MODULE 1:
The Structures of
Globalization
At the end of this Module, the student will be able to analyze the various drivers of
globalization, and describe the emergence of global economic and political systems.
Lesson 5: A World of Regions
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
1. Differentiate between regionalization and globalization;
2. Explain how regions are formed and kept together;
3. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of regionalism; and,
4. Identify the factors leading to a greater integration of the ASEAN region.
TERM BANK:
Regionalism
Regionalization
Regions
ASEAN
Non-State Regionalism
Study Guide Questions:
1. How is region different from regionalism and regionalization?
2. What are the reasons forcing/encouraging countries to form regional associations?
3. What is Non state regionalism?
4. What are the Contemporary Challenges to regionalism?
Required Reading(s):
Chapter 5: A World of Regions
Pages 50 – 59
Abinales & Caludion (2018). The Contemporary World. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.
Videos:
ASEAN: The Next Economic Superpower.
Channel: Behind Asia
Link: [Link]
Recorded Lecture:
Shareable Link is posted along with this Lesson Guide.
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A World of Regions
This lesson will look at regions as political entities and examine what brings them together as they interlock
with globalization. The other facets of regionalism will then be explored, especially those that pertain to identities,
ethics, religion, ecological sustainability, and health. This lesson will conclude by asking where all these regionalisms
are bringing us as members of a nation and as citizens of the world.
Countries, Regions, and Globalization:
There are basic features of regions (according to Edward D. Masfield and Helen V. Milner):
1. Regions are “a group of counties locate in the same geographically specified are” or are “an
amalgamation of two regions [or] a combination of more than two regions” organized to regulate and
“oversee flows and policy choices.”
The closest thing to a standard world regions are the regions promulgated by
the United Nations Statistics Division (2020), which divides the world into six (6)
continental regions and 17 sub-regions. The sub-regions and deeper intermediary
regions are “drawn to obtain greater homogeneity in sizes of population, demographic
circumstances and accuracy of demographic statistics.
2. Regionalization and regionalism should not be interchanged, as the former refers to the “regional
concentration of economic flows” while latter is “a political process characterized by economic policy
cooperation and coordination among countries.”
Regionalization Regionalism
• It is defined as an increase in the cross- • It is defined as a political will (hence ism
border flow of capital, goods, and people is attached as a suffix) to create a formal
within a specific geographical area. arrangement among states on a
• It develops from the bottom up through geographically restricted basis.
societally driven processes coming from • Since its main participants are
markets, private trade, and investment governments, it can express as an
flows, none of which is strictly controlled artificial, top-down process.
by governments.
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• The core players are non-governmental • The “development of regionalization”
actors – firms or individuals. means an increase in the number of
• Regionalization can be called a regional economic transactions such as
spontaneous, bottom-up process. money, trade, and foreign direct
investments.
How do countries respond economically and politically to globalization?
1. Some are large enough and have a lot of resources to dictate how they participate in
processes of global integration.
China offers its cheap and huge workforce to
attract foreign businesses and expand trade
with countries it once considered its enemies
but now sees as markets for its goods (e.g.
United States and Japan).
[Link]
cheap-labor-really-over/
2. Some are small but took advantage of their strategic location.
Singapore and Switzerland compensate
for their lack of resources by turning
themselves into financial and made them
a first-class transit port for ships carrying
different commodities from Africa,
Europe, the Middle East, and Mainland
The Port of Singapore Southeast Asia to countries in the Asia
[Link] Pacific.
growth-in-last-decade/
3. In most cases, countries form regional alliances.
HOW REGIONAL ALLIANCES ARE FORMED?
1. For military defense.
The most widely known defense grouping
is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) formed during the Cold War when
several Western European countries plus the
United States agreed to protect Europe against
the threat of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union responded by creating the
Warsaw Pact consisting of the Eastern European
countries under Soviet domination.
The Soviet Union imploded in December 1991, but
NATO remains in place.
Distribution of powers between member states of NATO and Warsaw
Pact in 1973
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Reference: [Link]
2. To pool their resources, get better returns for their exports, as well as expand their leverage
against trading partners.
The Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) was established in
1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and
Venezuela to regulate the production and sale of
oil.
This regional alliance flexed its muscles in the
1970s when its member countries took over
domestic production and dictated crude oil prices in
the world Market.
In a world highly dependent on oil, this
integration became a source of immense power.
Map of OPEC-member countries
[Link]
guide-to-explaining-opec/
3. To protect their independence from the pressures of superpower politics.
The presidents of Egypt, Ghana,
India, Indonesia, and Yugoslavia
created the Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM) in 1961
to pursue world peace and
international cooperation,
human rights, natural
sovereignty, racial and
national equality, non-
intervention, and peaceful
conflict resolution.
Map of the
member countries of NAM
[Link]
It called itself non-aligned because the association refused to side with either the First World
capitalist democracies in Western Europe and North America or the communist states in Eastern
Europe.
At its peak NAM had 120 member countries. The movement, however, was never formalized and
continues to exist up to the present, although it lacks the same fervor that it had in the past.
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4. Economic crises compel countries to come together.
The Thai economy collapsed in 1996 after foreign currency speculators and troubled
international banks demanded that the Thai government pay back its loans. A rapid withdrawal of
foreign investments bankrupted the economy.
The crises began to spread to other Asian countries as their currencies were also devalued and
foreign investments left in a hurry.
The international Monetary Fund (IMF) tried to reverse the crises, but it was only after the
ASEAN countries along with China, Japan, and South Korea agreed to establish an emergency fund
to anticipate a crisis that the Asian economies stabilized.
The crises made ASEAN more “unified and coordinated.” The Association has come a long
way since it was formed as a coalition of countries which were pro-American and supportive of the
United States intervention in Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, ASEAN continued to act as a military
alliance to isolate Vietnam it invaded Cambodia, but there were also the beginnings of economic
cooperation.
NEW REGIONALISM
• This “New Regionalism” involved a variety of state and nonstate actors involved in a process of
transformation of the world order.
• It is identified with reformists who share the same “values, norms, institutions, and system that
exist outside of the traditional, established mainstream institutions and systems.”
Forms Sources of power:
It varies in form; they can be 1. Individuals
1. “Tiny associations that include no more than a 2. Non-governmental Organization (NGOs)
few actors and focus on a single cause, or 3. Associations
2. Huge continental unions that address a multitude
of common problems from territorial defense to
food security.
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Their strategies and tactics in instigating change likewise vary, they may opt to:
1. Partner with governments to initiate social change.
Those who work with governments (“legitimizers”) participate in “institutional mechanisms that
afford some civil society groups voice and influence [in] technocratic policy-making processes.”
The ASEAN issued its Human Rights Declaration in 2009,
but the regional body left it to member countries to apply the
declaration’s principles as they see fit.
ASEAN
Aware that democratic rights are limited in many ASEAN
countries, “new regionalism” organizations used this official
declaration to pressure these governments to pass laws and
regulations that protect and promote human rights.
Opposes the North American Free Trade Agreement
Hemispheric Social Alliance (NAFTA). It has gained the support of left-wing government
in South America.
It tries to influence the policies and programs of the
Citizen Diplomacy Forum
Organization of American States.
2. Other regional organizations dictate themselves to specialized cases.
Established by activists across Central and South America to
Rainforest Foundation protect indigenous people and the rainforests Brazil, Guyana,
Panama, and Peru.
Young Christians across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the
Americas, and the Caribbean established this regional
Regional Interfaith Youth Networks
organization to promote ‘conflict prevention, resolution,
peace, education, and sustainable development.’
It is a regional network of NGOs and trade unions “committed
Migrant Forum in Asia to protecting and promoting the rights and welfare of migrant
workers.”
How does new regionalism impact the world?
These organizations’ primary power lies in their moral standing and their ability to combine lobbying with
pressure politics. Unfortunately, most of them are poorly financed, which places them at a disadvantage when
dealing with their official counterparts who have large state funds. Their impact in global politics, therefore, limited.
New Regionalism and Globalization:
Globalization affected new regionalism, which in turn participated in shaping globalization. The forces of
globalization have had an impact on the restructuring of the social, political, and economic aspects of regions, while
states and societies have adjusted to these impacts by furthering, changing, or reversing the effects of globalization
through the processes of regionalism.
THE CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO REGIONALISM
1. Resurgence of militant nationalism and populism.
2. A final challenge pertains to differing visions of what regionalism should be for.
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