Topic Brief: Factors Driving Globalisation

Compiled 2026-09-28. Every citation below is re-checked directly against research/veridian/WBS14-verified-facts.md's own entries for spec 4.3.1.3 — the main §4.3.1 item-3 narrative, the "factors-driving-globalisation.ts — mark-scheme-bullet coverage audit (2026-09-13)" log entry (which re-extracted the January 2023 and January 2026 mark schemes bullet by bullet), and the "Paper mechanics" section (Section A's fixed 4+4+8+12+12 structure) — not re-derived from memory or from this folder's other two WBS14 documents. Cross-read before writing: codex-deep-dive-factors-driving-globalisation.md already carries a full part-by-part (a)–(i) theory breakdown, a complete citation inventory table and a cross-citation synthesis for this exact spec point; signal-frequency-and-boundaries.md already carries this spec point's one-line frequency row. This document doesn't repeat either — it's the condensed, exam-day version: what to expect if this topic comes up, not why it works. The live lesson, content/veridian/curriculum/wbs14/factors-driving-globalisation.ts, and content/veridian/question-bank/wbs14.ts (checked directly — no entry for this spec point) were also read to confirm nothing here duplicates them.

#WBS14 SIGNAL — Topic Master Brief: Factors Driving Globalisation (spec 4.3.1.3)

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#Frequency

Seen in 3 of 5 series checked in this course's systematic, full-series pull (October 2021, June 2022, January 2023, October 2023, January 2024) — October 2021 (two separate questions) and January 2023. One further, independent confirmation comes from a targeted single-question pull outside that systematic sample: January 2026, Q1(d). That is four real question-level citations across three distinct series. No percentage or likelihood claim is intended or implied by any of these numbers — read "seen in 3 of 5" as a description of what this course's research has actually read, not as a prediction for any future series.

The four real citations:

#Mark-tariff pattern

Every real citation for this topic is a discursive command word — three 12-mark Assess questions and one 8-mark Discuss. None is a quantitative opener. Across the four citations, spec 4.3.1.3 has never anchored a Calculate/Construct-type question on this paper, unlike adjacent Section A content such as the GDP-per-capita percentage opener (4.3.1.1) or the tariff supply-and-demand diagram (4.3.1.4). Revision time on this topic is better spent on Assess/Discuss paragraph structure than on any calculation drill.

Position within Section A is consistent too: this paper's fixed structure runs (a) 4-mark quantitative → (b) 4-mark Explain → (c) 8-mark Discuss → (d) 12-mark Assess → (e) 12-mark Assess in every series checked. Three of the four real citations for this topic sit in the (d)/(e) 12-mark Assess slots; only the FDI citation sits earlier, at (c). If this topic appears, the back half of Question 1 — not the opening quantitative or short-Explain parts — is where the real evidence says to expect it.

#Recurring context/angle

Two genuinely different question shapes recur, not one:

1. An extract-tied case built around a single developing or emerging economy. Three of the four citations use Vietnam (both October 2021 questions) or Senegal (January 2023, via the AfCFTA extract) as the applied business context. No confirmed citation for this spec point uses a European, North American or Latin American case.
2. A free-standing institutional question with no business-case extract behind it at all. The January 2026 citation breaks the first pattern entirely — "Assess the role of the WTO in trade liberalisation" is set as its own standalone question, not embedded in a wider extract-based scenario the way the January 2023 citation is.

Which shape a real paper uses matters for planning an answer: shape 1 rewards linking the factor back to what a named business does differently (the spec's own 4.1 framing); shape 2 rewards balanced institutional argument with no business to anchor it to.

One further pattern, confirmed across two separate series: the WTO is the only sub-item the mark scheme itself builds as deliberately two-sided. January 2023 credits it only as a positive (Doha round, dispute resolution, trading blocs liberalising further). January 2026 — the standalone WTO question — adds a genuine limiting side found nowhere else in this evidence base: the Doha round "collapsed after 14 years," the WTO "cannot force countries to reduce trade barriers," and trading blocs have "done much to liberalise trade" without it. If a WTO-specific question appears, real balancing material exists for it in a way that isn't yet confirmed for the other eight lettered parts.

#What has no standalone citation, honestly

Three of the spec's nine lettered parts — (d) increased significance of MNCs, (g) growth of the global labour force, (h) structural change — have not anchored a standalone mark-scheme question in any of the pulls checked so far. That's not evidence they're safe to skip (they're mandatory spec content, taught to the same standard as the rest in the live lesson); it just means no real past-paper example exists yet to quote if one of these three is the actual question set.

#If this topic appears, here's what to expect

Most likely: a 12-mark Assess in the Q1(d) or Q1(e) slot, built around one named developing-economy business case (a Vietnam- or Senegal-style extract), asking for a judged view on which factor(s) mattered most — not a list. Less often, but confirmed twice: a standalone WTO question with no extract case at all, where the real evidence supports both a positive case (Doha, dispute resolution, 164 members) and a genuine limiting one (Doha's collapse, no enforcement power, blocs liberalising without it). Least likely to be tested directly, on the evidence so far: MNC significance, global labour-force growth, or structural change as their own standalone question — know the mechanism, but don't expect a past-paper phrase to lean on for any of the three.

#Sources

research/veridian/WBS14-verified-facts.md — §4.3.1 item 3 narrative entry (the four citations and their real indicative content); the "factors-driving-globalisation.ts — mark-scheme-bullet coverage audit (2026-09-13)" log entry (verbatim bullet list for January 2023 Q1(e) and January 2026 Q1(d), Publication Codes WBS14_01_2301 and WBS14_01_2601_MS); "Paper mechanics" (Section A's confirmed 4+4+8+12+12 structure, checked in all 5 systematic series and independently re-confirmed for January 2026's Q1(a)–(e) sequence in Flagged Issue #11). content/veridian/technique-hub/wbs14/codex-deep-dive-factors-driving-globalisation.md and signal-frequency-and-boundaries.md — read in full to keep this document additive rather than duplicative.