UNIT III ​THE WORLD OF REGIONS

Coverage: Weeks 6, 7 and 8

Duration: 9 hours

Global Divides: The North and the South (4.5 hours; week 6 and 7) Asian Regionalism

(4.5 hours; week 7 and 8)

Learning Objectives: ​After studying the unit, the students should be able to:

∙ ​define the term Global South

∙ ​differentiate the Global South from the Third World
∙ ​Differentiate regionalization from globalization
∙ ​Identify the factors leading to a greater integration of the Asian Region

1. Global Divides: The North and the South (focus: Latin America) 2. Asian
Regionalism

Global Divides: The North and the South (focus: Latin America)
Global South​ ​refers to the regions of Latin America, Asia, Africa, andOceaniamostly low- income
and often politically or culturally marginalized. It may alsobecalledthe "developing World" such as
Africa, Latin America, and the developing countriesinAsia, "developing countries," "less developed
countries," and "less developedregions”​(122) ​including poorer "southern" regions of wealthy
"northern" countries
(123)​
.
In general, Global South refers to these countries' "interconnectedhistoriesof colonialism,
neo-imperialism, and differential economic and social changethroughwhich large inequalities in
living standards, life expectancy, and access to resourcesaremaintained​(124)​. Contemporary critics
of neo-liberal globalization use the global southasa banner to rally countries victimized by the
violent economic cures of institutionslike​the International Monetary Fund.
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Three Primary Concepts of Global South

1. It refers to economically disadvantaged nation-states and as a post-coldwaralternative to
“Third World”.

Third World" is a phrase frequently used to describe a developing nation. The​ph

​ rase "Third
World" arose during the Cold War to identify countries whoseviewsdidnot align with NATO and
capitalism or the Soviet Union and communism. TheFirst​ ​World described countries whose views
aligned with NATO and capitalism, andtheSecond World referred to countries that supported
communism and the Soviet Union(125a)
​ .​
Third World countries are largely characterized as poor and underdeveloped. Inthese countries, low
levels of education, poor infrastructure, improper sanitationand​po
​ or access to health care mean living
conditions are seen as inferior to thoseintheworld's more developed nations. As a result, the terms
Third World countryand​developing nation have become increasingly interchangeable in recent
decades
(126b)​
.

2. The Global South captures a deterritorialized geography of capitalism’s externalitiesand means

to account for subjugated peoples within the borders of wealthiercountries, such that there are
economic Souths in the geographic North andNorths​in the geographic South.

3. It refers to the resistant imaginary of a transnational political subject that results​from a

shared experience of subjugation under contemporary global capitalism.

The global South is not a directional designation or a point due south fromafixednorth. It is a
symbolic designation meant to capture the semblance of cohesionthat​ ​emerged when former
colonial entities engaged in political projects of decolonization​and moved toward the realization of a
post- colonial international order
(126)​
.
The process of globalization places into question geographically boundconceptions of poverty
and inequality. The increase and intensification of global flowsspread both poverty and affluence.
Spaces of underdevelopment in developedcountriesmay mirror the poverty of the global south, and
spaces of affluence mirror thoseof the​global north
(127)​
.
The strongest vehicle for social redistribution and the main mechanismfor socia​l ​transfer is
the state. The redistributative function of the state becomes crucial inthecontext of economic
globalization where the goal of neo-liberal economistsandinstitutions is precisely to dismantle
local state oversight
(128)​
.

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The development of the global south must begin by drawing most of thecountry’sfinancial
resources for development from within rather than becoming dependent on​foreign investments
and foreign financial markets
(129)​
.
The global south is not relevant for those who live in countries traditionallyassociated with it
but also signifies that the south continues to be globalized. It alsorepresents emergent forms of
progressive cosmopolitanism. It is an always emergent​ and provisional internationalism.

New Internationalism in the Global South

The ills of the global south are being globalized. Underdeveloped statesof theglobal south are
ravaged by merciless IMF policies in the 1980’s. The economicprescriptions of the IMF as cures are
recommended for countries in the global south.​ ​Other countries like Greece realize the similarity of
problems in the global souththat​ ​inspirations were drawn from poorer nations. The global south has
providedmodel of​ ​resistance for the world like Gandhi’s non-violence that initially directed at colonia​l
authority in India is now part of global protest culture, as well as benefits of critiquesof​ ​international
financial institutions from the experiences and writings of intellectualsand​activists from the global
south.
A similar globalization of the south’s concern is arising fromthe issueabout​ ​global environment.
Amidst the existential threat of climate change the most radica​l ​notions of climate justice are being
articulated in the global south. As global problems​increase, it is necessary for people in the north to
support people fromthe south.
As a symbol and metaphor, global south is not only relevant for those wholiveincountries
traditionally associated with it. The global in global south does not onlymeanthat the south is the
globe but also signifies that the south continues to be globalized.​ ​The global south while embedded
in specific geographic imaginaries, representsemergent forms of progressive cosmopolitanism. It is
always emergent and provisiona​l internationalism.
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Asian Regionalism
Regionalism​ ​refers to the decentralization of political powers or competenciesfrom a higher
towards a lower political level. More specifically, it distinguishes betweentop-down from bottom up
regionalism where top - down regionalismdescribesthedecentralization of competencies or the
establishment of regional institutionsbythestate while bottom -up includes all patterns of endeavors
towardpolitical​ decentralization from within the particular region
(130)​
.
Globalization is the intensification of economic, political, social, andcultural​ ​relations across
borders and a consciousness of that intensification, with a concomitant​ diminution in the significance
of territorial boundaries​(131)​.

Views of Globalization in the Asia Pacific and South Asia

Globalization is an external phenomenon being pushed into the regionbyworldpowers
particularly the United States and Europe. From this perspective, globalizationcan be understood as
a process that transforms the Asia Pacific and South Asia. It isaforce for good bringing economic
development, political progress, and social and​cultural diversity to the region.
The Asia Pacific and South Asia​ r​ efer together to the regions of East (orNortheast) Asia, South
Asia, the Pacific Islands, and South Asia. It includes someof theworld’s most economically
developed states such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore,​ ​and Taiwan, and highly impoverished
countries such as Cambodia, Laos, andNepal. It​ ​also includes the largest and most populous states
on the globe including Chinaand​India and some of the world’s smallest such as the Maldives and
Bhutan
(132)​
.
The Asia and South Pacific has emerged over the past decade as a newpolitical​ ​force in the
world. The economies of Japan, Korea, Indonesia, VietnamandPakistanhave strategic relevance in
today’s global system. They are the focusedof global​ ​powers outside of the region. A foreign policy
shift called “Pacific Pivot” wasimplemented by the United States to commit more resources and
attention to theregion​. ​This shift which is also called “Atlantic Century” was termed “Pacific Century”
byUSSecretary of States Hilary Clinton. He stated that the Asia Pacific has becomeakeydriver of
global politics. It is the home to several key allies and important emerging​powers like China, India,
and Indonesia.
Globalization in the Asia Pacific and South Asia is an external phenomenonbeing pushed into
the region by world powers like US and Europe. Globalizationinthiscontext is a process that
transforms the Asia Pacific and South Asia. It can beviewedas a force for good, bringing economic
development, political progress, and social and​cultural diversity.

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Asia Pacific and South Asia’s Impact on Globalization

Asia was the central global force in the early modern world economy. It wasthesite of the
most important trade routes and in some places more advancedintechnology than West such as
science and medicine. Colonies in the Asia pacificandSouth Asia influenced the West and vice
versa. They were often “laboratoriesof​ ​modernity” (133). Colonialism was not simply a practice of
Western Dominationbut a​product of what one thinks of as Western and modern.

1. Japan embarked on procuring raw materials like coal and iron at unprecedentedeconomies of scale allowing
them to gain a competitive edge in the global manufacturing market​ as well as globalized shipping and
procurement patterns which other countries modeled
(134)​
.
2. China pursues similar pattern of development at present and is now the world’s largest​ ​importers of basic
raw materials such as iron and surpassed Japan, the US and Europe in steel​ ​production. It also surpassed the
World bank in lending to developing countries. It hadanenormous impact on the availability and consumption of
goods around the world
(135​
). This simple
scale of China’s development is shaping and furthering globalization.
3. India opened -up and emphasized an export-oriented strategy. Textiles and other lowwage sectors
have been a key part of the economy with highly successful software development​ ​exports. It also plays a key
role in global service provisions as trends in outsourcing andoff-​ shoring increase
(136)​
.
4. India and China have also become a major source of international migrant labor, whichis also one of the
fundamental characteristics of the era of globalization. This includes themigration of highly skilled labor into the
high- tech industry based in Silicon Valley. India, China​and the Philippines were three of the top four recipient
states of migrant remittances.
5. The trend of the rising regional free arrangements in the Asia Pacific and South Asia.​ ​This kind of
regionalism would mean as bulwark to globalization or as compatible and evenpushing forward the process of global
economic integration. Regionalism can promote learning,​ ​assuage domestic audiences to the benefits of free trade,
and form the institutional framework toscale up from regional cooperation o global cooperation
(137)​
. Regionalism can act as springboard
 for globalization.
One distinguishing feature of regional institutions in Asia Pacific and South Asia is theadoption of “Open
Regionalism” which aims to develop and maintain cooperation with outsideactors. This is meant to resolve the
tension between the rise of regional trade agreements andthe push for global trade as embodied by World Trade
Organization (WTO)
(138​
), the only globa​l
(139)​
international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations ​ .

“Open” refers to the principle of non-discrimination, more specifically an openness inmembership and
openness in terms of economic flows
(140)​
. Open regionalism is embodiedby
Asia Pacific Economic cooperation or APEC.
6. In culture and globalization in the region, the source of a wide variety of cultural​ ​phenomena that have
spread outward to the West and the rest of the world is the region.​ ​Examples include “hello Kitty” created in Japan
including Anime, Pokemon, Power Rangerswhich become regional and global phenomenon; the regional and
global rise of Korean popular​ ​culture called ‘K-Wave” comprising of Korean dramas, music (K-pop) and the
smashhit​ “Gangnam Style” of Korean pop star PSY.
Asia Pacific and South Asia are on the receiving end of globalization. The region servesas the source of
many aspects of globalization process which can be seen in history, economy,​ ​political structure and culture.
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The Region-Making in Southeast Asia and Middle-Class Formation: The Third

Wave
Regionalization entails complex and dynamic interactions between andamonggovernmental
and nongovernmental actors which resulted to hybrid East Asia. Themain engines of hybridization
are explained by the successive waves of regional​ ​economic development that is powered by
developmental states and national andtransnational capitalism that nurtured sizeable middle-classes
that sharealot incommon in terms of professional lives and their lifestyles, in fashion, leisure,
andentertainment, in their aspirations and dreams. The middle-class occupies different​ ​positions in
their respective societies as well as in relation to their nation-statesasthey​constitute the expanding
regional consumer market
(141)​
.
The product of regional economic development in the post war era are themiddleclasses in
east Asia. Regional economic development took place within the context of​ ​the American informal
empire in “Free Asia”, with the US-led regional securitysystemand the triangular trade system as its
two major pillars. Furthermore, the national statesin the region promoted it actively under democratic
or authoritarian developmentalist​ ​regimes, both of which espoused the politics of productivity, a
politics of that​ ​transformed political issues into problems of output and sought to
neutralizeclass​conflict in favor of a consensus on economic growth
(142)​
.
The first wave of regional economic development took place in japanfrommid-1950’s to the
early 1970s and led to the emergence of a middle-class by theearly1970s. The second wave took
place between the 1960s and 1980s in SouthKorea,​ ​Taiwan, Hongkong and Singapore and led to
the formation of middle -class societiesin​these countries by the 1980s.
Two salient points in the history of east Asian middle-class formation.
1. Middle class formation in Southeast Asia was driven by global andregional​ ​transnational
capitalism working in alliance with national states while middleclassinJapan, South Korea, and
Taiwan were created by developmental states andnationa​l capitalism.
2. New urban middle classes in East Asia, whether in Japan, SouthKorea,​ ​Taiwan, or
Southeast Asia, with their middle-class jobs, education, and income, haveinturn created their own
new lifestyles commensurate with their middle-class incomeand​status.

Middle Classes in The Philippines

New urban middle classes emerged in the post 1986 Philippines. Theywerecreated through growth
in retail trade, manufacture, banking, real estate development​, ​and an expanding range of specialist
services such as accounting, advertising,​ ​computing, and market research. Fostered by government
policies of liberalizationand
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The Contemporary World​2020

deregulation, the development of these new enterprises has been oriented bothtowardthe export
and domestic markets and has entailed increasingly diverse sourcesof​ ​foreign investment and
variable subcontracting, franchise, and service relationships,
with a noticeable expansion of ties connecting the Philippines to other countriesin​East and
Southeast Asia.

Regional Implications of Middle -Class Formation in East Asia

Complex historical forces shaped new urban middle classes. They are product of​ ​regional
economic development, which has taken place in waves under theU.S.​ ​informal empire over a half
century, first in Japan, then in South Korea, Taiwan,​ ​Hongkong, and Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia and Philippines, andnowinChina. They are product as well for development states. Their
lifestyles havebeenshaped in very complex ways by their appropriation of things American,
Japanese,​ Chinese, South Korean, Islamic and other ways of life, often mediated by the market.
The political consequences of the rise of East Asia middle classes vary. Thecultural and
political hegemony of the South Korean middle classes is embodiedbysingle generation, while that
of the Taiwanese middle classes manifest itself inthepolitical assertiveness of an ethnic majority.
Southeast Asian middle classesalsoexemplify the diversity and complexity of class formation. Thai
middle classesarecoherent socially, hegemonic culturally, and ascend politically; their
counterpartsinMalaysia and Indonesia are socially divided, dependent on the state, politically
assertiveand vulnerable; and the Philippine middle classes are socially coherent, less dependent​ on
the state, culturally ascendant, but politically vacillating.