José Gabriel Rey Gallego

Ulf Volker
3 Deadline

1 Learning Log: Global Political Economy

International political economy is a varied mix of different disciplines and approaches such as
politics, science, traditional international relations among others that work together to understand
the constantly changing political economy. In the other hand after this dynamic there’s is also
ambition seeking for power which is expressed in private and public forms such as state
institutions created by governments or the non-state organizations which represent the power of
private sector. One of the now day’s problems about power is that is public is being more driven
by the private ones which act in singular interest which drives changes in global political economy.

We can say that the International relations now days are driven by mix of old theories like
nationalism liberalism and Marxism. The concept of Globalization is not new we could say it
started in the old colonies and their interaction, then a bigger concept was developed in Europe
with their integrated systems of politics. After the 2nd world war and the understanding of the
need to cooperate in order to achieve mutual prosperity the creation of different multilateral
institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and General Agreement on
tariffs and trade (GATT) which now days is the World Trade Organization. These resulted in an
unstoppable world economic growth and development which also created a gap between
developed ones and developing actors.

After the 1960´s the globe was being introduced into the development of many mindful expression
driving a technological revolution which lead the acceleration of the globalization context, for
example in 1971 the united states president decided to allow the dollar to float freely which lead
the globalization of the financial markets. This creates a wider concept of power which can be
seen as the globalization is driven by the change of political landscape and obviously the financial
by the participation of private actors can be seen as the forces behind globalization.

In the same way the global development has grown there’s is also important to analyze and
understand that there is still a huge amount of poverty al around the globe which can be caused
by the miss administration of the power of public interest by some privates.

Globalization should lead the option to everyone to achieve prosperity and I think that is what
globalization has been created in order to make easier the interactions between actors in order to
achieve common goals.

Last but no least, my academic experience during this semester was full of new knowledge, great
texts and also a good teacher. I can say that my writing skills and also my reading skills have
improved a lot with this texts; also my skills to use APA references and Eureka the engine of
knowledge.
2 Learning Log: Regionalism in international Affairs
With the development of the globalization also appeared a very closed way of thinking which is
different about the advantages of what this process can drive.

For this learning log we will discuss regionalism as “the range of special relationships among
neighboring countries that represent more than normal diplomatic relations but in which the
component parts retain legal personality under the international law” (Best, 2016)

It is known that there is a gap between the regions around the globe, some areas are more
integrated than others the history talks about the different feuds work together or create conflicts
during many years, the sentiment of regionalism became very popular during 1930´s to 70 the
sentiment was very strong one perfect example is the Germany before the world war 2 and
absolutely during the cold war, then another wave of regionalism appeared by 1980 as the many
integrations of the central America area.

After this event the sentiment slowed down and the common thinking about the cooperation that
was necessary in that moment to re build the world is something that might be one of the
different lections about this event I think that after that the globe has been more integrated and
cooperative in some areas. I think the European Union is a great way of integration and
cooperation, it’s a fact that the region cooperates between them but also more areas are more
cooperative than others.

But how and why the region decides to achieve integration? First there is a need to generate
independence among other states. The interdependence is generated in other to achieve similar
goals by establishing cultures and norms and other financial agreements that help to generate
more comfort around the relationships and by creating larger blocks which again leads to achieve
similar objectives such as political and economic alliances.

“Nowadays regionalism is speeded by the Bretton woods Agreement according to this the
regionalism is the economic phenomenon, reflecting a trade promotion policy built on regional
arrangements” (Sunkel, O. 1999).

The chapter helped me to understand why in South America regionalism has been working
different Regionalism has their disadvantage for example what is happening Colombia and the
attitudes of some people with Venezuelan people. And in many cases the main thought of people
in this area is that we don’t think in common interest. All around the continent has become very
competing levels of regionalism in which some cases there has been risk for the sovereignty of the
territories by the other hand what is happening the Middle East with Syria.

Regionalism is real and we can’t fight against it we must understand that there are different ways
of thinking in the world seeking to get their own position in a globalized context, there is not a
contradiction between regionalism and globalization both will exist, but also is important to
mention that the alliances and the cooperation enhance the achievement of objectives.
3 Learning log: Global Trade and Global Finance

This chapter explains the relationship that exist between trade and finance in a global context, this
concept of a globalized market appear by 1970 when a bigger integration of financial markets
appeared opening the door also for the integration of commerce and reinforcing one of my
favorites ways of thinking about globalization that involves trade and financial integration in a free
market range. In the other hand this phenomenon opened the consumer to satisfy different needs
with solutions from anywhere in the world. There has been a development sectors. “Cross border
activities tended to focus only on the most advanced sectors of the world economy. Partly it is an
issue of political asymmetries” (Watson M. 2016).

The regulation of the global trade appears in the western area where the allied countries decided
to design a plan in which they can support their economies in order to prevent them to return into
the great depression. “John Maynard Keynes was determined that the structure of global trade be
stabilized to prevent political history repeating itself” (Watson M. 2016). With this the creation of
different multilateral institutions which facilitate continual expansion of global trade, tariff
concessions and negotiation terms until the development of what is known today as World Trade
Organization which involves the participation of 164 countries.

In the other hand the financial institutions had to adapt and overcome as the trade between
regions was developing in order to maintain the order. Since the Bretton woods agreement there
has been 2 main institutions that have worked to organize the dynamics of the different regions
and their financial needs which are the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The
globalization of finance has helped the countries to create some universal standards which makes
easier to understand between different parts. Is important to understand that in a world where
there is a huge integration there is also a higher risk of a common crisis.

The chapter helped me to understand how was the process of integration of the trade of different
countries and also to understand where does the concept of tariffs and free trade agreements
appeared and to understand the role of nowadays institutions as the WTO and how the world
achieve this level of international commerce in the other hand now I can understand why there is
a link between the concept of trade and finances, I could also understand that the IMF is an
organization that helps nations in a short term while the World Bank in order to help needed
economies to achieve their development plans. Finally, I could understand the tariffs of the
commerce war between USA and China.

Bibliography:

 Sunkel, O., Inotai, A., & Hettne, B. (1999). Globalism and the new regionalism. Basingstoke:
Macmillan.
 Baylis, J., Smith, S., & Owens, P. (2017). The globalization of world politics: An introduction
to international relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 Palestini, S., & Agostinis, G. (2018, January 29). Constructing regionalism in South America:
The cases of sectoral cooperation. Retrieved from
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/jird.2015.

 Phillips, N (2017) Global Political Economy, in Baylis, J., Smith, S., Owens, P (eds) The
globalization of world politics – an introduction to international relations, seventh edition.
Oxford OUP, pp 253-268

 O'Neill, J. (2017, January 18). Globalization has made the world a better place | Jim
O'Neill. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/18/globalisation-world-trade-asia-
global-poverty

 Theorist Eric Maskin: Globalization Is Increasing Inequality. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2014/06/23/theorist-eric-maskin-
globalization-is-increasing-inequality

 Edward Best, T. CHRISTIANSEN (2016 Regionalism in international affairs)

 Torquato, J. (2015). Regulation, global demand among drivers of sustainable trade:

Commerzbank report. Trade Finance, 1. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.ez.unisabana.edu.co/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=bth&AN=102087271&lang=es&site=ehost-live&scope=site

 CIURLĂU, F. C. (2018). Financial Globalization and Economic Dynamics. Economics,

Management & Financial Markets, 13(3), 340–350. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.ez.unisabana.edu.co/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=bth&AN=132128343&lang=es&site=ehost-live&scope=site

 Watson, M. (2017) ‘Global trade and global finance’, in Baylis, J., Smith, S., Owens, P. (eds)
The globalization of world politics - an introduction to international relations, seventh
edition. Oxford: OUP, pp. 450-463.