Global Migration

The movement of populations across frontiers has reached unprecedented proportions, producing a global migration crisis. It raises a host of moral issues, such as the ethnic balance inside host countries, the meaning of citizenship and sovereignty, the distribution of income, labor supply, xenophobia, the impact of multiculturalism, protection of basic human rights and prevention of exploitation, and the potential for large flows of migrants and refugees to undermine democratic governance and state stability. Particularly troubling is the moral inconsistency between liberal democracies that simultaneously defend the fundamental right of refugees to emigrate and the sacred right of sovereign states to control their borders (Weiner).

As "national sovereignty is eroded from above by the mobility of capital, goods and information across national boundaries" (Sandel), whether existing institutions of global governance are able to cope with globalization's multiple challenges is a hotly contested issue. Meanwhile, the capacity of the state to cope with the forces of rapid change is also being tested. As we turn our attention to the globalization of finance, trade, production, and labor, we will find further evidence that "globalization is uneven. It unites but it also divides, creating winners here and losers there." And in an anarchical international political system, "there is no global civil society that can be called on to support global governance" (Sorensen). Like politics and markets, then, politics and the process of globalization are intimately intertwined, as "even the most powerful states cannot escape the imperatives of the global economy" (Sandel). Meanwhile, realization of truly civic-spirited community in the global village remains elusive.

Exercises:

1 Answer the following questions:

1 What is the “global village“?

2 What role do cellular phones play nowadays?

3 Why are computers so widespread nowadays?

4 What role does Internet play in the process of globalization?

5 What media sources do you know and what is their impact on people?

6 How is the global diffusion of Western culture viewed in the world?

7 Who controls the world‘s media sources?

8 How does globalization contribute to spread of diseases?

9 How does globalization contribute to narcotic use and drug trade?

10 Why is global migration considered a crisis?

2 Give Russian equivalents for the following word-combinations:

unrestrained communication, single community, to portend consensus, to shrink the world, patterns of international trade, pervasive effect, laptop computers, the mainframes of yesteryear, to propel spread, exponential rate, digital revolution, “serf the Net“, unencumbered by state borders, on-line service company, to cut access to smb, on a selective basis, to contain a provision, to block reception, to spawn the Internet, at the forefront of the revolution, to put smb at a disadvantage, to conceal smb‘s identity, to diffuse danger, negligible influence, media outlets, to merge smth into smth, captive audience, to spur investors, to shape policy, to attribute power to smth, to bring disputants to the bargaining table, at the helm, under the spell of smth, media coverage, unfavorable image, conspicuous consumption, via electronic links, indigenous culture, global conformity, countless jobs, economic output, homogenized culture, to disseminate values, to sweep smb from power, rootless individuals, to lie dormant, to heighten awareness, excessive growth, illicit use of smth, worrisome developments, the realm of the state, to avoid detection, operating efficiency, to undermine governance, moral inconsisitency, to erode sovereignty, civic-spirited community, to remain elusive.