Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN)

18 Oct Part II of the book focuses on interdisciplinary evaluation of the development of the contemporary world in the context of globalisation

Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN)
2012

Four dominant processes have shaped the contemporary vision of the world; the first process was the one to change the distribution of power in global economy. The traditional division between the wealthy North and the poor South requires dramatic changes not only in its explanation, but also in what legitimises such a division in the first place, mainly because the so-called emerging markets are gaining importance within global economy. Furthermore, recent changes in global economy have been caused by the mechanisms other than those prevailing two or three decades ago, which since then have been considered as unquestionable paradigms of economic development. Apart from that, the financial sector has grown significantly so as to become the most powerful sector of economy in the last decades. This phenomenon is defined as the appearance of virtual economy, disconnected to a great extent from real economy. Such disconnectedness was the main factor in the last global economic crisis and growing national debts. Last but not least, due to (although not only) information revolution, economy has undergone rapid structural changes in the area of the sector of services, which is becoming the dominant sector in developed countries, both from the perspective of GDP and of employment.