THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

Why do we need to study the world?

 Cure parochialism. From close-mindedness to stretched imagination, outlook, and concern.
One’s concern is not only for their immediate context or environment.
 It can teach us more about ourselves. With knowledge about other countries, one can compare
their society’s condition with that of other societies/countries. This comparison may point out
uniqueness and even similarities.
 We are interacting with the world. As global citizens, being aware of what is happening with the
world is a given. With all the interconnectedness and interdependence, the events happening
outside us might bring a positive or negative impact.

Globalization represents the global integration of international trade, investment, information

technology, and cultures. Government policies designed to open economies domestically and
internationally to boost development in poorer countries and raise standards of living for their people
are what drive globalization.

GLOBALIZATION is the expansion and intensification of social relations and consciousness across world
time and across world space (Steger, 2013).

How did Globalization begin?

 Trading of rare commodities like salt, spices, and gold.

 In other words, there is exchange of goods among traders of different countries mainly
because some of these commodities and goods are not found in their own country.
 Advancement in transportation and communication resulted to an easier and increased
exchange of information and goods easily.
EXPANSION - refers to both the creation of new social networks and the multiplication of
existing connections that cut across traditional political, economic, cultural, and geographic
boundaries.
Different levels of connections:
1. Social media (establishing global connections between people)
2. International groups of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
INTENSIFICATION -- refers to the expansion, stretching, and acceleration of these networks.
Expansion of global connections With this connection, transactions happen at a higher speed
integration of economies, markets, nation-states, cultures, and institutions.
THE HUMAN PERCEPTION OF TIME AND SPACE
Steger notes that globalization processes do not occur merely at the objective, material level
but they also involve the subjective plane of human consciousness.
The perception that the world has become a smaller space and distance has collapsed from
thousands of miles to just mouse- click away
Globalization represents the many processes that allow for the expansion and intensification of
global connections.
Globalism is a widespread belief among powerful people that the global integration of the
economic market is beneficial for everyone since it spreads freedom and democracy across the
world.
Steger (2014) pointed out that critics of globalization commit the mistake of conceptualizing the
process along economic lines only, dismissive of globalization's multidimensional character. This
multidimensional character is described in three processes: globalization as an economic
process, globalization as a political process, and globalization as a cultural process.
Globalization as an economic process

 How the evolution of international markets and corporations led to an intensified form of global
interdependence.
 The notion that globalization involves the increasing linkage of national economies through
trade, financial flows, and foreign direct investments.
 The premium put on free trade
 Two most important aspect of economic globalization: (1) the changing nature of the production
process; and (2) liberalization and internationalization of financial transactions.
 Emergence of transnational financial system.
 Creation of international financial markets.

Globalization as a political process

 The implication that economic globalization might be leading to the reduced control of national
governments over economic policies.
 Political globalization is a process intrinsically connected to the expansion of markets.
 The central role of politics - especially the successful mobilization of political power in unleashing
the forces of globalization.

Globalization as a cultural process

 Confronted with the question of whether globalization increases cultural homogeneity or it leads
to greater diversity and heterogeneity.
 Viewing globalization not as a one-dimensional phenomenon, but as a multidimensional process
involving diverse domains of activity and interaction, including the cultural sphere.
  Culture no longer remains tied to fixed localities such as town and nation, but acquires new
meanings that reflect dominant themes emerging in a global context.
 The concept of ‘ globality ’ refers to the experience of living and acting across borders.

In light of the multidimensional character of globalization, anthropologist Arjun Appadurai (1996)

identifies multiple and intersecting dimensions of global cultural flows he calls ‘landscapes ’ or ‘ scapes ’
(Steger, 2014: 13). These five conceptual dimensions are:

Ethnoscape
• Flows of people. The movement of people for reasons such as work, recreation, and/or due to
displacement. The shift in populations made of tourists, immigrants, refugees, and exiles.

Technoscape
• Flows of technology. Development and boom of technology that facilitates cross-border connections
and transactions. E.g. the internet, information technology, and engineering.

Finanscape
• Flows of money. The flow of global capital. International banking and cash systems allow this to
happen. E.g. credit card systems.

Mediascape
• Flows of information. The production and dissemination of information through electronic means. The
access of people to modern popular culture. E.g. access to international entertainment like Hollywood
films, K- drama, and anime; media such as newspapers, magazines, the social network.

Ideoscape
• Flows of ideas. Ideologies of state, and social movements. E.g. posting of your views on a certain event
or human reality on Facebook; religious missionaries spreading their doctrines to other regions or
countries; environmentalism.
Ethnocentric is a belief that one’s culture/nation is superior to all others

Xenocentric is a belief that

GLOBAL ECONOMY - is an economic interdependence established between the most influential

countries that drive the worldwide economic environment. It is also the aggregate economic output,
movement and influence of all countries.

The global economy can also be defined as each country's economy added together but that is
not the only way to portrait how the word economy works.

According to world-systems theory, the upward or downward mobility of nations in the core,
semi-periphery, and periphery is determined by a country's mode of incorporation in the capitalist
world- economy, and these shifts can only be accurately portrayed by an in-depth analysis of the cycles
of capitalist accumulation in the longue duree of history (Wallerstein 1974, 1980, 1989; Arrighi 1994).

THE REORGANIZATION OF PRODUCTION AND TRADE IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

The Role of Transnational Corporations while the post-war international economic order was
defined and legitimized by the United States and the other core powers that supported it in terms of the
ideology of free trade, it was the way in which TNCs linked the production of goods and services in cross-
border, value-adding networks that made the global economy in the last half of the twentieth century
qualitatively distinct from what preceded it.

Transnational corporations have become the primary movers and shakers of the global
economy because they have the power to coordinate and control supply chain operations in more than
one country, even if they do not own them (dicken 2003, 198).

THE EMERGENCE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND PRODUCTION NETWORKS

The growth of world trade has probably received the most attention in the globalization
literature because of its direct relevance to employment, wages and the rising number of free trade
agreements around the world. The most common causes usually given to explain expanding world trade
are technological (improvements in transportation and communication technologies) and political (e.g.,
the removal of protectionist barriers, such as tariffs, import quotas, and exchange controls, which had
restricted world markets from 1913 until the end of Second World War).

Market Integration

• Integration shows the relationship of firms in a market. The extent of integration influences the market
conduct of the firms and consequently their marketing efficiency.

• Market integration is a process which refers to the expansion of firms by consolidating additional
marketing functions and activities under a single management

Types of Market Integration

There are three basic kind of market Integration:

• Horizontal Integration - marketing agencies combine to form a union (COLABORATION)Ex. Fb with Insta
• Vertical Integration - occurs when a firm performs more than one activity in the sequence of the
marketing process. It is linking together of two or more functions in the marketing process with in single
firm or under a single ownership.

• Conglomeration - a combination of agencies or activities not directly related to each other may operate
under a unified management. A conglomerate is a type of multi-industry company that consists of
several different and unrelated business entities that operate in various industries under one corporate
group.

THE GLOBAL INTERSTATE SYSTEM

State is independent political communities each of which possesses a government and asserts
sovereignty about a particular segment of a human population (Hedley Bull)

Effects of Globalization in Local Government

 Property Values
 Jobs and Opportunities
 Community Exposure

The Reality

As the world becomes more interconnected through politics, trade and communications, the
role of states and governments are also shifting. Thus, national and local policies are not only based on
local context but also international and global realities

How does Globalization negatively affects local governments and local communities?

Dilemma for Local Governments

• A local governments would like to attract major global investors in their community by setting up for
instance their manufacturing firm in their area. This could generate jobs for local people and generate
income for local businesses.

• However, it will entail convert tracks of agricultural lands into industrial zones. Farmers will be
displaced and agricultural production of the area will be affected.

• A global corporation is also demanding lower taxes and lower income wages to finalize their
investment in the area.

They argue that they will create more jobs and more income from the local community and government.

How could local governments balance and improved economic performance and participation in
global economic scene without sacrificing local, social and environmental well-being? Are local
governments heavily influenced by powerful corporate entities?

How is the world governed in the absence of a world government?

International Agreements - are treaties signed by a number of states that establish global rules of
conduct. States that break these rules are called rogue states (North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Syria)
International Law - is the collection of rules and regulations that define the rights and obligations of
states.

International Organizations - Some international agreements create international organization that set
rules for nations and provide venues for diplomacy

Global Governance

• The sum of laws, norms, policies and institutions that define, constitute and mediate trans-border
relations between states, cultures, citizens, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organization and
the market.

• There is no central authority

The United Nations: as a Global Governance Actor

To examine the essential/ideational role of UN in the 21st century

MANAGING KNOWLEDGE - Addressing a problem that goes beyond the capacity of the state

DEVELOPING NORMS - Helps to solidify new norm of behavior, often through summit, conferences and
international panels and commissions

FORMULATING RECOMMENDATIONS - A policy actor because of its ability to convene and consult

INSTITUTIONALIZING IDEAS - Every problem has several global institutions working on significant aspects
of solutions.