Name: Julie Ar E.

Sibala
Course/Section: BA Communication/COM2
Subject: The Contemporary World
Teacher: John Rey Aleria
TLA1: Reflection Paper

Interconnected But Undeveloped

“I saw that you could not separate the idea of commerce from the idea of war and
peace. ... [and] that wars were often largely caused by economic rivalry conducted
unfairly. – Corden Hull (1948)
Today global markets have decentralized the structure of exchange and increased
the number of available transaction partners. This has resulted where the participating
countries have not just being known to the world but acknowledged as the manufacturer
spot because of offering cheaper wages or the cost of labor. The leader in a country may
saw these transactions or investments good in the name of development.
However, we have to look at and examined the two sides of the coin because not
all of the interdependency among nations has brought a good impact or effect especially
on human resources. We cannot deny that we are enjoying the different foreign products
that are available in our country but we do not acknowledge the workforce or the people
who work to assemble those products. When we enjoy these products, the market, and
the country’s economy is benefiting from it. While people are enjoying, the demands will
be addressed by producing more products, hiring more people, and be overloaded.
Unfortunately, it is a good sign from the company or the investors but the health of the
workers is at risk.
This is because these companies will call for 12 hours of working time every day.
According to Lamy (2013), almost 60% of trade in goods is now in intermediates, i.e.
goods used as inputs in the production process. He also added that an important
consequence of the integration of production networks is that imports matter as much as
exports when it comes to contributing to job creation and economic growth. When the
countries are widely opened to free trade and accepting foreign services and products it
means more opportunities are going to be offered. However, it doesn’t mean that these
opportunities are as good as what we expect.
 Based on the article from the New York Times Magazine titled “Two Cheers for
Sweatshops” of Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn, some of the Asian countries
like Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Thailand receives lower wages and are exposed to
danger, but still forcing themselves to work because the cost or the price of their daily
needs are beyond from their minimum wages. Labor practices in developing countries
generally, and often in Asian factories, in particular, are criticized widely for being “poor”
or “unacceptable” (Robertson et. al. 2016). Often cited examples of poor practices include
wages below living wages, excessive hours and days worked per week, discrimination,
verbal and physical abuse, suppression of trade unions, and preventable disasters that
result in death. Much of the difference in working conditions across countries is explained
by differences in levels of development (Robertson et. al. 2016). Poorer countries tend to
work longer hours (often more than the 40-hour per-week standard in many developing
countries). While the Western countries or the host country that invested in the Asian
peninsula were not just enjoying the finished products but it doubled and tripled their
economic status.
On the other hand, global interdependency has brought successful
transactions and negotiation, and even maintain their positions as dragons of the
economy in the world. These peripheries or the countries that have the raw materials
and the manpower are somehow making ways to pursue development without or
risking the life of their people. Like the province of Dongguan and the rest of southern
China that has opted to turn into mechanized factories and reduce the number of
employees. This has contributed a lot to a remarkable explosion of wealth. Wages
have risen from about $50 a month to $250 a month or more today. Factory conditions
have improved as businesses have scrambled to attract and keep the best laborers
(Kristof and Wudunn 2000). International organizations and transnational corporations
have to with this. They harmonize and maintain the relationship of their country from
foreign investors.
In the long run, the core has gained its economic success while taking
advantage of investing on the eastern side of the globe because of its cheaper price.
The development caused by global interdependency will always be a dream of these
poor countries. Imagine, we have the raw materials, we offer cheap services but we
were bombarded by the debts we have from the west side of the globe. Yes, some
countries are developing countries, but how long will it take to be finally called as a
developed country. This is because development is not distributed evenly. The rich
country has to prove its stand that they are rich and the poor country should remain
poor. The western did not look after the opportunities of these poor Asian countries
but their opportunities from these countries.
Name: Julie Ar E. Sibala
Course/Section: BA Communication/COM2
Subject: The Contemporary World
Teacher: John Rey Aleria
TLA2: Fact Fish
Name: Julie Ar E. Sibala & Christine Bella L. Pelegrino
Course/Section: BA Communication/COM2
Subject: The Contemporary World
Teacher: John Rey Aleria
AT1: Analysis (by pair)

Chinese Imports and Contrabands VS Bolivian Local Market

We cannot deny the fact that China has become one of the largest manufacturers
in the world. To be honest we are buying goods that are made in China and enjoying it
as well compared to some of our local products. However, as much as we want to say
that Chinese products are good, somehow it affects the local market of certain nations.
Bolivia, for example, is one of the countries that has been deeply affected by exports of
foreign goods as well as contrabands.

According to Garry Rodriquez “He who doesn’t advance in globalization retreats

and Bolivia has been fully globalized and, rather than benefiting, is suffering the
consequences.” This simply tells us that Bolivia is having a hard time competing globally.
This is because Chinese products are taking over their local market, starting from clothing
to hardware such as motor parts, television, and computers to foods. There is also a flood
of contrabands that is competing with their products. It is gotten so bad that about 70
percent of Bolivia’s economy not related to minerals now runs on contraband, said Daniel
Sanchez. These foreign products are cheaper because according to Rodriguez, their
manufacturing sector is highly mechanized and colossal in scale, its labor is cheap, its
job protections weak and its currency is undervalued against the dollar. He added that
Bolivian production, by contrast, is of much smaller scale, often artisanal, and strict labor
laws make it difficult to fire workers.

Because of the uncontrolled importation of foreign products to their country, some

of the local factories and manufacturers have suffered in regulating the production and
labor costs. An example is the import of the used clothing from the United States, it has
greatly damaged the domestic production of textiles. Meaning if the demand for foreign
products will keep on arising, the local textile companies would force them to pull out
some of their workers to lessen their costs and controlled the price inflation of their
product.

Although the Bolivian government tried to solve the problems related to their
economy and their production by raising duties on textile imports and offering low-interest
loans, it still didn't work. Henceforth, it affected the Bolivian textile industry more.
According to Morales, the government is studying raising its tariffs on textile imports to try
to compete with other countries. Hopefully, their plans will work and eventually help their
local industries.

On the other hand, international organizations and transnational corporations

should work both in controlling and monitoring the inflow and the outflow of commodities
in the country. They should focus more on promoting the local products to the international
or global markets. They should balance the import and export of both local and foreign
products. They could suggest to the leaders or to the government to impose policies to
control the entry of foreign products in local markets.

That is why international organizations or multinational corporations are still

relevant. Since it can be viewed either as independent actors operating in the interstices
of state-to-state relations or as an instrument of the foreign policy of states within which
the parent companies are located (Walters 1972). The advanced industrial states of the
West made these international organizations to meddle the transactions of participating
when it comes to trading. To harmonize local and foreign policies to avoid conflict of
interest.
 Name: Julie Ar E. Sibala & Christine Bella L. Pelegrino
Course/Section: BA Communication/COM2
Subject: The Contemporary World
Teacher: John Rey Aleria
AT2: Concept Map

2500 BC. - Suggests the
existence of large-scale
cross-cultural contact and
trading between European
and Asian worlds (‘World
System History’).
1200s - Large Chinese fleets
trade between SouthEast
Asia, India, East Africa, and
the Middle East. Organized
long-distance trading
between Asia and Europe
through established trading
cities (Chinese Merchant
Trading & Asian-European
Trading).
1571 - The establishment of a
permanent trade link from the
“Old World” via Manila to the
Americas introducing global
trade. This facilitates the
introduction of diseases,
livestock, plants, and people
(The EuropeAmerican Trade
Link)

1765 - The Industrial Early 1800s - Increased

Revolution (The invention of
steam engine)
GLOBAL competition on the price and
INTERDEPENDENCE quality of merchandise.
Increased availability for the
masses (Competition in Basic
Goods (Wheat and Textiles)).

960-1279 - Song Dynasty in 1350 - networks of trade which

China (and contemporary
regimes in India) which
produced the economic
output, instruments
(financial), technologies, and
impetus for the medieval
world economy that linked
Europe and China by land
and sea across Eurasia and
the Indian Ocean.
involved frequent movements of
people, animals, goods, money, and
micro-organisms ran from England to
China, running down through France
and Italy across the Mediterranean to
the Levant and Egypt, and then over
land across Central Asia (the Silk
Road) and along sea lanes down the
Red Sea, across the Indian Ocean,
and through the Straits of Malacca to
the China coast.
References:

Al-Rodhan, N. R. (2016, June 19). Historical Milestones of Globalization.

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88ace28d/1398775265508/historical-milestones.pdf
Chinese Imports and Contraband Make Bolivia's Textile Trade a Casualty of
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imports-and-contraband-make-bolivias-textile-trade-a-casualty-of-globalization.html
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and surveillance in health, work, and the environment. Retrieved September 02, 2020,
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https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/24/magazine/two-cheers-for-sweatshops.html
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value-chains-interdependence-and-future-trade
Ludden, D. (none). A Quick Guide to the World History of Globalization.
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Robertson, R., Di, H., Brown, D., & Dehejia, R. (2016, September). WOrkiNg
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