The Contemporary World 2020

UNIT III THE WORLD OF REGIONS

Coverage: Weeks 6, 7 and 8

Duration: 9 hours

Global Divides: The North and the South (4.5 hours; week 6 and 7)
Asian Regionalism (4.5 hours; week 7 and 8)
Learning Objectives: After studying the unit, the students should be able to:

define the term Global South

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

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

Global Divides: The North and the South (focus: Latin America)
Global South refers to the regions of Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania
mostly low- income and often politically or culturally marginalized. It may also be called
the "developing World" such as Africa, Latin America, and the developing countries in
Asia, "developing countries," "less developed countries," and "less developed regions”
(122)
including poorer "southern" regions of wealthy "northern" countries (123).
In general, Global South refers to these countries' "interconnected histories of
colonialism, neo-imperialism, and differential economic and social change through which
large inequalities in living standards, life expectancy, and access to resources are
maintained (124). Contemporary critics of neo-liberal globalization use the global south as
a banner to rally countries victimized by the violent economic cures of institutions like the
International Monetary Fund.

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Three Primary Concepts of Global South

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

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

phrase "Third World" arose during the Cold War to identify countries whose views did not
align with NATO and capitalism or the Soviet Union and communism. The First World
described countries whose views aligned with NATO and capitalism, and the Second
World referred to countries that supported communism and the Soviet Union
(125a).

Third World countries are largely characterized as poor and underdeveloped. In

these countries, low levels of education, poor infrastructure, improper sanitation and poor
access to health care mean living conditions are seen as inferior to those in the world's
more developed nations. As a result, the terms Third World country and developing nation
have become increasingly interchangeable in recent decades (126b).

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

and means to account for subjugated peoples within the borders of wealthier countries,
such that there are economic Souths in the geographic North and Norths in the geographic
South.

3. It refers to the resistant imaginary of a transnational political subject that results from
a shared experience of subjugation under contemporary global capitalism.

The global South is not a directional designation or a point due south from a fixed
north. It is a symbolic designation meant to capture the semblance of cohesion that
emerged when former colonial entities engaged in political projects of decolonization and
moved toward the realization of a post- colonial international order (126).
The process of globalization places into question geographically bound
conceptions of poverty and inequality. The increase and intensification of global flows
spread both poverty and affluence. Spaces of underdevelopment in developed countries
may mirror the poverty of the global south, and spaces of affluence mirror those of the
global north (127).
The strongest vehicle for social redistribution and the main mechanism for social
transfer is the state. The redistributative function of the state becomes crucial in the
context of economic globalization where the goal of neo-liberal economists and institutions
is precisely to dismantle local state oversight (128).

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

New Internationalism in the Global South

The ills of the global south are being globalized. Underdeveloped states of the
global south are ravaged by merciless IMF policies in the 1980’s. The economic
prescriptions of the IMF as cures are recommended for countries in the global south. Other
countries like Greece realize the similarity of problems in the global south that inspirations
were drawn from poorer nations. The global south has provided model of resistance for
the world like Gandhi’s non-violence that initially directed at colonial authority in India is
now part of global protest culture, as well as benefits of critiques of international financial
institutions from the experiences and writings of intellectuals and activists from the global
south.
A similar globalization of the south’s concern is arising from the issue about global
environment. Amidst the existential threat of climate change the most radical notions of
climate justice are being articulated in the global south. As global problems increase, it is
necessary for people in the north to support people from the south.
As a symbol and metaphor, global south is not only relevant for those who live in
countries traditionally associated with it. The global in global south does not only mean
that the south is the globe but also signifies that the south continues to be globalized. The
global south while embedded in specific geographic imaginaries, represents emergent
forms of progressive cosmopolitanism. It is always emergent and provisional
internationalism.