CONTEMPORARY

WORLD
MODULAR APPROACH

Marcelino C. Decena
Dr. Frankie Gamelo
Prof. Araceli Suyat

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 UNIT I: INTRODUCTION TO GLOBALIZATION
Nation-States and Globalization

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: The learners are expected to:

1. Differentiate the concept of state from nation

2. Understand the elements of state and its importance as requisites for
statehood
3. Illustrate the division of the global community in term of North-South and
East-West relationships
4. State the nature and scope of globalization
5. Enumerate and explain the typologies of globalization
6. Distinguish the six metaphors of globalization

LEARNING CONTENT:

NATION AND STATE

The terms nation and state are interchangeably used in many ways. However,
there are fundamental distinctions between the two. The state is a political entity
which is established to fulfill the security and ensure the common welfare of its
people. Nation is a solidified unit of people tied up by common history and
cultural heritage with full of emotional, psychological, and spiritual bonds. A
definite territory is essential for the existence of state. Having an occupied
territory is not an essential requirement for nation. Importantly, the legal
existence of state cannot operate without the possession of sovereignty. It is not
important for a nation to possess sovereignty. Russia is considered the biggest
state in the world in terms of geographical size. The nation of Kurdish people
does not have official homeland or country. Most of them reside in the region of
Middle East including portions of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Armenia.

The Arab world was largely controlled by the Ottoman Empire before World War
I. The Ottomans dominated much of the Middle East for half a millennium until it

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succumbed to what most historians describe as long, slow decline despite of
its persistent effort to modernize. Similar fate befell with other empires such as
the Tsarist Russian Empire. The empire’s decision to side with Germany during
World War I put the final nail on its coffin as the latter suffered humiliating defeat
from England, then most powerful empire in the world. The vacuum left by the
Ottomans entrenched the presence of the British and the French in the region.
The two western based empires decided to redraw the map of the Middle East
which paved the way for the birth of several kingdoms ruled by dominant clans
and families. To name few, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman,
Kuwait, and Jordan came into being. The birth of Israel caused so much friction
in the region making the Arab region one of the powder kegs in the world. So far,
the Middle East is comprised of 18 states (13 of which are part of the Arab world)
and the nations of Kurds and Palestinians are still aspiring to be a legitimate
entity either through bargaining agreement or armed struggle.

In a bigger scene, the world today is comprised of 195 states, 193 of which are
member states of United Nations. Only 2 of which are non-members- the Holy
See (Vatican) and Palestine. The birth of modern states came as a result of
arduous and bloody struggle among powerful entities in the world and colonial
subjects over that of colonial masters. The hoisting of Philippine flag in Kawit,
Cavite on 1898 was partly influenced by the Spanish American war which was
rooted in Cuba. The fruition of India’s aspiration towards self determination came

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into being as a result of the non-violent approach led by Mahatma Gandhi over
the British Raj.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF STATE

As define in the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of the State in
1933, state as a person of international law should possess the following
qualifications: (a) permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government;
(d) capacity to enter into relations with other states.

Based on the abovementioned definition, a state has four essential elements.

They are as follows:

1. Population- This beautiful planet is now inhabited by more than 7

billion Earthlings sparsely distributed in six continents. Half of which is
residing in Asia. China and India are the two most populous states in the
world. Countries with huge population are believed to possess a critical
ammunition for war and power. Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy
incentivized couples producing babies above minimum. In many African
states, population growth needs to be checked as the gap between
population and means of production widened. In the past, China had
implemented the One Child Policy to pursue economic modernization.
But the size of people living in a definite territory is no criterion of the
state. Vatican and Nauru are among of the few states with very lesser
population.
2. Territory- it is a place where people can live and organize themselves
politically, economically and socially. There can be no state without fixed
territory which includes land, water and air space. Territory is usually
divided into several administrative regions and it specifically defines the
geographical limits of the state. Giant states like Russia, Canada, China
and USA are very notable in the map but there are also small island
states which can be hardly seen such as Seychelles, Vanuatu, and
Tuvalu.
3. Government – The idea of living together among group of people cannot
be materialized unless they organized themselves and learned to accept
rules. The institution which is mandated to enforce a particular rule

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 governing the conduct of people living in a specific territory and ensure
their obedience is known as government. Each state has its own system
of government which actually carries its own advantages and
disadvantages. Singapore is considered an authoritarian state which is
being ruled dominantly by a single party for several decades.
4. Sovereignty- When a state is duty-bound to make and enforce laws and
collect taxes over its territory then it exercises its sovereignty. State
sovereignty denotes that a state does not have the right to interfere with
the internal matters of another state but views on sovereignty have been
significantly altered in the age of globalization. Inhumane treatment of the
Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and Brazil’s insensitivity to the wanton
destruction of the Amazon forest have been called out by various state
actors.

NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE: EAST WEST COLLISION

The world stands in an economic, cultural political tectonic plate as illustrates in

the North-South economic division and East-West clash of civilizations. Much of
the industrialized world (nation-states with advanced/developed economies) is
located in the Northern Hemisphere of the Globe whereas those economies
classified as developing are more or likely situated in the Southern Hemisphere.
The North-South division refers to the socioeconomic partition of the world as
countries from the north correlate while the South usually corresponds to the to
the Third World. In recent time, some countries from the South achieved
unprecedented economic growth to which their socioeconomic patrimony put

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them at par with the industrialized world. The economic miracle performed by
Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore bequeathed them the title as the
Newly Industrialized Countries (NIC). The engine of globalization likewise
electrified the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
(BRICS) to which their emerging market economies erect strong challenge to the
status quo. In the cultural sense, the East-West Collision can’t be discounted in
the equation. The foundations of democratic governance and liberalism were
enriched in the West, whereas autocracy took a strong foothold in the east.
Modernization was first achieved in the west, thus modernization is often equate
with the word westernization.The eastern countries took steps to become
modernized but refused to follow the footsteps of westernization.

NATION STATES IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION

The relationship fostered among nation states is basically tied into three
important frames: cultural, political, and economics. Exchange of common
interests primarily motivated by economic agenda caused the fostering of such
interstates relationship. Since the dawn of civilization, earliest people were
already accustomed to the system of bartering to access vital commodities,
foods, weapons, and spices. Empires born in the ancient period were
acknowledged to have been the first driver of globalization. The empire
envisioned by Alexander the Great managed to reach the farthest point of the
Oriental world to which the fusion of Greco-Macedonian Culture with that of Asia
became feasible. Moreover, the Silk Road created a flourishing commercial link
between two great empires from both end, the Roman Empire from the west and
the Chinese Empire from the east. Empires in the Old World (Europe) fashioned
globalization in a new clothing in which evangelization and capitalistic expansion
drove them to subdue and colonize primitive civilizations which they perceived
weak and inferior but rich and prosperous in raw materials. From Mina de Oro of
the Meso American to the Spices of the Moluccas, these plethora of wealth
extracted from the colonies bankrolled the enlargement of territorial spheres
enjoyed by the empires such as that of the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and the
British.The demise of the empires became inevitable as two successive global
wars ended in a bloody and brutal manners. More and more sovereign countries
came into being and they basically agreed to establish a global order conducive
for humane and prosperous world. The sovereignty of the states as agent of
globalization was later challenged by huge business entities whose capital,

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technology and influences can’t be ignored in the making of modern day
globalization. The global patronage of Multinational Companies in the likes of
Coca-Cola and Mc Donald further entrenched capitalism as an economic system
badly needed by all nation states aspiring to become economically viable and
modernize. The sudden collapse of Communist Regime in Moscow and the
disintegration of USSR clearly showed that Capitalism triumphantly secured a
place in history as the ultimate end of man in the bitter struggle of economic
ideologies.

The advent of technological innovations further spur the march of globalization as

these innovations tear down the barriers most specifically in communication and
information accessibility. Global changes in the near future may also facilitate
globalization in its new height. Based on the book (The Future) written by Al
Gore, 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and former US Vice President, the six
drivers of global changes are as follows:

1. The emergence of deeply interconnected global economy

2. The emergence of planet-wide electronic communication
3. The emergence of a completely new balance of political, economic and military
power
4. The emergence of rapid unsustainable growth
5. The emergence of a revolutionary new set of powerful biological, biochemical,
genetic and materials science technologies
6. The emergence of a radically ecological relationship between human and
Earth’s ecosystem.

DEFINITIONS OF GLOBALIZATION

Globalization became a buzzword in the contemporary era. Political economists

such as Thomas Friedman and Jeffrey Sachs hailed it as a flattener and game
changer. However, several prominent economists such as Joseph Stiglitz voiced
out critical remarks against it. To define globalization is an arduous task given the
affirmative and negative arguments surrounding it. A score of definition on
globalization is stated below:

1. According to Thomas Friedman, author of the celebrated book ‘The World is

Flat,’ globalization is the interweaving of markets, technology, information and
telecommunication systems in a way that is shrinking the world from a size

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medium to a size small, and enabling each of us to reach around the world
farther, faster, deeper, cheaper than ever before.

2. According to Manfred Steger, one of the leading experts on globalization, it

refers to the expansion and intensification of social relations and consciousness
across world time and world space. It is a multi dimensional phenomenon
involving economics, politics, culture, ideology, environment and technology.

3. According to Anthony Giddens, globalization is the intensification of

worldwide social relations linking distant localities in such a way that local
happenings are shaped by events occurring many thousand miles away and vice
versa. Also, Giddens defines the four dimensions of globalization namely; the
world capitalist economy, the nation-state system, world military order, and
industrial development.

4. According to International Monetary Fund (IMF), globalization is refers to

the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly through the
movement of goods, services, and capital across borders. The term sometimes
also refers to the movement of people and knowledge across international
borders.

Indeed, globalization denotes that there is ongoing accelerating economic,

political, and cultural processes that constantly alter our experiences courtesy of
the global environment.

TYPOLOGIES OF GLOBALIZATION

Due to the growing trade developments and various exchanges pursued in the
international arena, globalization can be distinguished into six typologies

1. Economic Globalization- refers to the growing interdependence of global

economies due to the increasing cross border exchange of goods and services,
flow of investment, and rapid diffusion of technology.

Example: Trade agreements pursued by nation-states with regional or global

implication

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2. Political Globalization - refers to the enlargement of global governance
system and international organizations in terms of its influence, power, size and
complexity.

Example: The constant evolution of United Nations

3. Cultural Globalization - refers to the ability of a dominant culture to penetrate

in a unique but localized culture resulting to the possible fusion of these two
cultures.

Example: Globalization of Sports

Globalization of Food Culture

4. Financial Globalization - refers to the interconnection of global financial

system which covers financial investment, monetary exchanges and equity
market.

Example: The sudden collapse of a local stock market may result to global
financial meltdown such as the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997.

5. Technological Globalization - this is made possible due to the innovation

and popularization of technological devices and digital social media platforms
such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

6. Ecological Globalization- refers to the concerted efforts exerted by nations

states and other non state actors across the globe to address the problems and
challenges wrought by global environmental crises such as Climate Change

Example: The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015

METHAPORS OF GLOBALIZATION

1. Flow - it refers to the lifting of barriers and easing of rules governing the
interstates commerce, human flow, and accessibility to communication and
information services.

Main Arguments on flow are as follows:

A. The worth of global trade grew into several folds compared to what it was half
a century ago.

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B. Many people were lifted from poverty coming from the developing economies
such as China, India and other emerging market economies courtesy of the open
market system.
C. Advanced Industrialized Economies welcome the influx of immigrants and
migrant workers which contributed hugely in the GDP growth of their respective
countries.
D. Trade agreements of regional significance but of global impact were
relentlessly pursued paving the way for a system that fosters global cooperation
and prosperity such as EU in Europe, ASEAN in South East Asia, NAFTA in
North America, APEC in the Asia Pacific.
E. More democratize and cheap access to communication services and
information goods with specific reference to the Birth of Internet.

2. Friction - the conflict, disparity, and crisis generated by the open market
system paved the way for the existence of friction as a metaphor of globalization.

Main arguments on friction are as follows:

A. Job Markets in the advanced economies significantly weakened as capitals

suddenly moved to developing economies with cheaper access to labor cost
resulting to the decline of income earned by the Middle Class in the First World.
B. Trade War between US and China
C. Terrorist groups such as Al Khaida and ISIS took advantage of the border-less
world using the available means of technology in sowing public fear.
D. Scandalous income gap between the rich and the middle class (The 1% vs the
99%)
E. Non white people receive racial slur and harassment from people of white skin
in America.
F. Cyberwar as the fifth domain of war.

3. Acceleration - refers to the exponential growth of technological capacity in

furthering a new height of globalization to which human being will co-exist with
intelligent machines which may lead to generation of enormous wealth but with
threat of massive dislocation. Acceleration as a metaphor of globalization also
covers the problem of global population and global warming to which the pacing
of these crises accelerate which continuously threaten extinction of human being
and other species.

Main arguments on acceleration are as follows:

A. The increasing evolution of technology such as the Artificial Intelligence (AI)

B. Creation of new jobs which require new sets of competencies and skills
C. Can intelligent machines outperform human being?

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D. New technologies will require less dependent on petroleum based energy
E. Data security is the main risk
F. Global warming is a clear and present danger which necessitates
extraordinary global cooperation especially that of USA and China.

4. Disruption - Under disruption as metaphor of globalization, start up

innovations are likely to outperform branded products over specific markets they
dominated for long time. Example of which would be Uber, NetFlix, Air Bnb, and
Driverless Car. China is the biggest disruption in the global economic system
having communism as ideology that pervades its political ecosystem but
embraces market capitalism in governing its economic operation

5. Dislocation - Individuals, business organizations, and state economies that

cannot keep pace with global changes due to technological, economic and other
factors will be displaced.

Main arguments on dislocation are as follows:

A. Jobs created during the First, Second and Third Industrial Revolutions will be
replaced by automation unless the labor market will acquire new level of skills
attune to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
B. Small firms will be eaten up by Big Businesses
C. Local Markets are severely affected by the influx of cheap foreign goods as a
result of bilateral or multi-lateral trade agreements.

6. Connectivity - refers to the establishment of infrastructures that enhance

global competitiveness a midst the expanding international market capitalistic
system. Global connectivity has two important dimensions: Hard Infrastructure
which covers the construction of world class airports, bridges, harbors, roads and
the likes, whereas Soft Infrastructure connotes the importance of education
system and efficient internet access.

Main arguments on connectivity are as follows

A. Singapore has the best airport in the World (The Changi Airport)
B. China reveals the revival of Silk Road through One Belt, One Road
C. Countries adjudged with the most innovative and competitive economies have
also the best education systems in the world.

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