MODULE 1 Contemporary World

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Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University

MID LA UNION CAMPUS
City of San Fernando, La Union
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
ESTELLA A. CAYABYAB
G-YAN D. MAMUYAC
ROMEO S. OPEŇA
MA. CONCEPCION C. FERAREN
(Module Writers)
GECC 107 – The Contemporary World -Module I-

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COURSE OUTLINE
In
THE CONTEMPORARY WOLD
 COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course introduces students to the contemporary world by

examining the multifaceted phenomenon of globalization. Using the various
disciplines of the social sciences, it examines the economic, social,
political, technological, and other transformations that have created an
increasing awareness of the interconnectedness of peoples and places
around the globe. To this end, the course provides an overview of the
various debates in global governance, development, and sustainability.
Beyond exposing the student to the world outside the Philippines, it seeks to
inculcate a sense of global citizenship and global ethical responsibility.
GENERAL OBJECTIVES
At the end of the course, the students/learners are expected to:
A. Competencies
1. Distinguish different interpretations of and approaches to globalization

2. Describe the emergence of global economic, political, social, and cultural
systems
3. Analyze the various contemporary drivers of globalization
4. Understand the issues confronting the nation-state
5. Assess the effects of globalization on different social units and their
responses
B. Skills
1. Analyze contemporary news events in the context of globalization

2. Analyze global issues in relation to Filipinos and the Philippines
3. Write a research paper with proper citations on a topic related to
globalization
C. Values
1. Articulate personal positions on various global issues

2. Identify the ethical implications of global citizenship

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 COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Completion of the modules
2. Submission of the required tasks
3. Taking and passing of the midterm/final examinations
 GRADING SYSTEM
Midterm/Final Class Standing
Class Standing = 60% (Module Tasks)
Midterm/Final Exam = 40%
Midterm Grade = (Module Requirements x No. of units) / Total no. of

units.
Final Term Grade = (Module Requirements x No. of units) / Total no. of

units.
Final Grade = 40% of Midterm Grade + 60% of Final Term Grade

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 COURSE CONTENT
Module I GLOBALIZATION
Lesson 1 Introduction to Globalization
Lesson 2 The Structures of Globalization

-The Global Economy
Lesson 3 -Market Integration
Lesson 4 -The Global Interstate System
Lesson 5 -Contemporary Global Governance
Module II A WORLD OF REGIONS
Lesson 1 Global Divides: The North and the South
Lesson 2 Asian Regionalism
Module III A WORLD OF IDEAS
Lesson 1 The Contemporary World
Lesson 2 Global Media Cultures- The Globalization

of Region
Module IV GLOBAL POPULATION AND MOBILITY
Lesson 1 The Global City-Global Demography-Global

Migration
Module V TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE WORLD
Lesson 1 Sustainable Development- Global Food Security
Lesson 2 Global Citizenship

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MODULE I
GLOBALIZATION
Lesson 1 Introduction to Globalization
Lesson 2 The Structures of Globalization

-The Global Economy
Lesson 3 -Market Integration
Lesson 4 -The Global Interstate System
Lesson 5 - Contemporary Global

Governance

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MODULE I
TH GLOBALIZATION
 INTRODUCTION
Globalization is one of the most dominant forces facing education in

the 21stcentury. Fundamentally, it is the closer integration of the countries
and peoples of the world which has been brought about by the enormous
reduction of costs of transportation and communication and the breaking
down of artificial barriers to the flows of goods, services, capital,
knowledge and (to a lesser extent) people across boarders (Stiglitz, 2003).
The term conveys a sense that international forces are driving more and
more developments in the world and thus, crystallizes both the hopes of
some people that will finally achieve a global society and the fears of many
other that their lives and jobs are threatened by forces beyond their control
(Chronicle of Higher Education, 1998).
This module comprises five lessons which will solely discuss the
nature and history of globalization. This includes, namely Lesson 1-
Introduction to Globalization: Defining globalization, Lesson 2- The
Structures of Globalization: The Global Economy, Lesson 3- Market
Integration, Lesson 4- The Global Interstate System, and Lesson 5-
Contemporary Global Governance.
OBJECTIVES
After studying the module, the students should be able to:
1. define globalization in order to begin to understand the processes

of globalization;
2. examine globalization as a theory, and a process and its

characteristics as related to education;
3. discuss globalization and education from the perspective of

conflict and consensus theorists;
4. determine the key features of globalization;
5. identify the pros and cons of globalization;
6. discuss the periodization of globalization by considering when

globalization began;

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7. compare and contrast the three waves of globalization; and
8. differentiate the competing theories of globalization.
There are five lessons in the module. Read each lesson after which
you answer the learning activities to find out how much you have benefited
from it. Work on the learning activities carefully and submit your output to
your professor. Do not plagiarize. If you copy someone’s research or work,
please do cite them at the end of your papers. You will automatically get a
failing grade if your answers are found plagiarized. Moreover, it is also
important to follow instructions. There will be deductions for failing to
follow instructions. So, read carefully. In case you encounter difficulty, ask
for help from your professor.

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Lesson 1

Introduction to Globalization:
Defining globalization
“Globalization” is a catchphrase familiar to anyone tuned in to social

media. Every day we hear the term ‘globalization’ on the news, read it in
the papers, and overhear people talking about it. What does this term
mean? There is no definite definition of globalization and the term is used to
denote a variety of ways in which nation-states, regions and people, due to
advances in transportation and communication systems, are becoming more
and more closely connected and interdependent, not only in the economic
sense, but also in the cultural, political, social, technological,
environmental and spatial aspects.
Shalmali Guttal (2007) defined globalization as “the process of

interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments
worldwide. As a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, globalization is
considered by some as a form of capitalist expansion which entails the
integration of local and national economies into a global, unregulated
market economy.”
Below are further definitions of globalization:
[Globalization] is “the geographic dispersion of industrial and service

activities, for example research and development, sourcing of inputs,
production and distribution, and the cross-border networking of companies,
for example through joint ventures and the sharing of assets.”
– Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
[Globalization] is “the word used to describe the growing

interdependence of the world’s economies, cultures, and populations,
brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and
flows of investment, people, and information.”
– Peterson Institute for International Economics
[Globalization] is “the ability to produce any good or service

anywhere in the world, using raw materials, components, capital and
technology from anywhere, sell the resulting output anywhere and place the
profits anywhere.”
– Peter Jay
[Globalization] is “the increased interconnectedness and

interdependence of peoples and countries, is generally understood to
include two inter-related elements: the opening of international borders to
increasingly fast flows of goods, services, finance, people and ideas; and the
changes in institutions and policies at national and international levels that

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facilitate or promote such flows. Globalization has the potential for both
positive and negative effects on development and health.”
– World Health Organization
[Globalization] is “the inexorable integration of markets, nation-

states, and technologies to a degree never witnessed before – in a way that
is enabling individuals, corporations and nation-states to reach around the
world farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before and in a way
that is enabling the world to reach into individuals, corporations, and
nation-states farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before.”
– Thomas Friedman
[Globalization] is “the process of greater interdependence among

countries and their citizens. It consists of increased integration of product
and resource markets across nations via trade, immigration, and foreign
investment – that is, via international flows of goods and services, of
people, and of investment such as culture and the environment. Simply put,
globalization is political, technological, and cultural, as well as economic.”
– Robert J. Carbaugh
[Globalization] is “… a process in which geographic distance becomes

less a factor in the establishment and sustenance of border-crossing, long
distance economic, political, and socio-economic relations. People become
aware of this fact. Networks of relations and dependencies therefore
become potentially border-crossing and worldwide. This potential
internationalization of relations and dependencies causes fear, resistance,
actions, and reactions.”
– Rudd Lubbers
[Globalization] can thus be defined as “the 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. This is a dialectical process because such local happenings may move
in an obverse direction from the very distanciated relations that shape
them. Local transformation is as much part of globalization as the lateral
extension of social connections across time and space.”
– Anthony Gidden
Globalization: A Theory and a Process
As a theory, globalization seeks to explain the integration of

economies and societies around the world as they are knit together by
travel, language, values and ideas, trade, labor, and financial flows,
communication, and technology. It also addresses the political
interconnectedness of nations via global governance arrangements and
expanding cultural exchange via internet, mass media, travel, etc. As a
process, globalization affects all countries, some more favorably than the

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others in terms of economic growth, national sovereignty, and cultural

identity (Wood, 2000).
Education Systems: Core of the Globalization Process
One could think that globalization is only a matter of industry and

business, and that education as a moral process is not a part of this
development. However, if we understand education as a part of the
information business, education systems can be seen as the core of the
globalization process. Rinne (2000) emphasizes the educational policy has
become an ever more important part of economic, trade, labor, and social
policy in western countries. One concrete global development is the
development of mega-universities, university networks and virtual
universities that can offer competitive training programs for students
recruited from all over the world. Globalization of higher education is
becoming increasingly realized in the present times as credentials and proof
of competency as being based more on global standards. More and more
countries embrace globalization as a movement and prompted them to get
organized to facilitate the flows of economic, political, as well as socio-
cultural activities among them.
Global Education and Globalization
In order to thrive in this globalized world, an education for

globalization should nurture the higher-order cognitive and interpersonal
skills required for problem finding, articulating arguments, and deploying
verifiable facts or artifacts. These skills should be required for problem
finding, problem solving, articulating arguments, and deploying verifiable
facts or artifacts. These skills should be required of children and youth who
will as adults, fully engage the larger world and master its greatest
challenges, transforming it for the betterment of humanity-regardless of
national origin or cultural upbringing.
Globalization’s shifting and controversial parameters make it difficult

to describe it as clearly as a dominant force, both positively and negatively,
shaping the environment in which we live. Motivated by economic forces
and driven by digital technologies and communications, globalization links
individuals and institutions across the world with unprecedented
interconnection. In doing so, it, in some ways, democratizes and intensifies
interdependence and in other ways creates new forms of local reaction and
self-definition. While it may spread certain freedoms, higher living
standards, in the sense of international relatedness, it also threatens the
world with a “universal” economy and culture rooted in North American and
Western ideals and interests.
Global education, as distinct from globalization, does what higher

education has traditionally aimed to do: extend students’ awareness of the
world in which they live by opening them to the diverse heritage of human

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thoughts and action, and creativity. Global education places particular

emphasis on the changes in communication and relationships among people
throughout the world, highlighting such issues as human conflict, economic
systems, human rights and social justice, human commonality and diversity,
literatures and cultures, and the impact of the technological revolution.
While it continues to depend on the traditional branches of specialist

knowledge, global education seeks to weave the boundaries between the
disciplines and encourages emphasis on what interdisciplinary and multi-
disciplinary studies can bring to the understanding of solutions to human
problems. Some see global education as a vehicle for the promotion of
global education that might itself be seen as the West’s effort to destabilize
fragile balances in economic and political systems.
At a time, such as this, when we feel increasingly and often

indiscriminately awash with information, and when we sense a
decentralization of the traditional forms of political and intellectual
authority, global education places a preference on the ability to think
critically and ethically. The ability to effectively facing a constantly
changing work environment, for continuing self-education, and for
participation as an ethical and responsible member of a global society
(globaleducation.edu: Global Education vs. Globalization)
Characteristics of Globalization That Can Be Linked To Education
In seeking to understand and theorize the nature of globalization and

its effects on education, it is argued that globalization has both potentially
negative as well as potentially positive effects. It is also argued that the
restructuring of the state under the impact of neo-liberalism, which has
been the underpinning ideology of economic globalization, has had a real
effect upon the structures of education, as well as upon educational policies
in the form of new managerialism and human capital theory.
Furthermore, the cultural and social effects affect the experiences

which young people now bring with them to education. Educational policy in
the communities now work, beyond, as well as, in and around the nation,
precipitating some global policy convergence. This convergence, however, is
always nuanced by the play of the specifically local with these pressures,
resulting in educational policy complexity and contingency (Rizvi and
Lingard, 2000).
If we look at the recent developments in the education sector

globally, the implications of global information society in the education
system as follows:
• Demand for widening the education access for all.

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• Lifelong learning (e.g. facing the boundaries between preset and

inset, formal education, and working life.
• Global versus local cultural developments.
• Creation of new educational networked organizations (e.g. global

virtual universities, virtual schools, multinational educational
consortiums, etc.)
• Changing of educational management from hierarchical institutions to

equal distribution of network organization. From commanding to
negotiating.
• Demand for more flexible and general skills (e.g. meta-skills such as
problem solving, searching information, learning skills, etc.)
What Are the Core Values and Competencies for Global Education?
Our vision of global education was organized around the following

core values: peace and non-violence, social justice and human rights,
economic well-being and equity, cultural integrity, ecological balance, and
human rights, economic well-being and equity, cultural integrity, ecological
balance, and democratic participation. Core skills and competencies
included self-worth and self-affirmation, the affirmation of others, including
cultural and racial differences, critical thinking, effective communication
skills (including active listening), non-violent conflict resolution and
mediation, imagination (the ability to envision alternatives), and effective
organizing (Mische, 2001).
Conflict and Consensus Perspectives on the Role of Education in

Understanding Globalization
While globalization has created a great deal in economic, policy, and

grassroots circles, many applications and applications of the phenomenon
remains virtual terra incognita. Education is at the center of this uncharted
continent. Considering how these accelerating transnational dynamics are
affecting education, particularly pre-collegiate education. Instead
educational systems worldwide continue mimicking and often mechanically
copying from each other and borrowing curricula, teaching methods, and
assessment tests.
Today, the world is another place. The forces of globalization are

taxing youth, families, and educations systems worldwide. All social systems
are predicated on the need to impart values, morals, skills and
competencies to the next generation. The lives and experiences of youth
growing up today will be linked to economic realities, social processes,
technological and media innovations, and cultural flows that traverse

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national boundaries with ever grater momentum. These global

transformations will require youth to develop new skills that are far ahead
of what most educational systems can now deliver. New and broader global
visions are needed to prepare children and youth to be informed, engaged,
and critical citizens in the new millennium. Education will need both
rethinking and restructuring if schooling is to best prepare the children and
the youth of the world to engage globalization’s new challenges,
opportunities and costs.
Education’s challenge will be to shape the cognitive skills,

interpersonal sensibilities, and cultural sophistication of children and the
youth whose lives will be both engaged in local contexts and responsive to
larger transnational processes.
Globalization engenders complexity. Throughout the world it is

generating more intricate demographic profiles, economic realities, and
identities. Globalization’s increasing complexity necessitates a new
paradigm for learning and teaching. The mastery and mechanical
regurgitation of rules and facts should give way to a paradigm in which
cognitive flexibility and agility win the day. The skills needed for analyzing
and mobilizing to solve problems from multiple perspective will require
individuals who are cognitively flexible, culturally sophisticated and able to
work collaboratively in groups made up of diverse individuals.
Education is one of the few forces with the potential to mitigate the
negative effects of globalization and the inequality it threatens.
Globalization and Its Impact on Education
Globalization has a wide range potential to influence all sectors of

development. Besides its impact on the pace and pattern of economic
development, it also casts its shadow on the system of education. The
impact of globalization and the manner in which the system should respond
to the needs of globalization would require to be studied basically under
two broad heads, as follows:
1. The needed reforms within the educational system like content,

equity, and excellence, etc., and
2. The fall out of globalization, which will entail determining strategies
relating to the impeding internationalization of education, finance-
related issues, and privatization of secondary and higher education.
But what are these needed reforms in education?
1. Content of Education
Regarding the reforms in the content of education, the following

need to be done:

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a. Curriculum Up-graduation. The modern advances in information

technology have revolutionized among other, the content of
knowledge and the processes of educational transaction. The
ever-growing use of electronic media has brought education to
the doorsteps of the common man. Information processing
technologies provide an efficient framework for the storage,
management, analysis and application of information. In the
process, popular culture and education alike have adopted
what may be called computational paradigm, the use of
computer metaphors, to understand how human beings cognize
themselves and the world.
The operative part of the introduction of the

information technology is the need for a continuous up-
gradation of the curriculum in order to introduce the latest
development relating to the various disciplines in the
curriculum. Alongside, pruning of the existing curriculum
would be a necessary condition in order to remove the
obsolete and irrelevant details.
It also needs to be stressed that education should help

to engender a new “humanism that contains an essential
ethical component and sets considerable store of knowledge
of, and respect for the culture spiritual values of the different
civilizations, as much needed counterweight to a globalization
that would otherwise be seen only in economical and
technological terms. The sense of shared values as a common
destiny is in fact the basis on which any scheme of
international cooperation must be founded” (Delors
Commission, 1986).
An education for globalization should, therefore,

nurture the higher-order cognitive interpersonal skills required
for problem finding, problem solving, articulating arguments,
and deploying verifiable facts or artifacts to substantiate
claims. These skills should be required of children and youth
who will, as adults, fully engage, transforming it for
betterment of humanity- regardless of national origin or
cultural upbringing (Orozco and Qin-Hilliard, 2001).
b. Productivity Orientation. The basic objective of globalization is to

enhance productivity and to make the educational system an
instrument in preparing students who can compete in the
world markets as productive members of society. This would
necessitate making skill training as an integral part of the
curriculum besides making attitudinal changes so that the
students do not consider it infra dig to work with the hands.

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Unfortunately, the experience of introducing an element

of skill training has not been adequately successful. The
schemes of vocationalisation, both at high school and college
stages, have been languishing for want of enthusiasm on the
part of the students and teachers. It has also not received the
required social recognition.
An important feature of globalization in relation to

education is the need for producing higher quality manpower
that can successfully face competition in the world markets.
This would imply selecting the best human material and giving
them education of the highest quality. This would naturally be
relevant to secondary and higher education, because education
at the primary level has been considered as the fundamental
right of every child in th0e relevant age group. It would also be
necessary to grant financial and other incentives to the
meritorious students so that the want of resources will not be
an impediment in their ascent towards the higher forms of
education.
Nurturing of excellence will be inequitable in that it

may deny opportunities to a very large segment of population,
who are not so intellectually endowed, to get into institutions
of higher education.
2. The Fall Out of Globalization
A. Internationalization of education. Implicit in the system of

globalization is the inevitability of the internationalization of
the educational system, particularly at the higher education
stage. This has become a worldwide phenomenon because of
the entry of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the
inclusion of educational services under the General Agreement
on Trade and Services (GATS) which has given a boost to the
internationalization of higher education.
Education will improve if it is internationalized, and

healthy competition takes place. It will provide global
opportunities and promote goodwill and will encourage
exchange of scholars. This reputed scholars in other countries
can help in curriculum designing.
B. Finance-related issues
In order to be a part of global configuration, the

requirement of funds for social services including education
will increase manifold. For this purpose, it will be necessary to
augment government funding for these sectors.
C. Privatization of secondary and higher education.

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As a corollary to the suggestions about reducing public

investment in secondary and higher education. A plea has been
made to hand over these sectors to private bodies. It has also
been suggested that institutions beyond primary basic
education should increasingly depend upon tuition fees, the
philanthropy of the general public, and the industrial and
commercial organizations, which should be allowed to set up,
manage, and finance institutions of post elementary
education.
Education as a service industry is part of globalization

process under the umbrella of General Agreement on Trade in
Services (GATS). There is, however, a distinct possibility that
this might force countries with quite different academic needs
and resources to conform to structures inevitably designed to
service the interest of the most powerful academic systems
and corporate educational providers breeding inequality and
dependence (Altbach, 2002). Further, globalization can lead to
unregulated and poor-quality higher education with worldwide
marketing of fraudulent degrees or other so-called higher
education credentials (World Bank’s Task Force, 2000).
Given the array of theoretical and epistemological

perspective presented in the general social science literature
on “globalization”, it is difficult to assess not only the nature
and dimensions of globalization, but also what it might mean
to the field of education. Very few educational researchers or
theorists have attempted to make connections between
economic, political, and cultural dimensions of globalization
and the policies and practices of education.
It appears as through the phenomenon of globalization

will mean many different things for education. Most certainly,
in the near future, it will mean a more competitive and
deregulated educational system modeled after free market but
with more pressure on it to assure that the next generation of
workers are prepared for some amorphous job market of 21st
century. It will also mean “that the educational system will
increasingly provide the sites of struggle over the meaning and
power of the national identity and a national culture. Schools
will no doubt also be sites of various counter-hegemonic
movements and pedagogies” (Wells, et al., 1998).
It could be seen that globalization has a multi-

dimensional impact on the system of education. It is,
therefore, necessary that each country should decide about
the nature and the extent of globalization that can be
constructively introduced in their socio-economic and
educational systems. While it is difficult to resist the

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temptation of falling in line with the international community,

it is necessary that while doing so, the national interests
should be paramount. This is more so in the field of education
which is intimately concerned with the development of human
capital. Any thoughtless entry into the global educational
market can end up in harming the interests of students for
generations to come.
Converging Currents of Globalization
Most scholars agree that the most significant component of

globalization is the economic reorganization of the world. The
characteristics of this new world arrangement are:
1. Global communication systems that link all regions of the planet

instantaneously and global transportation systems capable of moving
goods quickly by air, sea, and land;
2. Transnational conglomerate corporate strategies that have created
global corporations more economically powerful than many nation-
states;
3. International financial institutions that make possible 24-hour trading
with new and more-flexible forms of monetary flow;
4. Global agreements that promote free trade;
5. Market economies that have replaced state-controlled economies, and
privatized firms and services, like water delivery, formerly operated by
governments;
6. An abundance of planetary goods and services that have arisen to fulfill
consumer demand (real or imaginary); and, of course,
7. An army of international workers, managers, executives, who give this
powerful economic force a human dimension. (Rowntree, Lewis, Price &
Wyckoff, 2008)
Factors That Have Contributed to Globalization
There are a variety of factors which have contributed to the process

of globalization. Some of the most important globalization drivers are
numbered below.
1. The price of transporting goods has fallen significantly, enabling good to

be imported and exported more cheaply due to containerization and bulk
shipping;
2. The development of the internet to organize trade on a global scale;

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3. TNCs (Transnational Corporation) have taken advantage of the reduction

or lowering of trade barriers;
4. The desire of TNCs to profit from lower unit labor costs and other
favorable production factors abroad has encouraged countries to
regulate their tax systems to draw in foreign direct investment (FDI);
5. Transnational and multinational companies have invested significantly in
expanding internationally;
6. The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union; and
7. The opening of China to world trade.
Advocates and Critics of Globalization
Globalization is one of the most controversial issues of our times.

Supporters generally believe that it brings in greater economic efficiency
that will eventually result in bring prosperity for the entire world. Critics
think that it will largely benefit those who are already rich, leaving most of
the world poorer than before. Economic globalization is generally applauded
by corporate leaders and economists. But opposition to economic
globalization is widespread in the labor and environmental movements for it
has promoted exploitation of workers, children, farmers, and the
environment.
Advantages of Globalization Disadvantages of Globalization

• Productivity increases faster • Millions of workers have lost
when countries produce goods their jobs because of imports
and services in which they have or shifts in production abroad.
a comparative advantage. Most find new jobs that pay
Living standards can increase less.
more rapidly.
• Global competition and cheap • Millions of workers fear

imports keep a constraint on getting laid off, especially at
prices, so inflation is less likely those firms in import-
to disrupt economic growth. competing industries.
• An open economy promotes • Workers face demands of

technological development and wage concessions from their
innovation, with fresh ideas employers, which often
from abroad. threaten to export jobs
abroad if wage concessions
are not accepted.
• Jobs in export industries tend • Besides blue-collar jobs,

to pay about 15 percent more service and white-collar jobs

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than jobs in import-competing are increasingly vulnerable to

industries. operations being sent
overseas.
• Unfettered capital movements • Workers can lose their

provide workers access to competitiveness when
foreign investment and companies build state-of-the-
maintain low interest rates. art factories in low wage
countries, making them as
productive as those in the
developed countries.
(Business Week “Backlash Behind the Anxiety over Globalization,” 2000)
A number of experts argue that both the anti-globalization and the

pro-globalization stances are exaggerated. Those in the middle ground tend
to argue that economic globalization is indeed unavoidable. They point out
that even the anti-globalization movement is made possible by the Internet
and is, therefore, itself an expression of globalization. They further contend
that globalization can be managed, at both the national and international
levels, to reduce economic inequalities and protect the natural
environment. Such scholars stress the need for strong yet efficient
governments and international institutions (such as the UN, World Bank, and
IMF), along with networks of watchdog environmental, labor, and human
rights groups (Rowntree, Lewis, Price & Wyckoff, 2008).
History/Theories of Globalization
A Brief History of Globalization

from World Economic Forum
by Peter Vanham
When Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2018 announced it had

chosen the ancient city of Xi’an as the site for its new regional
headquarters, the symbolic value wasn’t lost on the company: it had

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brought globalization to its ancient birthplace, the start of the old Silk
Road. It named its new offices aptly: “Silk Road Headquarters”. The city
where globalization had started more than 2,000 years ago would also have
a stake in globalization’s future.
Alibaba shouldn’t be alone in looking back. As we are entering a new,

digital-driven era of globalization – we call it “Globalization 4.0” – it is
worthwhile that we do the same. When did globalization start? What were
its major phases? And where is it headed tomorrow?
This piece also caps our series on globalization. The series was
written ahead of the 2019 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in
Davos, which focuses on “Globalization 4.0”. In previous pieces, we looked
at some winners and losers of economic globalization, the environmental
aspect of globalization, cultural globalization and digital globalization. Now
we look back at its history. So, when did international trade start and how
did it lead to globalization?
Ancient silk roads: Silk roads (1st century BC-5th century AD, and 13th-14th centuries AD) / Image: Flickr

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People have been trading goods for almost as long as they’ve been
around. But as of the 1st century BC, a remarkable phenomenon occurred.
For the first time in history, luxury products from China started to appear on
the other edge of the Eurasian continent – in Rome. They got there after
being hauled for thousands of miles along the Silk Road. Trade had stopped
being a local or regional affair and started to become global.
That is not to say globalization had started in earnest. Silk was mostly
a luxury good, and so were the spices that were added to the
intercontinental trade between Asia and Europe. As a percentage of the
total economy, the value of these exports was tiny, and many middlemen
were involved to get the goods to their destination. But global trade links
were established, and for those involved, it was a goldmine. From purchase
price to final sales price, the multiple went in the dozens. The Silk Road
could prosper in part because two great empires dominated much of the
route. If trade was interrupted, it was most often because of blockades by
local enemies of Rome or China. If the Silk Road eventually closed, as it did
after several centuries, the fall of the empires had everything to do with it.
And when it reopened in Marco Polo’s late medieval time, it was because
the rise of a new hegemonic empire: the Mongols. It is a pattern we’ll see
throughout the history of trade: it thrives when nations protect it, it falls
when they don’t.
Arabic calligraphy in Asilah medina, Morocco: Spice routes (7th-15th centuries)

/ Image: Pierre-Yves Babelon/Shutterstock.com/Unesco
The next chapter in trade happened thanks to Islamic merchants. As

the new religion spread in all directions from its Arabian heartland in the
7th century, so did trade. The founder of Islam, the prophet Mohammed,
was famously a merchant, as was his wife Khadija. Trade was thus in the
DNA of the new religion and its followers, and that showed. By the early 9th
century, Muslim traders already dominated Mediterranean and Indian Ocean

22
trade; afterwards, they could be found as far east as Indonesia, which over
time became a Muslim-majority country, and as far west as Moorish Spain.
The main focus of Islamic trade in those Middle Ages were spices.
Unlike silk, spices were traded mainly by sea since ancient times. But by the
medieval era they had become the true focus of international trade. Chief
among them were the cloves, nutmeg and mace from the fabled Spice
islands – the Maluku islands in Indonesia. They were extremely expensive
and in high demand, also in Europe. But as with silk, they remained a luxury
product, and trade remained relatively low volume. Globalization still didn’t
take off, but the original Belt (sea route) and Road (Silk Road) of trade
between East and West did now exist.
Age of Discovery (15th-18th centuries) / Image: BLR
Truly global trade kicked off in the Age of Discovery. It was in this
era, from the end of the 15th century onwards, that European explorers
connected East and West – and accidentally discovered the Americas. Aided
by the discoveries of the so-called “Scientific Revolution” in the fields of
astronomy, mechanics, physics and shipping, the Portuguese, Spanish and
later the Dutch and the English first “discovered”, then subjugated, and
finally integrated new lands in their economies.
The Age of Discovery rocked the world. The most (in)famous

“discovery” is that of America by Columbus, which all but ended pre-
Colombian civilizations. But the most consequential exploration was the
circumnavigation by Magellan: it opened the door to the Spice islands,
cutting out Arab and Italian middlemen. While trade once again remained

23
small compared to total GDP, it certainly altered people’s lives. Potatoes,

tomatoes, coffee and chocolate were introduced in Europe, and the price of
spices fell steeply.
Yet economists today still don’t truly regard this era as one of true
globalization. Trade certainly started to become global, and it had even
been the main reason for starting the Age of Discovery. But the resulting
global economy was still very much soloed and lopsided. The European
empires set up global supply chains, but mostly with those colonies they
owned. Moreover, their colonial model was chiefly one of exploitation,
including the shameful legacy of the slave trade. The empires thus created
both a mercantilist and a colonial economy, but not a truly globalized one.
The Industrial Revolution in Britain propelled the first wave of globalization / Image:
Wikipedia
First wave of globalization (19th century-1914)
This started to change with the first wave of globalization, which

roughly occurred over the century ending in 1914. By the end of the 18th
century, Great Britain had started to dominate the world both
geographically, through the establishment of the British Empire, and
technologically, with innovations like the steam engine, the industrial
weaving machine and more. It was the era of the First Industrial Revolution.
The “British” Industrial Revolution made for a fantastic twin engine

of global trade. On the one hand, steamships and trains could transport
goods over thousands of miles, both within countries and across countries.
On the other hand, its industrialization allowed Britain to make products

24
that were in demand all over the world, like iron, textiles and manufactured
goods. “With its advanced industrial technologies,” the BBC recently wrote,
looking back to the era, “Britain was able to attack a huge and rapidly
expanding international market.”
The resulting globalization was obvious in the numbers. For about a

century, trade grew on average 3% per year. That growth rate propelled
exports from a share of 6% of global GDP in the early 19th century,
to 14% on the eve of World War I. As John Maynard Keynes, the
economist, observed: “The inhabitant of London could order by telephone,
sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole Earth, in
such quantity as he might see fit, and reasonably expect their early delivery
upon his doorstep.”
And, Keynes also noted, a similar situation was also true in the world
of investing. Those with the means in New York, Paris, London or Berlin
could also invest in internationally active joint stock companies. One of
those, the French Compagnie de Suez, constructed the Suez Canal,
connecting the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean and opened yet
another artery of world trade. Others built railways in India, or managed
mines in African colonies. Foreign direct investment, too, was globalizing.
While Britain was the country that benefited most from this
globalization, as it had the most capital and technology, others did too, by
exporting other goods. The invention of the refrigerated cargo ship or
“reefer ship” in the 1870s, for example, allowed for countries like Argentina
and Uruguay, to enter their golden age. They started to mass export meat,
from cattle grown on their vast lands. Other countries, too, started to
specialize their production in those fields in which they were most
competitive.
But the first wave of globalization and industrialization also coincided

with darker events, too. By the end of the 19th century, the Khan
Academy notes, “most [globalizing and industrialized] European nations
grabbed for a piece of Africa, and by 1900 the only independent country left
on the continent was Ethiopia”. In a similarly negative vein, large countries
like India, China, Mexico or Japan, which were previously powers to reckon
with, were not either not able or not allowed to adapt to the industrial and
global trends. Either the Western powers put restraints on their
independent development, or they were otherwise outcompeted because of
their lack of access to capital or technology. Finally, many workers in the
industrialized nations also did not benefit from globalization, their work
commoditized by industrial machinery, or their output undercut by foreign
imports.
The world wars
It was a situation that was bound to end in a major crisis, and it did.
In 1914, the outbreak of World War I brought an end to just about
everything the burgeoning high society of the West had gotten so used to,

25
including globalization. The ravage was complete. Millions of soldiers died in

battle, millions of civilians died as collateral damage, war replaced trade,
destruction replaced construction, and countries closed their borders yet
again.
In the years between the world wars, the financial markets, which
were still connected in a global web, caused a further breakdown of the
global economy and its links. The Great Depression in the US led to the end
of the boom in South America, and a run on the banks in many other parts of
the world. Another world war followed in 1939-1945. By the end of World
War II, trade as a percentage of world GDP had fallen to 5% – a level not
seen in more than a hundred years.
Second and third wave of globalization
The story of globalization, however, was not over. The end of the
World War II marked a new beginning for the global economy. Under the
leadership of a new hegemon, the United States of America, and aided by
the technologies of the Second Industrial Revolution, like the car and the
plane, global trade started to rise once again. At first, this happened in two
separate tracks, as the Iron Curtain divided the world into two spheres of
influence. But as of 1989, when the Iron Curtain fell, globalization became a
truly global phenomenon.
In the early decades after World War II, institutions like the European
Union, and other free trade vehicles championed by the US were responsible
for much of the increase in international trade. In the Soviet Union, there
was a similar increase in trade, albeit through centralized planning rather
than the free market. The effect was profound. Worldwide, trade once
again rose to 1914 levels: in 1989, export once again counted for 14% of
global GDP. It was paired with a steep rise in middle-class incomes in the
West.
Then, when the wall dividing East and West fell in Germany, and the
Soviet Union collapsed, globalization became an all-conquering force. The

26
newly created World Trade Organization (WTO) encouraged nations all over
the world to enter into free-trade agreements, and most of them did,
including many newly independent ones. In 2001, even China, which for the
better part of the 20th century had been a secluded, agrarian economy,
became a member of the WTO, and started to manufacture for the world. In
this “new” world, the US set the tone and led the way, but many others
benefited in their slipstream.
At the same time, a new technology from the Third Industrial

Revolution, the internet, connected people all over the world in an even
more direct way. The orders Keynes could place by phone in 1914 could now
be placed over the internet. Instead of having them delivered in a few
weeks, they would arrive at one’s doorstep in a few days. What was more,
the internet also allowed for a further global integration of value chains.
You could do R&D in one country, sourcing in others, production in yet
another, and distribution all over the world.
The result has been a globalization on steroids. In the 2000s, global

exports reached a milestone, as they rose to about a quarter of global GDP.
Trade, the sum of imports and exports, consequentially grew to about half
of world GDP. In some countries, like Singapore, Belgium, or others, trade is
worth much more than 100% of GDP. A majority of global population has
benefited from this: more people than ever before belong to the global
middle class, and hundred of millions achieved that status by participating
in the global economy.
Globalization 4.0
That brings us to today, when a new wave of globalization is once

again upon us. In a world increasingly dominated by two global powers, the
US and China, the new frontier of globalization is the cyber world. The
digital economy, in its infancy during the third wave of globalization, is now
becoming a force to reckon with through e-commerce, digital services, 3D

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printing. It is further enabled by artificial intelligence, but threatened by

cross-border hacking and cyberattacks.
At the same time, a negative globalization is expanding too, through

the global effect of climate change. Pollution in one part of the world leads
to extreme weather events in another. And the cutting of forests in the few
“green lungs” the world has left, like the Amazon rainforest, has a further
devastating effect on not just the world’s biodiversity, but its capacity to
cope with hazardous greenhouse gas emissions.
But as this new wave of globalization is reaching our shores, many of

the world’s people are turning their backs on it. In the West particularly,
many middle-class workers are fed up with a political and economic system
that resulted in economic inequality, social instability, and – in some
countries – mass immigration, even if it also led to economic growth and
cheaper products. Protectionism, trade wars and immigration stops are once
again the order of the day in many countries.
As a percentage of GDP, global exports have stalled and even started

to go in reverse slightly. As a political ideology, “globalism”, or the idea
that one should take a global perspective, is on the wane. And
internationally, the power that propelled the world to its highest level of
globalization ever, the United States, is backing away from its role as
policeman and trade champion of the world.
It was in this world that Chinese president Xi Jinping addressed the

topic globalization in a speech in Davos in January 2017. “Some blame
economic globalization for the chaos in the world,” he said. “It has now
become the Pandora’s box in the eyes of many.” But, he continued, “we
came to the conclusion that integration into the global economy is a
historical trend. [It] is the big ocean that you cannot escape from.” He went
on to propose a more inclusive globalization, and to rally nations to join in
China’s new project for international trade, “Belt and Road”.
It was in this world, too, that Alibaba a few months later opened its
Silk Road headquarters in Xi’an. It was meant as the logistical backbone for
the e-commerce giant along the new “Belt and Road”, the Paper reported.
But if the old Silk Road thrived on the exports of luxurious silk by camel and
donkey, the new Alibaba Xi’an facility would be enabling a globalization of
an entirely different kind. It would double up as a big data college for its
Alibaba Cloud services.
Technological progress, like globalization, is something you can’t run

away from, it seems. But it is ever changing. So how will Globalization 4.0
evolve? We will have to answer that question in the coming years. (Vanham
2019)

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Theories of Globalization
from PoliticalScienceNotes.com
All theories of globalization have been put hereunder in eight

categories: liberalism, political realism, Marxism, constructivism,
postmodernism, feminism, Trans-formationalism and eclecticism. Each one
of them carries several variations.
1. Theory of Liberalism
Liberalism sees the process of globalization as market-led extension

of modernization. At the most elementary level, it is a result of ‘natural’
human desires for economic welfare and political liberty. As such,
transplanetary connectivity is derived from human drives to maximize
material well-being and to exercise basic freedoms. These forces eventually
interlink humanity across the planet.
They fructify in the form of:
(a) Technological advances, particularly in the areas of transport,

communications and information processing, and,
(b) Suitable legal and institutional arrangement to enable markets

and liberal democracy to spread on a trans-world scale.
Such explanations come mostly from Business Studies, Economics,
International Political Economy, Law and Politics. Liberalists stress
the necessity of constructing institutional infrastructure to support
globalization. All this has led to technical standardization,
administrative harmonization, translation arrangement between
languages, laws of contract, and guarantees of property rights.
But its supporters neglect the social forces that lie behind the
creation of technological and institutional underpinnings. It is not satisfying
to attribute these developments to ‘natural’ human drives for economic
growth and political liberty. They are culture blind and tend to overlook
historically situated life-worlds and knowledge structures which have
promoted their emergence.
All people cannot be assumed to be equally amenable to and desirous

of increased globality in their lives. Similarly, they overlook the
phenomenon of power. There are structural power inequalities in promoting
globalization and shaping its course. Often they do not care for the
entrenched power hierarchies between states, classes, cultures, sexes,
races and resources.
2. Theory of Political Realism
Advocates of this theory are interested in questions of state power,

the pursuit of national interest, and conflict between states. According to
them states are inherently acquisitive and self-serving, and heading for
inevitable competition of power. Some of the scholars stand for a balance of

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power, where any attempt by one state to achieve world dominance is

countered by collective resistance from other states.
Another group suggests that a dominant state can bring stability to

world order. The ‘hegemon’ state (presently the US or G7/8) maintains and
defines international rules and institutions that both advance its own
interests and at the same time contain conflicts between other states.
Globalization has also been explained as a strategy in the contest for power
between several major states in contemporary world politics.
They concentrate on the activities of Great Britain, China, France,

Japan, the USA and some other large states. Thus, the political realists
highlight the issues of power and power struggles and the role of states in
generating global relations.
At some levels, globalization is considered as antithetical to

territorial states. States, they say, are not equal in globalization, some
being dominant and others subordinate in the process. But they fail to
understand that everything in globalization does not come down to the
acquisition, distribution and exercise of power.
Globalization has also cultural, ecological, economic and

psychological dimensions that are not reducible to power politics. It is also
about the production and consumption of resources, about the discovery
and affirmation of identity, about the construction and communication of
meaning, and about humanity shaping and being shaped by nature. Most of
these are apolitical.
Power theorists also neglect the importance and role of other actors
in generating globalization. These are sub-state authorities, macro-regional
institutions, global agencies, and private-sector bodies. Additional types of
power-relations on lines of class, culture and gender also affect the course
of globalization. Some other structural inequalities cannot be adequately
explained as an outcome of interstate competition. After all, class
inequality, cultural hierarchy, and patriarchy predate the modern states.
3. Theory of Marxism
Marxism is principally concerned with modes of production, social

exploitation through unjust distribution, and social emancipation through
the transcendence of capitalism. Marx himself anticipated the growth of
globality that ‘capital by its nature drives beyond every spatial barrier to
conquer the whole earth for its market’. Accordingly, to Marxists,
globalization happens because trans-world connectivity enhances opportu-
nities of profit-making and surplus accumulation.
Marxists reject both liberalist and political realist explanations of

globalization. It is the outcome of historically specific impulses of capitalist
development. Its legal and institutional infrastructures serve the logic of
surplus accumulation of a global scale. Liberal talk of freedom and

30
democracy make up a legitimating ideology for exploitative global capitalist

class relations.
The neo-Marxists in dependency and world-system theories examine

capitalist accumulation on a global scale on lines of core and peripheral
countries. Neo-Gramscians highlight the significance of underclass struggles
to resist globalizing capitalism not only by traditional labor unions, but also
by new social movements of consumer advocates, environmentalists, peace
activists, peasants, and women. However, Marxists give an overly restricted
account of power.
There are other relations of dominance and subordination which

relate to state, culture, gender, race, sex, and more. Presence of US
hegemony, the West-centric cultural domination, masculinism, racism etc.
are not reducible to class dynamics within capitalism. Class is a key axis of
power in globalization, but it is not the only one. It is too simplistic to see
globalization solely as a result of drives for surplus accumulation.
It also seeks to explore identities and investigate meanings. People

develop global weapons and pursue global military campaigns not only for
capitalist ends, but also due to interstate competition and militarist culture
that predate emergence of capitalism. Ideational aspects of social relations
also are not outcome of the modes of production. They have, like
nationalism, their autonomy.
4. Theory of Constructivism
Globalization has also arisen because of the way that people have
mentally constructed the social world with particular symbols, language,
images and interpretation. It is the result of particular forms and dynamics
of consciousness. Patterns of production and governance are second-order
structures that derive from deeper cultural and socio-psychological forces.
Such accounts of globalization have come from the fields of Anthropology,
Humanities, Media of Studies and Sociology.
Constructivists concentrate on the ways that social actors ‘construct’

their world: both within their own minds and through inter-subjective
communication with others. Conversation and symbolic exchanges lead
people to construct ideas of the world, the rules for social interaction, and
ways of being and belonging in that world. Social geography is a mental
experience as well as a physical fact. They form ‘in’ or ‘out’ as well as ‘us’
and they’ groups.
They conceive of themselves as inhabitants of a particular global

world. National, class, religious and other identities respond in part to
material conditions but they also depend on inter-subjective construction
and communication of shared self-understanding. However, when they go
too far, they present a case of social-psychological reductionism ignoring
the significance of economic and ecological forces in shaping mental

31
experience. This theory neglects issues of structural inequalities and power

hierarchies in social relations. It has a built-in apolitical tendency.
5. Theory of Postmodernism
Some other ideational perspectives of globalization highlight the

significance of structural power in the construction of identities, norms and
knowledge. They all are grouped under the label of ‘postmodernism’. They
too, as Michel Foucault does strive to understand society in terms of
knowledge power: power structures shape knowledge. Certain knowledge
structures support certain power hierarchies.
The reigning structures of understanding determine what can and

cannot be known in a given socio-historical context. This dominant structure
of knowledge in modern society is ‘rationalism’. It puts emphasis on the
empirical world, the subordination of nature to human control, objectivist
science, and instrumentalist efficiency. Modern rationalism produces a
society overwhelmed with economic growth, technological control,
bureaucratic organization, and disciplining desires.
This mode of knowledge has authoritarian and expansionary logic that

leads to a kind of cultural imperialism subordinating all other
epistemologies. It does not focus on the problem of globalization per se. In
this way, western rationalism overawes indigenous cultures and other non-
modem life-worlds.
Postmodernism, like Marxism, helps to go beyond the relatively

superficial accounts of liberalist and political realist theories and expose
social conditions that have favored globalization. Obviously, postmodernism
suffers from its own methodological idealism. All material forces, though
come under impact of ideas, cannot be reduced to modes of consciousness.
For a valid explanation, interconnection between ideational and material
forces is not enough.
6. Theory of Feminism
It puts emphasis on social construction of masculinity and femininity.

All other theories have identified the dynamics behind the rise of trans-
planetary and supra-territorial connectivity in technology, state, capital,
identity and the like.
Biological sex is held to mold the overall social order and shape
significantly the course of history, presently globality. Their main concern
lies behind the status of women, particularly their structural subordination
to men. Women have tended to be marginalized, silenced and violated in
global communication.

32
7. Theory of Trans-formationalism
This theory has been expounded by David Held and his colleagues.
Accordingly, the term ‘globalization’ reflects increased interconnectedness
in political, economic and cultural matters across the world creating a
“shared social space”. Given this interconnectedness, globalization may be
defined as “a process (or set of processes) which embodies a transformation
in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions, expressed in
transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction
and power.”
While there are many definitions of globalization, such a definition

seeks to bring together the many and seemingly contradictory theories of
globalization into a “rigorous analytical framework” and “proffer a coherent
historical narrative”. Held and McGrew’s analytical framework is
constructed by developing a three-part typology of theories of globalization
consisting of “hyper-globalist,” “sceptic,” and “transformationalist”
categories.
The Hyperglobalists purportedly argue that “contemporary

globalization defines a new era in which people everywhere are increasingly
subject to the disciplines of the global marketplace”. Given the importance
of the global marketplace, multi-national enterprises (MNEs) and intergov-
ernmental organizations (IGOs) which regulate their activity are key political
actors. Sceptics, such as Hirst and Thompson (1996) ostensibly argue that
“globalization is a myth which conceals the reality of an international
economy increasingly segmented into three major regional blocs in which
national governments remain very powerful.” Finally, transformationalists
such as Rosenau (1997) or Giddens (1990) argue that globalization occurs as
“states and societies across the globe are experiencing a process of
profound change as they try to adapt to a more interconnected but highly
uncertain world”.
Developing the transformationalist category of globalization theories.

Held and McGrew present a rather complicated typology of globalization
based on globalization’s spread, depth, speed, and impact, as well as its
impacts on infrastructure, institutions, hierarchical structures and the
unevenness of development.
They imply that the “politics of globalization” have been

“transformed” (using their word from the definition of globalization) along
all of these dimensions because of the emergence of a new system of
“political globalization.” They define “political globalization” as the
“shifting reach of political power, authority and forms of rule” based on
new organizational interests which are “transnational” and “multi-layered.”
These organizational interests combine actors identified under the

hyper-globalist category (namely IGOs and MNEs) with those of the sceptics
(trading blocs and powerful states) into a new system where each of these
actors exercises their political power, authority and forms of rule.

33
Thus, the “politics of globalization” is equivalent to “political

globalization” for Held and McGrew. However, Biyane Michael criticises
them. He deconstructs their argument, if A is defined as “globalization” (as
defined above), B as the organizational interests such as MNEs, IGOs, trading
blocs, and powerful states, and C as “political globalization” (also as
defined above), then their argument reduces to A. B. C. In this way, their
discussion of globalization is trivial.
Held and others present a definition of globalization, and then simply

restates various elements of the definition. Their definition, “globalization
can be conceived as a process (or set of processes) which embodies a
transformation in the spatial organization of social relations” allows every
change to be an impact of globalization. Thus, by their own definition, all
the theorists they critique would be considered as “transformationalists.”
Held and McGrew also fail to show how globalization affects organizational
interests.
8. Theory of Eclecticism
Each one of the above six ideal-type of social theories of globalization

highlights certain forces that contribute to its growth. They put emphasis on
technology and institution building, national interest and inter-state compe-
tition, capital accumulation and class struggle, identity and knowledge
construction, rationalism and cultural imperialism, and masculinize and
subordination of women. Jan Art Scholte synthesizes them as forces of
production, governance, identity, and knowledge.
Accordingly, capitalists attempt to amass ever-greater resources in

excess of their survival needs: accumulation of surplus. The capitalist
economy is thoroughly monetized. Money facilitates accumulation. It offers
abundant opportunities to transfer surplus, especially from the weak to the
powerful. This mode of production involves perpetual and pervasive
contests over the distribution of surplus. Such competition occurs both
between individual, firms, etc. and along structural lines of class, gender,
race etc.
Their contests can be overt or latent. Surplus accumulation has had

transpired in one way or another for many centuries, but capitalism is a
comparatively recent phenomenon. It has turned into a structural power,
and is accepted as a ‘natural’ circumstance, with no alternative mode of
production. It has spurred globalization in four ways: market expansion,
accounting practices, asset mobility and enlarged arenas of
commodification. Its technological innovation appears in communication,
transport and data processing as well as in global organization and
management. It concentrates profits at points of low taxation. Information,
communication, finance and consumer sectors offer vast potentials to
capital making it ‘hyper-capitalism’.

34
Any mode of production cannot operate in the absence of an enabling

regulatory apparatus. There are some kind of governance mechanisms.
Governance relates processes whereby people formulate, implement,
enforce and review rules to guide their common affairs.” It entails more
than government. It can extend beyond state and sub-state institutions
including supra-state regimes as well. It covers the full scope of societal
regulation.
In the growth of contemporary globalization, besides political and

economic forces, there are material and ideational elements. In expanding
social relations, people explore their class, their gender, their nationality,
their race, their religious faith and other aspects of their being.
Constructions of identity provide collective solidarity against oppression.
Identity provides frameworks for community, democracy, citizenship and
resistance. It also leads from nationalism to greater pluralism and hybridity.
Earlier nationalism promoted territorialism, capitalism, and statism,

now these plural identities are feeding more and more globality, hyper-
capitalism and polycentrism. These identities have many international
qualities visualized in global diasporas and other group affiliations based on
age, class, gender, race, religious faith and sexual orientations. Many forms
of supra-territorial solidarities are appearing through globalization.
In the area of knowledge, the way that the people know their world
has significant implications for the concrete circumstances of that world.
Powerful patterns of social consciousness cause globalization. Knowledge
frameworks cannot be reduced to forces of production, governance or
identity.
Mindsets encourage or discourage the rise of globality. Modern

rationalism is a general configuration of knowledge. It is secular as it
defines reality in terms of the tangible world of experience. It understands
reality primarily in terms of human interests, activities and conditions. It
holds that phenomena can be understood in terms of single incontrovertible
truths that are discoverable by rigorous application of objective research
methods.
Rationalism is instrumentalist. It assigns greatest value to insights

that enable people efficiently to solve immediate problems. It subordinates
all other ways of understanding and acting upon the world. Its knowledge
could then be applied to harness natural and social forces for human
purposes. It enables people to conquer disease, hunger, poverty, war, etc.,
and maximize the potentials of human life. It looks like a secular faith, a
knowledge framework for capitalist production and a cult of economic
efficiency. Scientism and instrumentalism of rationalism is conducive to
globalization. Scientific knowledge is non-territorial.
The truths revealed by ‘objective’ method are valid for anyone,

anywhere, and anytime on earth. Certain production processes, regulations,
technologies and art forms are applicable across the planet. Martin Albrow

35
rightly says that reason knows no territorial limits. The growth of

globalization is unlikely to reverse in the foreseeable future.
However, Scholte is aware of insecurity, inequality and

marginalization caused by the present process of globalization. Others
reject secularist character of the theory, its manifestation of the
imperialism of westernist-modernist-rationalist knowledge. Anarchists
challenge the oppressive nature of states and other bureaucratic governance
frameworks. Globalization neglects environmental degradation and
equitable gender relations. (politicalsciencenotes.com 2017)

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 LEARNING ACTIVITIES
1. Now it’s your turn. What is globalization to you? What are the words
which are repeatedly used in the abovementioned definitions? Use
the box below to create your definition of globalization.
My Definition of Globalization
_____________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
________________
2. Globalization is one of the most important and complicated issues of

our time. Now it’s your turn to take a position. Are you in favor or
against globalization? Use the box below to create your position about
globalization.
My Stance on Globalization
3. “Globalization I - The Upside” Video Evaluation Chart
Watch Crash Course World History #41: Globalization I - The Upside

hosted by John Green during your free time. Use this link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SnR-e0S6Ic and then read the
instructions below carefully and answer the following questions cogently.
I. Reaction (Check the blank below)

____Very Favorable
____ Favorable
____Unfavorable
____Uncertain

37
II. Your response to the video in six words:

__________________________________________________________________
III. In just six words, explain the purpose/theme/aim of the video as you see
it.
__________________________________________________________________
IV. Make a summary of the video in ten words.

__________________________________________________________________
V. In ten words, what are the values you learned from this video?
RUBRIC
3 - Full Participation - Students wrote their reflection essays about the
video in a clear and consistent manner.
2 - Substantial Participation - Students wrote their reflection essays about
the video and do so in a somewhat consistent manner.
1 - Little or Partial Participation - Students have difficulty writing their
reflection essays about the video consistently.
4. “Globalization II - Good or Bad?” Video Evaluation Chart
Watch Crash Course World History #42: Globalization II – Good or

Bad? hosted by John Green during your free time. Use this link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_iwrt7D5OA&t=497s and then read the
instructions below carefully and answer the following questions cogently.
I. Reaction (Check the blank below)

____Very Favorable
____ Favorable
____Unfavorable
____Uncertain
II. Your response to the video in six words:
__________________________________________________________________
III. In just six words, explain the purpose/theme/aim of the video as you see
it.
__________________________________________________________________
IV. Make a summary of the video in ten words.
__________________________________________________________________

38
V. In ten words, what are the values you learned from this video?
__________________________________________________________________
RUBRIC
3 - Full Participation - Students wrote their reflection essays about the
video in a clear and consistent manner.
2 - Substantial Participation - Students wrote their reflection essays about
the video and do so in a somewhat consistent manner.
1 - Little or Partial Participation - Students have difficulty writing their
reflection essays about the video consistently.
5. Activity: Essay Analysis Chart
Use the chart below to delineate Peter Vanham’s “A Brief History of

Globalization” from World Economic Forum. Check your understanding of
this essay by filling in the chart below. Use a separate sheet of paper if
necessary.
Introduction (identify the work)
Thesis Statement
Part 1 (explanation and details)

39
Conclusion
Essay Rubric
5 • has a strong central idea (thesis) that is related to the topic;

points • provides compelling support to the thesis topic;
• has a clear, logical organization with well‐developed major
points that are supported with concrete and specific evidence;
• uses effective transitions between ideas;
• uses appropriate words composing sophisticated sentences;
• expresses ideas freshly and vividly;
• is free of mechanical, grammatical, and spelling errors.
• is not more or less than required page length.
4 • has a strong central idea that is related to the assignment;
points • has a clear, logical organization with developed major points,
but the supporting evidence may not be especially vivid or
thoughtful;
• uses appropriate words accurately, but seldom exhibits an
admirable style while the sentences tend to be less
sophisticated;
• has few mechanical, grammatical, and spelling errors that do
not distract from the overall message.
• is substantially more or less than required page length.
3 • not quite a 4‐point essay, but better than a 2‐point essay.
points • is not related to the assignment
2 • is not related to the assignment
points • has a central idea that is presented in such a way that the
reader understands the writer’s purpose;
• has an organization that reveals a plan, but the evidence
tends to be general rather than specific or concrete;
• uses common words accurately, but sentences tend to be
simplistic and unsophisticated;
• has one or two severe mechanical or grammatical errors.
1 point • lacks a central idea (no thesis);
• lacks clear organization;
• is not related to the assignment;
• fails to develop main points, or develops them in a
repetitious or illogical way;

40
• fails to use common words accurately;

• uses a limited vocabulary in that chosen words fail to serve
the writer's purpose;
• has three or more mechanical or grammatical errors.
6. Activity: Three Circle Venn Diagram
Use the Venn diagram below to compare and contrast the three
waves of globalization.
First Wave
Second Wave Third Wave

41
Venn Diagram Rubric
Objects being compared in the Venn diagram:

__________________________________ ,
__________________________________ and
_________________________________________________________________
Strong Grasp Progressing Not in Evidence

Text support All statements Most statements Few or none of
of comparison are are supported the statements
statements supported by by are
the the text. supported by
text. the
text.
Placement of All statements Most statements Few statements

statements noting are placed in are placed in
within similarities the the
the Venn are placed in correct circle, correct circle.
diagram the but
center circle student mixed
and up a few
all statements statements.
that
note differences
are placed in
the
correct outer
circle.
Number of Student is able Student is able Student makes

quality to make five or to make 3–4 two or fewer
statements more comparison comparison
comparison statements in statements in
statements in each each
each circle. circle.
circle.

42
Comments
7. Research: Globalization 4.0
Use the Internet to gather information for a report about

Globalization 4.0. To gather ideas for research, use the following chart. Be
sure to keep track of where you find your information. Use a separate sheet
of paper if necessary.
Subject Ideas Internet Search

What is Globalization
4.0?
Globalization 4.0 and

its antecedents
Operating System
Upgrade
The 8 General Design

Parameters
Specific Architectural
Innovations and
Improvements

43
Trade and Investment
Financial and monetary

system
Global public goods and

the environment
Technology
Cybersecurity
Industry and corporate

governance
Geopolitical and geo-

economic cooperation

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Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University

THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

GECC 107 – The Contemporary World -Module I-

This course introduces students to the contemporary world by

At the end of the course, the students/learners are expected to:

1. Distinguish different interpretations of and approaches to globalization

1. Analyze contemporary news events in the context of globalization

1. Articulate personal positions on various global issues

GECC 107 – The Contemporary World -Module I-

1. Completion of the modules

2. Submission of the required tasks

3. Taking and passing of the midterm/final examinations

Midterm/Final Class Standing

Class Standing = 60% (Module Tasks)

Midterm/Final Exam = 40%

Midterm Grade = (Module Requirements x No. of units) / Total no. of

Final Term Grade = (Module Requirements x No. of units) / Total no. of

Final Grade = 40% of Midterm Grade + 60% of Final Term Grade

GECC 107 – The Contemporary World -Module I-

Lesson 1 Introduction to Globalization

Lesson 2 The Structures of Globalization

Module II A WORLD OF REGIONS

Lesson 1 Global Divides: The North and the South

Lesson 2 Asian Regionalism

Module III A WORLD OF IDEAS

Lesson 1 The Contemporary World

Lesson 2 Global Media Cultures- The Globalization

Module IV GLOBAL POPULATION AND MOBILITY

Lesson 1 The Global City-Global Demography-Global

Module V TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE WORLD

Lesson 1 Sustainable Development- Global Food Security

Lesson 2 Global Citizenship

GECC 107 – The Contemporary World -Module I-

Lesson 2 The Structures of Globalization

Lesson 3 -Market Integration

Lesson 4 -The Global Interstate System

Lesson 5 - Contemporary Global

GECC 107 – The Contemporary World -Module I-

Globalization is one of the most dominant forces facing education in

After studying the module, the students should be able to:

1. define globalization in order to begin to understand the processes

2. examine globalization as a theory, and a process and its

3. discuss globalization and education from the perspective of

4. determine the key features of globalization;

5. identify the pros and cons of globalization;

6. discuss the periodization of globalization by considering when

GECC 107 – The Contemporary World -Module I-

7. compare and contrast the three waves of globalization; and

8. differentiate the competing theories of globalization.

GECC 107 – The Contemporary World -Module I-

“Globalization” is a catchphrase familiar to anyone tuned in to social

Shalmali Guttal (2007) defined globalization as “the process of

Below are further definitions of globalization:

[Globalization] is “the geographic dispersion of industrial and service

[Globalization] is “the word used to describe the growing

[Globalization] is “the ability to produce any good or service

[Globalization] is “the increased interconnectedness and

GECC 107 – The Contemporary World -Module I-

[Globalization] is “the inexorable integration of markets, nation-

[Globalization] is “the process of greater interdependence among

[Globalization] is “… a process in which geographic distance becomes

[Globalization] can thus be defined as “the intensification of