Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF

GLOBALIZATION

Introduction:

“We talk about globalization today as if it's some great big new thing,
that we've all just discovered. But there's really nothing new about it.”
- Jacqueline Winspear

Progress is not new, so as globalization. Tracing back the old time

where the ancient people were living, there are already manifestations of
progress, it transpires from one group to another group. As the world
ages, more undeniable improvements had been made; whether the
change we want to see or the people’s worst nightmare. Industrial
revolution had boom out and it has made our life easier. Today, the
world continues to change and let us see what the world will become as
the days will pass.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this topic, learners should be able to:

1. Compare and contrast the competing concepts of globalization.

2. Explain the underlying philosophies of the varying definitions of
globalization.

1 | Page
 3. Create a working definition of globalization for the course.

Discussion:

GLOBALIZATION

Different Meanings of Globalization:

✔ Giddens defines globalization as intensification of worldwide social

relations which link distant localities in such a way that local

happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and

vice versa.

✔ Interconnectedness of human beings in Technological changes,

Modern Transportation, Communication Technology.

✔ Robertson states that globalization refers both to the compression

of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as

a whole”

✔ Harvey on the other hand states that globalization is the

compression of time and space and

the annihilation of distance.

✔ Sunny Levin Institute defines

globalization as process of

interaction and integration among

the people, companies, and

2 | Page
 governments of different nations, process driven by international

trade and investment and aided by information technology.

✔ Group of globalization scholars meanwhile does not subscribe to the

sociological viewpoint , they argue that internationalization and

multinationalization are phases that precede globalization because

the latter heralds the end of the state system as the nucleus of

human activities.

✔ End of the nation-state

Economic Viewpoint of Globalization

✔ Dominated by economic activities like the neoliberal regime,

reduction of tariffs, creation of transnational corporations, and

improvement of multilateral trade organizations.

Existence of competing definitions of GLOBALIZATION

✔ Historians are more interested in determining

whether globalization is really a modern
phenomenon; while
✔ Economists look into the changing patterns of
international trade and commerce as well as the unequal
distribution of wealth; on the other hand
✔ Political Scientists focuses on the impacts of the forces of
globalization, such as the international NGOs, and international
organizations, on the state and vice versa.

3 | Page
 GLOBALIZATION as a PROCESS

✔ Viewed as a multidimensional set of social

processes that generate and increase
“worldwide social interdependencies and
exchanges while at the same time fostering in
people a growing awareness of deepening
connections between the local and the distant.
✔ Globalization is about the compression of time
and space brought about by changes in technology and the political,
cultural, and economic aspects of human existence.

SIGNS OF GLOBALITY

✔ Thickening of social linkages between people from different parts of

the world.

4 | Page
 ✔ Viewed as such, globalization has no definite and exact beginning. -

-- innovations in transportation and communication technologies,

and creation of institutions of commerce.

GLOBALIZATION, as a CONDITION

✔ also referred to by scholars as GLOBALITY

✔ social condition characterized by trans-planetary connectivity and
supra-territoriality.
✔ Trans-planetary connectivity is the establishment of social links
between people located at different places of our planet; while
✔ Supra-territoriality is the social connections that transcend
territorial geography.
✔ In other words, globalization as a social condition is characterized
by thick economic, political, and cultural interconnections and
global flows that render political borders and economic barriers
irrelevant.

GLOBALIZATION , as an IDEOLOGY

✔ Globalization exists in people’s consciousness because it consists of a

set of coherent and complementary ideas and beliefs about the
global order.

SIX(6) Core Claims of Globalization as an ideology:

1. Globalization is about the liberalization and global integration of

markets.
2. Globalization is inevitable and irreversible.
3. Nobody is in charge of globalization.
4. Globalization benefits everyone in the long run. Free trade and
free market, globalists believe, will bring wealth and prosperity to
everyone. (Jack Ma, founder and CEO of Alibaba, one of the most
successful and pioneer online-based businesses in China).

5 | Page
 5. Globalization furthers the spread of democracy in the world.
6. Globalization requires a global war on terror. i.e. 9-11 Attack.

THEORETICAL PARADIGMS ASSOCIATED WITH GLOBALIZATION

1. World Systems Paradigm

o Immanuel Wallerstein –principal proponent

o views globalization not as a recent phenomenon but as

virtually synonymous with the birth and spread of WORLD

CAPITALISM

o The appropriate unit of analysis for macro-social inquiry in

the modern world is neither class, nor state/society, or

country, but the larger historical system, in which these

categories are located.

o This paradigm adheres to the idea that capitalism has

created a global enterprise that swept the 19th century

leading to the present time.

o Globalization is not at all a new process but something that is

just continuing and evolving.

o According to Wallerstein, there are three division of the

world/ key structure of the capitalist system and these are

the following:

a) Core, powerful and developed centers examples are :

Western Europe, North America and Japan

b) Periphery –forcibly subordinated to the core through

colonialism or other means examples are : Latin America,

Africa, Asia, Middle East and Eastern Europe

c) Semi-periphery- states and regions that were previously

in the core and are moving down in this hierarchy or

6 | Page
 those that were previously in the periphery and are

moving up.

o Centrality and immanence of the inter-state system and

inter-state rivalry to the maintenance and reproduction of

the world-system.

o Does not see any transcendence of the nation state system or

the centrality of nation states as the principal component

units of a larger global system.

2. Global Capitalism Paradigm

o Treat globalization as a novel stage in the evolving system of

world capitalism --- CAPITALIST GLOBALIZATION.

o Focus on new global production and financial system, both are

seen to have superseded earlier national forms of capitalism

o SKLAIR in his theory of the global system –which espoused the

transnational practices (TNPs) as operational categories for the

analysis of transnational phenomena. His theory argues that the

TCC has emerged as a new class that brings together several

social groups who see their own interests in an expanding global

capitalist system: the executives of transnational corporations;

globalizing bureaucrats, politicians , and professionals and

consumerist elites in the media and the commercial sector.

o ROBINSON (2003, 2004), have advanced a related theory of

global capitalism involving three planks:
a) Transnational production
b) Transnational capitalists
c) Transnational state

to which he asserts that Globalization creates new forms of

transnational class relations across borders and new forms of class

7 | Page
 cleavages globally and within countries, regions, cities and local
communities.

3. Network Society School of Thought

o Does not subscribe to the contention that

capitalism fuels globalization.

o Technology and technological change are the

underlying causes of the several processes

that comprise globalization.

4. Space, Time and Globalization

For Anthony Giddens, the conceptual essence of

globalization is “time-space distanciation”. Intensification
of worldwide social relations which link distant localities
in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events
occurring many miles away and vice versa, -social
relations are lifted out from local contexts of interaction
and restructured across time and space.

For David Harvey, globalization represents a new burst of

‘time-space compression’ produced by the very dynamics of

capitalist development.

5. Transnationality and Transnationalism

8 | Page
 For Saski Sassen --- wrote THE GLOBAL CITY (1991), world
cities; she viewed the world-class cities as sites of major
production, finances or coordinating of the world economy
within an international division of labor, and more recent
research on ‘globalizing cities’.
Led by New York, London, and Tokyo – transnationally mobile
capital

For Roland Robertson, GLOCALIZATION

Ideas about home, locality and community have been

extensively spread around the world in recent years, so that the

local has been globalized.

The stress upon the significance of the local or the communal

can be viewed as one ingredient of the overall globalization

process.

6. Global Culture Paradigm

o Theorists emphasize the rapid growth of the mass media
and resultant global cultural flows and images in recent
decades, evoking the image famously put forth by Marshall
McLuhan of the global village.
o Cultural Theories of globalization, Focused
on such phenomena as globalization and
religion, nations and ethnicity, global
consumerism, global communications and
the globalization of tourism.
o Ritzer (1993, 2002) coined the
popularized term ‘McDonaldization’ to
describe the sociocultural processes by which the principles

9 | Page
 of fast food restaurant came too dominate more and more
sectors of US and later world society.

GLOBALIZATION VS. INTERNATIONALIZATION

✔ Globalization human activities that do not require reference to a

state’s national borders. i.e. exchanges of romantic words in a social
media platform such as Facebook between a Filipina in the PHL
and a German residing in his country fall within globalization that
do not need their respective government’s permission to do so;
while

✔ Internationalization, activities by entities such as corporations,

states, international organizations, private organizations, and even
individuals with reference to national borders and national
governments.

Globalization as liberalization

Liberalization is commonly understood as the removal of barriers

and restrictions imposed by national governments so as to create an open
and borderless world economy. In this sense, globalization is realized
when national governments reduce or abolish regulatory measures like
trade barriers, foreign exchange restrictions, capital controls and visa
requirements. (Scholte, 2008)

Problem with this, Scholte explains the study of globalization within

the debate concerning the neoliberal macroeconomics policies:

o On one side of the debate are academics, business executives

and policymakers that have supported neoliberal policies of
liberalization, privatization, deregulation, and fiscal restraint
would in time bring prosperity, freedom, peace and
democracy for all.
o On the other side, the critics in the so-called anti-
globalization movement have opposed neoliberal policies,

10 | Page
 arguing that a laissez faire world economy produces greater
poverty, inequality, social conflict, cultural destruction,
ecological damage and democratic deficits.
o In addition, misconception carries with it a political
implication- that neo-liberalism is the only available policy
framework for a truly global world.
o Finally, debates about the advantages and disadvantages of
laissez faire economics have gone on for centuries without
involving the language of globalization.

Globalization as universalization and westernization

o Universalization denotes a process of spreading various objects,

practices and experiences to the different parts of the planet.
Hence, there is globalization when things, values and practices
have spread worldwide.
o This interpretation of globalization entails homogenization of
culture, politics, economy and laws.
o As homogenization progresses, globalization destroys several
indigenous cultures and practices.
o If western modernity spreads and destroys local cultures, this
variant universalization is known as WESTERNIZATION, neo-
colonialism, Americanization, or McDonaldization.

Issues arising from these misconceptions

✔ Universalization is not new feature of world history.

o Migration of human species that took place a million years
ago is one great example of globalization in the ancient times.
o The continuous spread of the major religions like Christianity
and Islam since their foundation constitutes another instance
of globalization which is not confined to contemporary period.
✔ As shown by the studies on oriental globalization Westernization is
not the only path that can be taken by globalization.

11 | Page
References:

● Coronacion, D.C., et.al. (2018). Convergence: A College Textbook in

Contemporary World. Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study of

Globalization pp. 3-17. Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.

12 | Page
 "What we do here today will shape to a significant degree the
nature of the world in which we are to live." Henry Morgenthau,
chairman Bretton Woods Conference, during the opening of the said
conference.

At the time of Bretton Woods, there was serious concern about the
stability of global economic markets. The world-wide depression of the
1930s had been deepened by the instability of international currency
markets and the contraction of international trade, so that stabilization
of those markets and promotion of trade were considered crucial to
avoid another crisis. Likewise, the widespread destruction of Europe and
uncertainty about its future also threatened to cause economic and
political disruption. The countries allied to fight Nazi Germany and Japan
believed that a similar collaborative effort was the only way to stabilize
their economies and those of their soon-to-be-defeated enemies and to
provide funds to rejuvenate the countries destroyed by the war. The aim
of the conference was to draw up plans for the IMF and World Bank.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the lesson the students will be able to:

1. Outline the definition of Economic Globalization.

2. Identify the actors that facilitate economic globalization.
3. Visualize a modern world system.
4. Articulate a stance on global economic integration.
5. Explain the role of international financial institutions in the creation of a
global economy.
6. Identify the attributes of global corporations.

13 | Page
 Discussion:

The World Bank

 The World Bank is an International Financial Institution that

provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries
for development programs.
 Its Headquarters can be found in Washington, DC and has more
than 100 country offices.
 It was established on July 1, 1944 during a conference of 44
countries in Bretton Woods.
 World Bank mission is to:
a) Reduce poverty in the globe
b) Improve the living standard
 The world bank is one of the two Bretton Woods Institution which
were created in 1944 to rebuild a war-torn Europe after World
War II. Later, largely due to the contributions of the Marshall Plan,
the World Bank was forced to find a new area in which to focus its
efforts.
 The current President of WB is Robert B. Zoellick.
 It has 185 country-members and has a staff of about 10,000 all
over the world.

14 | Page
  WB provides a low-interest loans, interest-free credit grants
(Grants are designed to facilitate development projects by
encouraging innovation, cooperation between organizations and
local stakeholders’ participations in project) to developing countries.
 These loans are for education, health, infrastructure,
communications and many other purposes.
 Unlike other financial institutions, WB does not operate for profit.

 Objective and Function

a) Provide assistance to developing countries

b) Promote the economic development of the world’s poorest
countries
c) Finances the poorest developing countries whose per capita
GNP ins less than $865 a year special financial assistance
through the International Development Association (IDA).

Two types of loans that the WB can offer:

a) Investment Loans: Support economic and social development

projects

b) Development Policy Loans: Quick disbursing finance to

support a countries.

The World Bank’s two closely affiliated entities:

1) The International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

o Founded in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference to
finance the reconstruction of countries affected by WWII.
o Help with the developments of improvised nations.
o World’s Bank Central Institution.
o It has 181 member countries.

15 | Page
 o Lends to countries with relatively high per capital incomes.
o Money is used for development projects (i.e. highways,
schools)Provides technical assistance in projects.
o IBRD lending to developing countries is primarily financed by
selling AAA-rated bonds in the world’s capital. The greater
the proportion of its income come from lending out its own
capital.This capital consist of reserves built up over the years
and money paid from the bank in from the bank’s 184
member country stakeholders. IBRD’s income also pays for
the world bank operating expenses and has contributed to
IDA and debt relief.

2) The International Development Association (IDA)

o Established in 1960
o Assist the poorest developing countries.
o Lends to countries with annual per capital incomes of about
$800 or less.
o It’s loans are known as “credits” .
o IDA is the world’s largest source of interest-free loans and
grant assistance to the poorest countries This source is
replenished every three years by 40 donor
countries.Additional funds are regenerated through
repayments of loans principal on 35-40 years.No interest
loans, which are the available for re-lending. IDA accounts for
nearly 40% of lending.

In addition to the IBRD and the IDA, three other institutions are

closely associated with the World Bank:

1. The Internal Finance Corporation (IDFC)

16 | Page
 o Established in 1956 to reduce poverty and improve people’s
lives in an environmentally and socially responsible manner
o It has 174 members
o Finances private sector investment, mobilizes capital in
international financial markets, and advice to governments
and business
o Provides both loan and equity finance for business ventures in
developing countries.

2. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)

o Established in 1988
o Helps developing countries to attract foreign investment.
o Provides investment marketing services and legal advisory
services to its 152 members

3. The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes

(ICSID)

o Established in 1966 to promote increased flow of

international investment
o Provides facilities for the reconciliation of disputes between
governments and foreign investors
o It has 131 members

N.B. These 5 institutions together make up the World Bank Group.

Processes in World Bank:

 The World Bank is like a cooperative, where the 184 member

countries are shareholders. The shareholders a are represented by a

Board of Governors, who are ultimate policy makers at the World

Bank

17 | Page
  The governors are member countries minister if finance or

ministers of development.

 They meet once a year at the Annual of the Bards of Governors of

the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund.

 Because the governors only meet annually, they delegate specific

duties to 24 Executive Directors, who work on-site at the bank.

 The other member countries are represented by 19 executive

directors.

 The President is elected by the Board of the Governors for a five-

year renewable term.

 The executive directors make the boards of directions of the world

bank.They normally meet at least twice a week to oversee the

bank’s business including approval of loans & approve guarantees

country assistance strategies and borrowing and financial decisions

 The world bank operate day-to-day under the leadership and the

direction of the president, management and senior staff, and the

vice presidents in charge of regions, sectors, and networks and

function.

5 Largest Shareholders of World bank:

1. France- 4.30%
2. Germany- 4.49%
3. Japan- 7.87%
4. United Kingdom- 4.30%
5. United States- 16.39%

The World Bank in Action:

18 | Page
  Last year, the World Bank provided $23.6 billion for the 279
projects in developing countries worldwide, with the financial
and/or technical expertise aimed at helping those countries reduce
garden.
 The bank is currently involved in more than 1,800 projects in
virtually every sector and developing country.
 There are more than 63,000 donor-founded development projects
worldwide, each governed by countless demands, guidelines and
procedure designed to protect the project and ensure that aid gets
to the poor.
 Support To India: India is home to over-one-quarter of the world’s
poor, and the World Bank Group is focused on sharing best practice
as well as financing for developments part of its mission ton help
reduce global property.

Criticisms:

 It was started to reduce poverty but it support United State’s

business interests
 It is deeply implicated in contemporary mods of donor and NGO
driven imperialism
 The President of the World Bank is always citizen of the United
States.
 Lack transparency to external publics
 It is an instrument for the promotion of U.S or Western interests.
 The decision-making structure is undemocratic
 It has consistently pushed a “neo-liberal” agenda.

19 | Page
 International Monetary Fund

BRIEF HISTORY

The first half of the 20th century was marked by two world wars
that caused enormous physical and economic destruction in Europe and
a Great Depression that wrought economic devastation in both Europe
and the United States. These events kindled a desire to create a new
international monetary system that would stabilize currency exchange
rates without backing currencies entirely with gold; to reduce the
frequency and severity of balance-of-payments deficits (which occur
when more foreign currency leaves a country than enters it ; and to
eliminate destructive mercantilist trade policies, such as
competitive devaluations and foreign exchange restrictions—all while
substantially preserving each country’s ability to pursue independent
economic policies.

After ratification by 29 countries, the Articles of Agreement

entered into force on December 27, 1945. The fund’s board of
governors convened the following year in Savannah, Georgia, U.S., to
adopt bylaws and to elect the IMF’s first executive directors. The
governors decided to locate the organization’s permanent headquarters
in Washington, D.C., where its 12 original executive directors first met in
May 1946. The IMF’s financial operations began the following year.

International Monetary Fund:

 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of

189 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation,

20 | Page
 secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote
high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce
poverty around the world.
 The IMF is headed by a board of governors, each of whom
represents one of the organization’s approximately 180 member
states.
 The governors, who are usually their countries’ finance ministers
or central banks directors, attend annual meetings on IMF issues.
 The fund’s day-to-day operations are administered by an
executive board, which consists of 24 executive directors who
meet at least three times a week.
 Eight directors represent individual countries
(China,France,Germny, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabiam UK, and
the US), and the other 16 represent the fund’s remaining
members, grouped by world regions. Because it makes most
decisions by consensus, the executive board rarely conducts
formal voting. The board is chaired by a managing director, who
is appointed by the board for a renewable five-year term and
supervises the fund’s staff of about 2,700 employees from more
than 140 countries
 The IMF works with governments around the world to
modernize their economic policies and institutions, and train
their people. This helps countries strengthen their economy,
improve growth and create jobs.

Membership

The original members of the Fund shall be those of the countries

represented at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference

Bretton Woods Conference whose governments accept membership before

December 31, 1945.

• The IMF currently has a near-global membership of 187 countries.

21 | Page
 • To become a member, a country must apply and then be accepted
by a majority of the existing members.

Purposes

The purposes of the International Monetary Fund are:

 To promote international monetary cooperation through a

permanent institution which provides the machinery for
consultation and collaboration on international monetary problems.
 To facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international
trade, and to contribute thereby to the promotion and
maintenance of high levels of employment and real income and to
the development of the productive resources of all members as
primary objectives of economic policy.
 To promote exchange stability, to maintain orderly exchange
arrangements among members, and to avoid competitive exchange
depreciation.
 To assist in the establishment of a multilateral system of payments
in respect of current transactions between members and in the
elimination of foreign exchange restrictions which hamper the
growth of world trade.
 To give confidence to members by making the general resources of
the Fund temporarily available to them under adequate safeguards,
thus providing them with opportunity to correct maladjustments
in their balance of payments without resorting to measures
destructive of national or international prosperity.
 In accordance with the above, to shorten the duration and lessen
the degree of disequilibrium in the international balances of
payments of members

22 | Page
 THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHART OF

International Board of Joint IMF-

Monetary Governors World Bank
and Development

Executive Independent

Board Evaluation

Office

Managing

Director

Deputy
Investment Office of Office Internal
Innovation
Audit and
Lab Unit Office-Staff Budget and
Inspection

Office of Risk

Management

Area Departments

Functional and Special Services Department Support Services

African Department

Asia and Pacific Communication Legal Department Human Resources

Department Department Department

Monetary and
Finance Department
Capital Markets
Secretary’s
Regional Office Fiscal Affairs
Monetary and Department
for Asia and the Department
European Department Capital Markets
The Africa Training Corporate Services
Institute and23
Facilities
| Page (CSF)
Fund Office
Offices in Joint Vienna
United Nations
Europe
Middle East and Institute
Research
 Information

Technology

Department

 The Board of Governors, the highest decision-making body of the

IMF, consists of one governor and one alternate governor for each

member country. The governor is appointed by the member

country and is usually the minister of finance or the governor of

the central bank. All powers of the IMF are vested in the Board of

Governors. The Board of Governors may delegate to the Executive

Board all except certain reserved powers. The Board of Governors

normally meets once a year.

 The Executive Board (the Board) is responsible for conducting the

day-to-day business of the IMF. It is composed of 24 Directors,

who are elected by member countries or by groups of countries,

and the Managing Director, who serves as its Chairman. The Board

usually meets several times each week. It carries out its work

largely on the basis of papers prepared by IMF management and

staff.

 It has Managing Director, who is the staff and Chairperson of the

Executive Board. It is appointed by the Executive Boards for

renewable term of 5 years and is assisted by a First Deputy

Managing Director and 3 Deputy Managing Directors.

IMF Function

24 | Page
Ensure the stability of the international monetary system. It does so in

three ways:

1. Keeping track of the global economy and the economies of member

countries,

2. Lending to Countries with balance of payments difficulties

3. Giving help to members

IMF Resources:

 Most resources for IMF loans are provided by member countries,

primarily through their payment of quotas.

 Each member country of the IMF is assigned a quota, based broadly

on its relative position in the world economy. The current quota

formula is a weighted average of GDP (weight of 50 percent),

openness (30 percent), economic variability (15 percent), and

international reserves (5 percent). For this purpose, GDP is

measured through a blend of GDP—based on market exchange

rates (weight of 60 percent) and on PPP exchange rates (40

percent). The formula also includes a “compression factor” that

reduces the dispersion in calculated quota shares across members.

Effects of Quota in terms of :

 Subscriptions. A member's quota subscription determines the

maximum amount of financial resources the member is obliged to

provide to the IMF. A member must pay its subscription in full

upon joining the IMF: up to 25 percent must be paid in SDRs or

foreign currencies acceptable to the IMF (such as the US dollar, the

25 | Page
 euro, the Chinese renminbi, the Japanese yen, or the British pound

sterling), while the rest is paid in the member's own currency.

 Voting power. The quota largely determines a member's voting

power in IMF decisions. Each IMF member’s votes are comprised of

basic votes plus one additional vote for each SDR100,000 of quota.

The 2008 reforms fixed the number of basic votes at 5.502

percent of total votes. The current share of basic votes in total

votes represents close to a tripling of their share prior to the

implementation of the 2008 reforms.

 Access to financing. The amount of financing a member can obtain

from the IMF (its access limit) is based on its quota. For example,

under Stand-By and Extended Arrangements, a member can

borrow up to 145 percent of its quota annually and 435 percent

cumulatively.

IMF provides loans to help members rebuild:

1. International Reserves

2. Stabilize their Currencies

3. Continue Paying for Imports

4. Restore conditions for strong economic growth

5. While correcting underlying problems.

How IMF lends?

 When a country undergo such problems IMF staff team holds

discussions with the government to assess the economic and

26 | Page
 financial situation, and the size of the country’s overall financing

needs, and agree on the appropriate policy response.

N.B. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin E. Diokno,

announced that the Philippines' outstanding external debt stood at

US$80.4 billion as of end-March 2019, up by US$1.5 billion (or 1.9

percent) from the US$79.0 billion level as of end-December 2018.

Special Drawing Rights (SDR)

The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in

1969 to supplement its member countries’ official reserves.

The SDR serves as the unit of account of the IMF and some other

international organizations. The SDR is neither a currency nor a claim on

the IMF. Rather, it is a potential claim on the freely usable currencies of

IMF members. SDRs can be exchanged for these currencies

Transparency

The IMF Giving Together campaign guides the IMF's humanitarian and

community outreach efforts.

FACTS ABOUT IMF:

 IMF is still one of the world’s largest official holders of gold.

 The IMF holds about 90.5 million ounces, or 2,814.1 metric tons,

of gold at designated depositories. The IMF's total gold holdings are

valued on its balance sheet at about $4.9 billion (SDR 3.2 billion)

on the basis of historical cost. The IMF's holdings amount to about

$160 billion (as determined by end-February 2012 market prices).

 The largest borrowers: Argentina, Ukraine, Greece, Egypt

27 | Page
  The largest precautionary loans: Mexico, Colombia, Morocco

 Surveillance consultations: 132 consultations in 2014, 124 in

2015 and 132 in 2016.

 Capacity development spending: US$332 million in FY2016, over a

quarter of the IMF's total budget

 The IMF is currently lending close to $200 billion to over 35

countries, notably: Argentina, Ecuador, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan,

Tunisia, Ukraine — and 16 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In

recent years, the IMF has helped to address financial crises and

vulnerabilities in countries around the world, including Angola,

Barbados, Colombia, Malawi, Morocco and Sierra Leone.

References:

 Coronacion, D.C., et.al. (2018). Convergence: A College Textbook in

Contemporary World. Chapter 2: The Global Economy pp. 31-44.
Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.

 Lobo, J.L. (2019). The Contemporary World. Chapter 5:

International Financial Institutions and Global Corporation pp 59-
72. Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.

 Wallerstein, Immanuel. 2004. “The Modern World-System as a

Capitalist World Economy: Production, Surplus-Value, and
Polarization.” In World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction. Durham
& London: Duke University Press, pp. 23-41.

28 | Page
 Chapter 3: Global Interstate System and Global Governance

Introduction:

Is the idea of the nation-state outdated in the contemporary

world? If so, what is it that we need to think about as

“replacements”? In this lesson, we will look at worldwide organization of

states. This manifests the efforts of countries and governments in the

world to cooperate and collaborate together. Multinational corporations

and non-governmental organizations are significant organizations that

put into question the strength of national autonomy and global politics.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this topic, learners should be able to:

1. Understand the structure and dynamics of the Interstate System;

2. Explain the challenges of global governance in the twenty-first

century;

3. Know the powers/functions, composition, headquarters and

membership procedure of the different organs of the United

Nations;

4. Identify possible solutions to the problems in the United Nations

structure and dynamics; and

29 | Page
 5. Explain the relevance of the state amid globalization

Discussion:

UNITED NATIONS

The United Nations (UN) serves as the primary

organization for international cooperation, peace and

security.

It was created in 1945 by the Allied Powers, the victors of the Second

World War.

Primary Concern:

Collective military security through the facilitation of peaceful settlement

of disputes among member-states or by commanding allegiance of the

entire UN membership; sanctions.

Primary Objective:

To ensure peace and order, the UN as an organization can be a conflict

actor in itself or an instrument for action driven by the interests of

particular state.

30 | Page
 o Representatives of 50 countries convened at the United Nations

Conference on International Organization, more commonly known

as the San Francisco Conference, to draw up the United Nations

Charter.

Six Principal Organs

1) Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Primary Objective:

To advance the economic, social and environmental dimensions of

sustainable development.

Composed of 54 elected members by the General Assembly for

overlapping three-year terms

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) are

specialized agencies and independent organizations that are

affiliated with the UN.

2) Trusteeship Council

- The main organ of the UN to provide international supervision

of Trust Territories that are under the administration of seven

member-states, to ensure that adequate steps are being made

to prepare the peoples of Trust Territories for self-governance.

31 | Page
3) International Court of Justice (ICJ)

- It is the United Nation’s principal judicial organ. Its role is to

settle legal disputes between states and to provide advisory

opinions on legal questions referred by the UN organs, and

specialized agencies

4) Security Council (SC)

- It is the most potent organ with the power to make legally

binding resolutions.

Composition:

Composed of 15 members

 Five Permanent Members (PM) or Permanent Five (P-5):

China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States

 Ten elected non-permanent members (NPM) elected by the

General Assembly (GA) for overlapping two-year terms

- Ten non-permanent seats are divided among regions:

-five states from African and Asian states

-one seat from the Eastern European States

-two states from Latin American states

-last two from Western European and other States

32 | Page
  Under Article 24 of UN Charter the Security Council is

mandated to act on behalf of the entire UN body to fulfill its

primary responsibility for maintaining international peace

and security.

Functions of Security Council:

o Investigate any situation that has the potential of creating

international tensions

o Call for military action towards an aggressor or threat

o Impose economic sanctions and other measures

o Determine the existence of a breach of peace and actions to be

pursued

 The structural feature on the SC serves as a measure to

protect states from possible threats to independence and to

ensure that the UN will not be used to serve the interest of

particular states.

 The structural feature of the UN Charter- veto is a result of

an international compromise allied powers of Second World

War.

 The P-5 also act outside the UN Charter and undermine the

interest of the larger UN Body. The over representation and

power concentration has resulted in demands to reform the

structure of the SC, which dramatically serves and benefits of

the interests of the P-5.

 To maintain peace and order, the SC adopts a set of

instruments such as sanctions, peacekeeping, and peace

enforcement.

33 | Page
  UN peacekeepers are deployed to provide security to

populations and political and peace building support to

countries transition from conflict to peace.

5) General Assembly (GA)

- It is the only organ with universal representation, with all 193

members states represented in the body.

- The GA decides on essential questions with a simple majority,

while concerns related to peace and security, budgetary matters,

and new membership admissions require a two-thirds majority

- The GA meets for annual General Assembly Session and general

debate participated by several heads of state. The body elects a

GA President and 21 Vice President every session for one-year

term.

6) Secretariat

- Secretary- General is the chief administrative of the UN

Secretariat. In Article 97, the SC sends a recommendation to

the GA which will appoint the Secretary- General for two five-

year terms at most.

Antonio Guterres

34 | Page
 - the incumbent Secretary General of United Nations

 Article 99 mandates the Secretary- General to call for the

attention of the members of the SC on threats to

international peace and security, or when the inability of SC

members to be responsive or to take responsibility is present.

Reforming the United nations

- Reform has only been met once in 1963 when the UNGA voted

for the expansion of the UNSC from 11-15 member-states

(UNGA Resolution of 1963).

- Reforms have long been raised to change the structure of the

security Council to distribute the concentration of power and to

foster inclusive decision making for marginalized and excluded

member-states.

References:

 Coronacion, D.C., et.al. (2018). Convergence: A College Textbook in

Contemporary World. Chapter 3: The Global Interstate System and
Global Governance pp. 57-65. Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.

 Hobsbawm, Eric J. 1996. “The Future of the State.” Development

and Change
27(2): 267–278.

35 | Page
 Lobo, J.L. (2019). The Contemporary World. Chapter 6-7: The
Global Interstate System and The Contemporary Global Governance
pp 73-102. Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.

 Mazower, Mark. 2006. “An International Civilization? Empire,

Internationalism and the Crisis of the Mid-Twentieth Century.”
International Affairs 82(3): 553–566.

36 | Page
 Chapter 4: Global Divides: The North and South

Introduction:

We WERE ALL HUMANS until race disconnect us, religion

separated us, politics divide us, and wealth classified us.
- Anonymous

While the world is broadly demarcated geographically and demarcated

through continental divisions, it is imperative to note that there exist

other delineations on developmental patterns, wealth distribution and

emerging economic situations. This is the primordial consideration

when one seeks to better understand the concepts underlying the

Global North and South divide.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this topic, learners should be able to:

6. Articulate the definitions as well as differences of the Global North

and Global South;

7. Undermine the rationale behind such division/classification;

8. Understand the current configurations and manifestations of the

Divide;

9. Recognize how this division affects the path of Globalization and the

current world in general; and

37 | Page
 10. Equip students with 21st century learning and develop higher

order thinking skills that will lead towards a deeper understanding

of Global economic structures as well as articulate a stance of the

Global North-South Divide and how it impacts the Philippines, the

Filipino society and the individual self.

Discussion:

North- South divide can be related to an economic division between

richer and poorer countries.

This explains the reason why it is considered to be more of a socio

political and economic classification.

38 | Page
The Global North
- It is generally viewed to be more affluent and economically stable

countries and generally includes the United States of America,

Canada, the member nations of the G8(Group of 8), the four

permanent members of the UN Security Council.

- This includes countries that lie below the equator namely Australia

and New Zealand.

- We could find in the North the More Economically Developed

Countries (MEDCs) in the world. Some countries which lay in the

North part of the divide are Canada, United States, Greenland,
and Russia. They are considered the “richer” and more stable
countries.

File

Photo: G8 member states

39 | Page
Why are the countries in the North considered MEDC?

The countries are considered MEDC because of:

o Economic Stability

o Better standard of living and quality of life

o High life expectancy

o Free quality education

o Free universal healthcare

The Global South

- It includes most nations located in Africa, Latin America, and the

developing parts of Asia with the exception of Japan.

- The area below the North-South Divide is known as the

South/developing, or “Poor side.” These countries are known as

developing countries, meaning the GDP, HDI and general standard

of living within these countries are considered inferior to that of

countries in the “North”. Some examples of these countries include

Somalia, Vietnam, Haiti and India.

Why are countries in the South considered LEDCs?

The countries in the south may be considered LEDCs because of:

o Unstable government

40 | Page
 o Poor economy

o Contain citizen who have a poor standard of living and quality of

life

o Low Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

o Low Human Development Index (HDI)

Why is the South at such a disadvantage?

Of the many possible reasons for the south’s woes, the one factor that

stands out is colonization. When the countries that are considered

MEDC are listed down, it becomes apparent that the most of these

countries were, at some point in history, imperialists. From the 13th

century, most countries that were powerful have stayed powerful,

such as France and the United Kingdom. And therefore, most

countries that were inferior have stayed inferior. However, like any

aspect in history, there is always an exception, as the United States, a

former British colony, has developed into the most powerful country

in the world. (Guttal, 2016).

It can be argued that the division goes beyond merely geographical

since not all states found north of the equator belong to the Global

North and in the same manner, not all states that lie south of the

equator form part of the Global South

One attempt to produce an objective classification uses the UNDP’s

Human Development Index to differentiate.

41 | Page
 In brief, the Global North consists of those 64 countries which have

a high HDI (mot of which are located north of the 30th northern

parallel), while the remaining 133 countries belong to the Global

South

First, Second and Third Worlds

 First World

- Drawn upon political ideologies and alliances with the US and

much of the Western world who preached for Democracy and

Capitalism.

 Second World

- The Communist bloc led by USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist

Republic)/ Russia, China and other states who employed Marxist

principles.

 Third World

42 | Page
 - Non-aligned states, the underdeveloped nations and states that

have unstable political and economic conditions.

- Serves as “ready and willing markets”

- Coined by a French scholar Alfred Sauvy.

Flashpoints and Perspectives of the Divide

As underdeveloped countries become more visible, they are

frequently referred to under the collective label the “Global South”.

This designation offers as a synthesizing term and consider it

ambiguous because it uses simple geographical criteria to describe a

complex social situation which distinguishes poor countries from the

wealthiest.

Global South

- is normally used to mean countries that are faced with social,

political and economic challenges.

- it should be added also that the term rids itself of the negative

political and economic labeling that Third World had before as it is

generally seen to be more apolitical.

Three factors by Jean Grugel (1990) that direct the economic

development of states within the Global South are:

43 | Page
 – elite behavior within and between nation states

– integration and cooperation within geographic areas

– resulting position of states and regions within the global world

market and related political economic hierarchy

BRICS

- acronym for an association of five

major emerging national economies

- originally the first four were grouped

as “BRIC”

- known for their significant influence

on regional affairs and all are

members of G20.

In effect, Global North-South is actually seen by many economist as

a result of international free trade and unhindered capital flows

across countries which could definitely catapult development in the

South.

Closing the divide has been a goal for many developmental

initiatives.

44 | Page
 United Nations has developed a program dedicated to narrowing

the divide through its Millennium Development Goals aimed at

Sustainable development.

IMF, World Bank and other progressive Northern countries also

provides loans and grants to the Global South countries in order to

attain development.

Just a Quick Recap!

 The Global North-South divide is a categorization of nation states

based on factors like economic development, political stability as

well as living standards.

 This division was fashioned out of the Cold war era categorization

of countries into the First, Second and Third World.

 The Global North-South divide is not simply based on geographical

orientation for there are Asian countries that belong to the Global

North.

 The term South was branded out of the Brandt report in 1983.

 The perspective as well as countries that fall under such

categorization is in a state of flux and is constantly changing.

References:

45 | Page
 Connell, Raewyn. 2007.“Dependency, Autonomy and Culture. In
SouthernTheory: The Global Dynamics of Knowledge in Social
Science. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, pp. 139-163.

 Coronacion, D.C., et.al. (2018). Convergence: A College Textbook in

Contemporary World. Chapter 4: The Global Divides: The North
and South pp. 75-84. Books Atpb. Publishing Corp.

 Lobo, J.L. (2019). The Contemporary World. Chapter 8: Global:

Divide the North and South pp 103-114. Books Atbp. Publishing
Corp.

46 | Page
 Chapter 5: Asian Regionalism

Introduction:

The processes of globalization and regionalization remerged

during the 1980s and heightened after the end of the Cold

War in the 1990s. At first, it seems that these two processes are

contradicting – the very nature of globalization is, by definition, global

while regionalization is naturally regional.

The regionalization of the world system and economic activity

undermines the potential benefits coming out from a liberalized global

economy. This is because regional organizations prefer regional partners

over the rest.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this topic, learners should be able to:

11. Explain what Asian Regionalism is and its purpose;

12. Undermine the rationale behind the creation of such regional

organization;

13. Create a stand about the current issues, problems as well as

prospects for the future of Asian Regionalism;

47 | Page
 Discussion:

Regionalism

- It is the manifestation or expression of a common sense of

cultural identity and purpose combined with the creation and

implementation of institutions that express a particular identity

and shape collective action within a geographical region.

Asian Regionalism

- Since the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum

began in 1989 as a regional institution for economic

cooperation, momentum for regionalism in Asia has gradually

developed and led to institutionalized regional progress.

- Asian regionalism moved forward steadily until the 1997 Asian

financial crisis. Regional countries were hit hard by the multiple

follow-on crises. Affected economies felt panic and were not able

to cope with serious challenges, and they discovered that existing

regional mechanisms were of little use in either protecting the

region or helping it recover.

- Asia’s economies are connected through trade, financial

transactions, direct investment technology, labor and tourist

48 | Page
 flows, and other economic relationships. The fact that there exist

patterns of similarities are too great to escape scrutiny.

THE IMPERATIVE FOR ASIAN REGIONALISM

Generate productivity gains, new ideas, and competition that boost

economic growth and raise incomes across the world.

Contribute to the efficiency and stability of global financial markets

by making Asian capital markets stronger and safer and by

maximizing the productive use of Asian savings.

Diversify sources of global demand, helping to stabilize the world

economy and diminish the risks posed by global imbalances and

downturns in other major economies.

Provide leadership to help sustain open global trade and financial

systems.

Create regional mechanisms to manage health, safety, and

environmental issues better, and thus contribute to more effective

global solutions of these problems.

ASIAN REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian

Nations)
- established on August 8, 1967 in

49 | Page
 Bangkok, Thailand with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration

(Bangkok Declaration)

- comprising ten (10) Southeast Asian countries which seeks to

promote intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates

economic, political, security, military, educational and socio-

cultural integration amongst its members and other Asian

countries, as well as with the rest of the world.

- Founding Fathers of ASEAN: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines,

Singapore and Thailand.

other countries joined ASEAN

- Brunei Darussalam (January 7, 1984)

- Viet Nam (July 28, 1995)

- Lao PDR and Myanmar (July 23, 1997)

- Cambodia (April 30, 1999)

AIMS AND PURPOSES

(as set out in the ASEAN Declaration)

 To accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural

development in the region through joint endeavors in the spirit of

equality and partnership in order to strengthen the foundation for

a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nations.

 To promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for

justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries of

the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations

Charter.

50 | Page
 To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters

of common interest in the economic, social, cultural, technical,

scientific and administrative fields;

 To provide assistance to each other in the form of training and

research facilities in the educational, professional, technical and

administrative spheres;

 To collaborate more effectively for the greater utilization of their

agriculture and industries, the expansion of their trade, including

the study of the problems of international commodity trade, the

improvement of their transportation and communications facilities

and the raising of the living standards of their peoples;

 To promote Southeast Asian studies; and

 To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing

international and regional organizations with similar aims and

purposes, and explore all avenues for even closer cooperation

among themselves.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

(as contained in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast

Asia (TAC) of 1976)

 Mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality,

territorial integrity, and national identity of all nations;

51 | Page
 The right of every State to lead its national existence free from

external interference, subversion or coercion;

 Non-interference in the internal affairs of one another;

 Settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful manner;

 Renunciation of the threat or use of force; and

 Effective cooperation among themselves.

ASEAN COMMUNITY

 ASEAN Vision 2020, adopted by ASEAN Leaders on the 30th

Anniversary of ASEAN, agreed on a shared vision of ASEAN as a

concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward looking, living in peace,

stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in

dynamic development and in a community of caring societies.

 At the 9th ASEAN Summit in 2003, the ASEAN Leaders resolved

that an ASEAN Community shall be established.

 At the 12th ASEAN Summit in January 2007, the Leaders

affirmed their strong commitment to accelerate the establishment

of an ASEAN Community by 2015 and signed the Cebu

Declaration on the Acceleration of the Establishment of an ASEAN

Community by 2015.

 The ASEAN Community is comprised of three pillars, namely the

ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic

Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. Each pillar has

its own Blueprint, and, together with the Initiative for ASEAN

52 | Page
 Integration (IAI) Strategic Framework and IAI Work Plan Phase II

(2009-2015), they form the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community

2009-2015.

 APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation)

- a regional economic forum established in

1989 to leverage the growing

interdependence of the Asia-Pacific.

- APEC’s 21 members: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada,

Chile, People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia,

Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealland,

Papua New Guinea, Peru, The Philippines, The Russian

Federation, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States of

America, Viet Nam.

 Aims to create greater prosperity for the people of the region

 Ensures that goods, services, investment, and people move easily

across borders.

53 | Page
 Works to help all residents of Asia-Pacific participate in the

growing economy.

 Implements initiatives to increase energy efficiency and promote

sustainable management of forest and marine resources.

 Members participate on the basis of open dialogue and respect for

views of all participants.

 All members have an equal say and decision-making is reached by

consensus.

 No binding commitments or treaty obligations

 Commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis

 APEC’s structure is on both a “bottom-up” and “top-down”

approach.

 Member economies jointly work towards the realization of free and

open trade and investmenet in the Asia-Pacific by 2020 and the

establishment of greater regional community to address the

economic and social dimensions of development – a commitment

made by APEC Leaders in 1994 known as the Bogor Goals.

 EAS (East Asia Summit)

54 | Page
- A unique Leaders-led regional forum held annually by,

initially, 16 countries in the East Asian, Southeast Asian, and

South Asian regions.

- Membership expanded to 18 countries including Russia and

the USA

- Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand,

Brunei Darussalam, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Cambodia,

Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of

Korea, Russian Federation, USA

- Established in 2005, EAS allows the principal players in the

Asia-Pacific region to discuss issues of common interest and

concern, in an open and transparent manner, at the highest

level.

- An initiative of ASEAN and is based on the premise of the

centrality of ASEAN.

- The concept of East Asia Grouping was first promoted in

1991 by then Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir bin

Mohamad.

- The final report of the East Asian Study Group in 2002,

established by the ASEAN+3 countries, recommended EAS as

an ASEAN led development limited to ASEAN+3 countries.

55 | Page
- The ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) held in Vientiane on

July 26, 2005 welcomed the participation of ASEAN, China,

Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, India, and New Zealand

in the first EAS.

- USA and Russian Federation were formally included as

members of the EAS at the 6th EAS held in Bali, Indonesia on

November 19, 2011.

56 | Page
  APT (ASEAN Plus Three /
ASEAN+3)
- Began in December 1997 and

institutionalized in 1999 when

the Leaders issued a Joint Statement on East Asia

Corporation at their third ASEAN+3 Summit in Manila.

- A forum that functions as a coordinator of co-operation

between the ASEAN and the three East Asian nations of

China, South Korea, and Japan.

- Addresses mutual issues and concerns in energy, security,

natural gas development, oil market studies, oil stockpiling,

and renewable energy.

ISSUES AND CONCERNS OF ASIAN REGIONALISM

 HEALTH AND SECURITY THREATS

- Makes the flow of people and goods more difficult and expensive.

 ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE

- Could result in radical changes in economic policies

 SOCIAL INSTABILITY

- Could generate tensions and uncertainty that overwhelm

economic progress

 CRITICISMS/DISPUTES

57 | Page
 - Forums have not moved beyond its confidence-building mode to

a preventive diplomacy mode to solve disputes between countries.

 FAILURE OF REGIONAL TRUST-BUILDING

- Supposed to have been brought about by regional groups, is

reflected in the emergence of what seems to be a significant

arms race across the region.

 NO REGIONAL HUMANITARIAN AND DISASTER ASSISTANCE

MECHANISM

- Transnational threats continue to be dealt with on a bilateral

basis without significant multilateral action.

 HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

- Developing human rights promotion and protection mechanisms

lacks any enforcement authority.

ASIAN REGIONALISM IN THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines firmly believes in establishing close ties with its neighbors

and pursue friendship, amity and cooperation as embodied in its

Constitution. We remain to be steadfast to the ideals and vision of One

ASEAN and gives utmost importance to the tenets of economic

integration, the pursuit of peace in the region and socio-cultural

cooperation

The Philippines remains to be an important founding member of ASEAN

having hosted several summits recently

58 | Page
Just a Quick Recap!

 Regionalism is the manifestation or expression of a common sense

of cultural identity and purpose combined with the creation and

implementation of institutions that express a particular identity

and shape collective action within a geographical region

 Asian Regionalism is essential not only for the growth of the region,

but also for the continuing development of economic and political

aspects in the global dimension.

 Asian regionalism has been criticized for not being able to settle

long standing conflicts.

 The ASEAN, EAS, APT and APEC are some of the more progressive

and enduring Asian regional blocs.

References:

 Coronacion, D.C., et.al. (2018). Convergence: A College Textbook in

Contemporary World. Chapter 5: Asian Regionalism pp. 91-104.
Books Atpb. Publishing Corp.

 About APEC. https://www.apec.org/About-Us/About-APEC

59 | Page
 ASEAN Plus Three – ASEAN: ONE VISION ONE IDENTITY ONE
COMMUNITY. https://asean.org/asean/external-relations/asean-3/

 East Assia Summit (EAS)- ASEAN:ONE VISION ONE IDENTITY

ONE COMMUNITY. https://asean.org/asean/external-
relations/east-asia-summit-eas/
 Overview – ASEAN: ONE VISION ONE IDENTITY ONE
COMMUNITY. https://asean.org/asean/about-asean/overview

60 | Page
 Chapter 6: Global Media Cultures

Introduction

This chapter explores the relationship between the media, culture and

globalization. It also focuses on the past and current challenges

concerning international communication and explores and problematizes

the power of media representation.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this chapter, learners must be able to:

1. Understand how scholars have approached the relationship between

media and globalization;

2. Differentiate the paradigms that developed in international

communications development;

3. Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the paradigm which led to

its loss of appeal;

4. Analyze how various media drive various forms of global integration;

and

5. Create a stance about the film industry in the Philippines in

contrast to South Korean film industry.

61 | Page
Discussion:

Mass Media

Mass Media is a term denoting that section of the media specifically

designed to reach a very large audience (typically at least as large as the

whole population of a nation-state), today including not

only radio and television, which tend to be limited to the local or

national level, but also the Internet, which is global.

The mass media audience has been viewed by some as forming a "mass

society" with special characteristics, notably atomization or lack of social

connections, which render it especially susceptible to the influence of

modern mass media techniques of persuasion such

as advertising and propaganda.

Etymology and Usage

Media (the plural of "medium") is a truncation of the term "media

of communication," referring to those organized means of dissemination

of fact, opinion, entertainment, and other information, such

as newspapers, magazines, outdoor advertising, film, radio, television,

the World Wide Web, books, CDs, DVDs, videocassettes, computer games,

and other forms of publishing.

Advocacy Enrichment

It can be used for both business and It can take the form of education through
literature for example. Entertainment is
social concerns. This can include
traditionally through performances of
advertising, marketing, propaganda,
acting, music, and sports, along with light
public relations, and political
reading; since the late 1990s also through
communication. video and computer games.

62 | Page
 Purposes of
Mass Media

Journalism Public service

announcements
It involves the spread of news
Cases of state or non-governmental
on a large scale.
agencies reaching out to inform the
public of a pressing event.

History

The evolution of mass media is an elongated, marked with

milestones journey that is still being continued. The earliest form of

information for the masses was inscribed on stones, caves and pillars,

there always has been necessary to pass on important information

through generations along with spreading it to the masses.

The modern mass communication bloomed with the printing press

and it has not stopped since.

63 | Page
Evolution of Mass Media

Pre-Industrial Age
1041 Movable Clay type printing in China

1440 The First Printing Press in the world by

German Goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg
1477 First Printed advertisement in a book by
William Caxton

1918 First colored movie shot Cupid Angling

1920 Invention of TV by John Logie Baird and

First Radio Commercial Broadcast by
KDKA radio station

1923 The first news Magazine was Launched -

TIME
1927 First TV transmission by Philo Farnsworth

Evolution of New Media (21st Century)

The 1990s to 2000s Invention of the Internet, Birth of Social

Networking Sites, and Emergence of Social
Media.

1991 World Wide Web came into being by Sir

Timothy John-Berners Lee
1995 Microsoft Internet Explorer was launched

64 | Page
1997 DVDs replaced VCR

2001 Instant Messaging Services

2002 Satellite Radio is launched

2004 Facebook
2005 YouTube
2006 Twitter
2007 Tumblr
2010 Instagram

FORMS

- Electronic media and print media include a variety of forms:

Audio recording
- using various types of discs or tape.
Originally used for music, video,
and computer uses followed.

Broadcasting

- in the narrow sense,

for radio and television.

65 | Page
 Film

- most often used for entertainment,

but also for documentaries.

Internet
- which has many uses and presents
both opportunities and challenges.
Blogs and podcasts, such as
news, music, pre-recorded speech,
and video.

Publishing
- in the narrow sense, meaning on
paper, mainly via books, magazines,
and newspapers.

Computer games
- which developed into a mass form of
media with personal devices
allowing people to purchase games
to play in their homes.

Public Media- It is the sum of the public mass distributors of news and

entertainment and other information:

the newspapers, television and radio broadcasting, book publishers, and

so on.

66 | Page
 More recently, the Internet, podcasting, blogging, and others have

been added to this list. All of these public media sources have better

informed the general public of what is going on in the world today.

Globalization and Mass Media

HOW DOES MASS MEDIA INFLUENCE GLOBALIZATION?

Through its various formats, the mass media can reach most

people on earth. This is an incredible opportunity

for communication and education among the peoples of the planet. As

these technologies become cheaper, they are becoming universal and

closing the technological divide that exists between the rich and poor. As

the technology necessary for mass communication becomes cheaper and

more widespread, the planet will indeed become smaller as news travels

even faster among all people of the world.

By this we can now define it as Global Media, “the mass

communication on a global level, allowing people across the world to

share and access the same information.” It is indeed that technologies

made people’s lives easier all over the globe. Today people all over the

world have easy access to communicate with each other and to be aware

of the news all over the world. There are many advantages in global

media. Now, people have easier access of television, radio, internet and in

fact, they have access of others countries’ satellite TV channels.

67 | Page
Free flow of information: the road to Modernization?

The post-World War II period would

mark the prominence of the models of

development through mass media and

free flow of information, particularly

under the leadership of the U.S.

Several scholars term the model of

communication and development as the

Modernization Paradigm which views

that the reason for the absence of

modernization in the developing world is

not due to the lack of natural resources. The primary hindrance to a

country’s development is the lack of human resources, and education and

mass media would have the fundamental tasks of human capital.

Proponents of Communication and Development Paradigm

A. Wilbur Schramm (1964)

 One of the pioneering

scholars of this paradigm,

observed a positive

association between

communication components

to that of the social,

political and economic

68 | Page
 components in national growth. According to him, “the task

of mass media of information and the “new media” of

education is to speed and ease the long, slow social

transformation required for economic development and, in

particular, to speed and smooth the task of mobilizing human

resources behind the national effort.”

B. David Lerner (1958)

 Who proposed that developing societies must follow the

Western concept of modernity in order to achieve

development.

 He emphasized the importance of empathy, stating that “as

people are more exposed to media,

the greater is their capability to

imagine themselves as strange

persons in strange situations, places

and time than did people in any

previous historical epoch”

 He posited that mass

media has the power to

foster the learning of

emphatic skills. The

interactive and

integrative capabilities of

media that prevent societal disintegration are

critical to the success of efforts to modernize

69 | Page
  This view resonates with Benedict Anderson, he

emphasized the role of printed communication

and capitalism in instilling nationalism and the

sense of belongingness among people who don’t

know each other, by creating imagined

communities.

C. Everett Rogers (1965 – 1966), whose

ideas were influenced by Lerner, espoused
the same paradigm but forwards a
nuanced relationship by treating mass
media as a factor that intervenes between
antecedents and consequences of
modernizations.

In his theoretical model, the socioeconomic

*NOTE: The terms “antecedents” and “Consequences” are used here in the sense

of a probable time order, but not necessarily in the sense of cause-result.

Modernization Paradigm

70 | Page
 The presence of mass media in societies have been observed by

modernization scholars as correlated to the social, economic, and political

indices of development. The strength and power of mass media to

influence societies lies in its “one-way, top-down and simultaneous and

wide dissemination” and its capacity to shape social processes, make

meanings, identifies, and aspirations of a community.

On that tine when world influence was polarized by two

superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. Their influence

reached every sphere of the international scenario, including development.

In this context, the modernization paradigm promoted by political

scientists and scholars of Western countries became so strong and so

pervasive in every dimension of social life that it became also known as

the "dominant paradigm”.

By the end of the 1970’s, criticism against the modernization

paradigm grew in the strength and influence questioning the assumptions

and conceptualizing of the paradigm especially in the context of non-

Western and developing societies. This period would mark the shift to the

cultural imperialism paradigm.

Demanding for the balanced flow of information: a

Fight against Cultural Imperialism

The cultural imperialism paradigm grew in influence from the

1960s to the 1980s in the context of the Cold War and the period of

decolonization and post-colonialism. Third world countries formed the

Non-Aligned Movement with a united purpose stated in the Non-Aligned

Countries Declaration of 1979, also known as the Havana Declaration:

71 | Page
 “the common struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-
colonialism, expansionism, racism, including Zionism, apartheid,
exploitation, power politics and all forms and manifestation of foreign
occupation, domination, and hegemony.”

The movement was also against the uneven flows of information

associated with uneven development through the pretense of the free

flow of information and the freedom of expression. In actuality, it

“meant” “free-market” expression, meaning those who owned the media

had the right to decide what was expressed in it.

Proponents of Cultural Imperialism Paradigm

A. Herbert Schiller (1976)

The clearest and most influential theorists of the cultural

imperialism tradition. He defines it as:

 “The concept of cultural imperialism today best described the

sum of the processes by which a society is brought into the
modern world system and how its dominating stratum is
attracted, pressured, forced and sometimes bribed into
shaping social
institutions to
correspond to, or
even promote, the
values and
structures of the
dominating center of the system.”
 The theory takes on a macro-perspective of global power

dynamics and struggles among state economic relations,

72 | Page
 particularly the concentration of control and resources at the

expense of the development of the rest of the world.

 Cultural imperialism theory argues that global audiences are

exposed to media messages dominantly deriving from

Western industrialized states.

 The concepts “cultural imperialism” and “media imperialism”

have minor differences but most of the international

communication literature consider the latter as a category of

the former.

B. Boyd Barret (1977)

 He defined Media Imperialism

as the process whereby the
ownership, structure,
distribution or content of the
media in any one country are
singly or together are subject
to substantial external
pressures from the media interests of any other country or
countries without proportionate reciprocation of influence by
the country so affected.
 Media imperialism model views modern communication

media has having been designed to maintain and expand

dependence and domination over the world.

 It is stark contradiction to the assumption of the

modernization paradigm that sees communication media as

tools for development. Cultural and media imperialism

73 | Page
 approaches, together with its variant concepts of “cultural

dependency” and “electronic colonialism”, view media as an

instrument of major powers that serve as an obstacle to

steady progress between developed and developing world.

C. Hesmondhalgh (2005)

 The concept of imperialism means “building of empires”

however the use of the term cultural imperialism implies that

with the end of the age of direct political and economic

control by colonial states a new form of indirect power and

concern has emerged.

 Cultural domination over less-developed countries that would

foster desires for western lifestyle and products among post-

colonial societies that would pave the way for the entry of

Western-based transnational corporations that would then

dominate non- Western economies.

D. Zenith Optimedia’s annual global ranking of the largest media

companies in the world. Television remains to be the most

important advertising medium, but it is now followed by internet

which has replaced print media as the second. Digital advertising

has been on the rise, with five digital

companies – Google, Facebook, Baidu,

Yahoo, and Microsoft - included in the

top and representing 65% of the entire

internet advertising market, and

accounting for more than a third of the

revenues of the largest media owners

74 | Page
 listed.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO), demand change in its communication policies

with the goal of balancing the relationship between developed and

developing states.

The New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO)

movement was a collective resistance to pressure UNESCO to change the

dynamics of news media that has been dismissive

of the interest and needs of the less affluent

world, to change the “one-way flow” of news,

media, and cultural products of between the

North and South to a “two-way” flow.

NWICO movement resulted to the report

of the MacBride Commission entitled Many Voices, One World, which

forwarded recommendations that aimed to promote independence,

75 | Page
diversity, and pluralism of media and to strengthen the national media

of the South. The report aimed to address the problems of unequal access

and flow of communication due to media commercialization and

concentration.

The recommendations were fruitless and failures, USA and UK

opposed the request and withdrew from UNESCO but eventually rejoined.

Despite the arguments against cultural imperialism, the merits of

the approach continue to recognized by scholars.

Tomlinson (1999)

The paradigm maintains its relevance as it highlights the

expansionist nature of capitalism and its capacity to shape global culture.

Rantanen (2005)

Sees the strength of the paradigm through its macro-level analysis

that is based on the uneven and asymmetrical political, economic

relations of the world system, and the implications of such in developing

societies.

Sparks (2012)

Cultural imperialism framework into the current context of

intensifying media corporations, and widening of gaps between North

and South. Also, array of competing states of varying powers and

influence compete and in some instances coordinate their political and

economic power to exert control over less developed and weaker

countries.

76 | Page
Transition from Communication and Development and Cultural

Imperialism to Cultural Pluralism

Criticisms against the cultural imperialism paradigm would

eventually pave the way for the emergence of a new paradigm termed

“cultural pluralism”, other scholars would also refer to the paradigm as

“cultural globalization”.

The paradigm shift was a departure from the “one-way” model of

cultural imperialism towards a more sophisticated analysis of

“multidirectional flows” among country relations.

Cultural globalization refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings,

and values around the world in such a way as to extend and intensify

social relations. This process is marked by the common consumption of

cultures that have been diffused by the Internet, popular culture media.

The circulation of cultures enables individuals to partake in extended

social relations that cross national and regional borders. It brings

increasing interconnectedness among different populations and cultures.

77 | Page
Proponents of Cultural Pluralism

A. Rantanen (2005),

- Called the shifts of paradigm as the homogenization-

heterogenization debate.

Homogenization is that mighty culture has

invaded local culture as well as it has become the

dominant culture in local area that aims to

eliminate the local culture. Society becomes

homogenous. Everyone conforms to western ideal.

It also results that loss of individual culture and

religions. There are more market competition as

well.

Cultural heterogenization or multicultural society, means region culture

was widely disseminated and accepted by other societies and cultures

and meanwhile enhance the cultural diversity in local society. It could be

resulted that richer countries gives incentive to poorer countries to

protect them as well as to adopt more sustainable practices.

She said that the past two paradigms, the modernization and

imperialism approach as being under the homogenization. While,

heterogenization is for Cultural pluralism.

78 | Page
 Paradigm Global media seen as? Consequences

A. Communications
and Homogeneous Homogeneous

development

B. Cultural Homogeneous Homogeneous

Imperialism

C. Cultural Heterogeneous Heterogeneous

Pluralism

QUICK RECAP

 The Modernization Paradigm in the field of international

communications argues that developing countries must take the

Western path of development of promoting the free flow of

information through the free market ideas.

 Cultural Imperialism views the notion of the free flow of information

as a pretense to the one-way flow of cultural products from North to

the South.

 The Cultural globalization or pluralism model employs a more

optimistic perspective on the role of the audience and its capacity to

react, resist, and recreate information and ideas that media exposes

them

 Social Media plays a very important role in today's life, social Media

are web-based online tools that enable people discover and learn new

information, share ideas, interact with new people and organizations.

79 | Page
 It has changed the way people live their life today, it has made

communication much easier.

 It allows the exchange of user-generated content like data, pictures,

and videos. Social media platforms may come in different forms such as

blogs, business forums, podcasts, microblogs, photo sharing,

product/service review, weblogs etc.

80 | Page