Module 1

Introduction to Globalization

Overview

Much has changed since time immemorial. Human beings have encountered many
changes over the last century especially in their social relationships and social relationships and
social structures. Of these changes, one can say that globalization is a very important change, if
not, the “most important” (Bauman, 2003). The reality and omnipresence of globalization makes
us see ourselves as part of what we refer to as the “global age” (Albrow, 1996). The Internet, for
example, allows a person from the Philippines to know what is happening to the rest of the world
simply by browsing Google. The mass media also allows for connections among people,
communities, and countries all over the globe.

So what is globalization? This question is probably an easy one to answer. However,

many scholars gave and tried to formulate its definitions. This resulted in different, sometimes
contradicting views about the concept. It cannot be contained within a specific time frame, all
people, and all situations (Al-Rhodan, 2006). Aside from this, globalization encompasses a
multitude of processes that involves the economy, political systems, and culture. Social
structures, therefore, are directly affected by globalization.

Over the years, globalization has gained many connotations pertaining to progress,
development, and integration. On the one hand, some view globalization as a positive
phenomenon. For instance, Swedish journalist Thomas Larsson (2001) saw globalization as “the
process of world shrinkage, if distances getting shorter, things moving closer. It pertains to the
increasing ease with which somebody on one side of the world can interact, to mutual benefit
with somebody on the other side of the world” (p.9). On the other hand, some see it as occurring
through and with regression, colonialism, and destabilization. In the mid-1990’s, Martin Khor, the
former president of Third World Network (TWN) in Malaysia, once regarded globalization as
colonization.

In this chapter, different definitions of globalization will be discussed. The task of

conceptualizing it reveals a variety of perspectives. To understand further the concept, different
metaphors will be used. These metaphors will also allow an appreciation of earlier epochs before
globalization and the present globalized world. The final lesson of this chapter will be devoted to
a general discussion of globalization theories. The following section will highlight the different
views scholars have toward globalization.

Module Objectives

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Differentiate the competing conceptions of globalization
2. Identify the underlying philosophies of the varying definitions of globalization
3. Agree on a working definition of globalization

GEED 10043 – The Contemporary World

Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 1
Reading No. 1
What is Globalization?

Since its
first
appearance in
the Webster’s
Dictionary in
1961, many
opinions about
globalization
have flourished.
The
literature on the
definitions of
globalization
revealed that
definitions could
be classified
as either (1)
broad and
inclusive or (2)
narrow and
exclusive. The one offered by
Ohmae in 1992 stated,
“…globalization means the
onset of the borderless
world…” (p.14). This is an
example of a broad and
inclusive type of definition. If
one uses such, it can include
a variety of issues that deal
with overcoming traditional
boundaries. However, it does not shed light on the implications of globalization due to its
vagueness.

Narrow and exclusive definitions are better justified but can be limiting in the sense that
their application adhere to only particular definitions. Robert Cox’s definitions suits best in this
type: “the characteristics of the globalization trend can include the internationalizing of
production, the new international division of labor, new migratory movements from South to
North, the new competitive environment that accelerates these processes, and the new
internationalizing of the state… making states into agencies of the globalizing world” (as cited in
RAWOO Netherlands Development Assistance Research Council, 2000, p.14).

No matter how one classifies a definition of globalization, the concept is complex and
multifaceted as the definitions deal with either economic, political, or social dimensions. In fact,
in a comprehensive study if 114 definitions by the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP) in
2006, 67 of them refer to economic dimension. These definitions include political and social
dimensions as well. The sheer number and complexity of definitions do not mean that there is a
remarkable improvement in every definition given by scholars. Kumar (2003) took on a different
argument about the issue. To him, the debate about what can be done about globalization and
what it is are similar. This is in relation to what some academics have claimed about defining
globalization- it is a useless task.

A more recent definition was given by Ritzer (2015), “globalization is a transplanetary

process or a set of processes involving increasing liquidity and the growing multidirectional flows
of people, objects, places, and information as well as the structures they encounter and create
that are barriers to, or expedite, those flows…” (p.2). Generally, this definition assumes that
globalization could bring either or both integration and /or fragmentation. Although things flow

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easily in global world, hindrances or structural blocks are also present. These blocks could slow
down one’s activity in another country or could have even limit the places a person can visit.

Why are we going to spend time studying this concept?

How can we appreciate these definitions?

How can these help us understand globalization?

First, the perspective of the person who defines globalization shapes its definition. The
overview of definitions implies that globalization is many things to many different people. In
1996, Arjun Appadural said, “globalization is a ‘world of things’ that have ‘different speeds, axes,
points of origin and termination, and varied relationships to institutional structures in different
regions, nations, or societies’” (as cited in Chowdhury, 2006, p. 137). In a more recent study, Al-
Rhodan (2006) wrote that definitions suggest the perspective of the author on the origins and
the geopolitical implications of globalization. It is a starting point that will guide the rest of any
discussions. In effect, one’s definition and perspective could determine concrete steps in
addressing the issues of globalization. For example, if one sees globalization as positive, the
person can say that it is a unifying force. On the other hand, if it is deemed as creating greater
inequalities among nations, globalization is negatively treated.

Second, to paraphrase the sociologist Cesare Poppi: Globalization is the debate and the
debate is globalization. One became part and parcel of the other. As Poppi (1997) wrote: “The
literature stemming from the debate of globalization has grown in the last decade beyond any
individual’s capability of extracting a workable definition of the concept. In a sense, the meaning
of the concept is self-evident, in another, it is vague and obscure as its reaches are wide and
constantly shifting. Perhaps, more than any other concept, globalization is the debate about it”
(as cited in kumar, 2003, p. 95)

Overall, globalization is a concept that is not easy to define because in reality,

globalization has a shifting nature. It is complex , multifaceted, and can be influenced by the
people who define it. Moreover, the issues and concerns involving globalization have a wide
range- from the individual to society, from small communities to nations and states, and from the
benefits we can gain from it to the costs it could carry. In his article, “The Globalization of
Nothing,” Ritzer (2003) said, “attitudes toward globalization depend, among other things, on
whether one gains or loses from it” (p. 190). Nevertheless, the task of defining globalization
should stimulate more discussions about it. More importantly, the fact that we experience
globalization should give one the interest of engaging in the study of it.
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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 3
Reading No. 2

Metaphors of Globalization

In order for us to better understand the

concept of globalization, we will utilize metaphors.
Metaphors make use of one term to help us better
understand another term. In our case, the states of
matter- solid and liquid- will be used. In addition,
other related concepts that are included in the
definition such as structures and flows will be
elaborated.

SOLID AND LIQUID

The epochs that preceded today’s

globalization paved way for people, things, and
places, to harden over time. Consequently, they
have limited mobility (Ritzer, 2015). The social
relationships and objects remained where they were created. Solidity also refers to barriers that
prevent or make difficult the movement of things. Furthermore, solids can either be natural or
man-made. Examples of natural solids are landforms are bodies of water. Man-made barriers
include the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall. An imaginary line such as the nine-dash line
used by the People’s Republic of China in their claim to the South China Sea is an example of a
modern man-made solid. This creates limited access of Filipino fishers to the South China Sea.
Obviously, these examples still exist. However, they have the tendency to melt. This should not
be taken literally, like an iceberg melting, this process involves how we can describe what is
happening in today’s global world. It is becoming increasingly liquid.

Liquid, as s state of mater, takes the shape of its container. Moreover, liquids are not
fixed. Liquidity, therefore, refer to the increasing ease of movement of people, things,
information, and places in the contemporary world. Zygmunt Bauman’s ideas were the ones that
have much to say about the characteristics of liquidity. First, today’s liquid phenomena change
quickly and their aspects , spatial and temporal, are in continuous fluctuation. This means that
space and time are crucial elements of globalization. In global finance, for instance, changes in
the stock market are a matter of seconds. Another characteristics of liquid phenomena is that
their movement is difficult to stop. For example, videos uploaded on YouTube or Facebook are
unstoppable once they become viral. The so-called Internet sensations become famous not only
in their homeland but also to the entire world. Finally, the forces (the liquid ones) made political
boundaries more permeable to the flow of people and things (Cartier, 2001). This brings us to
what Ritzer (2015, p.6) regarded as the most important characteristic of liquid: it “tends to melt
whatever stands in its path (especially solids)” The clearest example is the decline if not death ,
of the nation-state.

Liquidity and Solidity are in constant interaction. However, liquidity is the one increasing
and proliferating today. Therefore, the metaphor that could best describe globalization is liquidity.
Liquids do flow and this idea of flow (Appadural, 1996; Rey and Ritzer, 2010) will be the focus of
the next discussion. Also, it should be expected that this concept will appear in the succeeding
lessons. The literature on globalization makes use of the concept of flows.
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FLOWS

The previous section described the melting process of solid phenomena followed by the
increase of liquidity. It is only logical to discuss the flows of liquid phenomena. Flows are the
movements of people, things, places, and information brought by the growing “porosity” of global
limitations (Ritzer, 2015). Think of the different foreign cuisines being patronized and consumed
by the Filipinos. Aside from the local dishes, many of us are fond of eating sushi, ramen,
hamburger, and French fries- foods introduced to us by foreign cultures. Clearly foods are being
globalized.

Another example of flows is global financial crises. As Landler (2008, p. C1) put it: “In
global financial system, national boarders are porous.” This means that a financial crisis in a
given country can bring ramifications to other regions of the world. An example of which is the
spread of the effects of American financial crisis on Europe in 2008. The following are other
kinds of flows that can be observed today: poor illegal migrants flooding many parts of the
world, the virtual flow of legal and illegal information such as blogs and pornography,
respectively.; and immigrants recreating ethnic enclaves in host countries. A concrete example
is the Filipino communities abroad and the Chinese communities in the Philippines.

Reading No. 3

Globalization Theories

We have established the many definitions of and issues in defining globalization and the
metaphors that we can use to understand easily the concept. We have also looked into its
origins and history. This section will give you a glimpse of the important theories on
globalization. We will analyze globalization culturally, economically, and politically as reflected in
the succeeding chapters. In the meantime, it would be helpful to assert that the theories see
globalization as a process that increases either homogeneity or heterogeneity.

❖ Homogeneity

Global economic crises are also products of homogeneity in economic

globalization. Stiglitz (2002), for instance, blamed the international Monetary Fund
(IMF) for its “one-size-fits-all” approach which treats every country in the world as
the same. In the end, rich countries become advantageous in the world economy
at the expense of poor countries, which leads to increased inequality among
nations. The political realm also suffers homogenization if one takes into account
the emerging similar models of governance in the world. Barber (1995) said that
“McWorld” is existing. It means only one political orientation is growing in today’s
societies.

The global flow of media is often characterized as media imperialism. TV,

music, books, and movies are perceived as imposed on developing countries by
the West (Cowen, 2002). Media imperialism undermines the existence of
alternative global media originating from developing countries such as the Al
Jazeera (Bielsa, 2008) and the Bollywood (Larkin, 2003), as well as the influence
of the local and regional media. The Internet can be seen as an arena for
alternative media. Cultural imperialism denies the agency of viewers, but people
around the world often interpret the same medium (e.g., a movie) in significantly

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 different ways. Global media are dominated by a small number of large
corporations. As McChesney (1999) put it, this is being “extended from old media
to new media (p. 11), such as Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Apple’s
Itunes.

As a result, in the long run, the Internet could end up being less diverse
and competitive. Independent media center, associated with the alter-
globalization movement, helps to counter this trend. It disseminates information
to facilitate global participation of activists. Hacktivists extend activism to the
Internet by hacking into computer programs to promote a particular cause (Juris,
2005)

Ritzer (2008) claimed that, in general, the contemporary world is

undergoing the process of McDonaldization. It is the process by which Western
societies are dominated by the principles of fast food restaurants.
McDonaldization involves the global spread of rational systems, such as
efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. Ritzer (2008) pointed out that
this process is “extended to other businesses, sectors, and geographic areas” (p.
169). Globalization, in contrast to glocalization, is a process wherein nations,
corporations, etc. impose themselves on geographic areas in order to gain
profits, power, and so on (Ryan, 2007). Ritzer (2007) also espoused the idea that
globalization can also be seen as a flow of “nothing” as opposed to “something”,
involving the spread of non-places, non- things, non-people, and non-services.

❖ Heterogeneity

On the other hand, heterogeneity pertains to the creation of various cultural

practices, new economies, and political groups because of the interaction of
elements from different societies in the world. Heterogeneity refers to the
differences because of either lasting differences or of the hybrids or combinations
of cultures that can be produced through the different trans planetary processes.
Contrary to cultural imperialism, heterogeneity in culture is associated with
cultural hybridization. A more specific concept is “glocalization” coined by Roland
Robertson in 1992. To him, as global forces interact, with local factors or a
specific geographic area, the “glocal” is being produced.

Economic issues are not exempted from heterogeneity. The

commodification of cultures and “glocal” markets are examples of differentiation
happening in many economies around the world. The same goes with political
institutions. Barber (1995) also provided the alternate of “McWorld” – the “Jihad”.
As Ritzer (2008) mentioned, it refers to the political groups that are engaged in
an “intensification” of nationalism and that leads to greater political heterogeneity
throughout the world” (p. 576).

Although homogeneity and heterogeneity give us idea about the effects of globalization,
the picture is not yet complete. The theories about globalization will be clarified as we look closer
at each of them in the succeeding chapters.

GEED 10043 – The Contemporary World

Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 6
Reading No. 4

Origins and History of Globalization

The previous discussions answered the question “What is Globalization?” The next
question “Where did it start?” is not easy to answer as well because there are different views
about this. This course generally adheres to the perspective that the major points of the
beginnings of globalization started after the Second World War. Nevertheless, it would mean no
harm to look at the five different perspectives regarding the origins of globalization.

HARDWIRED

According to Nayan Chanda (2007), it is because of our basic human need to make our
lives better that made globalization possible. Therefore, one can trace the beginning of
globalization from our ancestors in Africa who walked out from the said continent in the late Ice
Age. This long journey finally led them to all-known continents today, roughly after 50, 000
years.

Chanda (2007) mentioned commerce, religion, politics, and warfare are the “urges” of
people toward a better life. These are respectively connected to four aspects of globalization
and they can be traced all throughout history: trade, missionary work, adventures, and
conquest.

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CYCLE

For some, globalization is a long-term cyclical process and thus, finding its origin will be a
daunting task. What is important is the cycles that globalization has gone through (Scholte,
2005). Subscribing to this view will suggest adherence to the idea that other global ages have
appeared. There is also the notion to suspect that this point of globalization will soon disappear
and reappear.

EPOCH

Ritzer (2015) cited Therborn’s (2000) six great epochs of globalization. These are also
called “waves”, and each has its own origin. Today’s globalization is not unique if this is the
case. The different of this view from the second view (cycles) is that it does not treat epochs as
returning.

Source: Aldama, P.K. (2018). The Contemporary World. Rex Book Store

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 8
EVENTS

Specific events are also considered as part of the fourth view in explaining the origin of
globalization. If this is the case, then several points can be treated as the start of globalization.
Gibbon (1998), for example, argued that Roman conquests centuries before Christ were its
origin. In an issue of the magazine the Economist (2006, January 12), it considered the
rampage of the armies of Genghis Khan into Eastern Europe in the thirteenth century.
Rosenthal (2007) gave premium to voyages of discovery- Christopher Columbus’s discovery of
America in 1942, Vasco de Gama in Cape of Good Hope in 1948, and Ferdinand Magellan’s
completed circumnavigation of the globe in 1522.

The recent years could also be regarded as the beginnings of globalization with reference
to specific technological advances in transportation and communication. Some examples include
the first transatlantic telephone cable (1956), the first transatlantic television broadcasts (1962),
the founding of the modern Internet in 1988, and the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New
York (2001). Certainly, with this view, more and more and more specific events will characterize
not just the origins of globalization but also more of its history.

BROADER, MORE RECENT CHANGES

Recent changes comprised the fifth view. These broad changes happened in the last half
of the twentieth century. Scholars today point to these three notable changes as the origin of
globalization that we know today. They are as follows:
1.The emergence of the United States as the global power (post-World War II)
2.The emergence of multinational corporations (MNCs)
3.The demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

Through its dominant military and economic power after WWII, the United States was able
to outrun Germany and Japan in terms of Industry. Both Axis powers and Allies fall behind
economically as compared to the new global power. Because of this, the United States soon
began to progress in different aspects like in diplomacy, media, film (as in the Hollywood), and
many more.

Before MNCs came into being, their roots were from their countries or origin during the
eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries. The United States, Germany, and Great Britain had in
their homeland great corporations which the world knows today. However, they did not remain
there as far as their production and market are concerned. For example, Ford and General
Motors originated in the United States but in the twentieth century, they exported more
automobiles and opened factories to other countries.

More recent that the first two would be the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. this event led
to the opening of the major parts of the world for the first time since the early twentieth century.
Many global processes- immigration, tourism, media, diplomacy, and MNCs- spread throughout
the planet. This paved way for the so-called “free” world. China, even though the government
remains communist, is on its way to becoming a major force in global capitalism (Fishman,
2006). Moreover, China is also globalizing in terms of other aspects such as their hosting of the
Olympics in 2008.

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 9
Dynamics of Local and Global Culture

Global flows of culture tend to move more easily around the globe than ever before,
especially through non-material digital forms. There are three perspectives on global cultural
flows. These are differentialism, hybridization, and convergence.

CULTURAL DIFFERENTIALISM

Cultural Differentialism emphasizes the fact that cultures are essentially different
 and are only superficially affected by global flows. The interaction of cultures is deemed
to contain the potential for “catastrophic collision”. Samuel Huntington’s theory on the
clash of the civilization s proposed in 1996 best exemplifies this approach. According to
Huntington, after the Cold War, political –economic differences were overshadowed by
new fault lines, which were primarily cultural in nature.

Increasing interaction among different “civilizations” (such as the Sinic, Islamic,

Orthodox, and Western) would lead to intense clashes, especially the economic conflict
between the Western and Sinic civilizations and bloody political conflict between the
Western and Islamic civilizations (Huntington, 2004). This theory has been critiqued for a
number of reasons, especially on its portrayal of Muslims as being “prone to violence”
(Huntington, 1996).

CULTURAL HYBRIDIZATION

The Cultural Hybridization approach emphasizes the integration of local and

global cultures (Cvetkovich and Kellner, 1997). Globalization is considered to be a
creative process which gives rise to hybrid entities that are not reducible to either the
global or the local. A key concept is “glocalization” or the interpenetration of the global
and local resulting in unique outcomes in different geographic areas (Giulianotti and
Robertson, 2007, p. 133). Another key concept is Arjun finance, political images, and
media and the disjunctures between them, which lead to the creation of cultural hybrids.

CULTURAL CONVERGENCE

The cultural convergence approach stresses homogeneity introduced by

globalization. Cultures are deemed to be radically altered by strong flows, while cultural
imperialism happens when one culture imposes itself on and tends to destroy at least
parts of another culture. On important critique of cultural imperialism is John Tomlinson’s
idea of “deterritoialization” of culture. Deterritorialization means that it is much more
difficult to tie culture to a specific geographic point of origin.

GEED 10043 – The Contemporary World

Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 10
Reading No. 5

Globalization and
Regionalization

The process of
globalization
and regionalization
reemerged during
the 1980s and
heightened after the
end of the Cold War in
the 1990s. At
first, it seems that theses two
processes are contradicting- the very
nature of globalization is, by
definition, global while regionalization
is naturally regional.

The regionalization of the

world system and economic activity
undermines the potential benefits
coming out from a liberalized global
economy. This is because regional
organizations prefer regional partners over the rest. Regional organizations respond to the
states’ attempt to reduce the perceived negative effects of globalization. Therefore, regionalism
is a sort of counter-globalization.

In a 2007 survey, the Financial Times revealed that majority of Europeans consider that
globalization brings negative effects to their societies (as cited in Jcoby and Meunier, 2010).
Many policy makers and scholars think that globalization must be regulated and managed. The
threats of an “ungoverned globalization” can be encountered what Jacoby and Meunier called
managed globalization; it refers to “all attempts to make globalization more palatable citizens”
(p.1)

It is important, however, to consider the gradual development of inter-regional relations

such as the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Union (EU), or the
South American trade bloc, Mercosur. In fact, a sort of “contagion effect” (Held, et.al., 2005, p.
77) has spread during the past years.

Regionalization in one part of the world encourages regionalization elsewhere- whether

by imitation, like the success of the European Single Market, or by “defensive” reaction, such as
Mercosur’s establishment as response to the creation of NAFTA. According to this,
regionalization and the development of interregionalism would indeed be global in nature. As
Held et.al (2005) claimed, “the new regionalism is not a barrier to political globalization but, on
the contrary, entirely compatible with it- if not an indirect encouragement” (p.77)

Hurrell (2007) captured this debate in his “one (global) world/ many (regional) worlds
relationship” (p.1). Regional developments in one part of the world have affected and fueled
regionalization everywhere else in a sort of contagion or domino effect. This fact, along with
increasing developments in interregional cooperation, shows that the regionalization process is
global in nature. Therefore, regionalization is intimately linked to globalization since it is part of it,
and it builds on it.

GEED 10043 – The Contemporary World

Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 11
The argument concerning the relationship between regionalization and globalization is
perfectly summarized in this claim:
Source: Aldama, P.K. (2018). The Contemporary World. Rex Book Store

Enrichment

Enrich you understanding of the meaning of Globalization by watching this short

video: WATCH:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ0nFD19eT8

Activity 1
What do writers think about globalization?

In this activity, look for and read three opinion editorial articles (op
eds) discussing globalization. You may use local or international op-eds.
Write a 50-word summary for each op-ed. Identify whether they subscribe
to a particular definition discussed in this module or if they have a new
definition. Also, identify whether they are broad and inclusive or narrow and
exclusive.

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 12
Module 2
The Globalization of Religion

Overview

Globalization has played a tremendous role in providing a context for the current revival
and the resurgence of religion. Today, most religions are not relegated to the countries where
they began. Religions have, in fact, spread and scattered on a global scale. Globalization
provided religions a fertile milieu to spread and thrive. As Scholte (2005) made clear,:
“Accelerated globalization of recent times has enabled co-religionists across the planet to have
greater direct contact with one another. Global communications, global organizations, global
finance, and the like have allowed ideas of the Muslims and the universal Christian church to be
given concrete shave as never before”.

Module Objectives

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Explain how globalization affects religious practices and beliefs

Reading No. 1

The Globalization of Religion

Information technologies, transportation means, and the media are deemed important
means on which religionists rely on the dissemination of their religious ideas. For instance,
countless websites that provide information about religions have been created. This makes
pieces of information and explanations about different religions ready at the disposal of any
person regardless of his or her geographical location. In addition, the Internet allows people to
contact each other worldwide and therefor hold forums and debates that allow religious ideas to
spread.

Furthermore, media also plan an important role in the dissemination of religious ideas. In
this respect, a lot of television channels, radio stations, and print media are founded solely for
advocating religions. Modern transportation has also contributed considerably to the emergence,
revivalism, and fortification or religion. In this respect, Turner (2007) cited the case of Islamic
revivalism in Asia which “is related to the improvement in transportation that has allowed many
Muslims to travel to Mecca and return with
reformist ideas” (p. 163). Modern technology,
therefore, has helped religions of different
forms, such as fundamentalist, orthodox, or
modernist to cross geographical boundaries
and be present everywhere.

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Globalization has allowed religion or
faith to gain considerable significance and
importance as a non-territorial touchstone of
 identity. Being a source of identity and pride,
religion has always been promoted by its
practitioners so that it could reach the level of
globality and be embraced by as many people
as possible. Muslims, for instance, aspire to
establish the Islamic Ummah, a community
with each other and providing a context for
their flourishing and thriving globalization has
brought such religions to a circle of
competition and conflicts.

Globalization transforms the generic

“religion” into a world-system of competing
and conflicting religions. This process of
institutional specialization has transformed
local, diverse, and fragmented cultural
practices into recognizable systems of
religion. Globalization has, therefore, had the
paradoxical effect of making religions more
self-conscious of themselves as being “world
religions”

Such conflicts among the world religions exhibit a solid proof confirming the erosion and
the failure of hybridization. Globalization, as stated in the above excerpt, makes religions more
conscious of themselves as being “world religions” reinforcing their respective specific identities.
These identities are strengthened by globalization and cannot, in any way, intermingle or
hybridize. Since religions have distinct internal structures, their connections to different cultures
and their rituals and beliefs contradict. For instance, Islam and Christianity are mostly
incompatible even if they often come in contact.

Though religion is strengthened and fortified by globalization, it represents a challenge to

globalization’s hybridizing effects. Religion seeks to assert its identity in the light of globalization.

As a result, different religious identities come to the fore and assert themselves. Such
assertions of religious identities constitute a defensive reaction to globalization. Scholte (2005),
in this respect, maintained, “At the same time as being pursued through global channels,
assertions of religious identity have, like nationalist strivings, often also been partly a defensive
reaction to globalization” (p.245).

It has been difficult for religion to cope with values that accompany globalization like
liberalism, consumerism, and rationalism. Such phenomena advocate scientism and secularism.
This, in fact, pushed Scholte to speak of the anti-rationalist faiths. Since he equated rationalism
with globalization and considered religion anti-rationalist, it can be deduced that religion is anti
globalization.

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To quote Scholte (2005):

Transplanetary relations have helped to stimulate and sustain some renewals of anti
rationalist faith, but global networks have more usually promoted activities involving rationalist
knowledge. Contemporary revivalist movements have largely replayed a long-term tendency one
that well predates contemporary accelerated globalization- whereby certain religious circles
have from time to time revolted against modern secularism and scientism (p. 261).

On the other hand, it can be said that the anti-rationalist qualities ascribed to religion can
be the characteristics of fundamentalist and extremist forms of religion. We cannot consider
religion as purely anti-rationalist since many religious people reconcile reason and faith and
make moderate trends within their religions. Nevertheless, globalization’s strict rationalism
manifested in such phenomena as liberalism and secularism can be incompatible with the
norms and the values of certain religions.

Globalization is also associated with Westernization and Americanization. The

dominance exerted by these two processes, particularly on the less developed countries, makes
religion related cultures and identities take defensive measures to protect themselves.
Sometimes, extreme forms of resisting other cultural influence are being done, such as that of
the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). As Ehteshami (2007) pointed out, “Globalization is not
only seen as a rival of Islamic ways, but also as an alien force divorced from Muslim realities.
Stressing the negative impact of the loose morals of Western life is a daily feature of airwaves in
the Middle East (p. 130).

The imperialist aspirations of globalization and its incompatibility with Islam make
globalization completely alien to the Muslim realities. Since globalization is cultural, construct as
its core and its meaning is the Western discourse, “promoting and engaging with it on the part of
Muslims is like accepting and promoting Western cultural values and their dominance.

The challenges of globalization to religion link automatically to the challenges of religion

to globalization. In other words, while religion takes caution against the norms and the values
related to globalization, it challenges the latter since religion does not approve its hybridizing
effects. The idea of de-hybridizing effects of religion is approved also by Samuel Huntington’s
clash of civilizations, which maintains that such de-hybridizing upshots spring also from the
religious partitioning and clashes.

Enrichment

WATCH:
“The Rise of ISIS”
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/rise-of-isis/

READ MORE:
Chapter 43 of textbook: “Religion and Global Conflict” by Mark
Juergensmeyer. The SAGE Handbook

GEED 10043 – The Contemporary World

Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 15
Activity 2
The Rise of Isis
 Write a REACTION PAPER on the viewed documentary entitled:
“The Rise of ISIS”. Explain how globalization affects religious practices and
beliefs.

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 16
Module 3
Global Population and Mobility

Overview

Demographic transition is a singular historical period during which mortality and fertility
rates from high to low levels in a particular country or region. The broad outlines of the transition
are similar in countries around the world, but the pace timing of the transition have varied
considerably.

On the other hand, global population changes from time to time and one of its factors is
global migration. Refugees are vagabonds flee to their home countries due to safety concerns
(Haddad, 2003). Asylum seekers are refugees who seek to remain in the country to which they
flee. According to Kritz (2008), those who migrate to find work are involved in labor migration.
Labor migration is driven by “push” factors (e.g., lack of employment opportunities in home
countries) as well as “pull” factors (work available elsewhere). Labor migration mainly involves
the flow of less-skilled and unskilled workers, as well as illegal immigrants who live on the
margins of the host society (Landler, 2007)

Module Objectives

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Explain the theory of demographic transition as it affects global population 2.
Analyze the political, economic, cultural, and social factors underlying the global
movements of people
3. Display first-hand knowledge of the experiences of OFWs

Reading No. 1

GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHY

The transition started in

mid- or late
1700s in Europe. During that
time, death
rates and fertility began to
decline. High to
low fertility happened 200 years
in France
and 100 years in the United
States. In other
parts of the word, the transition
began later.
It was only in the twentieth
century that
mortality decline in Africa and
Asia, with the
exemption of Japan. According to Maddison
(2001), life expectancy occurred in China in
1929 until 1931. Fertility decline in Asia did
not begin until the 1950s and so on. In the
case of Japan, it was until the 1930s that
“total fertility rate did not drop below five
births per woman” (Shigeyuki et,al., 2002, p.
GEED 10043 – The Contemporary World
Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 17
250). This resulted in rapid population growth after the Second World War, affecting the age
structure of Asia and the developing world. Specifically, the baby boom in he developing world
was caused by the decline of infant and child mortality rates. The West, on the other hand,
experienced baby boom that resulted from rising birth rates.

A remarkable effect of the demographic transition, as Shigeyuki et.al. (2002) stated, is

“the enormous gap in life expectancy that emerged between Japan and the West on the one
hand and the rest of the world on the other” (p. 251). By 1820, the life expectancy at birth of
Japan and the West was 12 years greater than that of other countries. It is increased by 20
years by 1900. Although there was an improvement in life expectancy all throughout the world in
1900-1950, the gap had reached 22 years. In 1999, the gap declined to 14 years. These
differences in time of transition affected the global population. During the nineteenth century,
Europe and the West had an increase in the world’s population, from 22.0 percent to 56.7. India
and China suffered from economic stagnation and decline during that time.

There was a reverse in global population shares during the twentieth century as Africa,
Asia, Latin America, and Oceania had high levels of population growth rates. According to
Shigeyuki et al. (2002), population growth shows a more remarkable shift: “Between 1820 and
1980, 69.3 percent of the world’s population growth occurred in Europe and Western offshoots.
Between 1950 and 2000; however, only 11.7 percent in that region” (p. 252).

The United Nations projected that population growth will be shifted toward Africa. It is
estimated that by 2150, the religions 'share to the world population will be almost 20 percent,
relatively much greater that its share in 1820 (seven percent) and in 1900 (six percent). Also in
2150, there will be a projected increase of two billion if we combine the populations of Asia, Latin
America, and Oceania.

In terms of the age structure, the overall trend in Japan and the West was downward
until 1950. their dependency ratio was close to 0.5. It only increased although temporary, when
the baby boom after the Second World War occurred. Japan’s dependency ration, however,
increased between 1920 and the early 1950s. It dropped in 1970 and later since its precipitous
decline in childbearing during the 1950s and low fertility rates in recent years.

The developing countries like India and the Philippines had higher dependency ratios
than the West in 1900. A great increase in dependency ratio was caused by the decline in infant
and child mortality and high levels of fertility, with its peak around 1970.

Dependency ratios started to disappear because there is a decline in global birth rate.
Furthermore, the gap in fertility between the West and the less developed countries became
smaller by the twenty-first century. Over the next 50 years, the cases of dependency ratios of
these two areas in the world will be reversed (Shigeyuki, et.al, 2002) The Aging of population will
cause a rise in dependency ratio, starting in the West.

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 18
Reading No. 2

GLOBAL MIGRATION

The nuances of the movements

of people around the world can be seen
through the categories of migrants-
“vagabonds” and “tourists” (Bauman,
1998). Vagabonds are on the move
“because they have to be” (Ritzer, 2015,
p. 179)- they are not faring well in their
home countries and are forced to move
in the hope that their circumstances will
improve. Tourists, on the other hand, are
on the move because they want to be
and because they can afford it.

Refugees are vagabonds to flee

their home countries due to safety
concerns (Haddad, 2003). Asylum
seekers are refugees who seek to remain
in the country to which they flee.
According to Kritz (2008), those who
migrate to find work are involved in labor
migration. Labor migration is driven by
“push” factors (e.g., lack of employment
opportunities in home countries) as well
as “pull” factors (work available
elsewhere). Labor migration mainly
involves the flow of less-skilled and
unskilled workers, as well as illegal
immigrants who live on the margins of the
host society (Landler, 2007)

Unlike other global flows, labor migration still faces many restrictions. Many of these
barriers are related to the Westerphalian conception of the nation-state and are intimately
associated with it. Shamir (2005) discussed that the state may seek to control migration because
it involves the loss of part of the workforce. An influx of migrants can lead to conflicts with local
residents. Concerns about terrorism also affect the desire of the state to restrict population flows
(Moses, 2006).

Migration is traditionally governed either by “push” factors such as political persecution,

economic depression, war, and famine in the home country or by “pull” factors such as a
favorable immigration policy, a labor shortage, and a similarity of language and culture in the
country of destination (Ritzer, 2015). Global factors, which will facilitate easy access to
information about the country of destination, also exert a significant influence.

Many countries face issues of illegal migration. The United States faces a major influx of
illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Central American states (Thomposon, 2008). A fence
is being constructed on the US-Mexico border to control this flow of people (Flectcher and
Weisman,

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 19
2006). However, its efficacy is questioned and its thought that it will only lead illegal immigrants
to adopt more dangerous methods to gain entry. In addition, tighter borders have also had the
effects of “locking in” people who might otherwise have left the country (Fears. 2006). Other
countries with similar concerns about illegal immigration include Great Britain, Switzerland, and
Greece as well as countries in Asia.

A strong case can be made on the backlash against illegal immigrants (Economist, 208,
January 3, “Keep the Borders Open”). In the North, such immigrants constitute a younger
workforce hat does work which locals may not perform, and they are consumers who contribute
to growth. They also send remittances back to family members in the country of origin which
improves the lives of the recipients, reduces poverty rates, and increases the level of education
as well as the foreign reserves of the home country (Economist, 2007, November 1). Banks are
often unwilling or unable to handle the type (small amounts or money) and volume of
remittances. As a result, specialized organizations play a major role in the transmission of
remittances. According to Malkin (2007), the Philippines is one of the leaders when it comes to
flow of remittances ($14.7 billion), next to India ($24.5 billion) and China ($21.1 billion).

The term “diaspora” has been increasingly sed to describe migrant communities. Of
particular interest is Paul Gilroy’s (1993) conceptualization of the diaspora as a transnational
process, which involves dialogue to both imagined and real locales. Diasporization and
globalization are closely interconnected, and the expansion of the latter will lead to an increase
in the former (Dufolx, 2007). Today, there exists “virtual diasporas” (Laguerre, 2002) which
utilizes technology such as the Internet to maintain the community network.

Enrichment

READ MORE:

Lee, Ronald. 2003. “The Demographic Transition: Three Centuries of

Fundamental Change.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 17(4): 167–
190.

Activity 3
Has the Philippines Undergone Demographic Transition?

Write a POSITION PAPER to discuss the topic: Has the Philippines

undergone the demographic transition? Why or why not?

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 20
Module 4
The Global Economy

Overview

The United Nations (UN) tried to address the different problems in the world. Their efforts
were guided by the eight Millennium Development Goals, which they created in the 1990s.
Among these eight goals, the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger ranked as the first.
The other seven goals include: achieving universal primary education, promoting gender
equality and women empowerment, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health,
combating diseases like HIV/ AIDS and malaria, ensuring environmental sustainability, and
having a global partnership for development (United Nations, 2015). The UN tried to achieve
them by year 2015.

Since there are different standards of living around the world, we can expect different
meanings attached to it. In the Philippines, a person is officially living in poverty if he makes less
than 100, 534 pesos a year, around 275 pesos a day. This is called the poverty line or poverty
threshold. But we are going to focus on extreme poverty which, according to the UN (2015), is a
condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs including food, safe drinking
water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education, and information. The UN defines extreme
or absolute poverty as living on less than $ 1.25 a day. The organization aims to eliminate
poverty for all by 2030.

Module Objectives

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Define economic globalization
2. Identify the actors that facilitate economic globalization
3. Define the modern world system
4. Articulate a stance on global economic integration
5. Identify the different theories of global stratification

Reading No. 1

THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

It was three years ago and the results were

in. The UN (2015) reported that 836 million
people still live in extreme poverty but that is
down from 1.9 billion, so there is success or at
least a lot of progress. The World Bank
predicted that by 2030, the number of people
living in extreme poverty could drop to less than
400 million. Of course, that assumes
everything will keep improving as it has been.
However, climate change has to be considered
since it is a threat to these improvements in
global poverty.
GEED 10043 – The Contemporary World
Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 21
Most people who have been lifted out of extreme poverty are still poor and being poor
comes with serious problems, from disease to lack of water. Income inequality is rampant and
one in seven people still live without electricity.

So why is extreme poverty falling? The answer to this is really complicated. A set of
factors like better access to education, humanitarian aid, and the policies of international
organizations like the UN have made a difference. However, the greatest contributor is
economic globalization. The world’s economies have become more interconnected and free
trade has driven the growth of many developing economies.

Reading No. 2

ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION AND TRADE

According to the United Nations (as cited in Shangquan, 2000), “Economic globalization
refers to the increasing interdependence of world economies as a result of the growing scale of
cross-border trade of commodities and services, flow of international capital, and wide and rapid
spread of technologies. It reflects the continuing expansion and mutual integration of market
frontiers and is an irreversible trend for the economic development in the whole world at the turn
of the millennium.” (p.1)

There are two different

types of
economies associated with
economic
globalization- protectionism
and trade
liberalization. Protectionism
means “a
policy of systematic
government
intervention in foreign trade
with the
objective of encouraging
domestic
production. This
encouragement involves
giving preferential treatment
to domestic
producers and discriminating against
foreign competitors” (McAleese, 2007 as
cited in Ritzer, 2015, p. 1169). Trade
protectionism usually comes in the form of
quotas and tariffs. Tariffs are required fees
on imports or exports. For instance, a pen
that costs $ 1.00 in Country A and in
Country B, it would be given five-dollar
tariff. The pen would become $ 6 in
Country B. This policy was practiced during
the mercantilist era, from sixteenth to seventeenth centuries until the early years of the Industrial
Revolution (Chorev, 2007). The Great Depression of 1929 marked the peak of protectionism.
Until today, protectionism exists in the world economy despite the growth of trade liberalization.
 Countries such as China, Japan, and the United States are being accused of practicing
protectionism (Ritzer, 2015)

World War II heavily influenced the shifting of the dominant economic policy from
protectionism to trade liberalization or free trade. Free trade agreements and technological
advances in transportation and communication means goods and services move around the
world more easily than ever. We are talking about everything from shoes and bananas to
innovations

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 22
and ideas. Let us take mobile phones as example. Mobile phones seem to have good
consequences for everything including reducing poverty. According to economist Jeffrey Sachs.
Mobile phones are the “single most transformative technology” when it comes to the developing
world. Phones give people access to banking and payment systems and better access to
education and information. In some places, mobile phones help farmers get information and get
the best price for the crops they are producing. Installing cellphone towers is also a lot cheaper
than running thousands of kilometers of telephone lines. Economists call this leapfrogging, the
idea that countries can skip straight to more efficient and cost-effective technologies that were
not available in the past. International trade has also created new opportunities for people to sell
their products and labor in a global marketplace.

Globalization made some countries, especially the developing ones to gain more in the
global economy at the expense of other nations. There are various ways, however, the country
can make trade easier with other countries while lessening the insecurities in the global world.
One of them is “fair trade” (Nicholls and Opal, 2005). Fair trade, as defined by the International
Fair Trade Association, is the “concern for the social, economic, and environmental well-being of
marginalized small products” (Downie, 2007, pp. C1-C5). It aims for a more moral and equitable
global economic system. Specifically, it is concerned with protection of workers and producers,
establishment of more just prices engagement in environmentally sound practices and
sustainable production, creation of relationships between producers in the South and consumers
in the North, and promotion of safe working environment. Products like coffee, bananas, cotton,
wine, tea, and chocolate have been exchanged in light of fair trade.

A concrete example of the growth of fair trade is the case of American coffee chains such
as Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. In 2006, there are $ 2.2 billion dollars spent on certified
products, which is 42% greater than the preceding year (Ritzer, 2015). In turn, coffee growers
such as those in Brazil get at least $ 1.25 per pound of coffee beans compared to the current
market price of $ 1.25” (p, 296).

Reading No. 3

ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION AND SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT

There are some significant downsides to

globalize trade and perhaps the strongest
argument against economic globalization it its
lack of sustainability or the degree to which the
earth’s resources can be used for our needs,
even in the future. Specifically, the development
of our world today by using the earth’s resources
and the preservation of such resources for the
future is called sustainable development.
 In other words, development has to be
ensured in and out for the future generations.
One significant global response or approach to
economic globalization is that of sustainable
development, which seeks to chart a middle path
between economic growth and a sustainable
environment (Borghesi and Vercelli, 2008). The

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 23
relationship between globalization and sustainability is multi-dimensional- it involves economic,
political, and technological aspects.

The continuous production of the world’s natural resources, such as water and fossil fuel
allow humanity to discover and innovate many things. We were able to utilize energy, discover
new technologies, and make advancements in transportation and communication. However,
these positive effects of development put our environment at a disadvantage. Climate change
accelerated and global inequality was not eradicated. This means that development, although
beneficial at one hand, entails cost on the other.

Environmental
Degradation

Development,
especially
economic development,
was hastened
by the Industrial
Revolution. This is the
period in human history
that made
possible the cycle of
efficiency.
Efficiency means finding
the quickest
possible way of producing
large
amounts of a particular product. This
process made buying of goods easier
for the people. Then, there is an
increased demand. Ultimately, there is
an increased efficiency. This cycle
harms the planet in a number of ways.
For instance, the earth’s atmosphere is
damaged by more carbon emissions
from factories around the world.
Another example is the destruction of coral reefs and marine biodiversity as more and more
wastes are thrown into the ocean. Many experts do not think that the planet can sustain a
growing global economy. Deforestation, pollution, and climate change will not adjust for us,
especially if increases in living standards lead people to demand more consumer goods like
cars, meat, and smartphones.

Harvey (2005) noted that neoliberals and environmentalists debate the impact of free
trade on the environment. Environmentalists argue that environmental issues should be given
priority over economic issues (Antonio, 2007). Free trade, through its emphasis on the
expansion of manufacturing, is associated with environmental damage. For their part,
neoliberals see the efforts of the environmentalists as serious impediments to trade. Some seek
to integrate these approaches. For instance, ecological modernization theory sees globalization
as a process that ca both protect and enhance the environment (Yearley, 2007).

Various efforts are underway to deal with climate change. However, strong resistance on
the part of governments and corporations counters these. For instance, the Kyoto Protocol
aimed at a reduction of global carbon emissions but failed to take off largely because it was not
ratified by the United States (Armitage, 2005). However, momentum is being built up in
corporate circles in dealing with environmental problems.

There are significant challenges involved in implementing various measures such as

“carbon tax” and “carbon neutrality” to deal with environmental problems (Ritzer, 2015). It is also
difficult to find alternatives to fossil fuels. For instance, Barrionuevo (2007) stated that the use of

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 24
ethanol as an alternative to gasoline has an attendant set of problems,- it is less efficient and it
has led to an escalation in the price of corn, which currently serves as a major source of ethanol.
Although biofuels themselves produce lower emissions, their extraction and transport contribute
significantly to total emissions.

Previous experience in dealing with environmental issues indicates that a global view of
the problem is required. A focus on specific, such as Europe, overlooks impacts in other regions.
Instead of dealing with the causes of global warming, there is some interest in “technological
fixes” such as geoengineering (Dean, 2007).

Food Security

The demand for

food will be
60% greater than it is
today, and the
challenge of food
security requires
the world to feed 9
billion people by
2050 (Breene, 2016).
Global food
security means
delivering sufficient
food to the entire world
population.
It is, therefore, a
priority of all
countries, whether
developed or
less developed. The security of
food also means the sustainability
of society such as population
growth, climate change, water
scarcity, and agriculture. Breene
(2016) cited the case of India to
show how complete the issue of
food security is in relation to other
factors.

Agriculture accounts for 18% of the economy’s output and 47% of its workforce. India is
the second biggest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. Yet, according to the Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, some 194 million Indians and
undernourished, the largest number of hungry people in any single country. An estimated 15.2%
of the population of India are too malnourished to lead a normal life. A third of the word’s
malnourished children live in India.

But perhaps, the closest aspect of human life associated with food security is the
environment. The challenges to food security can be traced to the protection of the environment.
A major environmental problem is the destruction of natural habitats, particularly through
deforestation (Diamond, 2006). Industrial fishing has contributed to a significant destruction of
marine life and ecosystems (Goldburg, 2008) Biodiversity and usable farmland have also
declined at a rapid pace.

Another significant environmental challenge is that of the decline in the availability of

fresh water (Conca, 2006). The decline in the water supple because of degradation of soil or
desertification (Glantz, 1977), has transformed what was once considered a public good into a

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 25
privatized commodity. The poorest areas of the globe experience a disproportionate share of
water-related problems. The problem is further intensified by the consumption of “virtual water”,
wherein people inadvertently use up water from elsewhere in the world through the consumption
of water-intensive products (Ritzer, 2015). The destruction of the water ecosystem may lead to
the creation of “climate refugees, people who are forced to migrate due to lack of access or due
to flooding” (Ritzer, 2015, p. 211).

Pollution through toxic channels has had a long-term impact on the environment. The
use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) has led to significant industrial pollution (Dinham,
2007). Greenhouse gases, gases that trap sunlight and heat in the earth’s atmosphere,
contribute greatly to global warming. In turn, this process causes the melting of land-based and
glacial ice with potentially catastrophic effects (Revkin, 2008), the possibility of substantial
flooding, a reduction in the alkalinity of the oceans, and destruction of existing ecosystems.
Ultimately, global warming poses a threat to the global supply of food as well as to human
health (Brown, 2007). Furthermore, population growth and its attendant increase in consumption
intensify ecological problems. The global flow of dangerous debris is another major concern,
with electronic waste often dumped in developing countries.

There are different models and agenda pushed by different organizations to address the
issue of global food security. One of this is through sustainability. The United Nations has set
ending hunger, achieving food security if its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) for the
year 2030. The World Economic Forum (2010) also addressed this issue through the New Vision
for Agriculture (NVA) in 2009 wherein public-private partnerships were established. It has
mobilized over $10 billion that reached smallholder farmers. The Forum’s initiatives were
launched to establish cooperation and encourage exchange of knowledge among farmers,
government, civil society, and the private sector in both regional and national levels (Breene,
2016).

Reading No. 4
ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION, POVERTY AND INEQUALITY

The Swedish
statistician Hans Rosting,
once said, “The 1 to 2 billion
poorest in the world who do
not have food for the day
suffer from the worst
diseases, globalization
deficiency. The way
globalization is occurring
could be much better, but the
worst thing is not being part of
it.

Economic and trade

globalization is the result of
companies trying to
outmaneuver their
competitors. While you

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 26
search for the cheapest place to buy shoes, companies search for the cheapest place to make
shoes. They find the cheapest sources of leather, dye, rubber, and of course, labor. The result is
that labor-intensive products like shoes are often produced in countries with the lowest wages
and the weakest regulations. This process creates winners and losers. The winners include
corporations and their stockholders who earn more profit. They also include consumers who get
products at a cheaper price. The losers are high-wage workers who used to make those shoes.
Their jobs moved overseas. But that about low-wage foreign workers? Are they winning or
losing? A lot of workers are thrown into hazardous working conditions, but it is also true that
many workers in developing countries are at least making more money. These jobs pay above
average wages. People want these jobs and although the pay would be unacceptable in
developed countries, they are often the best alternative.

The multiplier effect means an increase in one economic activity can lead to an increase
in other economic activities. For instance, investing in local businesses will lead to more jobs and
more income. According to the economist Paul Krugman (as cited in The New York Times, July
8, 2013), “The Bangladeshi apparel industry is going to consist of what we consider sweatshops
or it won’t exist at all. And Bangladesh, in particular, really needs its apparel industry. It’s pretty
much the only thing keeping its economy afloat.

Not everyone agrees to this. Opponents of economic globalization called the outsourcing
of jobs as exploitation and oppression, a form of economic colonialism that puts profits before
people. A few call for protectionist policies like higher tariffs and limitations on outsourcing.
Others focus on the foreign workers themselves by demanding they receive higher wages and
more protection. The root of many arguments against economic globalization is that companies
do not have to follow the same rules they do in developed countries. Some developing countries
have no minimum wage laws. They do not have regulations that provide safe working conditions
or protect the environment. Although nearly every country bans child labor, those laws are not
always enforced.

In the absence of regulation, it is still possible that workers would not be horribly
mistreated. First, public awareness is growing along with the pressure from the international
community to take steps to protect workers. For example, the United States produces an annual
publication called the list of goods produced by child labor or forced labor. If a company is buying
products from that list, they are likely to be blasted by officials and the media. So, awareness is
the first step to improvement. The second step comes from those that support globalization. The
pro-globalization set argues that as developing economies grow, there are more opportunities for
workers, which leads to more competition for labor and higher wages.

Economic globalization has helped million people get out of extreme poverty but the
challenge of the future is to lift up the poor while at the same time keep the planet livable. One of
the best ways to help those in extreme poverty is to enable them to participate in the economy.
This applies to developing countries in the global marketplace and to individuals at the local
level. A perfect example is microedit. In 2006, a Bangladeshi professor named Muhammad
Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for implementing a simple idea. He gave small loans, on
average around $100, to low-income people in rural areas. The borrowers, who are mostly
female, often used the money to fund plans that could raise their income. For example, they
started small businesses.

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 27
Microedit was a success and has since spread to developing countries throughout the world.
Private lenders, governments, and nonprofit organizations have jumped on board to loan billions
of dollars to the world’s most disadvantaged.

By itself, microedit is not going to solve the problem of extreme poverty but it supports
the idea that enabling people to participate in the economy can make their lives better. Yunus
(2012) explained, “In my experience, poor people are the world’s greatest entrepreneurs. Every
day, they must innovate in order to survive. They remain poor because they do not have the
opportunities to turn their creativity into sustainable income.” Microedit, when it works, allows
people to improve their lives by participating in the economy on their own terms. But we cannot
forget that a lot of people who participate in the global economy are not doing it on their own
terms. Many of the people who have emerged from extreme poverty in the last 25 years have
jobs, wages, and working conditions that would be unthinkable in the developed world.
Economists say that it is all right, but it is progress that is very hard to achieve.

Global Income Inequality

Globalization and inequality are closely related. We can see how different nations are
divided between the North and the South, developed and less developed , and the core and the
periphery. These differences mainly reflect one key aspect of inequality in the contemporary
world- global economic inequality. There are two main types of economic inequality: wealth
inequality and income inequality. Wealth refers to the net worth of a country. It takes into account
all the assets of a nation- may they be natural, physical, and human- less the liabilities. In other
words, wealth is the abundance of resources in a specific country. This means that wealth
inequality speaks about distribution of assets. However, there is no widely recognized, monetary
measure that sums up these assets (Economist, 2012).

In order to measure global economic inequality, economists usually look at income using
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Income is the new earnings that are constantly being added
to the pile of a country’s wealth. When we talk about income inequality, we mean that new
earnings are being distributed; it values the flow of goods and services, not a stock of assets
(Economist, 2012).

In order to measure global economic inequality, economists usually look at income using
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Income is the new earnings that are constantly being added
to the pile of a country’s wealth. When we talk about income inequality, we mean that new
earnings are being distributed; it values the flow of goods and services, not a stock of assets
(Economist, 2012).

Let us look at both types of inequality in the global level. According to the Global Wealth
Report 2016 by the Credit Suisse Research Institute, global wealth today is estimated to be
about 3.5 trillion dollars and it is not distributed equally. Countries like the United States and
Japan were able to increase their wealth. Due to currency depreciation, however, the United
Kingdom had a significant decline. Furthermore, the report showed that income inequality
continues to rise:

“While the bottom half collectively own less that 1 percent of total wealth, the wealthiest top 10
percent own 89 percent of all global assets” (Credit Suisse Research Institute, 2016).

Branko Milanovic (2011), an economist who specializes in global inequality, explained all
this by describing an “economic big bang” wherein the Industrial Revolution caused the

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differences among countries. Through this “explosion” of industry and modern technology, some
nations became economically developed while others were developing. Ultimately, the result is
the economic gap among countries. The gap between the richest and the poorest nations are
greater today than in the past. For instance, back in 1820, the Great Britain and The Netherlands
were only three times richer than India and China, but today, the ration is 100:1 (Milanovic,
2011).

Although it is Industrial Revolution that allowed a significant inequality in the past,

economic globalization and international trade are the forces responsible in today’s global
income inequality. Many economists believe that the world’s poorest people gained something
from globalization. The rich, on the other hand, earned a lot more. Harvard economist Richard
Freeman (2011) noted, “The triumph of globalization and market capitalism has improved living
standards for billions while concentrating billions among the few” (as presented on OECD)
Policy Forum, Paris, May 2). In other words, the poor are doing a little better and the rich are
becoming richer due to global capitalism.

Access to technology also contributed to worldwide income inequality. It complemented

skilled workers but replaced many unskilled workers. In modernized economies, jobs are more
technology-based, generally requiring new skills. This is what economists referred to as skill
based technological change. As a result, workers who are more educated and more skilled
would thrive in those jobs by receiving higher wages. On the other hand, the unskilled workers
will fall behind. They will be left overtaken by machines or more skilled workers. In addition,
manufacturing jobs that require low skills are moved overseas. The result is widening gap
between the rich and the poor as well as between high-skilled and low-skilled workers.

Reading No. 5
THE MODERN WORLD-
SYSTEM

This history of colonialism

inspired American Sociologist
Immanuel Wallerstein model of
what
he called the capitalist world-
economy.
Wallerstein described high-
income
nations as the “core” of the world
economy. This core is the
manufacturing base of the planet
where resources funnel in to
become
the technology and wealth enjoyed by
the Western world today. Low-income
countries, meanwhile, are Wallerstein
called the “periphery”, whose natural
resources and labor support the wealthier countries, first as colonies and now by working for
multifunctional corporations under neocolonialism. Middle-income countries, such as India or
Brazil, are considered the same-periphery due to their closer ties to the global economic core.

In Wallerstein’s model, the periphery remains economically dependent on the core in a

number of ways, which tend to reinforce each other. First, poor nations tend to have few
resources to export to rich countries. However, corporations can buy these raw materials
cheaply and then process and sell them in richer nations. As a result, the profits tend to by-pass
the poor countries. Poor countries are also more likely to lack industrial capacity, so they have
to import expensive

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manufactured goods from richer nations. All of these unequal trade patterns lead to poor nations
owing lots of money to richer nations and creating debt that makes it hard to invest in their own
development. In sum, under dependency theory, the problem is not that there is lack of global
wealth; it is that we do not distribute it well.

Just as modernization had its critics, so does dependency theory. Critics argue that the
world economy is not a zero-sum game- one country getting richer does not mean other
countries are getting poorer. Innovation and technological growth can spill over to other
countries, improving all nations’ well-being and not just the rich. Also, colonialism certainly left
scars, but it is not enough, on its own, to explain today’s economic disparities. Some of the
poorest countries in Africa, like Ethiopia, were never colonized and had very little contact with
richer nations. Likewise, some former colonies, like Singapore and Sri Lanka, now have
flourishing economies. In direct contrast to what dependency theory predicts, most evidence
suggests that, nowadays, foreign investment by richer nation helps and do not hurt poorer
countries. Dependency theory is also very narrowly focused. It points the finger at the capitalist
market system as the sole cause of stratification., ignoring the role of things like how culture and
political regimes play in improving countries. There is also no solution to global poverty that
comes out of dependency theory- most dependency theorists just urge poor nations to cease all
contact with the rich nations or argue for a kind of global socialism. However, these ideas do not
acknowledge the reality of the modern world economy, which make them not very useful for
combating the real pressing problem of global poverty.
 The growth of the world economy and expansion of world trade have coincided with
rising standards of living worldwide, with even the poorest almost tripling in the last century. But
with increased trade between countries, trade agreements such as the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have become a major point of debate, pitting the benefits of free
trade against the cost of jobs within a country’s borders.

By learning about economic globalization, we are able to know about the issues and
debates about it. We are also able to think critically about solutions to the various problems
brought by globalization. Questions about how to deal with global stratification are certainly far
from settled, although there is some good news: it is getting better. The share of people globally
living on less than $25 per day has more than halved since 1981 going from 52% to 22% as of
2008.

Reading No. 6

THEORIES OF GLOBALIZATION

For much of human history, all of the societies on earth were poor. Poverty was the norm
for everyone but obviously, that is not the case anymore. Just as you find stratification among
socioeconomic classes within a society like the Philippines, you would also see across the world
a pattern of global stratification with inequalities in wealth and power between societies. Sow hat
made some parts of the world develop faster, economically speaking, than others? We may
draw answers by looking at the different theories of global stratification.

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Modernization Theory

One of the two main explanations for

global stratification is the modernization
theory. This theory frames global
stratification as a function of technological
and cultural differences between nations. It
specifically pinpoints two historical events
that contributed to Western Europe
developing at a faster rate than much of the
rest of the world. The first event is known
as the Columbian Exchange. This refers to
the spread of goods, technology,
education, and diseases between
Americas and Europe after Christopher
Columbus’s so-called “discovery of the
Americas”. His exchange worked out well
for the European countries. They gained
agricultural staples, like potatoes, and
tomatoes, which contributed to population
growth and provided new opportunities for
trade, while also strengthening the power
of the merchant class. The Columbian
 Exchange worked out much less, however,
for Native Americans whose populations
were ravaged by the diseases brought from
Europe. It is estimated that in the 150 years
following Columbus’s first trip, over 80% of
the Native American population died due to
diseases such as smallpox and measles.

The second historical event in the

Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This is when new technologies,
like steam power and mechanization, allowed countries to replace human labor with machines
and increase productivity. The Industrial Revolution, at first, only benefited the wealthy in
Western countries. Industrial technology was very productive that it gradually began to improve
standards of living for everyone. Countries that industrialized in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries saw massive improvements in their standards of living and countries that did not
industrialize lag behind.

Modernization theory rests on the idea that affluence could be attained by anyone. But
why did the Industrial Revolution not take hold everywhere? Modernization theory argues that
the tension between tradition and technological change is the biggest barrier to growth. A
society that is more steeped in family systems and traditions may be less willing to adopt new
technologies and new social systems that often accompany them.

Why did Europe modernize? The answer goes back to sociologic Max Weber’s ideas
about the Protestant work ethic. The protestant Reformation primed Europe to take in a progress
oriented way of life in which financial success was a sign of personal virtue. Individualism
replaced communalism. This is the perfect breeding ground for modernization.

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Walt Rostow’s Four Stages of Modernization

According to American economist Walt Rostow, modernization in the West took place, as
it always tends to, in four stages. First is the traditional stage. This refers to societies that are
structured around small, local communities with production typically being done in family
settings. Because these societies have limited resources and technology, most of their time is
spent on laboring to produce food, which creates a strict social hierarchy. Examples of these are
feudal Europe or early Chinese dynasties. Tradition rules how a society functions: what your
parents do is what their parents did, and what you will do when you grow up, too. But as people
begin to move beyond doing what has always been done, society moves to Rostow’s second
stage- the take-off stage. People begin to use their individual talents to produce things beyond
necessities. This Innovation creates new markets for trade. In turn, greater individualism takes
hold and social status is more closely linked with material wealth.

Next, nations begin what Rostow called the drive to technological maturity, in which
technological growth of the earlier periods begin to bear fruit in the form of population growth,
reductions in absolute poverty levels, and more diverse job opportunities. Nations in this phase
typically begin to push for social change along with economic change, like implementing basic
schooling for everyone and developing more democratic political systems. The last stage is
known as high mass consumption. It is when your country is big enough that production
becomes more about wants than needs. Many of these countries put social support systems in
place to ensure that all of their citizens have access to basic necessities.

Modernization theory, in general, argues that if you invest capital in better technologies,
they will eventually raise production enough that there will be more wealth to go around and over
all well-being will go up. Furthermore, rich countries can help other countries that are still
growing by exporting their technologies and things like agriculture machinery, information
technology, as well as providing foreign aid.

Critics of modernization theory argue that, in many ways, it is just a new name for the
idea that capitalism is the only way for a country to develop. These critics point out that even as
technology has improved throughout the world, a lot of countries have been left behind. They
also argue that modernization theory sweeps a lot of historical factors under the rug when it
explains European and North American progress. Countries like the United States and the
United Kingdom industrialized from a position of global strength during a period when there
were no laws against slavery or concerns about natural resources depletion. Some critics also
point out that Rowstow’s markers are inherently Eurocentric, putting an emphasis on economic
progress, even though that is not necessarily the only standard to aspire by every nation. After
all, economic progress often includes downsides, like the environmental damage done by
industrialization and the exploitation of cheap or free labor. Finally, critics of modernization
theory also see it as blaming the victim. In this view, the theory essentially blames poor
countries for not being willing to accept change, putting the fault on their cultural values and
traditions rather than acknowledging that outside forces might be holding back those countries.
This is where the second theory of global stratification comes in.

Dependency Theory and the Latin American Experience

Starting in the 1500s, European explorers spread throughout the Americas, Africa, and
Asia, claiming lands for Europe. At one point, the British Empire covered about one-fourth of the
world. The United States, which began as colonies, soon sprawled out through the North
America

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and took control of Haiti, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, the Hawaiian Islands, and parts of
Panama and Cuba. With colonialism came the exploitation of both natural and human resources.
The transatlantic slave trade followed a triangular route between Africa, the American and
Caribbean colonies, and Europe. Guns and factory-made goods were sent to Africa in exchange
for slaves, who were then sent back to Europe. As the slave trade died down in the mid-
nineteenth century, the point of colonialism came to be less about human resources and more
about natural resources. However, the colonial model kept going strong. In 1870, only 10% of
Africa was colonized. By 1940, only Ethiopia and Liberia were not colonized. Under colonial
regimes, European countries took control of land and raw materials to funnel wealth back to the
West. Most colonies lasted until the 1960s and the last British colony, Hong Kong, was finally
granted independence in 1997.

After the Second World War, there were many questions about international relations.
One of those questions was “Why are many countries in the world not developing?” The
traditional answer to the question was because these countries are not pursuing the right
economic policies or their governments are authoritarian and corrupt. Latin American scholars,
however, are critical of that answer and are intrigued by their region’s underdevelopment
(Sanchez, 2014).

Dependency theory was a product of this experience. Dependency is the condition in

which the development of the nation-states of the South contributed to a decline in their
independence and to an increase in economic development of the countries of the North
(Cardoso and Felato, 1979). In addition, it argues that liberal trade causes greater improvement,
not economic improvement, to less developed countries (Toye, 2003). Trade protectionism
through import substitution is the key to self-sustaining path to development, not liberal trade or
export. In other words, rather than focusing on what poor countries are doing wrong,
dependency theory focuses on how poor countries have been wronged by richer nations. It
further argues that the prospects of both wealthy and poor countries are inextricably linked. In
addition, it argues that in a world of finite resources, we cannot understand why rich nations are
rich without realizing that those riches came at the expense of another country being poor. In this
view, global stratification starts with colonialism.

Dependency theory was initially developed by Hans Singer and Raul Prebisch in the
1950s and has been improved since then. The two main sub-theories are he North American
Neo-Marxists approach and the Latin American structuralist approach (Sanchez, 2014). The
terms “core nations” and “peripheral nations” are at the heart of dependency theory. Peripheral
nations are countries that are less developed and receive and unequal distribution of the world’s
wealth. Core countries, on the other hand, are mire industrialized nations who receive the
majority of the world’s wealth. Although generally divided into core or peripheral, dependency
theorists recognize that there are a number of different kinds of states in the world (Grosfoguel,
2000). Another common assumption of the theory is that “even after de-colonization, there are
still important ties between the developed and less-developed countries, which mainly consist in
the exploitation of peripheral natural resources and workforce by the center” (Anton, 2006, p.2).

Dependency theorists saw that the development of peripheral nations is stagnant

because of the exploitative nature of the core nations (Ferraro, 2008). Less developed periphery
countries are said to primarily serve the interests of the wealthier countries and end up having
little to no resources to put toward their own development. The theory points out that the
economies of periphery countries rely on manual labor and to the export of raw materials to core
nations. The core countries then process these raw materials and sell them at a much higher
price. Some of these manufactured goods go right back to the periphery countries from which
the raw materials

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came. Periphery nations end up spending more money on the processed goods. Their small
economies may also rely on core nations for medical and nutritional aid. The dependency theory
describes a vicious cycle that enforces a hierarchy of nations across the globe. Some countries
were not developing around the world because the international system was actually preventing
them from doing so.

Andre Gunder Frank (1969) espoused the north American Neo-Marxist approach. He
contended the idea that less developed countries would develop by following the path taken by
the developed countries. Developed countries were undeveloped in the beginning but do not
underdeveloped. This means that the path taken by the developed countries does not guarantee
the same fate for the underdeveloped countries. Frank also rejected the idea that the internal
sources cause a country’s underdevelopment; rather, it is their dependency to capitalist system
that causes lack of development.

A less radical theory, the structuralist approach, was developed mainly by Latin American
scientists. Palma (1978) noted that chief among the arguments accounting for Latin American
underdevelopment was the “excessive” reliance in the short term and a downward trend in
relative value in the long haul. Studies by Hans Singer documented a secular deterioration in
the terms of trade of Latin American countries, whereas Presbich can be credited for explaining
the factors underlying this downward trend (Sanchez, 2014). In his status, as head of the UN ‘s
Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA), Prebisch’s ideas came to have far-reaching
political influence and profound policy implications. As a result of the influence of structuralist
thought, most Latin American countries adopted strategies nominally conducive to autonomous,
self sustaining development (Seers, 1981). In essence, they sought to diversify exports and
accelerate that would reduce the region’s dependence on foreign manufacturers, and thus on
the developed North.

While Paul Prebisch focuses more on the technical details of development economics,
other authors like Cardoso and Feletto set the foundations of the historical-structural variant of
the dependency theory. For authors in this tradition, dependency is not a general theory of
underdevelopment, but rather a “methodology for the analysis of concrete situations of
dependency” (Cardoso & Faletto, 1979, p. 16). They also take into account political and
sociological issues (Anton, 2006). Cardoso and Faletto (1979) believed that Latin American
economies were the results of capitalist expansion in the United States and Europe. “The idea of
dependence refers to the conditions under which alone the economic and political system can
exist and function it its connections with the world productive structure” (p. 18). In other words,
the very use of the term “dependency” was used to underscore the extent to which the economic
and political development of poor countries was conditioned by the global economy, whose
center of gravity was located in the developed nations. This variant of the dependency school,
however, did not just focus on the asymmetrical relations between countries. It also held that
dependency was perpetuated by the ensemble of ties among groups and classes both between
an within nations (Sanchez, 2014). This is the concept of “linkage”. In Dependencia y Desarollo,
the authors describe it thus:

We conceive the relationship between external and internal forces as forming a

complex whole whose structural links are not based on mere external forms of exploitation
and coercion, but are rooted in coincidences of interests between local dominant classes
and international ones… (Cardoso and Faletto, 1979, p. 16)

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In fact, this is one of the concepts that most distinguishes the historical-structural version
of dependency from previous ones: “the identification of interest networks- business,
technocrats, the military, the middle class- that bind the dynamics of local political and economic
processes to material and political interests in the industrialized world” (Sanchez, 2014, p.4).
This version saw development as historically open-ended and allowed for the possibility that the
nature of dependent relations could change over time.

Activity 4
A New Economic Map of the World

In order for you to visualize Immanuel Wallerstein’s idea of the modern world-system, this
activity will involve a construction of “new” map of the world. The foundation of constructing
this map is the three hierarchies of areas in the modern world-system discussed.

1. Identity whether the following countries fall under core, periphery, or semi-periphery
category.

Austrialia China Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Sudan Bangladesh France Italy Mexico

Singapore Turkey Brazil Germany Japan Nepal South Africa UK Canada Hungary Kenya

Nigeria Spain USA Chile India Madagascar Panama Sri Lanka Uruguay
 2. Take a screen capture of each country’s map. (2 x 2 inch is enough for the size of
each map.)

3. Group the maps according to the category of the country in which they belong.

4. Put the core countries at the center. Surround the core countries with the states under
the semi-periphery. Place the peripheral countries as the outer ring of the map.

5. Compare your map with the original map of the world.

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Module 5
A World of Regions

Overview

You probably heard of “First World Problems”. When someone cracks the screen on their
phone or gets the wrong order at the coffee shop, and hen goes on to their social media
accounts, you might see their complaints with a hashtag “First World Problems”. What are the
implications of talking about countries as First or Third? Where dud these terms come from?
These terms are outdated and inaccurate ways of talking about global stratification. How then
are we going to talk about global stratification?

Module Objectives

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Define the term “Global South”
2. Differentiate the Global South from the Third World
3. Analyze how a new conception of good relations emerged from the experiences of
Asian countries

Reading No. 1

THE THIRD WORLD AND THE GLOBAL

SOUTH

Let us begin by
deconstructing the idea of the First,
Second, and Third World hierarchy
by looking at their origins and their
 implications. The terms date back to
the Cold War, when Western
policymakers began talking about
the world as three distinct political
and economic blocs (Tomlinson,
2003). Western capitalist countries
were labeled as the “First World”.
The Soviet Union and its allies were
termed the “Second World”. Everyone else was grouped into “Third World”. After the Cold War
ended, the category of Second World countries became null and void, but somehow the terms
“First World” and “Third World” stuck around in the public consciousness. Third World countries,
which started as just a vague catchall term for non-alliance countries, came t be associated with
improved states, while the First World was associated with rich, industrialized countries.

In addition, to being outdated, these terms are also inaccurate. There are more than 100
countries that fit the label of “Third World”, but they have vastly different levels of economic
stability. Some are relatively poor, but many are not. For example, lumping Botswana and
Rwanda into the same category does not make such sense because the average income per

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capita in Botswana is nine times larger than in Rwanda. Nowadays, social scientists sort
countries into groups based on their specific levels of economic productivity. To do this, they
use the gross Domestic Product (GDP), which measures the total output of a country, and the
Gross National Income (GNI), which measures GDP per capita (World Bank, n.d).

A new and simpler classification, North-South, was created as Second World countries
joined either the First World or the Third World. First World countries, such as the United States,
Canada, Western Europe, and developed parts of Asia are regarded as the “Global North”, while
the “Global South” includes the Caribbean, Latin America, South America, Africa, and parts of
Asia. These countries were used to be called the Third World during the Cold War (Reuveny &
Thompson, 2007). By noting that countries are south of 30 degrees north latitude, the are able to
say that these areas share common problems and issues having to do with economy and
politics. The terms “Global North” and “Global South” are a way for countries in the South to
make a stand about the common issues, problems, and even causes in order to have equality
all throughout the world.

These distinctions point largely to racial inequality, specifically between the Black and the
White. According to Ritzer (2015), “At the global level. Whites are disproportionately in the
dominant North, while blacks are primarily in the south, although this is changing with South-to
North migration” (p. 266). In other words, migration and globalization. Nevertheless, the
economic differences between the wealthy Global North and poor Global South “have always
possessed a racial character” (Winant, 2001, p. 131).

Reading No. 2

THE GLOBAL CITY

The rural-urban
differentiation
has a significant relationship
to
globalization. Globalization
has deeply
altered North-South relations in
agriculture. For instance, the relations of
agricultural production have been altered
due to the rise of global agribusiness and
factory farms (McMichael, 2007). In this
scenario, the South produces non
traditional products for export and
become increasingly dependent on
industrialized food exports from the
North. Consequently, this leads to a replacement of the staple diet as well as the displacement
of the local farmers. Schlosser (2005) pointed out that as commercial agriculture replaces local
provisioning, the relations of social production are also altered. Rural economies are exposed to
low prices and mass migration. Sassen (1991) used the concept o global cities to describe the
three urban centers of New York, London, and Tokyo as economic centers that exert control
over the world’s political economy. World cities are categorized as such based on the global
reach of organizations found in them. Not only are there inequalities between these cities, there
also exists inequalities within each city (Beaverstock et.al., 2002). Alternatively, following
Castells (2000), these cities can be seen as important nodes in a variety of global networks.

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Although cities are major beneficiaries of globalization, Bauman (2003) claimed that they
are also the most severely affected by global problems. Therefore, the city faces peculiar
political problems, wherein it is often fruitlessly seeking to deal locally with global problems and
“local politics has become hopelessly overloaded” (p. 102).

Enrichment

READ MORE:

Chapter 12 of textbook: “Locating the Global South” by Lisandro E.

Claudio. The SAGE Handbook

Activity 5
The Global Free Trade on Trial

Construct an argumentative text based on this statement: “Global

free trade has done more harm than good”.
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Module 6
Market Integration

Overview

The social institution that has one of the biggest impacts on society is the economy. You
might think of the economy in terms of number- number of unemployed, gross domestic product
(GDP), or whatever the market is doing today. While we often talk about it in numerical terms,
the economy is composed of people. It is the social institution that organizes all production,
consumption, and trade of goods in the society. There are many ways in which products can be
made, exchanged, and used. Think about capitalism or socialism. These economic systems- and
the economic revolutions that created them- shape the way people live their lives.

Economic systems vary from one society to another. But in any given economy,
production typically splits into three sectors: the primary sector extracts raw materials from
natural environments. Workers like farmers or miners fit well in the primary sector. The
secondary sector gains the raw materials and transforms them into manufactured goods. This
means, for example, that someone from the primary sector extracts oil from the earth then
someone from the secondary sector refines the petroleum to gasoline. Whereas, the tertiary
sector involves services rather than goods. It offers services by doing things rather than making
things. Thus, economic system is more complicated or at least, more sophisticated that the way
things used to be for much human history.

This chapter will show the contribution of the different financial and economic institutions
that facilitated the growth of the global economy. The history of the global market will be
discussed by looking at the different economic revolutions. The growth and dynamics of
multinational corporations that are emerging in today’s world economy will also be examined.

Module Objectives

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Differentiate the roles of WTO, IMF, EB, EU, OPEC, and NAFTA

Reading No. 1

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL
INSTITUTIONS

World economies have been brought closer

together by globalization. It is reflected in the phrase
“When
the American economy sneezes, the rest of the world
catches a cold”. But it is important to remember that it
is not
only the economy of the United States but also other
economies in the world that have a significant impact
on
the global market and finance. For instance, the
financial
crises experience by Russia and Asia affected the world
economy. The strength of a more powerful economy brings
greater effect on other countries. In the same manner,

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crises economies have less effect on other countries. For example, Argentina’s serious financial
crisis in the late 1990s and early 2000s had a comparatively small impact on the global
economy.

The Bretton Woods System

The major economies in the world

had suffered because of the World War
I, the Great Depression in the 1930s,
and World War II. Because of the fear
of the recurrence of lack of cooperation
among nation-states, political
instability, and economic turmoil
(especially adter the Second World
War), reduction of barriers to trade and
free flow of money among nations
became the focus to restructure the
world economy and ensure global
financial stability (Ritzer, 2015). These
consist the background for the
establishment of the Bretton Woods
System.

In general, the Bretton Woods System has five key elements. First element is the
expression of currency in terms of gold or gold value to establish a par value (Boughton, 2007).
For instance, a 35 U.S dollar pegged by the United States per ounce of gold is the same as 175
Nicaraguan cordobas per ounce of gold. The exchange rate therefore would be 5 cordobas for 1
dollar. Another elements is that “the official monetary authority in each country (a central bank or
its equivalent) would agree to exchange its own currency for those of other countries at the
established exchange rates, plus or minus a one-percent margin” (Boughton, 2007, pp. 106-
107). The third element rates; thus, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was founded.
Eliminating restrictions on the currencies of member states in the international trade is the fourth
key element. The final element is hat the U.S dollar became the global currency.

The General Agreement on

Tariffs and
Trade (GATT) and the World Trade
Organization (WTO)

According to Peet (2003),

global trade and
finance was greatly affected by the
Bretton Woods
System. One of the systems born out
of Bretton
Woods was the General Agreement
on Tariffs and
Trade (GAT) that was established in
1947
(Goldstein et.al., 2007). GATT was a forum for the
meeting of representatives from 23 member
countries on trade goods through international
trade agreements conducted in many “rounds” of
negotiation. However, “it was out of Uruguay
Round (1986-1993) that an agreement was
reached to create the World Trade Organization
(WTO)” (Ritzer, 2015, p.160).

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The WTO headquarters is
located in Geneva,
Switzerland with 152 member states as
of 2008
(Trachtman, 2007). Unlike GATT, WTO
is an
independent multilateral organization
that became
responsible for trade in services, non-
tariff-related
barriers to trade, and other broader
areas of trade
liberalization. An example cited by
Ritzer (2015) was
that of the “differences between nations
in relation to
regulations on items as manufactured goods or food.
A given nation can be taken to task for such
regulations if they are deemed to be an unfair
restraint on the trade in such items” (p. 61). The
general idea where the WTO is based was that of
neoliberalism. This means that by reducing or
eliminating barriers, all nations will benefit.

There are, however, significant criticism to WTO. One is that trade barriers created by
developed countries cannot be countered enough by WTO, especially in agriculture. A concrete
case was that the emerging markets in the Global South made the priority in the WTO, but they
suffered under the industrial nations which supported the agriculture with subsidies. Grain prices
increased and food riots occurred in many member states of WTO, like Mexico, Egypt, and
Indonesia in 2008. Aside from issues in agricultural sector, the decision-making processes were
heavily influenced by larger trading powers, in the so-called Green Room, while excluding
smaller powers in meetings. Lastly, Ritzer (2015) also pointed out that International Non-
Government Organizations (INGOs) are not involved, leading to the staging of “regular protests
and demonstrations against the WTO” (p. 61).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)

and the World Bank

IMF and the World Bank were

founded after the
World War II. Their establishment was mainly
because of
peace advocacy after the war. These
institutions aimed to
help the economic stability of the world. Both of them are
basically banks, but instead of being started by individuals
like regular banks, they were started by countries. Most of
the world’s countries were members of the two institutions.
But, of course, the richest countries were those who
handled most of the financing and ultimately, those who
had the greatest influence.

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IMF and the World Bank

were designed to complement
each other. The IMF’s main goal
was to help countries which were in
trouble at that time and who could
not obtain money by any means.
Perhaps, their economy collapsed,
or their currency was threatened.
IMF, in this case, served as a
lender or a last resort for countries
which needed financial assistance.
For instance, Yemen loaned 93
million dollars from IMF on April 5,
2012 to address its struggle with
terrorism. The World Bank, in comparison, had a more long-term approach. Its main goals
revolve around the eradication of poverty and it funded specific projects that helped them reach
their goals, especially in poor countries. An example of such is their investment in education
since 1962 in developing nations like Bangladesh, Chad, and Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, the reputation of these institutions has been dwindling, mainly due to
practices such as lending the corrupt governments or even dictators and imposing ineffective
austerity measures to get their money back.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Organization
for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the European Union (EU)
 The most encompassing
club of the
richest countries in the world is the
Organization
for Economic Cooperation and
Development
(OECD) with 35 member states as
of 2016, with
Lavita as its latest member. It is
highly
influential, despite the group having little formal
power. This emanates from the member
countries’ resources and economic power.

In 1960, the Organization of

Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was
originally comprised of Saudi Arabi, Iraq,
Kuwait, Iran, and Venezuela. They are still part
of the major exporters of oil in the world today.
OPEC was formed because member
countries wanted to increase the price of oil,
which in the past had a relatively low price and
had failed in keeping up with inflation. Today,
the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Libya,
Qatar, Nigeria and Indonesia are also included
as members.

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The European Union (EU) is
made up of
28 member states. Most members in
the
Eurozone adopted the euro as basic
currency but
some Western European nations like
the Great
Britain, Sweden, and Denmark did
not. Critics
argue that the Euro increased the
prices in
Eurozones and resulted in depressed economic
growth rates, like in Greece, Spain, and Portugal.
The policies of the European Central Bank are
considered to be a significant contributor in these
situations.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

 The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a trade between the United
States, Mexico, and Canada created on January 1, 1994 when Mexico joined the two other
nations. It was first created in 1989 with only Canada and the United States as trading partners.
NAFTA helps in developing and expanding world trade by broadening international cooperation.
It also aims to increase cooperation for improving working conditions in North America by
reducing barriers to trade as it expands the markets of the three countries.

The creation of NAFTA has caused manufacturing jobs from developed nations (Canada
or the United States) to transfer to less developed nations (Mexico) in order to reduce the cost of
their products. In Mexico, producer prices dropped, and some two million farmers were forced to
leave their farms. During this time, consumer food prices rose, causing 20 million Mexicans,
about 25% of their population, to live in “food poverty”.

The free trade, however, gave a modest impact on US GDP. It has become $127 billion
richer each year due to trade growth. One can argue that NAFTA was to blame for job losses
and wage stagnation in the United States because competition from Mexican firms had forced
many U.S firms to relocate to Mexico. This is because developing nations have less government
regulations and cheaper labor. This is called outsourcing. As an example, the United States
outsourced approximately 791, 000 jobs to Mexico in 2010.

As for Canada, 76% of Canadian exports go to the United States and about a quarter of
the jobs in Canada are dependent in some way on the trade with the United States. This means
that if NAFTA changes or is eradicated, it would be devastating for Canada’s economy.

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Generally, NAFTA has its positive and negative consequences. It lowered prices by
removing tariffs, opened up new opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses to
establish a name for itself, quadrupled trade between the three countries, and created five-
million U.S jobs. Some of the negative effects, however, include excessive pollution, loss of
more than 682, 000 manufacturing jobs, exploitations of workers in Mexico, and moving
Mexican farmers out of business.

Reading No. 2

HISTORY OF GLOBAL MARKET INTEGRATION

Before the rise of today’s modern economy, people only produced for their family.
Nowadays, economy demands the different sectors to work together in order to produce,
distribute, and exchange products and services. What caused this shit in the way people
produce for their needs? In order to understand this, we will be going back in time, 12, 000
years ago.
The Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution

The first economic change was the Agricultural Revolution (Pomeranz, 2000). When
people learned how to domesticate plants and animals, they realized that was much more
productive than hunter-gatherer societies. This became the new agricultural economy. Farming
helped societies build surpluses, meaning, not everyone had to spend their time producing food.
This, in turn, led to major developments like permanent settlements, trade networks, and
population growth.

The second major economic revolution is the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s. With the
rise of industry came new economic tools, like steam engines, manufacturing, and mass
production. Factories popped up and changed how work functioned. Instead of working at home,
where people worked for their family by making things from start to finish, they began working as
wage laborers and then becoming more specialized in their skills. Overall, productivity went up
standards of living rose, and people had access to a wider variety of goods due to mass
production.

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However, every economic revolution comes with economic casualties. The workers in the
factories- who were mainly poor women and children- worked in dangerous conditions for low
wages. As a result, nineteenth-century industrialists were known as robber barons- with more
productivity came greater wealth, but also greater economic inequality. In the late nineteenth
century labor unions began to form. These organizations of workers sought to improve wages
and working conditions through collective action, strikes, and negotiations. Inspired by Marxist
principles, labor unions gave way for minimum wage laws, reasonable working hours, and
regulations to protect the safety of workers.

Capitalism and Socialism

There were two competing economic models that sprung up around the time of the
Industrial Revolution, as economic capital became more and more important to the production of
goods. These were capitalism and socialism. Capitalism is a system in which all natural
resources and means of production are privately owned. It emphasizes profit maximization and
competition as the main drivers of efficiency. This means that when one owns a business, he
needs to outperform his competitors if he is going to succeed. He is incentivized to be more
efficient by improving the quality of one’s product and reducing its prices. This is what economist
Adam Smith in the 1770s called the “invisible hand” of the market. The idea is that if one leaves
a capitalist economy alone, consumers will regulate things themselves by selecting goods and
services that provide the best value.

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In practice, however, an economy does not work very well if it is left completely on
autopilot. There are many sectors where a hands-off approach can lead to what economists call
market failures, where an unregulated market ends up allocating goods and services
inefficiently.

A monopoly, for example, is a kind of market failure. When a company has no

competition for customers, it can charge higher prices without worrying about losing customers.
As allocations go, monopoly becomes inefficient at least on the consumer end. In situations like
these, a government might step in and force the company to break up into smaller companies to
increase competition. Market failures like this are the reasons most countries are not purely
capitalist societies. For example, the United States’ federal and state governments own and
operate a number of businesses, like schools, the postal service, and the military. Governments
also set minimum wages, create workplace safety laws, and provide social support programs
like unemployment benefits and food stamps.

Whereas, government plays an even larger role in socialism. In a socialist system, the
means of production are under collective ownership. It rejects capitalism’s private property and
hands-off approaches. Instead, in socialism, property is owned by the government and allocated
to all citizens, not only those with the money to afford it. Socialism emphasizes collective goals,
expecting everyone to work for the common good and placing a higher value on meeting
everyone to work for the common good and placing a higher value on meeting everyone’s basic
needs than on individual profit. When Karl Marx first wrote about socialism, he viewed it as a
stepping stone toward communism, a political and economic system in which all members of a
society are socially equal. In practice, this has not played out in the countries that have modeled
their economies on socialism, like Cuba, North Korea, China, and the USSR. Why? Marx hoped
that as economic differences vanished in communist society, the government would simply
wither away and disappear, but that never happened. If anything, the opposite did. Rather than
freeing the workers in Marxist terms, the proletariat- from inequality, the massive power and
privilege to political elites. The result is the retrenchment of inequalities along political- rather
than strictly economic-lines.

At the same time, capitalist countries economically outperformed their socialist

counterparts contributing to the unrest that eventually led to the downfall of the USSR. Before
the fall of the Soviet Union, the average output in capitalist countries was about $13, 500 dollars
per person, which was almost three times that in the Soviet countries. But there are downsides
to capitalism, too, namely, greater income inequality. A study of European capitalist countries
and socialist countries in the 1970s found that the income ratio between the top 5% and the
bottom 5% in capitalist countries was about 10 to 1; whereas, in socialist countries, it was 5 to 1/
Those two models are no the end of the story because we are living in the middle of the
economic revolution that followed the Industrial Revolution.

The Information
Revolution

Ours is the time of the

information revolution.
Technology has
reduced the role of human labor
and
shifted it from a manufacturing-
based
economy to one that is based on
the
service work and the production of
ideas rather than goods. This has had
a lot of residual effects on our
economy. Computers and other

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technologies are beginning to replace many jobs because of automation or outsourcing jobs
offshore. We also see the deadline in union membership. Nowadays, most unions are for public
sector jobs, like teachers.

What jobs in a post-industrial society look like? Agricultural jobs, which once were a
massive part of the Philippine labor force, have fallen drastically over the last century. In other
countries, such as the United States, manufacturing jobs, which were the lifeblood of their
economy for much of the twentieth century, have declined in the last 30 years. The US economy
began with their many workers serving in either the primary or secondary economic sectors. But
today, much of their economy is centered on the tertiary sector or the service industry.

The service industry includes every job such as administrative assistants, nurses,
teachers, and lawyers. This is a big and diverse group because the tertiary sector, like all the
economic sectors we have been discussing, is defined mainly by what is produces rather than
what kinds of jobs it includes. Sociologists have a way of distinguishing between types of jobs,
which is based more on social status and compensation that come with them. These are the
primary labor market and the secondary labor market. The primary labor market includes jobs
that provide many benefits to workers, like high income job security, health insurance, and
retirement packages. These are white-collar professions, like doctors, accountants, and
engineers. Secondary labor market jobs provide fewer benefits and include lower-skilled jobs
and lower-level service sector jobs. They tend to pay less, have more unpredictable schedules,
and typically do not offer benefits like health insurance. They also tend to have less job security.

What is next for capitalism and socialism? No one knows that the next economic
revolution is going to look like. Nowadays, a key part of both our economic and political
landscape is corporations. Corporations are defined as organizations that exists as legal
entities and have liabilities that are separate from its members. They are their own thing. More
and more these days, corporations are operating across national boundaries which means that
the future of the Philippine economy- and most countries’ economies- will pay out on a global
scale.

Reading No. 3

GLOBAL
CORPORATIONS

The increase in
international
trade has both created and ben
supported by international
regulatory
groups like WTO and
transnational
trade agreements, like NAFTA.
There
is not a single country that is
completely independent. All are
dependent to some degree on
international trade for their own
prosperity. Without international trade,
there would be no need for
international regulatory groups.
Without the international regulatory
groups, international trade at the

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current massive scale would be impractical. The trade regulatory groups and agreements
regulate the flow of goods and services between countries. They reduce tariffs, which are taxes
on imports, and make customs procedures easier. This makes trading across national borders
much more feasible.

These international trade agreements often benefit private industries the most.
Companies can produce their goods and services across many different countries. For instance,
you can have a backpack that was designed in the United States but the materials came from
China, and it was put together in Mexico before it was shipped back to United States to be sold.
 These companies that extend beyond the borders of one country are called
multinational or transnational corporations (MNCs or TNCs). They are also referred to as
global corporations. They intentionally surpass national borders and take advantage of
opportunities in different countries to manufacture, distribute, market, and sell their products.
Some global corporations are ubiquitous, like McDonald’s or Coca-Cola, and yet they still
market themselves as American companies. Others can be surprising like General Electric,
which is based in the United States but has more than half of its business and employees
working in other countries. Another example is Ford Motor Company, the classic American car
company, headquartered in Michigan that manufactures worldwide.

Transnational corporations have a significant role in the global economy. Some have
greater production advantages than an entire nation. They influence the economy and politics by
donating money to specific political campaigns or lobbyists. They can even influence the global
trade laws of the international regulatory groups.

Global corporations often locate their factories in countries which can provide the
cheapest labor in order to save up for expenses in the making of a product. As a result,
developing nations will provide incentives, like tax-free trade zones, or cheap labor. The
companies will set up shop in their country in hopes of bringing jobs and industry to
beleaguered agricultural areas. This promotes more rapid advances in the developing nation
because of the ideas and innovations brough over from the industrialized nations. It also makes
nations around the world more interdependent, which minimizes the potential for conflict.

In the end, however, these incentives often hurt the working population of the developing
nation. The upper class may benefit from the business of these corporations but the people
working in the factories are exploited as their wages are cut. In addition, they are often prohibited
from unionizing. It can even result in sweatshop conditions with long working hours, substandard
wages, and poor working conditions. If the labor laws in one country become too restrictive to
the TNCs, they can just move their factory to a new country, leaving widespread unemployment
in their wake. Setting up factories in these developing nations may also hurt the core country
where the TNC is based because many potential jobs are being sent abroad. The same thing
happens when companies outsource their labor to other countries. Outsourcing has been
enabled by technological advances, allowing immediate communication across the world and
ease of transporting people, goods, and information. When companies find people in other
countries willing to work for a lower wage, they will often employ them, which is good for the
company because they save money, and it is good for the people in other countries because
they now have a job. But it also means that the people in the core country are losing jobs and
have difficulty in finding new ones.

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There seems to be a lot of negative effects of globalization from transnational
corporations. Trade does promote the self-interested agendas of corporations. Trade does
promote the self-interested agendas of corporations and give them autonomy. The global
corporations also influence politics and allow workers to be exploited. There are, however,
positive effects. These include better allocations of resources, lower prices for products, more
employment worldwide, and higher product output.

The changes a country experiences from international trade are not only economic. Many
of the cultural changes are as important and sometimes, even more obvious than the economic
changes the nation can experience. As international trade becomes easier and more
widespread, more than just goods and services are exchanged. Cultural practices and
expressions are also passed between nations, spreading from group to group. This is called
diffusion. Ideas and practices spread from where they are well-known and frequently apparent
to places where they are new and not often observed. In the past, exploration, military
conquests, missionary work, and tourism provided the means for the trading of ideas. But
technology has exponentially increased the speed of diffusion. Nowadays, mass media and the
Internet allow transfer of ideas almost instantaneously. This is most commonly seen in the
transmission of scientific knowledge and the spreading of the North American culture, which
dominates the Internet.

International trade and global corporations, along with the Internet and more global
processes, contribute to globalization because people and corporations bring their own beliefs,
their traditions, and their money with them when they interact with other countries. These ideas
and capital can then be incorporated in other countries, and thus, change the cultures and
economies of these foreign nations.

Enrichment

WATCH:

“The Corporation” by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpQYsk-8dWg&t=8027s

The Corporation is an award-winning documentary film that examines the modern-day

corporation. It assesses the corporation as a person and provides criticisms to corporate
business practices. It also describes the contemporary corporation with a clinically diagnosed
psychopath.

This fill will serve as a learning experience for you. Since corporations are large entities,
this documentary can help you appreciate the nature of these organizations through a simple
and more understandable manner.

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Activity 6
Weighing the Market

The history of global market brought positive and negative effects through time. At this point,
markets will be assessed through your own perspective provided that you already had a
good grasp of the different concepts in economic and financial globalization. This activity will
help you understand the benefits and harms of global economic processes, structures, and
technologies.

1. Listed below are the scenarios that have to do with the economy. Discuss the major
impacts of these scenarios whether they are positive or negative (for you, for your
 country, or for the Filipinos). Justify your answers.

SCENARIO POSITIVE NEGATIVE

Scenario A: Agriculture is the main source of employment in your home

province. The government has recently decided to develop the
farmlands into real estate and exclusive subdivisions in order to
attract foreign investor to the country.

Scenario B: You decided to purchase a new shirt through an online shop

based in London.

Scenario C: The Philippine government is being pressured by the current

economic crisis to import rice from Taiwan and other nearby
countries in the region.

Scenario D: A multinational corporation decided to close. Unfortunately, your

father is one of its many employees whose work has been
terminated. However, he could still be employed in he were to
accept the offer to move or relocate to another country.

Scenario E: The global financial crisis has affected the investment funds of
your mother that she can use for her retirement.

2. How did you decide for each scenario? What are the pros and cons that you list down
before you came up with the final judgment?

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Module 7
The Global Interstate System

Overview

The state has traditionally been the subject of most interest to scholars of global politics
because it is viewed as “the institution that creates warfare and sets economic policies for a
country”. Furthermore, the state is political unit that has authority over its own affairs. In other
words, its borders are recognized by other countries. It is assumed that whoever is in charge of
those borders has the right to determine exactly what is going to happen in their county. The
Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 established the notion of the nation-state and the idea of state
sovereignty. Today, globalization of politics created an atmosphere where the ideas of the nation
state, state sovereignty, government control, and state policies are challenged from all sides.
 With globalization, some scholars suggest a decrease in the power of the state and that
other actors are actually becoming more powerful. These actors include multinational
corporations and global civil society organizations, like Red Cross, that cross national
boundaries.

Is the idea of the nation-state outdated in the contemporary world? If so, what is it that
we need to think about as “replacements”? In this chapter, we will look at regional alliances and
worldwide organizations of states. This manifests the efforts of countries and governments in the
world to cooperate and collaborate together. Next, international and regional economic bond
bodies, such as IMF and the World Bank, must also be considered as they often push for
neoliberal reforms in the world. The third kind of replacement to the traditional nation-state and
the idea of national autonomy comes from the non-state actors. One of these is the private
capital groups, including banks and groups of people, with money that can determine the well
being of people in a particular area. Multinational corporations and non-governmental
organizations, such as the Amnesty International, are significant organizations that put into
question the strength of national autonomy and global politics. The emergence of non-state
organizations, like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and terrorist organizations, which seek power try to depose a
government and replace the system with their own ideological belief.

Module Objectives

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Explain the effects of globalization on governments
2. Identify the institutions that govern international relations
3. Differentiate internationalism from globalism

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Reading No. 1

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
IN THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY

There is a series of
factors behind
the emergence of global
governance.
The first on the list must be
declining
power of nation-states. If
states
themselves were “highly contingent and
in flux” (Cerny, 2007, p. 854), it would
open the possibility of the emergence of
some form of global governance to fill the
void.

A second factor is the vast flows

of all sorts of things that run into and often
right through the borders of nation-states.
This could involve the flow of digital
information of all sorts through the
Internet. It is difficult, if not impossible, for
a nation-state to stop such flow and in
any case, it is likely that such action
would be politically unpopular and bring
much negative reaction to the nation
state involved in such an effort. For
example, China’s periodic efforts to
interfere with the internet have brought
great condemnation both internally and
externally.

Then, there is mass migration of people and their entry, often illegally, into various nation
states. If states are unable to control this flow, then there is a need for some sort of global
governance to help deal with the problem. The flow of criminal elements, as well as their
products (drugs, laundered money, those bought and sold I sex trafficking, etc.), is a strong
factor in the call for global governance (Levy and Sznaider, 2006). In these cases and others,
there is a need for some degree or order, some sort of effective authority, and at least some
potential for the improvement of human life. These are but a few of the things that can be
delivered by some form of global governance.

Another set of issues that has led to calls for global governance involves horrendous
events within nation-states themselves either foment and carry-out, or are unable to control
(Nordstrom, 2004). For example, in Darfur, Sudan, perhaps hundreds of thousands have been
killed, millions of people displaced, and the lives of many disrupted in a conflict that date back to
early 2003. The government of Sudan and its military have been implicated in the conflict
between ethnic and tribal groups and the Sudanese government has been resistant to outside
interference

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in its internal affairs. One could even go back to WWII and argue that the Holocaust could have
been prevented, or at least mitigated, had there been a viable form of global governance to put
pressure on Nazi Germany and ultimately, to intervene in a more material way, perhaps militarily
(Bauman, 1998).

Then, there are global problems that single nation-state cannot hope to tackle on their
own. One is the global financial crises and panic that sweep the world periodically, which nations
are often unable to deal with on their own (Strange, 1996). Indeed, some nations (e.g., the
nations of Southeast Asia) have often been, and are being victimized by such crises. Unable to
help themselves, such nations are in need of assistance from some types of global governance.

Nation-states have long struggled to deal with problems like these through various
interstate system (e.g., alliances such as NATO), but the more recent trend is toward the
development of more truly global structure and methods of dealing with various sorts of issues
and problems.

Reading No. 2

EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION TO GOVERNMENTS

One of the key aspects of state sovereignty is the government. It is a group of people
who have the ultimate authority to act on behalf of a state. Each state has its own right to self
determination and that other country should not intervene in the affairs of that state unless there
are extraordinary reasons to do so. Other countries must recognize sovereignty or the right to
govern one’s own territorial borders. Each state is autonomous unto itself and responsible within
its own system of government to those who are governed. The decisions, the conflict, and the
resolution of that conflict are done through the institutions of government established and
codified in that particular state, whether or not through elections. Elections, especially in
democratic society, provide the leadership of the state. In addition, the policy is developed and
implemented in the interest of the people of a state by a specific government. A civil society
within a state can also act as a counterweight or as a supplement to government. Civil society
includes the private economy, educational institutions, churches, hospitals, fraternal
organizations, and other non
profit organizations.

There have been several challenges to the government and ultimately, to state
autonomy. We can divide these challenges into four: traditional challenges, challenges from
national or identity movements, global economics, and global social movements.

Traditional Challenges

External intervention can generally be described as invasion by other countries. For

example, when Saddam Hussein was the ruler of Iraq in 1990, he decided he was going to take
over the oil fields of Kuwait. He invaded Kuwait and took it over. As a result, he was dislodged
by an international coalition led by the United States.

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These days, we can see external intervention in other forms. Russia’s external
intervention into the affairs of Ukraine, a sovereign state in the post-Soviet era, is another
instance of intervention in the autonomy of the state. Russia intervenes in the affairs of people
in Crimea who want to become part of Russia again even though they are part of Ukraine.
Crimea declared its independence from Ukraine and re-affiliated with Russia. This is a case of
how there might be a national identity within a country that is assisted by a neighboring country.
Ukraine argues to have autonomy to determine the case for Crimea. As a result, there is current
conflict between Ukraine, not recognizing Crimea’s sovereignty, and Russia, not recognizing
Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea.

Internal political challenges can also happen. For example, after the Arab Spring in
Egypt, a new constitution was created and a government was elected. That government was
more fundamentalist and rejected a notion of a plural society that included religious diversity.
The military staged a coup that depose the government in order to restore stability. Other
examples include the Taliban’s efforts to control the government of Afghanistan. In Syria, the
original rebellion against Assad came from the country’s own internal dissenters who wanted to
replace the government even though they were also Syrian nationals.

There are also regional organizations challenging state autonomy. The United Nations
intervened in Sudan because of the several yeas of civil war. More recently in Europe,
specifically in Greece, it also interfered in the Greek debt crisis.

Challenges from National/ Identity Movements

The next challenges are part of a national identity or movement. It is important to know
that a nation has cultural identity that people attached to, while a state is a definite entity due to
its specific boundaries. However, different people with different identities can live in different
states. For example, the Kurds reside in several different countries including Iraq, Iran, and
Turkey. The Catalans live primarily in Spain, but we can also find some of them in France.
Scottish nationalism is another example that challenges the traditional notions of state
sovereignty. In 2014, Great Britain had a vote in Scotland to decide whether Scotland was going
to become its own autonomous state apart from Great Britain. They voted against it but
Scotland has a significant degree of autonomy now as compared to more than two decades
years ago.

Global movements, such as the Al-Qaeda and ISIS, are another example on national or
identity movements. In this case, they are structured around the fundamentalist version of Islam.

Global Economics

The third major source of challenge comes from

global economics. Global economy demands he states to
conform to the rules of free-market capitalism. Government
austerity comes from developments of organizations that
cooperate across countries, such as WTO and regional
agreements, such as NAFTA, the European Union (EU), and
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Neoliberalism economics or neoliberal capitalism

started in the 1980s. it focuses on free trade and dismantling
trade barriers. It made sure that governments did not impose

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 54
restrictive regulations on corporate presence, as well as on the free flow of capital and jobs. Free
trade was seen as the ideal or normative belief, that is, the best economy is one where there is
free trade everywhere. Laws and standards that would interfere with the flow of capital in
particular country, including environmental regulations, were deemed to discourage economic
growth. Neoliberal economics requires a state to cooperate in the global market through the free
flow of capital, the privatization of services, and fiscal austerity or constraint. In turn, the
government’s role is diminished as it relates to the market. Neoliberal economics is seen as a
threat, in general, because a state cannot protect its own economic interest as a sovereign
state.

A specific example to expand global economic influence is the use of IMF and the World
Bank in forcing government reforms in poorer country. Furthermore, the regional economic
development efforts focused on expanding free-trade and market liberalization. Business from
developed countries put their factories and pay people to build factories and produce goods in
developing countries worldwide. These corporations will sell the products in developing
countries. This exacerbates rising inequality in the world. Greece is one example that explains
how neoliberal economics threaten the sovereignty of state. It began in 1981 when Greece
joined the E.U as a larger alliance, the E.U broke down all kinds of barriers among its member-
states, including Greece, like passports, visas, and license plates. It allowed people to travel
across European borders and encourage economic cooperation and collaboration of member
states. Twenty years later, Greece adapted the Euro as its own currency and got rid of the
Drachma. The government of Greece borrowed money for infrastructure improvements, largely
linked to their hosting of the 2004 Olympics. This put Greece in a large debt. In 2007 and 2008,
the worldwide financial crisis made Greece’s economy to collapse.

Aside from high debt that burdened the government, Greece had several of its
employees struggling with pensions. Tax revenues were lower, and as a result, they could not
pay their debts back. In 2009, they’re credit rating dropped which made it harder for them to pay
back their debt. This led to a series of austerity packages in Greece which meant that there was
less government spending. IMF bailed them out from crisis in exchange for more austerity. In
conclusion, economic crisis can force government to subscribe to the terms and conditions of
the global financial market and of other nations that can help them regain economic stability.

Global Social Movements

Finally, we have global

social
movements. Most of the time, they
are not seen
as a threat, but they definitely
challenge state
sovereignty. Social movements
are movements
of people that are spontaneous or
that emerge
through enormous grassroots
organization.
These social movements are
transnational
movements which means they
occur across
countries and across borders. Therefore, states
have less control of them.

For example, human rights movements

create a public sentiment, value and agenda.
The idea is that there are certain rights that states
cannot neglect or generally, what we call human
rights. If a country decides that they are going to

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have particular policy and if that policy violates the international standard of human rights, there
is a challenge to the ability of states to fully implement it. An example is the United States’
position on the death penalty. There is an international consensus, with a few dissenting
countries like China, South Africa, and Russia, against the death penalty. This means that if
somebody is sentenced by death penalty and somehow he is in an country around the world,
there are rules against that state extradicting into the United States.

The environmental movement is another example of global social movements related to

public policy. A specific case is the so-called Blockadia or the state where social movements
emerging on local areas fight back as a response to the controlling efforts by the apparatus of
government to protect the interest of neoliberal capitalists. Consensus on women’s rights is
another example in many countries. Arguably, the biggest conflict between the West and
fundamentalist Islam is over the role of women is society, as well as women’s autonomy. Rights
of personal autonomy are another example, and this includes issues on homosexuality, same
sex marriage, and gender equality.

There is also an increased role in international organizations like the United Nations and
the International Criminal Court in Hague, the role of non-governmental organizations like
Doctors Without Borders or Amnesty International, and the role of global media.

Reading No. 3

THE RELEVANCE OF THE STATE AMID GLOBALIZATION

The state is a distinctive political community with its own set of rules and practices and
that is more or less separate from other communities. It has four elements: people, territory,
government, and sovereignty. The first element of a state is a permanent population. This
population does not refer to a nomadic people that move from one place to another in an
indefinite time. This permanent presence is one location is strengthened by the second element
of a state, a defined territory. A territory is effectively controlled by the third element,
government. The government regulates relations among its own people and with other states.
This means that the state is a formally constituted sovereign political structure encompassing
people, territory, and its institutions on the one hand, and maintaining its autonomy from other
states on the other hand.

It is important to differentiate the kind of nation from state. Nation refers to a people
rather than any kind of formal territorial boundaries or institutions. It is a collective identity
grounded on a notion of shared history and culture. If we talk about the Philippines as a state,
we may refer to the Philippine government, the Philippine territory, and its internal and external
sovereignty. If we
talk about the Philippines as a nation, we refer to our shared collective notion of democracy, our
history, and or collective identity. In other words, the state is a political concept, while a nation is
a cultural concept. States, through its formalized institutions, more or less reflect nations. This
would allow states to have certain people with their own collective identity. In turn, they should
be allowed to form their own political state. This is the principle of national self-determination.

This brings us to the concept of the nation-state. It is a territorially bounded sovereign

that governs individuals sharing a collective history, identity, and culture. In reality, it is difficult to
think of any nation as having any shared national identity. The Philippines, although formally a
state, has a variety of ethnic traditions.

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A variety of arguments are made including that nation-states continue to be the major
players on the global stage (Gilpin, 2001), that they “retain at least some power in the face of
globalization” (Conley, 2002, pp. 378-399), that they vary greatly in “their efficacy in the face of
globalization” (Mann, 2007, p. 472), and that the rumors of the demise of the nation-state are
greatly exaggerated.

Beland (2008) argued that “the role of the state is enduring- and even increasing- in
advanced industrial societies” (p. 48). He saw greater demands being placed on the state
because of the four major sources of collective insecurity: terrorism; economic globalization,
leading to problems such as outsourcing and pressures toward downsizing, as well as the
current economic crisis; threats to national identity die to immigration; and the spread of global
diseases such as AIDs. Further, the state does not only respond to these threats, but may also
exaggerate or create dangers, thereby making its citizens more insecure (Glassner, 2000). A
good example is the U.S and British governments’ arguments prior to the 2003 war with Iraq
that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that posted a direct threat to
the United States and United Kingdom. The United States even claimed that Iraq could kill
millions by using offshore ships to lob canisters containing lethal chemical or biological material
into American cities (Isikoff and Corn, 2006). The collective insecurity created by such
outrageous claims helped foster public opinion in favor of invading Iraq and overthrowing
Saddam Hussein.

The other side of this argument in support of the nation is that global processes of
various kinds are not as powerful as many believe. For example, global business pales in
comparison to business within many countries. In addition, some question the porosity of the
nation-state by pointing, for example, to the facts that migration to other countries has declined
substantially since its heights in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Gilpin, 2001).

A related point is that it would be a mistake simply “to see globalization as a threat to, a
constraint on, the nation-state; it can also be an opportunity for the nation-state” (Conley, 2002,
pp.378-399). For example, the demands of globalization were used as bases to make the
needed changes in Australian society, specifically allowing it to move away from protectionism
and in the direction of neoliberalization, to transform state enterprises into private enterprises,
and to streamline social welfare. With this, the rhetoric of globalization, especially an
exaggeration of it and its effects, was useful to those politicians who were hopeful of such
changes.

Reading No. 4

INSTITUTIONS THAT GOVERN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

There are several international organizations that governments of countries around the
world and individuals participate in. These include the United Nations, the International Court of
Justice, NAFTA, and NATO. There are also non-government organizations promoting social and
economic growth. Let us look at them one by one.

Peace Treaties and Military Alliances: The UN and

NATO

Global politics entails relationship of countries

and
different governments and non-governmental
organizations.
The United Nations (UN) is one of the leading political
organizations in the world where nation-states meet and
deliberate. However, it remains as an independent actor in

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global politics. The premise for its establishment was the restructuring of the world devastated
after the Second World War. The term “United Nations” was coined by former U.S President
Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942 (United Nations, 2011). Its operations began on October 24, 1945.
It started with 50 representatives from different countries. Generally, it functions in four areas:
military issues, economic issues, environmental issues, and human protection. It is made up of
close to 200 countries from around the world, 193 member states to be exact, with the Republic
of South Sudan as its latest member (United Nations, 2011). The UN, with its headquarters in
New York City, was designated to be a place where countries could come to discuss their issues
without resorting to violence and war, which had plagued our planet for several years in the past.
Maintaining peace and building friendships is the number one goal of the UN, as well as
providing a forum where countries could gather to discuss global issues. The General Assembly
is the gathering of all of these countries. It is held in an auditorium where speeches are given.
Representatives from different member states can vote on issues.

Maintaining international peace and security became the central mission of the UN after
the war. Up to this day, the UN is the major force in governing interstate relations (Ritzer, 2015).
According to the UN (2011), peace and security are maintained “by working to prevent conflict;
helping parties in conflict make peace; peacekeeping; and creating the conditions to allow peace
to hold and flourish”. The UN also has what is known as the Security Council. This group of
countries decides what to do when two or more countries are waging war or are on the verge of
fighting. There are five permanent members of the UN Security Council- the United States,
Britain, Russia, China, and France. In addition to the five members, 10 additional countries join
the permanent members for two-year terms, making a total of 15 countries. The Security
Council tries to be the arbiter in ceasefires between two sides. They can pass sanctions like
block trade with another country as a punishment. They can send troops or observers and, if
worst comes to worst, they can use military force. In the past, UN peacekeepers have been sent
to Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The “big five” permanent members have a veto power,
which means that one member can stop the entire council from taking action against a country.
This has come up recently during the Syrian Civil War in which Russia and China, who are allies
with Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad, have been able to stop the other members from stepping in
to deal with the Syrian leader who was accused of using biological weapons against his own
people.

The main deliberative body, the General Assembly, provides a forum for member states
to express their views and reach a consensus. In 1991, the UN’s military role was put into
question during its intervention in Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait wherein the Security Council
authorized the use of force (Ritzer, 2015). Aside from this, the UN intervened in the civil wars of
less developed countries, such as Cambodia and East Timor, through “election and human
rights monitoring, disbarment, and even the assumption of state functions” (Weiss and Zach,
2007, p. 1219).

The UN is not all about fights. It has a program called UNICEF or the United Nations
Children’s Emergency Fund. Its primary goal is to help children around the world. They collect
funds to distribute emergency relief from famine and poverty and disease. It also provides
education programs in areas where there are no schools. While UNICEF is part of the United
Nations, they operate semi-independently and rely on fundraising.

In terms of economic issues, the main focus of the UN is the reduction of global
inequality. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cover a range of concerns for the
improvement of all aspects of life. According to the UN (2017), sustainable development
encompasses economic prosperity, social well-being, and environmental protection. Since the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) did not end poverty for all people, the UN’s post-2015
sustainable development

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agenda showcases the vision of the organization when it comes to broader issues such as
climate change, disaster risk reduction and gender equality.

Environmental issues, such as pollution and hazardous wastes, are addressed through
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The increasing rate of greenhouse gas
emissions, rising sea level, and occurrence of extreme weather patterns are the effects of
climate change. As a response, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
took efforts that can mitigate climate change like assessment of climate science, facilitation of
climate agreements, and giving assistance to countries to reduce emissions (UN, 2011).

The UN also has the International Court of justice (ICJ), usually referred to as the World
Court. It is located in the Netherlands in a town called The Hague. This is where countries can
settle disputes in a court of law, as well as place where war criminals and rulers who have done
terrible things to their people can be put to trial for their crimes. Aside from this, there are also a
variety of international courts and tribunals created by the UN such as the International Criminal
Court (ICC) and the International Tribunal for the Law of Sea (ITLOS). The problem is,
sometimes, getting the violators all the way to Europe to face trial because there is no actual
police force to go out and get them. As more and more countries interact with one another,
people are looking for the ICJ to play a bigger role in the future of our global world.

Finally, the UN promotes and protects human rights through different organizations and
mechanisms. Since 1948, human rights have been brought into the realm of international law.
This is reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A variety of UN-sponsored
human rights treaties and agreements have been done for human protection. Other
mechanisms include the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the
Human Rights Council, human rights treaty bodies, the UN Development Group’s Human Rights
Mainstreaming Mechanism (UNDG-HRM), and the Special Advisers on the Prevention of
Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect (UN, 2011). There are also legal instruments that
help the organization like the International Bill of Human Rights which consists of three legal
documents: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, and the believes in democracy and that it is interdependent with
development and respect for all human rights.

The UN is being criticized as being

weak and is
unable to stop wars. Because of this, the
next institution
that we are going to discuss continues to
play a big role
in foreign conflicts. This is NATO. It is a
defensive treaty
or a military alliance between the United
States, Canada,
and 25 European countries. This treaty and
international
organization is based on the idea of
collective security.
The countries in this organization is based on the idea of
collective security. The countries in this organization
basically agreed to combine their militaries and
announce to the world that if a country messes with one
of its members, the other countries will come to their
defense. NATO was created after the Second World
War, mostly during the beginning of the Cold

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War. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, former Soviet states, like Poland
and Croatia, had joined NATO, making the present-day Russia feel more threatened. NATO has
sent troops and undertaken military operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, and Africa. The
United States with, by far. The most advance military in the world makes up the bulk of NATO
forces and operations. Many of these wars or conflicts are considered to be strictly U.S wars.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

Another example if an international organization that was developed out of war is the Red
Cross (Red Crescent in Muslim countries). It is considered as a non-governmental organization
(NGO). NGOs are not tied to any country. This allows them to operate freely throughout the
world. They provide emergency relief such as food, water, and medical supplies for those
whose homes or towns have been destroyed by disaster or war. They also monitor the
treatment of prisoner of wars and go to conflicts to make sure that no war crimes are taking
place. In fact, the red Cross began as an organization to help those who were wounded during
wars. The big Red Cross worn by NGOs is identification that they are not soldiers. Part of why it
is important for the Red Cross to be an NGO is that they remain neutral and would help the
wounded from both sides of war. Since they are neutral, governments are more likely to let them
come into their countries to help. While the headquarters of the International Red Cross is in
Geneva, Switzerland, they have branches all around the world.

In addition to the Red Cross, there are many NGOs dedicated to helping people around
the world. Doctors Without Borders provides free emergency healthcare in disaster areas;
Oxfam fights famine and disease; Amnesty International speaks out for human rights and
political prisoners; and Save the Children helps kids get health care and education.

Global Economic Associations: The WTO and NAFTA

The next group is an economic association- WTO. It is made up of 162 countries around
the world and was created with the goal of increasing free trade. Countries, therefore, can buy
and sell goods from one another without placing taxes on imports on tariffs. In addition, tariffs
are used to protect businesses and companies inside their country. Though good in nature,
WTO is not without criticism. In fact, a protest in Seattle at a 1999 WTO Conference led to a
major riot as some said that WTO was more about helping large companies and corporations
that it was about helping people.

Another famous economic organization is NAFTA. This is an economic treaty between

the United States, Canada, and Mexico in which the three countries trade freely without taxing
each other. NAFTA is not without critics either. Some American autoworkers protested against
NAFTA as several car companies moved their factories to Mexico in search for cheaper labor.
NAFTA, like WTO, represents the challenge in America of keeping manufacturing factories.
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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 60
Reading No. 5

GLOBALIZATION AND
GLOBALISM

You probably think

about
links, connections, and
interrelatedness of things,
people, and countries,
when you
encounter the word
“globalization”. However,
when
compared to the term
“globalism”, globalization
would
be better described as the
“increase or decline in the
degree of globalism” (Nye,
2002,
p.1). What then is
globalism?
Globalism refers to the
network
of connections that
transcends
distances of different countries in
the world. In other words, the
links among countries and
people are better associated
with globalism while the speed in
which they become linked with
one another is globalization.

If we are to make a stark contrast between globalism and globalization by saying that
globalization means interconnectedness while globalism is not, it will lead to a confusion that the
present is the only time in which people got connected while in the past they were not. But even
before the industrial Revolution, the world was already connected. Through the conquests of
different empires, such as those of the Romans, many parts of the world became under one rule.
Today, however, the contemporary world is characterized by being connected through the
Internet, modern transportation, and advanced communication technologies. This is to say,
therefore, the societies in the world have always been connected; what makes the contemporary
world different from the past is the type and speed of connection that people and societies
experience.

We can also differentiate globalism in terms of its “thickness” (Nye, 2002). Globalism is
thin. As it becomes thicker, globalization happens. This means that being able to connect
countries in the world through a more dynamic and faster way is globalization. Let us take global
trade as an example. In the past, the Silk Road served as the trade routes among countries in
Europe and in Asia. Aside form the trade of silk between the continents, other products, even
illegal ones, were exchanged among traders and consumers. In addition, cultural interactions
among people were made through their trades. However, they were felt by a relatively small
group of people, most especially those who were actually on the road and did the trades. The
connections were not intense nor “thick”. In contrast to the contemporary world. “globalism
becomes increasingly thick” (Nye, 2002, p.1).

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This is where globalization comes in. If we look at the global trade today, it has reached a
greater number of people around the world. For example, the selling products are not solely
done through physical transactions but can be done online as well. This allows one, who has
access to computers and the World Wide Web, to be connected with millions of people around
the world. Aside from the number of people, the speed was also affected by the transition from
thin globalism to thick globalization. In the past, if you were a European trader taking the Silk
Road going to China, it would take you days or weeks to sell your products. But today, it would
only take a few seconds or minutes to sell, buy, and exchange products and services with other
people even if they are a thousand miles away from you. A concrete example of this is the
change in the price of oil which can happen overnight depending on its price in the world
market.

Although globalism and globalization are often understood in terms of the economy, Nye
(2002) gave “four distinct dimensions of globalism: economic, military, environmental, and social”
(p.2). Like economic globalism, the three other dimensions also become thicker and faster as
globalization intensifies. The enormous speed of potential conflict and threat of nuclear war is an
example of military globalism. In terms of environmental globalism, global warming continues
to accelerate. The last dimension, social, and cultural globalism, “involves movements of ideas,
information, images, and of people who carry ideas and information with them.” (Nye, 2002, p.
2). For instance, religious ideas have spread throughout the world at greater scope and speed.
Religious teachings are delivered today through the mass media, such as televisions, radio, and
the Internet. Unlike before, religious leaders had to walk by foot and had to deliver their
messages in a face-to-face manner.

With the advent of modern mass communication, computers and social networking sites,
it seem that the connections made through the exchange of information creates a new kind of
network in this contemporary world. It is at this point that the concept of informationalism will be
helpful for us to discuss.

Reading No. 6

INFORMATIONALISM

Globalism is tied to the notion

of networks.
For Castells (2000), “networks
constitute the
fundamental pattern of life, of all kinds
of life” (p.3).
It was previously mentioned that in the
present and
even in the past, the world is
connected. The
difference between globalism and globalization is
the speed and thickness or intensity of connections.
Nevertheless, people are connected with one
another whether as a small community or as a large
country.

The question now is about the type of connection that exists and begins to increase in
the contemporary world. The answer lies on the growth of information as the binding force
among people, things, and places around the globe. This technological paradigm, associated
with computer science and modern telecommunication, that replaces industrialism is called
informationalism (Castells, 2004). These are technology, the media, and the Internet. This is
not to say that we do not need to produce material goods such as factories, clothes, and food;
rather, exchanging information and knowledge, which is clearly immaterial goods, becomes
central in the

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 62
contemporary world (Hardt & Negri, 2000). This is due to the “three of the most cutting-edge
aspects of the social world in general and globalization in particular” (Ritzer, 2015, p. 134),
technology, media, and the Internet.

The creation of the world’s first container ship in 1956 and the expansion of airfreight
greatly hastened the transport of goods all around the world. But a notable example of
technological advancement is the founding of federal Express (FedEx) in the 1970s. it makes
use of computer technology in its deliveries. Computer technology is used to check our health
through the invention of magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs), ultrasound, and CT or CAT scans.
Space
based technologies were also made possible through the use of computers (Ritzer, 2015). The
launching of satellites for military surveillance, the use of global positioning systems (GPS), and
the operation of global navigation systems (GNS) are some remarkable examples.

McLuhan Fiore (2005) argued that in the new Media Age, the importance lies in the
medium, the way in which the message is transmitted, not necessarily in the content presented
through the medium. This means that televisions, radios, and newspapers have been shaping
“individual subjectivity and culture, not only locally but globally” (Ritzer, 2015, p. 143). In addition,
the French social theorist Guy DeBord (1994) emphasized in his idea of media spectacle the
sophistication and ubiquity of spectacular visual in televisions. This made TV news a form of
entertainment. Although content matters in television broadcasts, visual spectacle or significance
is an important element and perhaps the primary key to catch the attention of the audience.

When one mentions online social networking, spam, and computer viruses, it is the
Internet that binds them all. The Internet is a mark of the contemporary world. According to
Ritzer (2015), “The Internet has prompted a flat world thesis; anyone can be involved in it, at
least theoretically” (p. 150). Having a computer today in our homes, our schools, our
workplaces, and accessing the Internet through our personal cellphones allow us to be
connected with the rest of world. We can gain information by accessing different websites, such
as Facebook and Wikipedia, through the Internet. In the same manner, the information about
ourselves that we share is also exposed. In order to control Internet access and use, there are
mechanisms such as personal passwords or in the case of Chinese government, the “Great
Firewall”.

While globalization allowed the expansion of information, access to modern technologies

is not a universal matter that is available to every person around the world. The Internet and
other technologies are limited by certain barriers. These barriers include lack of electricity,
illiteracy, weak financial systems, and government regulations.
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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 63
Activity 7
Collecting Posts, Connecting the World

We live in a world where we are surrounded by vast amount of information. It is all

around us. We can get information from books, television, newspaper, and online websites.
The World Wide Web has made us familiar with digital technology and allows us to
communicate with other people around the world.

Moreover, our collective learning could also be aided by modern technology. Social
media is one of ways in which information is exchanged today. In this activity, you will realize
how connected we are in terms of the posts that we see in the Web. Although we do not
have face-to-face interaction, we could somehow relate with others in this virtual space- the
Internet- which largely shaped the flow of information in the contemporary world.

1. Using your social media account (e.g., Facebook or Twitter Accounts), browse your
home page and observe the posts of your friends.
2. Choose and list down 30 randomly selected posts. The names of your friends can be
excluded.
3. Group the posts according to theme. Some of the themes may be about a product, an
educational post, a movie, an opinion, a religious verse, or a status about one’s
personal life. Feel free to construct your own title for the posts that you are going to
group together.
4. After categorizing the posts into its respective themes, answer the following questions:

a. Which theme has the most number of posts?

b. Which post has the most number of shares?
c. What are the common themes that you have identified?
d. Have you posted anything in the past that is similar with the posts you listed
below.

5. Make an analysis and interpretation based on your observation of the collected posts
from your friends.

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Module 8
Global Citizenship

Overview

Citizenship is associated with rights and obligations, for instance, he right to vote and the
obligation to pay taxes. Both rights and obligations link the individual to the state. It also has to
do with our attitudes. We need to be willing to engage and to spend time and effort to the
community of which we feel part of. Community has traditionally been regarded as something
very local. How then, can the idea of citizenship be transferred to the global level?

Module Objectives

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Articulate a personal definition of global citizenship
2. Appreciate the ethical obligations of global citizenship

Reading No. 1

GLOBAL
CITIZENSHIP

Caecilia Johanna vam Peski

(as
cited in Baraldi, 2012) defined
global
citizenship “as a moral and ethical
disposition that can guide the
understanding of individuals or
groups of
local and global contexts, and
remind
them of their relative responsibilities
within various communities.” Global
citizens are the glue which binds local
communities together in an increasingly
globalized world. In van Peski’s words,
“global citizens might be a new type of
people that can travel within these various boundaries and somehow still make sense of the
world” (Baraldi, 2012).

Global citizenship does not automatically entail a single attitude and a particular value
with globalization. We must remember that globalization is not a single phenomenon; rather,
there are many globalizations. While some neet to be resisted, others are welcomed and should
be encouraged. They are bound to be multiple futures for multiple globalizations. These
globalizations created enemies because according to one broad view, globalization failed to
deliver its promises (Cohen, 2006). The so-called bottom billion lacks infrastructures and has
been disenfranchised. The opponents of globalization blame either Westernization or global
capitalism. Thus, the enemies resist globalization, especially when it comes to global economy
and global governance.

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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 65
There are three approaches to global economic resistance. Trade protectionism involves
the systematic government intervention in foreign trade through tariffs and non-tariff barriers in
order to encourage domestic producers and deter their foreign competitors (McAleese, 2007).
Although there exists a widespread consensus regarding its inefficiency, trade protectionism is
still popular since it shields the domestic economy from systematic shocks. Fair trade is a
different approach to economic globalization, which emerged as a counter to neoliberal “free
trade” principles (Nichols and Opal, 2005). Fair trade aims at a more moral and equitable global
economic system in which, for instance, price is not set by the market; instead, it is negotiated
transparently by both producers and consumers. While it is popular among consumers in the
North, it has met only limited acceptance among producers (Ritzer, 2015). Its ability to supply a
mass market and its applicability to manufacture products are also doubted. The third form of
resistance to economic globalization relates to helping the bottom billion based on Collier (2007).
Increasing is only one of the many measures that are required. International norms and
standards can be adapted to the needs of the bottom billion. The reduction of trade barriers
would also reduce the economic marginalization of these people and their nations.

When it comes to dealing with political globalization, increased accountability (Germain,

2004) and transparency are the key issues. All political organizations at different levels, should
be more accountable for their actions because they are now surrounded by an “ocean of
opacity” (Holzner and Holzner, 2006, p. 336). Increased transparency has been aided by
various mechanisms such as transnational justice systems, international tribunals, civil society,
and particularly the Transparency International.

Like globalization, resistance to globalization is multiple, complex, contradiction, and

ambiguous. This movement also has the potential to emerge as the new public sphere, which
may uphold progressive values such as autonomy, democracy, peace, ecological sustainability,
and social justice. These forces of resistance are themselves products of globalization and can
be seen as globalization from below (Smith, 2008). According to della Porta, et.al (2006), the
impetus for such a movement comes from individuals, groups, and organizations which are
opposite (i.e., self-perception) by globalization from above (neoliberal economic systems or
aggressively expanding nations and corporations). They seek more democratic process of
globalization. However, globalization from below also involves less visible, more right-wing
elements, such as the America First Party and the Taliban.

The World Social Forum (WSF) is centered on addressing the lack of democracy in
economic and political affairs (Fisher and Ponniah, 2003). However, the diversity of elements
involved in WSF hinders the development of concrete political proposals. A significant influence
on WSF has been that of cyberactivism which is based on the “cultural logic of networking”
(Juris, 2005) and “virtual movements,” such as Global Huaren. This cyberpublic was formed as
a protest against the violence, discrimination, and hatred experienced by Chinese residents in
Indonesia after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In 1998, worldwide rallies condemning the
violence were made possible through the global watchdog for Chinese interests” (p. 307).

Since there is no single globalization, the future is also multi0dimensional. Some foresee
the continuing expansion of globalization both in general as well as in more specific
globalization. Others have a far more pessimistic vision of “Mad Max” scenarios that could end
the current era of globalization (Turner, 2007).

In any case, given that there is no world government, the idea of global citizenship
demands the creation of rights and obligations. Moreover, fulfilling the promises of globalization
GEED 10043 – The Contemporary World
Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 66
and the solution to the problems of the contemporary world does not lie on single entity or
individual, but on citizens, the community, and the different organizations in societies. The
dynamics of globalization demands the efforts of the whole array of inter-governmental
organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank; international NGOs like
Greenpeace and Amnesty International; and the citizen initiatives and community action groups
that reach above the nation-state level like the World Social Forum and Occupy Movement.
Ultimately, reforms in global governance are required to allow world citizens to take more part
directly in all aspects of human life at the global level.

Enrichment

READ MORE:

Carter, April. 2001. “Global Civil Society: Acting as Global Citizens” in The
Political Theory of Global Citizenship. London: Routledge, pp. 147-1762018

Activity 8
Global Citizenship: Personal Concept Map

Make your own concept map of ideas freely associated with “global
citizenship.” Based on this, synthesize a personal definition of the concept.
Afterwards, list the obligations of a global citizen.
GEED 10043 – The Contemporary World
Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 67
References

Aldama, P.K. (2018). The Contemporary World. Rex Book Store.

Stegger, M. et al. (2014). The SAGE Handbook of Globalization. SAGE Publications Ltd.

Carter, A. (2001). “Global Civil Society: Acting as Global Citizens”. The Political Theory of Global
Citizenship. London: Routledge, pp. 147-176.

Castles, S. (2000). “International Migration at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century: Global
Trends and Issues.” International Social Science Journal 52 (165): 269–281.

Claudio, L. (2014). “Locating the Global South”. The SAGE Handbook. SAGE Publications Ltd.

Juergensmeyer. M. (2014). “Religion in Global Conflict”. The SAGE Handbook. SAGE

Publications Ltd. Lee, R. (2003). “The Demographic Transition: Three Centuries of Fundamental
Change.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 17(4): 167–190.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ0nFD19eT8

PBS Frontline: “The Rise of ISIS” ( https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/rise-of-isis/ )

“The Corporation” directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpQYsk-8dWg&t=8027s )
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Mary Lyka M. Rotairo, LPT 68