tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3937784635262808566.post3441005632472726185..comments2023-04-09T17:22:51.565+02:00Comments on TERMINALE SECTION EUROPEENE DNL HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY: Why is the WTO being contested?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3937784635262808566.post-8853529679686910432017-11-18T19:30:39.586+01:002017-11-18T19:30:39.586+01:00Here is an oral presentation from our group about ...Here is an oral presentation from our group about the WTO within the globalization (it refers to page 80 in our textbook): <br /><br />Globalisation is the intensification of movement of people, goods, money and information on a world scale. Over the last decades, this process has intensified; trade between countries has soared, especially thanks to the WTO. The aim of globalisation is to build a world economic system (worldwide capitalism), to eradicate poverty.<br /><br />The first document is a 2005 cartoon by Hemad Hajjaj published in Al Jhad. A cartoon is a drawing that denounces something using caricature and satire. This cartoon is accusing the WTO of being a dangerous capitalist organisation that over-exploits the world’s natural and human resources.<br /><br />The second document is an extract from a Guardian article written by Martin Jacques in 2006 entitled “The death of Doha signals the demise of globalisation”. The Guardian is a centre-left British newspaper.<br /><br />These two documents help us to understand why the WTO, which plays an important role in globalization, was being challenged in 2005-2006.<br /><br />The austere cartoon shows a man on a white background. He looks sarcastic, almost evil. He is wearing a suit, smoking a cigar; he’s a caricature of the capitalist, an oligarch, i.e. someone very rich and powerful. On his suit we can read “WTO” (World Trade Organisation). This organisation establishes the rules of trade between most nations (which represents about 95% of world trade). This man is clutching the world in his fingers shaped like the WTO logo. This man embodies the WTO squeezing the planet. The cartoonist comes from Jordan, a poor country. This document gives us the point of view of poor countries who feel they are losing out from globalization and Hajjaj is blaming the WTO of being a rich countries’ organization exploiting the resources of weaker countries.<br /><br />Document 2 is about the Doha round, talks between countries that continued to allow the developed countries (which are the main actors of globalisation) to exploit the cheap labour in the developing countries. The developing countries are, however, gaining more power, allowing them to contest the developed countries. This document lets us hear the voice of poor countries fighting to obtain more rights, and also the point of view of rich countries that reject having to enter into multilateral trade agreements; this, according to the author, could signal the end of globalisation.<br /><br />The main actors of globalization are rich countries; they invest in poor countries to increase their profits. This is paradoxical because the aim of globalization is to eradicate poverty, not to just make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The WTO talks aim to find a solution: to make trade both freer and fairer. <br /><br />The documents show that poor countries see the WTO as against them because it seems to favour the wealthy countries. The WTO is also, from the powerful countries’ point of view, no longer able to defend their interests, hence the deadlock of the Doha round. <br /><br />Was Doha the end of the WTO and so of globalization? The documents are dated 2005 and 2006. The WTO is still going strong, so, in the end, the Doha round was just a setback on the road to globalization…<br />PNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06199581517984038412noreply@blogger.com