CONTEMPORARY WORLD ●

●
Catching up of developing countries
Outsourcing; bring jobs and technology to

1ST SEMESTER 2023 ●

developing countries
Advanced social justice and attention to
human rights

Defining Globalization Disadvantages of Globalization

● Spread of products, technology, information
and jobs across nations. Interconnectedness ● An economic downturn of one country can

between countries. Fostering free trade. create a domino effect

Idealistic and opportunistic. ● Concentration of power and wealth to the

● A social, cultural, political, and legal elites

phenomenon ● Increased homogenization of goods and

products
Definitions

Converging Currents of Globalization

1. Triumph of capitalistic world
economy—Immanuel Wallerstein
1. Link all regions of the planet via global
● World Systems theory
communication systems
● Cycle of goods and products
2. Transnational conglomerate corporate
2. People of the world are incorporated into a
strategies
single world society—Martin Albrow
3. International financial institutions
3. Products of the infinitely varied mutual contest
4. Market economy
of sameness and difference—Arjun
5. Planetary Goods
Appadurai
6. International workers give powerful
4. Markets and production in different countries
economic force
are becoming increasingly
interdependent—OECD
5. Internationalizing of production—Robert Cox
Globalization and Its Origins

1. Silk Roads
● Peterson Institute for International
● 1st Century BC-5th Century AD; &
Economics (PIIE) states globalization stalled
13th-14th centuries AD
after WW And nations moved towards
● Trade routes from Asia and Europe
protectionism
● Luxury products
● Routes traversed from China to Asia
2 Main Driving Factors of Globalization Minor
2. Spice Routes and the Maritime Silk Road
● Public Policy Changes
● 7th-15th Centuries
● Communications Technology Innovations
● Spices a key selling commodity for

NAFTA—North American Free Trade Agreement Europeans during the Middle Ages

Advantages of Globalization ● Gold as major medium of trade

1
 ● Adopted banking ● Increased connectivity and
3. Age of Discovery intercultural exchanges
● 15th-18th Centuries ● Dominated by US & China
● Fall of Constantinople, Spice routes ● E-commerce, digital services, 3D
were blocked by the Ottomans printing, AI
● West & East Indies were discovered ● Globalization has undergone a continuous
by the Great Powers process of development
● British, Dutch, French, ● Driven by trade & industry; Eurocentric
Portuguese, & Spanish ● Increasing integration and in a recurring
● 3Gs: God, Gold, & Glory trend
● Aided by discoveries of the so-called
“Scientific Revolution”
● Time where Columbus discovered
Dimensions of Globalization
America.
4. 1st Wave of Globalization
1. Economic
● Industrial Revolution
● Relates to the model of a free world
● British Empire dominated
market; no restriction to
● Trade grew average of 3% per year
competition and mobility
● Innovations like the steam engine,
● Guide the flow of goods, services,
telegram, and electricity
capital information, & labor
● Suez Canal
● Increasing interconnectedness and
● European countries colonizing Africa
interdependence of enterprises
one country at a time; only Ethiopia
through the global market
was left independent
● Argument: Smoothening of
● World Wars
difference and income disparities
● WW I (1914-1918)
2. Technological
● WW II (1939-1945)
● Virtual
5. 2nd & 3rd Wave of Globalization
● Flexible network of
● Under the leadership of a new
cooperative relations
hegemon, the United States of
● Access to the Internet is now a
America
primary “need”
● Hegemon is a state that is
● Public & Private sectors utilize a
dominant from other states.
blend of traditional and digital
● Occurred after WW II
methods in delivery of services and
● Global institutions like the European
products
Union (EU) & the United Nations
3. Political
(UN) were formed
● Connected to the disciplines
6. Globalization 4.0
historical points of reference society
● Increased international cooperation
and nation-sates in early modernity.
and integration

2
 ● Nations & States are actors; enacted ● Technical progress may risk the
through representation in environment
international organizations
● Nation-states engage in many
transactions through recognition
Theories of Globalization
● Done in form of bilateral,
multilateral agreements, treaties,
1. Liberalism
and joint ventures
● Globalization as a market-led
4. Ideological
extension of modernization
● Triumph of
● Result of “natural” human desires
liberalism/capitalism—Fukuyama
for economic welfare and political
● Grappled between Capitalism &
liberty
Communism
● Best observed through
● With no alternative to liberalism,
● Technological Advancements
someone must make a new view.
● Creation of Legal
However, the fall of the Soviet Union
Institutions; suitable legal
debunked the credibility of
and institutional
Communism as an effective political
arrangements
and economic ideology.
2. Political Realism
5. Cultural
● State power and national interests
● Globalization is used up with
of states
modernity
● States are inherently acquisitive and
● Characterized by modernization &
self-serving.
hybridization
● Some are dominant &
● Driven by Western ideas
subordinate
● Modernization
● Theorists suggest that dominant
● New improvisations
states establishes world order.
and influences in
● Maintain and define international
culture
rules and institutions
● Hybridization
3. Marxism
● Conjunction of
● Modes of production, social
separate cultures,
exploitation through unjust
forming another
distribution of capitalism
culture
● Reject Liberal and Political Realist
6. Environmental
perspectives
● World is a highly fragile ecological
● Give an overly restricted amount of
system
power
● Outcome of reflexibility of late
4. Constructivism
modernity
● Mentally constructed the social
● Effect on both local and global level
world

3
 ● Concentrate on the ways that social
Economic Globalization
actors “construct” the world
● Within the mind
Regions of the World
● With others
● Conversations and symbolic ● Can be geographic and an economic
exchanges lead to construction of viewpoint
ideas
● Conventionally geographic
5. Postmodernism
● Modernly socioeconomic
● REJECTS rationality, objectivity, &
universality Globalism vs. Regionalism
● Emphasizes diversity and plurality of
human experience ● Globalism
● Expose social and structural ○ Vision of borderless world
conditions that have favored ○ Programmatic globalization
globalization ○ Top-down
● Globalization cannot be universally ● Regionalism
defined ○ Coherence of culture, geography,
6. Feminism
adn identity
● Emphasis on social construction of
○ Particular to a region
masculinity and femininity
○ Bottoms-up
● Biological sex is held to mold the
overall social order These promote perspectives on how to
● Main concern lies in the status of understand the dynamism of modern states
women
● Women have tended to be
marginalized, silenced, violated in
global communication
7. Trans-formationalism
● Shared social space
● Process or system for which every
change in the world is a
consequence of globalization
● Inevitable consequences
Global South vs. Global North
8. Eclecticism
● Synthesis of different theories ● South
● Both causes and effects; one theory
○ Underdeveloped economies
cannot be blamed because of a
○ Suffereing from high levels and
certain global event
incidence of poverty and political
instability
● North

4
 ○ Developed countries
○ Fairly democratic regimes

Often used to illustrate the prevailing gap

between countries

Structural Classification of States

● Core
○ Politically stable
○ Economically dynamic
● Periphery
○ Politically turbulent
○ Economically
stagnant/dysfunctional
● Intermediate
○ Closely linked to the core regions
○ Benefit from the developments
of the Core

Levels of “Regionness”
International Trading Systems

● Comprises of many thousands of

unilateral, bilateral, regional, &
multilateral rules and agreements

Economic Globalization among more than two hundred

independent nations (McCulloch, 2010).
● A historical process, the result of human ● Facilitate cross-border transactions
innovation and technological progress especially trade and investments
(IMF) ● World Trade Organization (WTO)
○ Provides the premier framework
for international trade

The Gold Standard

● Global Economy ● Middle Ages-1945

○ Serves as the lifeline of ● System where a country’s currency or
international peace and paper money has a value directly
cooperation linked to gold

5
 ● A country that uses gold standard sets a and a sharp increase in prices
fixed price for gold and buys and sells (inflation).
gold at that price
Post Bretton Woods
● No longer used by the government
● Neoliberalism
Galleon Trade/ Nao De Acapulco
○ Became the codified strategy of
● 1565-1815 the US Treasury, the World Bank,
● Brought porcelain, silk, ivory, spices and IMF from the 1980s.
from China to Mexico, through Manila ○ Modified form of liberalism
for New World Silver promoting free-market trade and
● Facilitated Asia-Pacific trade with the increased cooperation between
Americas, thereby increasing the governments and enterprises
economic output of the region
Floating Exchange Rates Systems
Bretton Woods System
● International trade utilizing flat
● 1946-1971 currencies
● July 1944, delegates of 44 countries ○ Value of one’s currency is derived
agreed on adopting an adjustable peg from the economy’s performance
system on the gold exchange standard ● Most of world’s major economies were
● Participants traded in Gold for US allowed to float freely after the BW
Dollars, then used these US Dollars for collapse.
international exchange and transactions ● Fixed exchange rates are few
● Cemented the USD as the World
Currence

Dissolution of the Bretton Woods System

● August 1971, US President Richard

Nixon stopped pegging USD to gold
● Stock markets crashed in 1973-74 and
caused Stagflation
○ Decline in economic growth and
employment (stagnation) occurs

6
 ○ Large companies that conduct
Market Integration
operations in several states
● One in which various economic ○ Headquarters are often keep

processes are so functionally related offshore to defer taxation

to every other process that the totality

Characteristics of TNCs
of separate operation forms a single
unit of production withcharacteristics of ● Growing in size and numbers
its own (McDonald, 1953). ● Seek competitive advantage and
● Interdependence & Embeddedness of maximization of profits by constantly
enterprises, states, and other actors searching for the cheapest production
● Changes in one segment or part will locations around the world
often affect the others ● Substantial parts of the workforce
operate in the developing world
● Assets are distributed worldwide, rather
than focused in one or two countries

Transnational Corporations &

Outsourcing

● Number and Size of TNC have

significantly increased in the second half
of the past century (Nicula, 2015).
● Comprises of parent enterprises and
their foreign affiliates

Transnational vs Multinational
Corporations

● TNC
○ Engages in direct investment in
more than one country
○ Owns and/or controls
income-generating assets
● MNC

7
Outsourcing

● Establishing and managing a contractual

relationship with an external supplier
for the provision of services or
capacities, previously provided in-house
(Momme, 2001)
● Act of delegating specific functions &
labor from the developed world to the
developing world, as an economic
activity.

Brief History of the Inernational System

● International System
Political Globalization
○ An environment where states

Globalization of Politics engage with one another

● All states are considered sovereign and
Interstate System some are more powerful than others
● Has a number of informal rules but not
● Groups of interdependent state held
binding
together by a web of economic and
● Internation relations have already
strategic interests and pressures so that
existec
they are forced to take account of each
other The Peace of Westphalia (1684)

● Ended the 30 year war between Catholic

and Protestant states in western and
central Europe
● Established the modern internation
system
● Declared that the sovereign leader of
each nation-state could do anything
wishes within its borders and state as

International System vs. Society main actor in global politics

Balance of Power (1600-1800)

● The nation-state emerged as the

dominant political unit of the

8
 international system. A series of institutions, corporations, and
powerful states dominated Europe, with political activists
the great powers rising and falling. ● Competitive Politics
○ Seeks to understand how states
● Weaker states often banded together to
work by comparing them to one
prevent the dominant power from
another.
becoming too strong, practice in
preserving the Balance of Power International Organizations
● Frequent wars and economic
● Created either by a treaty or other
competition marked this era
instrument governed by international
Emergence of Nationalism (1800-1945) law and possessing its own international
legal personality.
● Nationalism emerged as a strong force,
allowing nation-states to grow even ● Helping to set the international agenda,
more powerful. mediating political bargaining,
providing a place for political initiatives
● Italy and Germany became unified
and acting as catalysts for the
countries, altered the balance of
coalition-formation. They facilitate
economic and military power in Europe
cooperation and coordination among
member nations.

Characteristics

● Always based on a treaty

● Association of states
● Own organizational structure
● Legal Personality
Plethora of Politics
Types of International Organizations
Political scientists usually use terms
● International Governmental
international politics & global politics
Organizations
synonymously, but technically have different
○ Formed when governments
meanings
make an agreement or band
● International Politics together. Only
○ Relationships between states governments/nation -states
● Global Politics belong here
○ Relationships among states and ● International Non-Governmental
other interest groups, global like Organizations

9
 ○ Made up of individuals and are
not affiliated with the
government

UN’s Contribution to Law Making

Taking the UN as the main organization at the

global levl, distinguishing three aspects

● The contribution of the UN to the

codification of International Law
● The contribution of the UN to
international development through
resolutions
● The contribution of the UN in the
creation of binding standards for
States.

Global Governance

● Brings together diverse actors to

coordinate collective action at the level
of the planet
● Provide global public goods, peace and
security, justice and medication systems
for conflict, functioning markets, and
unified standards for trade and industry
● Crucial global public good is
catastrophic risk management

Nort-South DIvide

● North

10
 ○ Countries which have developed 3. The growing numbers of IGOs can be a
economies location which can generate the political
○ Account for over 90% of all agendas and spaces which cultivate a
manufacturing industries in the specific focus for civil society activity to
world engage with.
○ Account for only one-quarter of 4. Contemporary globalization has
the population changed the moral landscape of political
○ 80% of the total income earned action with greater awareness of
around the world injustices occurring in various parts of
● South the world and greater recognition of
○ Developing economies global problems which require globally
○ Initially referred to as Third coordinated action.
World countries during the Cold
Dynamics of Global CIvil Society
War
● The “for” and the “against”
○ Relatively low GDP and high
● Many forms of civil society activity are
population
practical in nature, which attempt to
○ Fifth of the globally earned
reform specific policies or problems,
income
and thus are not forms of activism that
○ Three-quarters of the global
are attempting to initiate revolutionary
population
change which aims to transform the
Global Civil Society underlying political structures of world
politics.
● Role of individuals and groups in
● For some groups and causes, direct
globalization viewed through
forms of civil society activism are the
collectivism
only hope for initiating social change
● Coordinated pressure in public policy
that can realize justice

4 Primary Drivers for the Rising of Civil

Influence of Global Civil Society
Society
1. Increasingly transnational due to the Understanding the power of CSOs and global

spread of liberalism and democracy in civil society requires a nuanced view of power

societies around the world. evident in Michael Barnett and Raymond

2. Advances in communications and Duvall’s typology of:

transport technology have reduced the

● Institutional Power
costs and difficulties of organizing
○ Able to exercise indirect forms of
transnational political activity
control via formal or informal

11
 institutions which is set the policy
agenda
● Structural Power
○ Evident in direct efforts to
influence the capacities of other
actors by creating particular
forms of incentives to act in ways
which correspondwith the
agenda of certain CSOs
● Productive Power
○ Able to indirectly influence and
produce social capacities of
governments and other actors
● Compulsory Power
○ Exists in diract control of one
actor over the conditions of
existence and/or the actions of
another

Political Consequences of Global Civil

Society

12