang Hyun-suk. Together, these studios began deliberately cultivating what would become known as idol groups.

The first idol group in South Korea appeared on the scene in 1996, when SM founder Lee Soo-man created a group called H.O.T. by assembling five singers and dancers who represented what he believed teens wanted to see from a modern pop group.

H.O.T. shared traits with today's idol groups: a combination of singing, dancing, and rapping, and disparate personalities united through music. In 1999, the band was chosen to perform in a major benefit concertwith Michael Jackson, in part because of their potential to become international pop stars - an indication that even in the '90s, the industry was attuned to K-pop's potential for global success.

That potential can be seen in the studios' eager promotion of multilingual artists like BoA, who made her public debut at the age of 13 in 2000 and in the ensuing years has become one of South Korea's best-known exports thanks to a brand built on raw talent and multicultural positivity.

All the while, K-pop as a whole was building its own brand, one based on flash, style, and a whole lot of quality.

Don't ask what makes a K-pop song. Ask what makes a K-pop performer.

There are three things that make K-pop such a visible and unique contributor to the realm of pop music: exceptionally high-quality performance (especially dancing), an extremely polished aesthetic, and an "in-house" method of studio production that churns out musical hits the way assembly lines churn out cars.

No song more perfectly embodies these characteristics thanGirls' Generation's 2009 hit "Gee," a breakout success that came at a moment when K-pop was starting to turn heads internationally due to a number of recent milestone hits - notably Big Bang's "Haru, Haru," Wonder Girls' "Nobody," and Brown Eyed Girls' "Abracadabra." "Gee" was a viral internet earworm, breaking out of typical K-pop fan spaces and putting Girls' Generation within striking distance of US fame.

The combination of cheeky, colorful concept, clever choreography, cute girls, and catchy songwriting makes "Gee" the quintessential K-pop song: It's fun, infectious, and memorable - and it was all but algorithmically produced by a studio machine responsible for delivering perfect singing, perfect dancing, perfect videos, and perfect entertainment. The then-nine members of Girls' Generation were factory-assembled into the picture-perfect, male-gaze-ready dolls you see in the song's music video via extreme studio oversight and years of hard work from each woman - a combined 52 years of training in total, beginning in their childhoods.

Through highly competitive auditions, starting around ages 10 to 12, music studios induct talented children into the K-pop regimen. The children attend special schools where they take specialized singing and dancing lessons; they learn how to moderate their public behavior and prepare for life as a pop star; they spend hours in daily rehearsals and perform in weekend music shows as well as special group performances. Through these performances, lucky kids can gain fan followings before they even officially "debut." And when they're old enough, if they're really one of the lucky few, the studios will place them intoan idol group or even, occasionally, launch them as a solo artist.

Once an idol group has been trained to perfection, the studios generate pop songs for them, market them, put them on TV, send them on tour, and determine when they'll next make their "comeback"- a term that usually signals a band's latest album release, generally accompanied by huge fanfare, special TV appearances, and a totally new thematic concept.

Because of the control they exert over their artists, South Korean music studios are directly responsible for shaping the global image of K-pop as a genre. But the industry is notoriously exploitative, and studio life is grueling to the point that it can easily cross over to abusive; performers are regularly signed to long-term contracts, known as "slave contracts," when they are still children, which closely dictate their private behavior, dating life, and public conduct.

The studios are also a breeding ground for predatory behavior and harassment from studio executives. In recent years, increasing public attention to these problems has given rise to change; in 2017, multiple studios agreed to significant contract reform. Still, as the recent suicide of Shinee artist Kim Jong-hyun revealed, the pressures of studio culture are rarely made public and can take a serious toll on those who grow up within the system.

Despite all this, the cloistered life of a K-pop star is coveted by thousands of South Korean teens and preteens - so much so that walk-in auditions to scout kids for the studio programs are frequently held in South Korea and New York.

In addition to studio auditions, a wave of new TV audition showshave sprung up in the past few years, giving unknowns a chance to be discovered and build a fan base. Often called idol shows or survival shows, these audition shows are comparable to American Idol and X-Factor.Competitors on these shows can make it big on their own or be grouped up - like the recently debuted group JBJ (short for the fan-dubbed moniker "Just Be Joyful"), consisting of boys who competed in the talent show Produce 101 Season 2 last year and then got put in a temporary group after fans started making composite Instagram photos of them all together. The band only has a seven-month contract; enjoy it while it lasts!

These TV-sponsored idol shows have caused pushback from the studios, which see them as producing immature talent - and, of course, cutting into studio profits. That's because a K-pop group's success is directly tied to its live TV performances. Today there are numerous talent shows, along with many more variety shows and well-known chart TV countdown shows like Inkigayo and M Countdown, which factor into how successful - and therefore bankable - a K-pop idol or idol group is seen to be. Winning a weekend music show or weekly chart countdown remains one of the highest honors an artist or musical group can attain in the South Korean music industry.

Because of this dependence on live performance shows, a song'sperformance elements - how easy it is to sing live, how easy it is for an audience to pick up and sing along with, the impact of its choreography, its costuming - are all crucial to its success. Groups routinely go all-out for their performances: Witness After-School learning to perform an entire drumline sequence for live performances of their single "Bang!" as well as pretty much every live performance mentioned here.

All of this emphasis on live performances make fans an extremely active part of the experience. K-pop fans have perfected the art of the fan chant, in which fans in live studio audiences and live performances will shout alternate fan chants over the musical intros to songs, and sometimes as a counterpoint to choruses, as a show of unity and support.

This collectivity has helped ensure thatK-pop fan bases both at home and abroad are absolutely massive, and intense to a degree that's hard to overstate. Fans intensely support their favorite group members, and many fans go out of their way to make sure their favorite idols look and dress the part of world-class performers. K-Con, the largest US K-pop convention, has grown exponentially over the years and now includes both Los Angeles and New York.

(There are also anti-fans who target band members - most notoriously an anti who attempted to poison a member of DBSK in 2006. But the less said about them, the better.)

You might expect that in the face of all this external pressure, K-pop groups would be largely dysfunctional messes. Instead, modern-day K-pop appears to be a seamless, gorgeous, well-oiled machine - complete with a few glaring contradictions that make it all the more fascinating.

Modern K-pop is a bundle of colorful contradictions

Though government censorship of South Korean music has relaxed over time, it still exists, as does industry self-censorship in response to a range of controversial topics. South Korean social mores stigmatize everything from sexual references and innuendo to references to drugs and alcohol - as well as actual illicit behavior by idols - and addressing any of these subjects can cause a song to be arbitrarily banned from radio play and broadcast. Songs dealing with serious themes or thorny issues are largely off limits, queer identity is generally only addressed as subtext, and lyrics are usually scrubbed down to fluffy platitudes. Thematically, it's often charming and innocent, bordering on adolescent.

Despite these limitations, K-pop has grown over time in its nuance and sophistication thanks to artists and studios who have often either risked censorship or relied on visual cues and subtext to fill in the gaps.

Case in point: the 2000 hit "Adult Ceremony" from singer and actor Park Ji-yoon, which marked the first time a K-pop hit successfully injected adult sexuality into fairly innocuous lyrics, representing a notable challenge to existing depictions of femininity in South Korean pop culture.

The women of K-pop are typically depicted as traditional versions of femininity. This usually manifests in one of several themes: adorable, shy schoolgirls who sing about giddy crushes; knowing, empowered women who need an "oppa" (a strong older male figure) to fulfill their fantasies; or knowing, empowered women who reject male validation, even as the studio tailors the group's members for adult male consumption.

An idol group's image often changes from one album to the next, undergoing a total visual and tonal overhaul to introduce a new concept. However, there are a few girl groups - 2NE1 and f(x) spring most readily to mind- that have been marketed as breaking away from this gender-centric mode of performance; they're packaged as rebels and mavericks regardless of what their album is about, even while they operate within the studio culture.

Yet the women of K-pop are also increasingly producing self-aware videos that navigate their own relationships to these rigid impositions. Witness Sunmi, a former member of Wonder Girls, tearing down her own carefully cultivated public image in her recent single "Heroine," a song about a woman surviving a failed relationship. In the video, Sunmi transforms physically, growing more empowered and defiant as she faces the camera and finally confronts a billboard of herself.

If songs for women in K-pop break down along the "virgin/mature woman" divide, songs for men tend to break down along a "bad boy/sophisticated man" line. Occasionally they even break down in the same song - like Block B's "Jackpot," the video for which sees the band posing as wildly varied members of a renegade circus, uniting to kidnap actress Kim Sae-ron into a life of cheerful hedonism.

Male performance groups are generally permitted a broader range of topics than K-pop's women: BTS notably sings about serious issues like teen social pressures, while many other boy bands feature a wide range of narrative concepts. But male entertainers get held toarguably even moreexacting physical and technical standards than their female counterparts, with precision choreography - like Speed's all-Heely dance routine below - being a huge part of the draw for male idol groups:

If you're wondering whether co-ed bands coexist in these studio cultures, the answer is, not really. Most of the time, co-ed groups tend to be one-off pairings of members from different bands for one or two singles, or novelty acts that are quickly split into gendered subgroups. The most famous actual co-ed band is probably the brother-sister duo Akdong Musician, a pair of cute kids who made it big on an audition show; and even they get split up a lot to pair with other singers. (See the "Hi Suhyun" clip above, which features Lee Hi and the sisterly half of AM, Lee Su-hyun.)

It probably goes without saying that this traditional gender divide isn't exactly fertile ground for queer idols to thrive. Despite a number of K-pop stars openly supporting LGBTQ rights, the industry aggressively markets homoeroticism in its videos but remains generally homophobic. But progress is happening here, too: South Korea's first openly gay idol just appeared on the scene in early 2018. His name is Holland, and his first single debuted to a respectable 6.5 million views.

Hip-hop tends to be a dominant part of the K-pop sound, particularly among male groups, a trend that has opened up the genre to criticism for appropriation. South Korea grapples with a high degree of cultural racism, and recent popular groups have come under fire for donning blackface, appropriating Native American iconography, and much more. Still, K-pop has increasingly embraced diversity in recent years, with black members joining K-pop groups and duo Coco Avenue putting out a bilingual single in 2017.

Last but not least, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention South Korea's emergent indie music scene, which includes a thriving crop of independent rap, hip-hop, and, increasingly, R&B artists, as well as a host of grassroots artists who've made waves on SoundCloud.

Taking stock of all these changes and paradoxes, we might be able to extrapolate a bit about what the future of K-pop looks like: even more diverse, with an ever-increasing number of independent artists shaking up the studio scene, even though most of them will still have to play within the system's rigid standards.

This gradual evolution suggests that part of the reason K-pop has been able to make international inroads in recent years is that it's been able to push against its own rigid norms, through the use of modern themes and sophisticated subtexts, without sacrificing the incredibly polished packaging that makes it so innately compelling. That would seem to be a formula for continued global success - especially now that South Korea and its culture has the world's attention. Hallyu may swell or subside, but the K-pop production machine goes ever on. And from here, the future looks fantastic, baby.

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No country takes its fluffy pop music more seriously than South Korea.

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What does this example tell you about globalisation? Capture the key details. 

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What does this example tell you about globalisation? Capture the key details. 

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Qn: Is globalisation drawing us together or tearing us apart?

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Qn. How far have current events impacted globalisation for the better or for the worse?

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Qn. Is globalisation drawing us together or tearing us apart?

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What does this example tell you about globalisation? Capture the key details. 

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What does this example tell you about globalisation? Capture the key details. 

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Globalization ‘shrinks’ the world and allows countries to be more interconnected. Decreased travel time can lead to more tourism while businesses can expand to more areas.

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Winwin form Thailand and Tom from Canada are studying together

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Global collaboration and the sharing of information

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Hi am yuanhao and I love sajc and Singapore though I miss China 

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Hi am yuanhao and I love sajc and Singapore though I miss China 

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global food chains all in one place whaaat

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global food chains all in one place whaaat

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This is TOM. There is only one TOM in this class.

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Qn: (craft your own essay question)

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Winwin Tom Yuanhao. Essay globalization is beneficial to everyone. Discuss. 

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Winwin Tom Yuanhao. Essay globalization is beneficial to everyone. Discuss. 

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Globalization shine light to small cultural societies, and increase global diversity abroad. The rapid spread of wide scale media has given more attention and appreciation for asian countries. For example the shifting trend from americano coffee to the now popularized bubble tea. This has given fame to smaller countries bringing more inclusiveness and diversity to other countries. This may also help with racial harmony as asian hate has been becoming more severe due to the covid pandemic. However this hate has been assuaged by popular shows like squid game which helped asian gain more acceptance in countries like America. Although this new found attention is nice, it may also bring out harmful stereotypes towards the general community like how arabs are all terrorists as they are commonly displayed in movies.
Globalization popularizes popular culture and this can cause smaller cultures to be drowned out.
Example: Traditional culture in Bhutan vs Western influence - music, dance
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/aug/26/bhutan-preserves-culture-development-accelerates

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n the village of Ura, nestled in a sweeping valley in central Bhutan, the locals are celebrating. Men wearing grotesque masks and brandishing huge wooden penises leap through traditional dances. And in the village dzong - its monastery, fortress and spiritual centre - locals in national dress eat, drink and gossip.

But overseeing the celebrations at Ura's annual three-day festival, Tashi Wangyal, a member of the national council, the country's upper chamber, explains that this year it has been difficult to find enough young men to perform the traditional dances. Those who have moved away have been urged to return for the festivities. "How do we prevent the fissures between modernity and tradition opening out?" he asks. "Bhutan has a distinct culture, language and tradition. We do not have military power, we don't have economic power but we do have culture - and that is what keeps us distinct, and safe."

As Bhutan - a nation best known for valuing GNH, gross national happiness, above GDP - accelerates its development, its government and people have engaged in a new fight to preserve its culture and keep its unique identity alive.

In a bid to fight globalisation with a form of Bhutanese "glocalisation", the government has passed a heritage sites bill, which protects its cultural traditions as well as its monuments. It has its own broadcast channel, the Bhutan Broadcast Service, and insists on national dress in government meetings and in schools. The tourist board is pushing homestays - a Bhutanese version of bed and breakfast - in an attempt to bring money to rural areas, while giving value to a traditional way of life.

A nation of only 740,000 people, Bhutan is already a poster child for development (pdf). On target to meet all eight millennium development goals, its poverty rate has halved in less than a decade, to 12% in 2012 from 23% in 2007. Healthcare and education are free, and since 1980 life expectancy has increased by 20 years and per capita income by 450%.

'You promise a road, the next thing people want is a car to drive on that road' - development is seen as a mixed blessing on the road to Sakteng Photograph: Freelance

But economic growth has stumbled in recent years. The economy is expected to grow by 7.3% in 2014, but a heavy debt burden and a currency shortage forced the government to push through an $88m (£53m) stimulus package last year. Bhutan's prime minister, Tshering Tobgay, admitted last year that too much focus on GNH rather than providing basic services could be "a distraction", causing some to worry that a new push for growth could destabilise the country's delicate cultural ecosystem still further.

Mass migration from villages to urban centres is a key concern. The UN human development report in 2009 revealed that rural-urban migration in Bhutan - which got its first television sets in 1999 and held its first democratic elections in 2008 - was one of the highest in south Asia. This year's World Bank report (pdf) found that only 37% of rural households said they were happy, compared with half of households in cities. "Low living standards, lack of alternative job opportunities, especially for young people, and unhappiness is contributing to increased out-migration as well as families' breakdown and loss of communities' vitality," said the report.

With greater development comes greater expectation, says Sangay Khandu, an MP in Bhutan's national council. "You promise a road, the next thing people want is a car to drive on that road; you promote telecommunications, the next thing they want is a mobile phone. The reality is that people want comfort, they want the benefit of development," he says.

Bhutan's capital, Thimphu, is one of the fastest growing cities in south Asia, expanding at a rate of about 10% a year. Although attempts are being made to curb its growth (pdf) - strict building rules, tax breaks for businesses in other towns and rural areas, new roads and planned regional airports - its brights lights are still a draw for a population who, until recently, might have lived several days' walk from the nearest road.

A new road is bringing change to Merak, a stop on one of Bhutan's most celebrated treks in the remote far east, and a bone-jangling three-day drive from Thimphu. Here, narrow paths wind past the carved wooden houses, and many of the semi-nomadic local Brokpa (highlander) people wear the traditional dress of the region while tending their yaks. But the road means the village is only an hour's trek from the junction. Electricity arrived in 2012.

Yak herder Lam Richen Photograph: Freelance

Yak herder Lam Richen, 45, explains that two of his three children now live in Thimphu - his daughter has just graduated, his son is a police officer. He hopes the road will bring more tourists, but he is wary too. "I am happy for people to come here, to show them my culture," he says. "But the risk is that if more tourists come then people here might want a different culture to the one they already have."

The Shejun Agency, an NGO that aims to preserve Bhutan's culture, warns that remote and diverse microcultures within Bhutan may be disappearing (pdf) before their existence can even be recorded. The brutality of progress is laid bare on the trek from the village of Merak to Sakteng, which only opened to the public in 2010. For days, the only sounds on the rhododendron-laden route are the rustling of leaves and the occasional whip of a set of prayer flags. But the peace is shattered on the approach to Sakteng by the sound of heavy machinery, as diggers cut a new road into the mountainside, leaving fallen Himalayan cypress in their wake.

Bhutan is unique in its promise to keep at least 60% of its landmass as forest, but roads keep on coming (pdf): in 2004 the country had around 800km (497 miles) of roads, but by 2012 that had grown to 5,500km.

The balance of Bhutan's economy is already shifting. In 2002 farming accounted for 26% of GDP, but by 2011 that was down to 16%. Industry - mainly due to four massive hydropower projects (pdf) - accounted for 44% of GDP in 2011, up from 28% in 2002. But there is a sense that this development is benefitting a few, and leaving many behind. As of last year only 2% of the population were employed in water, gas and electricity supply (pdf).

A huge new hydropower plant, partly financed by India, in Dagachhu is set to open within months, and 11 more are planned. The country is attempting to meet its declared aim of increasing hydropower capacity to 10,000MW by 2020, most of it for export to India, which is funding the expansions.

Yaks graze among the prayer flags in fields near Ura village in Bhutan Photograph: Freelance

Agriculture still features highly in Bhutan's plans. Around two-thirds of the population still work in agriculture, the vast majority as subsistence farmers. The country - the world's only nation aiming to be fully organic - plans to diversify production into hazelnuts, coffee and organic vegetables, and is launching the Green Bhutan Project giving rural people plots of land and greenhouses.

Tourism, another area of potential growth and revenue, is increasing by about 10-15% every year. Tourists can only visit Bhutan on an organised tour, which, alongside a daily visa fee to the government, can cost about $250 a day. "We need to make tourism sustainable, so it's not just about numbers but about yield," says Kinley Wangi, of Bhutan's tourism council. "If you don't plan well, tourists can ruin a country."

Until now much of the money raised from tourism - which Wangi estimates accounts for only 6-9% of GDP - has stayed in the hands of tour companies. But the government is encouraging local people in remote areas to open up their homes for curious tourists, so that more money is spent locally. "Homestays" are being supported by the WWF in Bhutan as well as the government.

Bhutan will have to make a herculean effort if it is to preserve its unique identity, and, as the Ura festivities close, there are signs of hope.

As the sun dips below the mountains, all the men and women of the village dance around the courtyard of the dzong to the rhythmic sound of bells. A couple of tourists pull the hoods of their all-weather jackets tighter around their faces while a monk in ochre robes takes a photo on his smartphone.

Watching, 12-year-old Rigzin Pema Yodchan says she hopes that in the future her country will be more developed, with computers and phones. Asked if she will stay here in Ura, she nods. "Yes. Lots of people now leave," she says. "But we should stay and preserve our culture."

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Bhutan battles to preserve its culture as development accelerates | Alexandra Topping

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n the village of Ura, nestled in a sweeping valley in central Bhutan, the locals are celebrating. Men wearing grotesque masks and brandishing huge wooden penises leap through traditional dances. And in the village dzong - its monastery, fortress and spiritual centre - locals in national dress eat, drink and gossip.

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globalisation has enabled cultures from all around the world to be adopted by various individuals who are willing to and are interested in. For example, the interconnectedness nature of the world allows pop stars like BTS to perform globally and spread their music across the world and not just in Korea. Social media also helps to raise global awareness. Fans called "BTS Armies" can be found all around the world, and from different backgrounds, united by their common taste for BTS. As such, this tells us that globalisation can expand the reach of various cultures and not just limit to a country.

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What does this example tell you about globalisation? Capture the key details.

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What does this example tell you about globalisation? Capture the key details.

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Last year (2022) many of Apple’s factories in China went on strike. The conflict between the workers reportedly confined to the factories and the police resulted in a decrease in productivity for the many components that Apple devices require. This happened particularly around the international release and announcement of the iPhone 14, which led to about 3-4 months of shipping delays as the company was unable to source parts in a timely manner. This showcases the nature of interconnection and interdependence of globalisation, where components of a system can result in the delay of supply chains further up.

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Insana: Russia's Ukraine invasion is a turning point for investors as the world changes

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Since the end of World War II, the entire economic architecture of the planet has changed.

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Qn: Should immigration be embraced?

Immigration has brought new working opportunities allowing people from less developed regions to work in more developed countries. This gives them a higher income to   feed their family back in their home countries. In the example shown in the video, a domestic helper from Philippine works in Singapore for 14years. She has earned money to send her son for computer courses, and support her brother’s family. However, as a trade off, she is not closely connected to her son who hasn’t seen his mother since the age of five. She feels disappointed about that, but also guilty as she does not give enough care to him. Hence, some people opine that immigration comes at a detriment- the exploitation of workers. As the World Bank points out, “Globalisation has benefitted an emerging global middle class and the world’s top 1%. But people at the bottom of the income ladder… lost out.” Globalisation promises immigrants with the tempting offer of higher wages. However, there is a hidden dark side that contractual agreements do not reflect. Such is the case of foreign domestic workers travel to new countries in hope of a better life and are instead met with being mistreated by their employees, made to work for long hours and having poor living conditions while being away from home and compromising their relationships with their families.

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Qn. How far have current events impacted globalisation for the better or for the worse?

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Qn: ‘National needs before international cooperation.’ Should this be the motto of every nation?

With the recent US-China trade wars, where both countries imposed tariffs on imports coming from those nations, it has sparked debate on whether a country should focus on their own national needs or content with international trade. Some believe that countries should prioritise their own country's needs, stating that international trade is far too unstable, as economic superpowers like US and China can easily disrupt and alter these trades for their own benefit, and that demand for goods may suddenly fall due to these tariffs. They believe that a country should at least be self sufficient before they decide to dabble in global supply chains. However, I disagree with this thoughts, as after a certain economic state, it is impossible for growth in national needs to result in betterment of citizens standard of living

Critics of international trade suggest that countries should priorities their own nation's needs, due to several different factors. By initiating international trade too early, a country risk losing power and foothold over their own resources to larger economies. A common example of this is African countries selling raw material reserves like lithium mines to larger countries like China. By choosing short term gain through international trade, these African countries severely limited their ability to grow and fulfill the needs of their citizens. These developing countries are usually abused by larger economies, where they would utilise the lower wages and land cost for factories to run their production at the expense of the citizens of the main countries. These critics conclude that they should prioritise their own growth and build up necessary guidelines before opening their doors to other countries.

However, there is a limit to how much a nation can grow by only focusing on themselves. Most countries are completely incapable of producing everything that is considered mainstream in current society. (tbc)

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Qn: To what extent does an adversity in a region affect other countries in the world?

Call for human rights is becoming more prevalent in the world and it has impacted many of the sectors. One of them is in multi-national companies. Given that multi-national companies prioritise countries with lower labour costs, there is possibility that such pursuit of low costs of production conflicts with the interests of the local labour. Most of the factories workers are from lower income group in which their whole families welfare depend on them. Therefore, when MNCs ask for lower pays and minimal bonus, the workers can feel unfair and unsatisfied. For example, in 2022, many of Apple’s factories in China went on strike. This resulted in a decrease in productivity for Apple as workers refused to work.

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How far do you agree that globalisation has diluted local cultures and heritage?

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How far do you agree that globalisation has diluted local cultures and heritage?

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One reason why globalisation has diluted local cultures and heritage is due to the influence of foreign media. In an increasingly interconnected world, where the use of technology is commonplace, the spread of various cultures through foreign media is easier than ever. This is especially seen in the youths of Singapore, who are tech-savvy individuals always on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. They are more likely to be exposed to different countries' cultures, for example Korea's biggest global phenomenon, topping billboard charts across the globe with 10 world tours lined up, BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan). The Korean Kpop fan culture have invaded the minds of these youths globally, who adopt these cultures over their own. This results in cultural homogenisation, bringing about a loss of uniqueness of local culture, which in turn can lead to loss of identity, exclusion and even conflict. This is an issue that the Chinese government is trying to solve where they had to take extreme measures and outright banned BTS from posting on the popular social media platform WeiBo.
However, there is a line between adopting foreign culture and appreciating foreign culture. The spread of various cultures through foreign media can allow people from different parts of the world to appreciate each other cultures more and bring about harmony and a common understanding among one another.