SOCSCI032

The Contemporary World

Globalization
Introduction
 Most regions were economically self-sufficient
o Local consumption of locally produced foods, fuel, and raw material
o Limited trade between different regions
 Current: interconnected economies  single, interdependent global economy
 Most important factor currently shaping the world economy
o Traced back to 1800s

What is globalization?
 Encompasses multitude of processes that involve the economy, political systems, and culture
 Progress, development, integration
a) Positive phenomenon
b) Occurring through and with regression, colonialism, and destabilization
CHARACTERISTICS OF GLOBALIZATION
a) Connectivity
b) Borderless World
c) Cultural Diversity
d) Free Trade
e) Mobility
f) Information Technology
ORIGINS AND HISTORY OF GLOBALIZATION
i. Hardwired
o Nayan Chanda: globalization was made possible because of our basic human need to make our lives
better
o Started when ancestors in Africa started to walk away to find better food, shelter, etc.
ii. Cycles
o A long term cyclical process  finding origin will be a daunting task
o Adherence to idea that other global ages have appeared
iii. Epoch
o Ritz (2015): cited Therborn’s (2000) six great epochs of globalization
o “waves” + own origin
o Epochs vs. Cycles – does not treat epochs as returning
1. Globalization of Religion
2. European colonial conquests
3. Intra-European wars
4. Heyday of European Imperialism
5. Post-World War II Period
6. Post-Cold War Period
iv. Events Cycles
o Specific events
o Notable changes as origin of globalization:
1. Emergence of United States as the global power (post World War I)
2. Emergence of multinational corporation (MNCs)
3. Demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War
METAPHORS OF GLOBALIZATION
A. Solid and Liquid
 a. Solidity – barriers that prevent/ make difficult movement of things (natural/ man-made)
b. Liquidity – increasing ease of movement of people, things, information, and places in the world
B. Flows
o Ritzer (2015): movement of people, things, places, and information  growing “porosity” of global
limitations
C. Heavy and Light
a. Heavy – difficult to move; heaviness = tend to stay put + what they produced can only be moved with
great effort and great expense
b. Light – goods and people that are easier to move because of advances in technology

“The perspective of the person who defines globalization shapes its definition. It’s a starting point that will guide the rest
of any discussions.”
 The Global Economy
Introduction
 EIGHT MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
1) Having a global partnership for development
2) Achieving universal primary education
3) Improving maternal health
4) Promoting gender equality and women empowerment
5) Combating diseases such as HIV/AIDS
6) Reducing child mortality
7) Ensuring environmental sustainability
 POVERTY (eradication of extreme poverty and hunger)
o Condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs (food, safe drinking water,
sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education, information)
o Absolute Poverty – less than $1.25/
o Philippines: Php 100, 563 (annual)
USA: USD 12, 140 (annual)
o 4 years ago: UN reported that 836 million people still live in extreme poverty
 Actually down from 1.9 billion
 World Bank: by 2030, it could drop to 400 million
 Climate change is threat to improvements in global poverty
o Relation to Global Economy
 Economic Globalization (Grates contribution)  falling of extreme poverty
 Interconnection of world’s economies + free trade  growth of many developing countries

Economic Globalization and Global Trade

a) Economy
o Process/ system by which goods and services are produces, sold, and bought in a country/ region
o System of production, distribution, and consumption
b) Global Economy
o Increasing interdependence of world economies  growing scale of cross border trade of
commodities, services, flow of international capital, and wide and rapid spread of technologies
o World-wide economic activity between various countries = intertwined = affect other countries
negatively/ positively
TWO TYPES OF ECONOMIES
Associated with Economic Globalization
PROTECTIONISM TRADE LIBERALIZATION
o Policy of systematic government intervention o Removal/ reduction of restrictions/ barriers
in foreign trade on the free exchange of goods between
o Encouragement of domestic production nations
 Giving preferential treatment to o WWII: protectionism  trade liberalization/
domestic producers free trade
 Discriminating against foreign  Technological advances in
competitors transportation and communication 
o Tariffs + Quotas goods and services move around
o Occurred during mercantilist era (15th – 16th easily
century) until early years of Industrial o Fair Trade
Revolution  concern for social, economic, and
o Peak: Great Depression (1929) environmental well-being of
a) United States of America marginalized small producers
b) China  easier trade
c) Japan a) Protection of Workers
b) Establishment of more just prices
c) Engagement in sustainable production
 d) Creation of relationships between
producers and consumers
e) Promotion of safe working
environment

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ITS MEASURE

 Economic Growth
o Increase in the amount of goods and services produced per head of the population over a period of
time
o Accurate = exclusion of inflation
 Measurement
o Growth Domestic Product (GDP)
 country’s entire economic output
 All goods and services that businesses in the country produce for sale (domestically +
overseas)
 GDP = private consumption + gross investment + government investment + government
spending + (export – import)

 Economic Growth = gain further traction; 6.7 percent (2017)  6.9 percent (2018, 2019)
 UN: “developing country” with low middle income

Philippines Impact of Global Economy

 Mine shutdowns (environmental concerns)  Nickel price: $11 010/ ton (December 2016) - $8 928/ ton (June 2017)
o August 2017: $10 849 (despite strong demand and uncertainty of supply conditions of major exporters,
Philippines + Indonesia)
 Fiscal Policy: range of fiscal and pro-growth measures
o Accelerating infrastructure investment, improving access to finance for small and medium enterprises,
enhancing corporate tax incentives
o Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines: adjustments to energy/ transportation subsidies during year  upward
pressure on overall prices
o Dissipation of effects of one-off factors on headline inflation rates

Economic Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality

 Economic and trade globalization  companies trying to outmaneuver competitors
o Cheapest place for production  labor-intensive products produced in countries with lowest wages and
weakest regulations
o Outsourcing jobs = exploitation + oppression = workers exposed to safety hazards + no regulations for
mistreatment
 Richer become richer and the poor become poorer  widening of stratification between rich and poor
countries
 o Stratification – system by which society ranks categories of a people in a hierarchy (differences in
status, power, wealth  social stratification)
 Hans Rosling: “The 1 to 2 billion poorest in the world who don’t have food for the day suffer from the worst
disease, globalization deficiency. The way globalization is occurring could be much better, but the worst thing is
not being part of it.”
 Multiplier Effect
o An increase in one economic activity can lead to an increase in other economic activities
o Challenge: sustainability
 Microcredit
o 2006: Muhammad Yunus (Bangladeshi professor) won Nobel Peace Prize
o Idea: small loans (average $100) to low income people in rural areas)  used money to fund plans that
could raise income

Theories of Stratification
1) Modernization Theory
2) Walt Rostow’s Stages of Modernization
3) Dependency Theory and the Latin American Experience
4) The Modern World-Systems
MODERNIZATION THEORY
 Global stratification = function of technological and cultural differences between nations
 Affluence could be attained by anyone
 Historical events contributing to Western Europe:
i. Columbian Exchange
 Spread of goods, tech, education, and diseases between Americas and Europe after
Christopher Columbus’ “Discovery of the Americas”
 Europe: gained agricultural staples  population growth
ii. Industrial Revolution
 New technologies (steam power, mechanization)  replace human labor with machines +
increase productivity
 Western countries + improved living standards for everyone
 STATIONARY = tension between tradition and technological change (barrier to growth)
Europe: Protestant Reformation  progress-oriented way of life – financial success = sign of
personal virtue
WALT ROSTOW’S STAGES OF MODERNIZATION
1) Traditional Stage o Societies that are structures are structured around
small, local communities + production being done in family
settings + time spent on laboring  strict social hierarchy
o E.g.: what your parents do is what you will do
2) Preconditions for Take-Off Stage o Use their individual talents  produce things beyond
necessity
o Creates new market for trade
3) Take-Off Stage
o Greater individualism
Social status = material wealth
4) Technological Maturity Stage o Earlier technological growth  bear fruit:
 Population growth
 Reduction in poverty levels
 More diverse job opportunities
o Begin to push for social change + economic change
5) High Mass Consumption Stage o Production: wants > needs
o Social support systems = ensure all citizens have access
to basic necessities
DEPENDENCY THEORY AND THE LATIN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
 Product of Latin American experience
 Cardoso and Felato (1979): Dependency – condition in which 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.
 Liberal trade  greater impoverishment, not economic improvement, to less-developed countries
 Why are there many countries in the world not developing?
o Not pursuing right economic policies
Authoritarian and corrupt government
o Dependency: how poor countries have been wronged by richer nations
o “In a world with finit resources, we cannot understand why rich nations are rich without realizing
that those riches came at the expense of another country being poor.”

a) Core Nations – more industrialized nations; received much of the world’s wealth
b) Semi-peripheral Nations – middle income nations; closer ties to the global economic core
c) Peripheral Nations – less developed; receive unequal distributions
TWO MAIN SUB-THEORIES
NORTH AMERICAN NEO-MARXIST APPROACH LATIN AMERICAN STRUCTURALIST APPROACH
o Andre Gunder Frank (1969) o Palma:
 Development of less developed countries  Latin America’s underdevelopment 
 follow path taken by developed excessive reliance of primary
countries commodities (object of fluctuating prices
 Rejected idea that internal sources cause in short term + download trend in
a country’s underdevelopment relative value in the long haul)
  Dependency to capitalist system = lack
of development
 Cardoso & Faletto (1979): Dependency is not a general theory of underdevelopment, but rather a methodology
for the analysis of concrete situations of dependency
 Dependecy = used to underscore extent to which the economic and whose center of gravity was located in
developed naitons
o Perpetuated by ensemble of ties among groups and classes both between nations (Linkage)
MODERN WORLD SYSTEMS
 History of colonialism  inspired Immanuel Wallerstein (American sociologist)
 Periphery remains economically dependent on the core
o Poor nations tend to have a few resources to export to rich countries
 Corporations: buy materials cheap  process  sell them at a higher price
o Profits bypass poor countries  unequal trade patterns
 Dependency Theory: not a lack of global wealth, but not distributed well
 Increased trade between countries
o North American Free Trade Agreement – pits benefits of free trade against cost of jobs within a
country’s borders
o Learning globalization  know issues and debate

MARKET INTEGRATION
Introduction
 Economy – social institution that has one of the biggest societal impacts
o Composed of people
o Social institution that organizes all productions, consumptions, and trade goods in society
o Systems + revolutions  how people live their lives
o Economic societies = vary from each society
 More complicated/ sophisticated than how it used to be
 SECTORS OF PRODUCTION IN SOCIETY
o Typically how production is split in an economy
i. Primary Sector
ii. Secondary Sector
iii. Tertiary Sector

Market Integration
 Extent to which markets make goods available
Keep prices stable depends on whether markets are integrated with each other
 Situation = separate markets for the same product becomes one single market
 An indicator that explains how much different markets are related to each other
INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
 Globalization  closer world economies
o Strength of more powerful economy  greater effect on other countries
o Crises of weaker economy  less effect on other countries
 Effect on countries  world economy gains and crises + organizations involved
1) The Bretton Woods System
2) The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
The World Trade Organization (WTO)
3) The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The World Bank
4) OECD, OPEC, and EU
5) North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

I. BRETTON WOODS SYSTEM

o Bretton Woods System of Monetary Management
 o Established rules for commercial and financial relations among its members
 First example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations
among independent states
o First established because of fear of recurrence of lack of cooperation among nations, political
instability, and economic turmoil
o Focus: (Reduction of barriers to trade + free flow of money among nations)  restructure world
economy _ ensure global financial stability
o 5 Key Elements
1. Is the expression of currency in terms of gold/ gold value to establish a par value
2. Official monetary authority in each country (a central bank) would have to agree to exchange
its own currency for those of other countries at the established exchange rates (plus/minus a
1% margin)
3. Establishment of an overseer for these exchange rates  International Monetary Fund
4. Eliminating restrictions on currencies of member states in the international trade
5. US Dollar = global currency
II. GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADES (GATT)
o One of the systems born out of Bretton Woods
o 1947: establishment
Currently: 23 member countries
o Focused on trade goods through multinational trade agreements conducted in many “rounds” of
negotiation
III. WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)
o Uruguay Round (1986 – 1993)  agreement reached to create WTO
o 1995: establishment
As of 2005: 125 member states
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
o Independent multilateral organization
Became responsible for trade in services, non-tariff-related barriers to trade, and other broader
areas of trade liberalization
o Significant Criticisms:
1. Trade barriers created by developed countries cannot be countered enough by them
2. Decision-making processes heavily influenced by larger trading powers, in so-called Green Room,
while excluding smaller powers in meetings
3. International Non-Government Organizations (INGO’s) are not involved  staging of regular
protests and demonstrations WTO
IV. INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) & WORLD BANK (WB)
o Both founded after WWII mainly because of peace advocacy
o Aimed to help economic stability of the world
o Banks started by organizations (instead of individuals)
 Designed to complement each other
IMF WB
GOAL o Help countries which were in trouble o Long-term approach
at that time and who could not o Eradication of poverty
obtain money by any means o Funded specific goals and
o Lender/ last resort for countries projects that helped them reach
which needed financial assistance their goals
o Dwindling reputation
 Lending corrupt government/ dictators
 Imposing ineffective austerity measures to get their money back
V. OECD, OPEC, EU
OECD OPEC EU
Organization for Economic Organization of Petroleum
European Union
Cooperation and Development Exporting Countries
 o 2016: 35 member states o 14 member countries o Made up with 28 member
o Emanates from member o Formed because member states
countries’ resources and countries wanted to o Most members in Eurozone
economic power increase oil price, which adopted euro as basic
was low in the past and had currency
failed in keeping up with
inflation

VI. NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (NAFTA)

o Trade pact between United States, Mexico, and Canada  broadening international cooperation  helps
in developing and expanding world trade
o Aims to increase corporation for improving working conditions in north America  expands markets of
three countries  reducing barriers to trade
o Positive & Negative Consequences
a) Lowered prices by removing tariffs
Opened up new opportunities for small and medium-sized business to establish name for itself
Quadrupled trade between three countries
Created 5 million US jobs
b) Excessive pollution
Loss of more than 682 000 manufacturing jobs
Exploitation of Mexico
Moving Mexican farmers out of business

HISTORY OF GLOBAL MARKET INTEGRATION

1) Agricultural Revolution & Industrialization Revolution
2) Capitalism & Socialism
3) Information Revolution

I. AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION
o First big economic change
o Learned how to domesticate plants and animals  much more productive than hunter-gatherer societies
o Farming  helped societies build surplus (not everyone had to spend time producing food)  major
developments
II. INDUSTIAL REVOLUTION
o Second major revolution in 1800’s
o Rise of industry  new economic tools, popping out of factories  change of work
o Work at home  work as wage laborers  skill specialization
 Productivity went up
 Better standards of living
 Access to wider variety of goods (mass production)
o Economic Casualties:
a) Factory workers working in dangerous conditions for low wages
b) More productivity, greater wealth, but greater economic inequality
c) Late 19th century: formation of labor unions, sought out to improve wages and working
conditions
o CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM
 Two competing economic models that sprung
 Economic capital became more important to the production of goods
A. Capitalism
 System in which all natural resources and means of production are privately owned
 Main drivers of efficiency: profit maximization + competition
 Idea: eave capitalist economy alone = regulate things themselves (Adam Smith’s Invisible
Hands) – select best-value goods and services
  Practice: economy does not work well on autopilot  market failures (e.g., monopoly)
(reason why some countries are not purely capitalist)
B. Socialism
 Government plays an even larger role
 Means of production under collective ownership
 Property owned by government and allocated to all citizens
 Instead of the wealthy
 Karl Marx: socialism is stepping stone to communism
III. INFORMATION REVOLUTION
o Current times
o Replacement of jobs by computers and technologies  automation/ outsourcing jobs offshore
o Second half of 20th century: development of technologies
o Reduced use of human labor
Shifted from a manufacturing-based economy  service work and production of ideas (rather than
goods)

Multinational Corporation
 Increase in international trade = supported by international regulatory groups (e.g, WTO) and transnational trade
agreements (e.g., NAFTA)
 International trade agreements often benefit private industries the most
o Companies can produce their goods and services across many different countries
 A.k.a. Global Corporations
o Company that operates in its home country, as well as in other countries
o Maintains central office located in one country – coordinates management of other offices (e.g.,
administrative branches, factories)
 Characteristics of an MNC
a) Very high assets and turnover
b) Network branches
c) Control
d) Continued growth
e) Sophisticated technology
f) Right Skills
g) Forceful marketing and advertising
h) Good quality of products
 Reasons for being an MNC
1) Access to lower production costs
2) Proximity to larger international markets
3) Avoidance of tariffs

Global interstate system

Introduction
 State
o Political unit that has authority over its own affairs
o Borders are recognized by other countries
o Views as the institution that created welfare and sets economic policies for a country
 Treaty of Westphalia of 1648
o Established notion of the nation-state + idea of sovereignty
 Globalization  decrease in power of state + other “actors” becoming powerful
o Is the idea of the nation-state outdated?
If so, what is it we need to think about as replacements?

Defining State and Nation

a) State (political concept)
o A distinctive political community with its own set of rules and practices and that is more or less
separate from other communities
 o May refer to Philippine government, the Philippine territory, and its internal and external sovereignty
o Formalized institutions = reflect nations
i. People (Permanent Population): group of people who live in place
ii. Territory: area of land + body of water that belongs to/ is controlled by government
iii. Government: regulates relations among its own people and other stares
iv. Sovereignty: country’s own independent authority and right to govern itself
b) Nation (cultural aspect)
o People rather than any kind of formal territorial boundaries/ institutions
o Collective identity grounded on a notion of shared history and culture
o May refer to shared collective notion of democracy, history, and collective identity
c) Nation-State
o Territory bounded sovereign institution that governs individuals sharing a collective history, identity, and
culture

Relevance of the State amid Globalization

 Nation-state continue to be the Major Players on the Global Stage
 Gilpin (2001): “Retain at least some power in the pace of globalization”
 Beland (2008): “the role of the state is enduring – and even increasing in advanced industrial societies”
o Greater demands being placed on state  4 Major Sources of Collective Insecurity
1) Terrorism
2) Economic Globalization
3) Threats to National Security
4) Spread of Global Disease
o Respond to threats + exaggerate/ create dangers  making citizens more insecure
 Global processes of various kinds = not as powerful
o “To see globalization as a threat to, a constraint on, the nation-state; it can also be an opportunity for
the nation-state”

Institutions that govern international relations

a) Peace Treaties and Military Alliances: the UN and NATO
b) Non-Governmental Organizations
c) Global Economic Associations: the WTO and NAFTA

UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION (UNO)

 1942: Coined by former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
 October 24, 1945: Founded, with 50 representatives
 2011: 193 members
 Headquarters: New York City, New York, USA
 Current Secretary-General: Antonio Guterres
 Central Mission: “Maintain international peace and security”
 UN (2011): Peace and security are maintained “by working to present conflict; helping parties in conflict make
peace; peacekeeping; and creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish”
 The General Assembly
o Gathering of all representatives of the UN
o Held in auditorium where speeches are given
o Provide form for member states to express their views and reach consensus
o Representatives from different member states can vote on issue
 General Functions:
a) Military Issues
b) Economic Issues
c) Human Protection
d) Environmental Issues
 Other Programs of UN:
a) UNICEF
 United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund
  Goal: help children around the world, collect funds to distribute emergency relief from famine,
poverty, and diseases
 Operate semi-independently, rely on fundraising
b) The Sustainable Development Goals
 Covers a range of concerns for all improvement of all aspects of life
 UN’s post-2015 agenda: showcases vision of organization when it comes to broader issues (e.g.,
climate change, disaster risk reduction, gender equality)
c) UNEP
 United Nations Environment Programme
 Addresses environmental issues (e.g., pollution, hazardous waste)
d) IPCC
 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
 Took efforts that mitigate climate change
 Assessment of climate science, facilitation, of climate agreements, giving assistance to
countries to reduce emissions
e) ICJ
 International Court Justice
 Netherlands
 Where countries can settle disputes in a court of law where war criminals and rulers who have
done terrible things to people can be put to trial for their crimes
 Variety of international courts and tribunals
International Criminal Court (ICC)
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
f) Other Programs:
 UN-Sponsored human rights treaties and agreements  human protection
a. OHCHR – Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
b. UNDG-HRM – UN Development Group’s Human Rights Mainstreaming Mechanism
c. The Special Advisers on the Prevents of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect
 Legal instruments  help organization like the International Bill of Human Rights, consisting of 3
documents:
a. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
b. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
c. The International Covenant on Economic Social, and Cultural Rights
 Security Council
o A group of countries decides what to do when two or more countries are waging war or are on the
verge on fighting
o 15 country-members
o Permanent members/ the Big Five
1. USA
2. Britain
3. Russia
4. China
5. France
o Other 10 additional countries for two-year terms, as of 2019:
6. Ivory Coast
7. Equatorial Guinea
8. Kuwait
9. Peru
10. Poland
11. South Africa
12. Indonesia
13. Belgium
14. Germany
15. Dominican Republic
 o Criticized as being weak and unable to stop wards  NATO
 NATO
o North Atlantic Treaty Organization
o Institution that plays big role in foreign affairs
o Defensive treaty/ military alliance between US, Canada, and 25 European countries
o Founded on April 4, 1949 in Washington, D.C., USA
Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium
Current Secretary-General: Jen Stoltenberg
o Treaty + international organization  idea of collective security
 Main Purpose: defend each other from the possibility of communist Soviet Union taking control
of their nation
o Agreed to combine their militaries + announce to the world that if a country messes with one of its
members, the others will come to their defense

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
 Organizations that are not tied to any country  operate freely throughout the world
 Provide emergency relief (e.g., food, water, medical supplies) for homes destroyed by disaster/ war
 Neutral in wartime
1) International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – help wounded during war
2) Doctors without Borders – free emergency healthcare in disaster areas
3) Oxfam – famine and diseases
4) Amnesty International – speaks out about human rights and political prisoners
5) Save the Children Fund – help kids get healthcare and education

Global Governance
Introduction
 Government
o Institution that creates warfare and sets economic policies for a country
o Political unit with authority over won affairs
o Group of people who control and make decisions for a country
o Particular system used for controlling a country
 Today: globalization of politics  ideas of nation-state, state sovereignty government control, and state policies
challenged from all sides
o Decrease of power of the state
o Actors becoming more powerful (MNC, global civil society that cross national boundaries)

Global Government vs. Global Governance

 Global Governance
o Movement among political cooperation among transnational actors
o Aim: negotiating responses to problems that affect more than 1 nation
GLOBAL GOVERNMENT GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
 We don’t have a global government  Term that came around mostly from academics
 We don’t have an authority with hierarchical who were looking at the world’s agenda
powers
 No such thing as global government

History
 WWII: creation of organizations and union  maximize global governance + interference  prevent unbalance
between states
o Decisions should be taken together and internationally = main characterization of global governance
 Debate on Globalization  emergence of theories on Global Governance
EMERGENCE OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
a) Declining power of nation-states
 o States were “highly contingent and in flux  open the possibility of emergence of some form of global
governance to fill void
b) Vast flows of all things  run into/ right through borders of nation-states
o Involve flow of digital information of all things  internet
c) Mass Migration of people and their entry (often illegally) into various nation-states
o Flow of criminal elements + products  strong factor in call for global governance
d) Horrendous events within nation-states themselves either forment and carry out, or unable to control
e) Global problems that single nation-state cannot hope to tackle on their own
o E.g., global finance crises and panic that sweep world periodically (nations often unable to deal on their
own)
 No world/ government that can coordinate and facilitate cooperation among all actors deal with these threats
and challenges

Global Governance in 21st century

GLOBAL ISSUES
1) Environment Issues
2) Health Policies
3) Illicit Activities
4) Human Rights
5) Refugees, Migration, and Population
6) Weapons Proliferation
 Problems  common/ global  no longer be tolerated + require collective action to be managed
o Cannot be dealt with at national level, by individual states acting alone

Effects of Globalization to Government

 Several challenges to government and state autonomy
a) Traditional Challenges
b) Challenges from National or Identity Movements
c) Global Economics
d) Global Social Movements
TRADITIONAL CHALLENGES
External Intervention Internal Challenges
 Generally described as invasion by other  Generally described as political challenges
countries happening within a country
 Example:  Examples:
1) Saddam Hussein was the ruler of Iraq in 1) After Arab Spring in Egypt, a new
1990. He decided to take over oil fields in constitution was created and a
Kuwait. He invaded Kuwait and took over. government was elected. The government
As a result, he was dislodged by an was more fundamentalist and rejected
international coalition by the United States the notion of a plural society that
2) Russia’s external intervention into affairs included religious diversity. The military
of Ukraine. Russia intervenes in the staged a coup that deposed the
affairs of people in Crimea who want to government in order to restore stability
become part of Russia again even though 2) In Syria, the original rebellion against
they are a part of Ukraine. Assad came from the country’s own
internal diissenters who wanted to
replace the government even though
they were also Syrian nationals

CHALLENGES FROM NATIONAL IDENTITY MOVEMENTS

a) Kurds reside in different countries including Iraq, Iran, and Turkey
b) The Catalans live primarily in Spain, but we can also find some of them in France
c) Scottish nationalism is another example of challenges the traditional notions of state sovereignty
d) Global movements, such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, are other examples of national/ identity movements
o Structured around fundamentalist version of Islam
GLOBAL ECONOMICS
 Demands states to conform to the rules of free-market capitalism
 Government austerity  development of organizations that cooperate across countries (e.g., WTO, regional
agreements)
 Neoliberal Economics

Greece – how neoliberal economics can threaten state’s sovereignty

o Neoliberal Capitalism
o Started in 1980’s
o Focuses on free trade and dismantling trade barriers
 Made sure government imposed restrictive regulations on corporate presence _ on free flow
of capital and jobs
o Free Trade = ideal/ normative belief = best economy = one where there is free trade everywhere
o Requires state to cooperate in the global market through:
 Free flow of capital
Privatization of services
Fiscal austerity/ constraint
 Government’s role is diminished as it relates to the market
o Threat  state cannot protect its own economic interest as a sovereign state

GLOBAL SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

 Movements of people that are spontaneous/ emerge through grassroots organization
 Transnational
o Occur across countries and borders
o States have less control of them
a) Activist Movements
b) Regressive/ Reactionary Movements
 Increased role in international organization (e.g., UN, International Criminal Court in Hague), non-governmental
organizations, and global media  creation of social movements
 The Global Divides: The north and the South
Introduction
GLOBALIZATION and REGIONALIZATION
 Reemerged during 1980’s
Heightened after the end of the Cold War in 1990’s
 May seem contradicting
o Globalization – global
Regionalization – region
HISTORY OF REGIONALIZATION
 Started during the Cold War – Western policymakers began talking about world = three (3) distinct political and
economic blocks
i. First World – capitalist, industrialized countries, within Western European and United States’ sphere of influence
ii. Second World – former communist-socialist industrial states; territory and sphere of influence of the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republic
iii. Third World – other countries; today – developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America
 End of Cold War = second-world countries became null and void
 Currently:
a) First World – rich, industrialized countries (“Global North”)
b) Third World – impoverished states (“Global South”)
o Social Scientists: sort countries into groups based on their specific levels of economic productivity

The Brandt Line

 1980’s: way of showing how world was geographically split into relatively richer and poorer countries
a) Richer countries are almost all located in the Northern Hemisphere (except Australia and New Zealand)
b) Poorer countries are mostly located in tropical regions and in the Southern Hemisphere
 Economically developed = became part of the “North” (regardless of geographic locations)
Unqualified = “South”
a) NORTH
o 1/4 of the world population
o Controls 4/5 of the income earned anywhere in the world
o Owns and houses 90% of the manufacturing industries
b) SOUTH
o 3/4 of the world population
o Access to 1/5 of the world income
o “Third World”; countries that belong to developing and less developed
o “Emerged in part to aid countries in southern hemisphere to work in collaboration on political, economic,
social, environmental, cultural, and technical issues”
o “interconnected histories of colonialism, neo-imperialism, and differential economic, and social change
through which large inequalities in living standards, life expectancy, and access to resources are
maintained”
NORTH SOUTH
a. Less population a. Large population
b. High wealth b. Low wealth
 c. High standards of living c. Low standards of living
d. High industrial development d. Low industrial development
e. Industrial society e. Agricultural society
f. More developed regions f. Poverty, War, Tyranny
95% has enough food, shelter, and functioning Lack of well-developed domestic market
education system economies
Controls 4/5 of the income earned anywhere in Lack to evolve, of appropriate technology
the world No political stability

Stage of Development

CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTRIES
(According to the United Nations)
i. Least Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs)

o Low-income countries confronting severe structural impediments to sustainable development

o Highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks
Low levels of human assets
o Currently 47 countries (reviewed every 3 years by the Committee for Development)
o Gross National Income: $1230 - $2460
ii. Middle Income Countries (MICs)
 o Countries neither rich nor poor
o Developing quickly, but not as quickly as NICs
o E.g., Albania, Bulgaria, Poland
iii. Newly Industrialized (NICs)

o Countries’ national economy: primarily based in agricultural  goods-producing industries (manufacturing,

construction, mining)
o Most NICs: greater industrialization  increase trade, greater economic growth, participation in regional
trading blocs, attraction of foreign investment, especially developed countries
iv. Most Economically Developed Countries (MEDCs)

o Largely located in the Northern Hemisphere

o Have the financial resources to provide high level of education, healthcare, housing

Factors affecting the level of development

ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMIC SOCIAL POLITICAL
FACTORS FACTORS FACTORS FACTOR
 Poor climate  Poor trade links  Spread of illnesses  Unstable
 Limited water  Lots of debt and diseases government
supply  Too many primary  Poor education  corruption
 Few natural products
resources

North-South Divide Issues

1) Distribution of income around the world
o Liberalization of market occurs  most South countries lost to the competition from the North
o Encourage migration of people from South to North (better income)
2) Economic Competition worldwide
a) Appropriate infrastructure
b) Stable macroeconomic framework
c) Well-functioning public and private institutions
3) Standard of Living
 a) Lack of trade and aid
b) Single Crop Farming
c) Abundance of Debt
d) Neo-Colonialism
CLOSING THE GAP
 Millennium Development Goals – program to narrow divide by United Nations
a) Improving education and healthcare
b) Promoting gender equality
c) Ensuring environmental sustainability

Asian regionalism
Introduction
REGIONALISM
 A political ideology focusing on the development of political/ social system based on one or more region
 Regional organizations respond to states’ attempt to reduce the perceived negative effects of globalization
o Sort of counter-globalization
 Benefits:
a) Generate productivity gains, new ideas, and competition
b) Diversify sources of economic demand
c) Provide leadership
d) Create regional mechanisms

Asian Regionalism
 Product of economic interaction
 Result of successful, outward-oriented growth strategies  richer and closer Asian economies
a) WEST ASIA
o Between Central Asia and Africa and South of Eastern Europe
o Majority = Middle East; exclusion of Egypt (also a Middle-Easter country)
o 19 states:
Georgia Israel Bahrain
Armenia Palestine Qatar
Azerbaijan Jordan Saudi Arabia
Turkey Iraq United Arab Emirates
Cyprus Iran Oman
Syria Kuwait Yemen
Lebanon

o Total area = 2 415 million sq. miles

Population Size = 313.428 million
o Most Southwest Asia countries = one of the middle-income categories (fr World Bank)
Israel, Persian Gulf States (Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates) = high-income
b) SOUTH ASIA
o Peninsula-like shape
Bordered by 3 bodies of water [Indian Ocean (S), Bay of Bengal (E), Arabian Sea (W)
o Indian subcontinent + surrounding countries
8 autonomous countries:
Sri Lanka Pakistan
Bangladesh Bhutan
India Nepal
Afghanistan Maldives
o Total area = 2 million square miles
Population = more than 1.74 billion (1/4 of global population)
o All countries = low-income
 Sri Lanka = lower-middle-income
c) CENTRAL ASIA
o Russia (S), China (W), Afghanistan (N)
o Western border: runs along Caspian Sea
o 5 countries
Tajikistan Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan Kyrgyzstan
Kazakhstan
o Total Area = 1 545 741 square miles
o Population = 69.78 million
o Most North and Central Asia countries = low-income category
Russia (Siberia), Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan = lower-middle income
d) EAST ASIA
o East of Central Asia; eastern border along East China Sea
o 8 countries and regions
China Japan
Mongolia Hong Kong
North Korea Macau
South Korea Taiwan
o Total Area = 4 571 092 square miles
Population = 1.641 billion (22% of global population; 38% of Asia’s population)
o Most prosperous part of the continent
Most countries = upper-middle-income
Japan = high-income
China, North Korea = low-income
China = dramatic rates of economic growth since late 20th century  lower-middle income
e) SOUTHEAST ASIA
o North of Australia, South of East Asia, West of Pacific Ocean, East of Bay of Bengal
o 15 countries and territories:
Brunei Philippines Myanmar
Cambodia Singapore Christmas Islands
Indonesia Thailand Cocos Islands
Laos Timor-Leste
Malaysia Vietnam
o Total Area = 1 735 121 square miles
Population = 641 million
o Many countries = high rates of growth  one of the middle-income categories
Singapore, Brunei = high-income category
Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam = low-income

Asia’;s Resources
 Continent’s immensity + geologic diversity  mineral wealth of Asia (reserves of important minerals)
o Coal, Petroleum, natural gas, uranium, iron, bauxite, other ores
o Exploited/ awaiting development
o Inaccessibility of some reserves = barrier to their exploitation
 Industrialization  primary means of economic development
o E.g., manufacturing consumer goods (electronics, footwear, clothing) as contractors for foreign firms
o Countries with dramatic growth (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore)  state support for domestically-
owned firms + invested heavily in education + moved from low-cost manufacturing to more advanced
economic activities (higher return)
 Saudi Arabia + Persian Gulf states = growth  exploitation of valuable petroleum and natural gas reserves
o Hard to develop economic sectors independent of oil production for future sustainable growth
 Majority = agriculture (small peasant holdings)
o China, India: biggest employer; but diminishing share of gross domestic product
 o Greatest poverty in rural areas
o Acceleration of urbanization (since mid-20th century) = increasing numbers of rural peasants leaving

Asian Organizations
 Regional Organizations
o Different intergovernmental organizations  help solve global issues + increase economic growth
1) Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD)
2) Asian Development Bank (ADB)
3) Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
4) East Asia Summit (EAS)
5) South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
6) Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Asian Cooperation Dialogue
Year founded: Current Secretary General:
June 18, 2002 Bundit Limschoon
General Function:
o An intergovernmental organization
o Promotes Asian cooperation (continental level)
Help integrate separate regional organizations (e.g., ASEAN, SAARC,
the Gulf Cooperation, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Eurasian
Economic Union)
Member countries:
34 member countries

Asia Development Bank

Year founded: Current President:
December 19, 1966 Masatsuga Asakawa
General Function:
o Regional development bank
o Promote social and economic development in Asia
Member countries: Headquarters:
68 member countries Mandaluyong, Manila, Philippines

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

Year founded: Current President:
1989 Mahathir Mohamad (Malaysia)
General Function:
o Intergovernmental forum
o Promotes free trade throughout Asia-Pacific Region
o One of the highest-level multilateral blocs and oldest forums in Asia-
Pacific region
o Exerts significant global influence
Member countries: Headquarters:
21 member countries Singapore

East Asia Summit (EAS)

First Summit
December 14, 2005 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
General Function:
o An annual regional forum
o Initially 16 countries in East Asia, Southeast Asian, and South Asian
regions (based on ASEAN Plus Six Mechanism)
Member countries:
 18 member countries (including Russia and U.S.A.)

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

Year founded: Current Secretary-General:
December 8, 1985 Amjad Hussain B. Sial
General Function:
o Regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of
states in South Asia
Member countries: Headquarters:
8 member countries Kathmandu, Nepal

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

Year founded: Current Secretary-General:

August 8, 1967 Lim Jock Hoi
General Function:
o Intergovernmental organization
o Promoting economic growth and regional stability among its members
Member countries: Headquarters:
10 member countries Jakarta, Indonesia
 Global media culture
Media
 Plural for medium
o A means to convey something (e.g., channel of communication)
 Popularity  word needed to talk about a new social issue
 Relatively modern word, but media of communication has always been used before and is essential to
globalization

Evolution of Media Globalization

 Organize history of the study of media by time period/ stages:
1) Harold Innis (1950) – media to three periods: (1) oral, (2) print, (3) electronic
2) James Loll (2000) – added (4) digital
3) Tehri Rantanen (2005) – (2) script before (3) printing press + breaks electronics into (4) wired and (5)
wireless
I. ORAL COMMUNICATION
o Speech = often overlooked medium in globalization history
 Oral medium/ human speech = oldest and most enduring media
o Aiding globalization?
 Language = allowed humans to cooperate
 Sharing information about tools and weapons  spread of technology
o Language = helped humans move + settle down
 Stored and transmitted important agricultural information across time (one generation passed
on knowledge to next)  creation of villages and towns
 Led to markets, trades of goods and services, and cross-continental trade routes
II. SCRIPT
o Language = essential but imperfect
 Distance = trouble for oral communication
o Script = very first writing = communicate and share knowledge and ideas over much larger spaces and
across longer times
 Writing’s own evolution; cave paintings, petroglyphs, hieroglyphs
o Needed to be written on something
 Writing surface’s own evolution
 Carving into wood, clay, bronze, bones, stone, tortoise shell
 Scripts on sheets = medium that catapulted globalization
 Written and permanent codification of economic, cultural, religious, and political practice
 Spreading out of codes over large distances, handed down through time
III. PRINTING PRESS
o Started the information revolution
Transformed markets, businesses, nations, schools, churches, governments, armies, and more
o Prior: production and copying of written documents was slow, cumbersome, and expensive
 Reading and writing for the ruling and religious elite
 Control of information by the rich
o Reading materials cheaply made and easily circulated (production and reproduction)
o Following of literacy of common people
 Revolutionized every aspect
 Consequences:
a) Printing press changed the very nature of knowledge
b) Print encourages challenge of political and religious authority  ability to circulate
competing views
IV. ELECTRONIC MEDIA
o Wired and wireless
o Beginning of the 19th century: host of new media revolutionizing ongoing globalization
o Require electromagnetic energy (electricity) to use
 o E.g., telegraph, telephone, radio, film, television
V. DIGITAL
o Most often electronic media that rely on digital codes
 Long arcane combinations of 0 and 1 that represent information
o Earlier media (e.g., phones, televisions) = now digital
o Computer = usual representation of digital media
 Latest and most significant medium to influence globalization

No globalization without media

 Humans = impulse to globalize + need to communicate over distance  proceed together through history
o Driving and influencing each other
GLOBAL IMAGINARY AND GLOBAL VILLAGE
 Media  people of the world knew the world
o People needed to be able to imagine the world (and themselves acting in it) for globalization to proceed
o Helped bring out a fundamentally new imaginary
 Manfred Steger (2008): “Rising Global Imaginary” – globe itself as imagined community

I. MEDIA AND ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION

o Media = essential in growth of economic globalization
 Creating conditions for global capitalism
Promoting conceptual foundation of world’s market economy
o Media = fosters conditions for global capitalism
 Invitations and exhortations for consumptions (e.g., commercials on radio and television, product
placements in films, digital billboards, pop-up ads, broadsheets)
II. MEDIA AND POLITICAL GLOBALIZATION
o Transformation of world politics
 Formations and then overthrow of kingdoms and empires
 Creation of the nation-state (but now also weakened due to fluidity)
 Rise of transnational political actors
o Media corporations = powerful political actors
BUT individual journalists are subject to brutal and intense intimidations (more actors contend for
power) = DANGER
III. MEDIA AND CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION
o Media = primary carriers of culture
o Display cultural products (pop songs, films)
o Media = people
 Active economic agents + aggressive political lobbyist on matters of culture
 Market brands aggressively
 Seek out new market + actively bring about interactions of culture for beauty, power, profit

DARK CONTOURS OF GLOBAL VILLAGE

 ALSO exploit world in pursuit of property, profit, power
 Village of large tracts of economic injustice, political repression, and cultural conflict
 Seeds of bitter and deadly discord between nations, classes, political parties, ethnic groups, religions, neighbors
 Pit humans against nature
 Despoiled globe encircled
 Globalization of religions
Major Religions around the world
 84% of world’s population identifies with a religious group
Islam (24.1%) Shintoism
Christianity (31.2%) Sikhism
Hinduism (15.1%) Jainism
Buddhism (6.9%) Confucianism
Judaism (0.2%) Baha’i
(and more (Oct.4, 2020)
Taoism
o Generally younger + produce more children (than those without)
o World = getting more religious (but there are significant geographical vairations)
 2015: 1.2 billion (16%) = no religious affiliation at all

Religion
 Religare (Latin): bind together, bond between God and man
 John Cuber: “Religion is a culturally entrenched pattern of behavior composed of sacred beliefs, emotional
feelings accompanying beliefs, and overt conduct implementing beliefs and feelings.”
 System of beliefs and practices shared by a group of people  explain questions about life, afterlife, how to
live life (in relation to concepts of supernatural, transcendent, sacred)
o Basic (to all) = beliefs concerning nature of universe + man in relation

Globalization of Religion
INSECURITY, IDEOLOGY, AND THEOLOGY
 19th century: insecurities (from French and Industrial Revolution)  ideologies of nationalism & socialism
 20th century: insecurities (from defeats of WWI)  ideologies of Soviet Communism & German Socialism
 Until 18th century in Europe & America/ 20th century for others: response to deep insecurity = theological
o Religious, instead of ideological
 Modern Era: Enlightenment & Secularization  made secular world-views & their ideologies seem natural and
logical (to interpret the happenings)

RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBALIZATION

 Religion = provide the need for positive global ethic from negative outcomes of globalization
a) forth religious response and interpretation
o Religions = important roles in bringing about and characterizing globalization
b) Globalization = fertile ground for variety of noninstitutionalized religious manifestations + development of religion
as a political and cultural response
c) Globalization = once largely economic, imperialistic, and homogenizing process
o Share economic/ mass cultural/ political perspective
o Globalization = threatening challenge to manifestations of evil in world

FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE OF GLOBALIZATION

 Emily Durkheim: religion = social cohesion + social control  maintain society in social solidarity
 Psychological well-being = positively correlated to religious engagement
 Collective consciousness (fusion of all individual consciousness)  reality of its own