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A WORLD OF REGIONS
As a way of coping with the challenges of globalization, governments, associations, societies and
groups form regional organizations and /or networks.
GLOBALIZATION:
It has made people aware of the world in general
It has also made Filipinos more cognizant of specific areas such as Southeast Asia
REGIONALISM
Often seen as a political and economic phenomenon
It can also be examined in relation to identities, ethics, religion, ecological sustainability, and
health.
It is also a process
It must be treated as an emergent, socially constituted phenomenon.
So it means that regions are not natural or given, rather they are constructed and defined by
policymakers , economic actors, and even social movements.
REGIONS:
Group of countries located in the same geographically specified area
An amalgamation of two regions
Combination of more than two regions organized to regulate and oversee flows and policy
choices.
Regionalization
Regional concentration of economic flows
Countries respond economically and politically to globalization in various ways. Some are large
enough and have a lot of resources to dictate how they participate in processes of global integration.
The best example of this is China. Other countries make up for their small size by taking advantage of
their strategic location. Examples are Singapore and Switzerland. For their lack of resources, they turn
themselves into financial and banking hubs.
SINGAPORE
Developed its harbor facilities and made them a first class transit port for ships carrying different
commodities from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and mainland Southeast Asia to countries in
the Asia- Pacific.
The reason why it was called 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.
In 1996, the Thai economy collapsed after foreign currency speculators and troubled international
banks demanded that the Thai government pay back its loans. As a result, a rapid withdrawal of foreign
investments bankrupted the economy and the crisis spreads to other Asian countries as their currencies
were also devalued and foreign investment left in a hurry. The International Monetary Fund tried to
reverse the crisis 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.
REGIONALISM ------- political process characterized by economic policy cooperation and coordination
among countries.
It is not only states that agree to work together in the name of a single cause. Communities also
engage in regional organizing. This “new regionalism” varies in forms. They can be :
Tiny associations that include no more than a few actors and focus on a single issue, or huge
continental unions that address a multitude of common problems from territorial defense to food
security.
Rely on the power of individuals, NGO”s and associations to link up with one another in pursuit of
a particular goal
Identified with reformists who share the same values, norms, institutions, and system that exist
outside of the traditional, established mainstream institutions and systems.
New regionalism differs significantly from traditional state to state regionalism when it comes to
identifying problems. For example, states treat poverty or environmental degradation as technical or
economic issues that can be resolved by refining existing programs of state agencies, making minor
changes in economic policies, and creating new offices that address these issues.
For new regionalism, they see these issues as reflections of flawed economic development and
environmental models. Flawed means: economic development plans that are:
Market- based
Profit-driven
Hardly concerned with social welfare, especially among the poor.