Thursday 22 October 2009

Interdependence overview

Many of the ideas we have discussed about interdependence highlight the increased interconnectivity of places and how places mutually rely on each other.
The question we consider in today's blog is, does interdependence lead to the distinctiveness of places becoming lost?

To an extent this is true. For example, Americanisation has taken place in many countries, as you can find American fast food outlets in places all over the world. Some have termed this 'McDonaldization'.




Mcdonalds in Israel....







.... Japan







.... Saudi Arabia




Western technology and media have also had an impact on places around the world, in some cases replacing local practices.




For example The Simpsons can be seen in more than 60 foreign countries.

In conclusion, interdependence does appear to blur the distinctiveness of places to an extent. This is an inevitable feature of a being part of a globalised world/community in which places are strongly interconnected. Places that were previously isolated are now part of a globalised world and so they share some features with interdependent, partner places. However, we argue that places still retain their own distinctiveness. Looking back to our previous video blog (cultural interdependence) on the city of Leicester in the UK, we saw that Leicester has huge cultural diversity, with influences from many different parts of the world. But rather than this diversity causing Leicester to lose its own sense of identity, arguably Leicester’s diversity is what makes it unique.

Dan & Josh

Wednesday 21 October 2009

Cultural Interdependence

Hello blogfans. This is our last video blog on interdependence for a while. It looks at cultural interdependence within the Leicester City centre. We hope you enjoy and it helps in your understanding of cultural interdependence and interdependence as a whole. Enjoy.



Dan & Josh

Friday 16 October 2009

Social Interdependence

Hello, welcome to out fourth video blog on interdependence. This video blog looks at social interdependence. Hopefully it will help you in your continual development of interdependence. Any questions you have, please ask us using the comment box below and we'll be happy to reply.

Dan and Josh

Thursday 15 October 2009

Environmental Interdependence

Welcome to our third video blog on interdependence. This video blog looks at environmental interdependence. We hope you like it, and it helps in your understanding of interdependence. If you would like to make any comments please feel free to. Thanks for watching.




Dan and Josh

Wednesday 14 October 2009

Political Interdependence

Welcome to our second video blog on interdependence. This video blog looks at political interdependence. We hope you enjoy it, and it helps in your understanding and development of interdependence. Thanks for watching.




Dan and Josh

Friday 9 October 2009

Economic Interdependence

Welcome to our first video blog on interdependence. This video blog looks at economic interdependence. We hope you enjoy it, try not to laugh to much. If you are lucky we might put together some outtakes.

Dan and Josh

Thursday 8 October 2009

Our Interdependent World

In our previous blogs we mentioned that interdependence is a result of many different links, such as economic, social, environmental, cultural and political links. These links create many challenges, but also opportunities. Whereas once, challenges such as an economic recession or pollution generated by high energy use, may have been viewed at the national level, interdependence means they are felt on a global scale.

We must also consider the fact that the postive and negative impacts of interdependence are often not shared equally between places. Often an MEDC will reap the majority of any benefits and an LEDC will be worst effected by negative aspects. In the Bill Clinton clip posted on October 2nd, he discusses interdependence. Speaking from a global perspective he says that "we share the benefits but we must also share the pain."

A few of the current challenges and opportunities resulting from interdependence are highlighted in the following short video.