The Contemporary
World
Lesson 1: Introduction to the
Contemporary World
The Relevance of this Course
 Major themes in the study of the world while
providing opportunities for you to connect this
knowledgge with your experiences as a Filipino
student.
 Studying the outside world is a cure to
parochialism or an outlook that is limited to
one’s immediate community.
 Parochial- A person who is concerned only with
his/her family , village or even country.
 Our national hero, Jose Rizal said that anyone
who has learned about the world will be
haunted by the “Ghost of comparisons”
 Filipinos are increasingly becoming aware of
this interedependence. You cannot avoid
globalization so you might as well study it.
Interdependence refers to two or more countries
that impact and rely on each other.
Globalization is the economic, social and political
interaction and integration of people in different
areas of the world.
Lesson 2: Concepts of Globalization
 Globalization plays a vital role in the economic
system of the world.
 The world economy which is set to be a system
of being globalized.
 It involves of spreading ideas, practices and
technologies.
 It is connectivity across the entire world of the
economic and cultural life that increased
throughout the centuries.
Definition of Terms:
Cultural Imperialism - is a conviction that there is a
better culture.
Globalism - is a widespread belief among power
people that the global integration of economic
markets is beneficial for everyone since it spreads
freedom and democracy across the world.
Globalization - is the expansion and intensification of
social relations and consciousness across world time
and world space.
Globality - is a future social condition characaterized
by thick economic, political and cultural
interconnections and global flows that make
currently existing political borders and economics
irrelevant.
Global Village - is a concept explaining that through
globalization and communication technology the
world has become borderless.
Globality:
Globalization as condition:
 Future social condition is characterized by thick
economic, politics and cultural interconnections
and global flows that make currently existing
political borders and economic barriers
irrelevant.
Globalism:
Steger (2014b) claimed that globalization is an
ideology.
Appadurai’s (1996) five dimensions of global cultural
flow:
1. Ethnoscope - is a global movement of people
2. Mediascope - is flow of culture
3. Technoscape - is a circulation of mechanical goods
and software.
4. Financescape - is the global circulation of money.
5. Ideoscape - is the realm of political ideas and the
windows into the broader phenomenon of the
globalization.
Economic experts:
 Fast speed of trade ( importing and exporting
are done in just a millsecond through a
technology);
 Global economic organizations international
Monetary Fund ( IMF), World Bank (WB),
World Trade Organization ( WTO),
International Labor Organization (ILO) ,
ASEAN, etc.
 Multinational an transnational corporations.
 Free trade ( governments not to restrict the
importation of products and the exportation
of local products)
Culture experts:
Globalization means:
 Establishment “global village ( media, Facebook
has connected on the world);
 “shrinking world” (breaking culture-borderless
world ;
 Adoption of the other cultures. (KPOP)
Political Science Expert:
Globalization serves as a challenge to the nation -
state.
 Strengthening of regional blocks (ASEAN( (UN);
 Emergence of global political norms (the norm
that each country is entitled to the expoliation
of human resources for its own growth );
 International laws (conflicts); and world
governance.
Four Attributes of Globalization:
1. Globalization occurs worldwide
2. Intensification and acceleration of social exchange
activities.
3. Expansion and stretching of social relations
4. Various forms of connectivity
A. Globalization occurs worldwide.
Every person is a global citizen because he thinks
about the issues of the world.
 Think about the world
 Associate ourselves with global trends.
 Sense of responsibilities
B. Globalization intensification and acceleration of
social exchanges and activities.
 Doot to door mail delivery
 Live TV telecast
 Travel capacities brought about by low airfaces
C. Globalization expansion and stretching social
relations.
 Regional and international non- governmental
organizations (NGOs) and humanitarian
institutions.
 Government associations
 Multinational companies
D. Globalization has various forms of connectivity.
 They are diverse. (economic , political and
cultural)
Lesson 3: The Structures of
Globalization
Economic globalization is the expanding
interdependence of world economies.
Global corporations are companies expanded outside
their home countries.
Global Governance is the totality of norms, laws ,
policies and bodies that defines comprise and
facilitate transnational relations between citizens ,
states , cultures , intergovernmental and non
governmental organizations.
Globalism is an attitude that seeks to understand all
the interconnections of the modern world and to
highlight the patterns that underlie them.
Global Interstate System seeks to form collaboration
among nation states through the establishment of
intergovernmental organizations.
Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) are
facilitators of connections among nation-states.
Internationalism is a practice of interdependent
collaboration.
Nation-state is a political community that emanates
from civic society to legitimately execute peace.
ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION
 Steger's (2014) definition of globalization as
the expansion and intensification of social
relations and consciousness across world time
and space implies that there are various forms
of connectivity.
 (Shangquan 2000) attributes this to the
growing scale of cross-border trade
commodities and services, flow of
international capital, and wide and rapid
spread of technology.
In 2008, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
defined economic globalization as a historical
process, the result of human innovation and
technological progress. "It refers to the services
increasing integration of economies around the
world, particularly through the movement of goods,
and capital across borders.
Benczes (2014) identifies four interconnected
dimensions of economy namely:
(1) globalization of trade and goods and services;
(2) globalization of financial and capital markets;
(3) globalization of technology and communication;
and
(4) globalization of production.
ACTORS THAT FACILITATE ECONOMIC
GLOBALIZATION
 Boyer and Drache (1996) stated that the role of
nation- states as manager of the national
economy is being redefined by globalization.
Although such is the case, nation-states still act
as buffer to negative effects of globalization.
 In support, Brodie (1996) calls the government
as the "midwives" of globalization. It means
that nation-states are still relevant despite
assuming a global perspective and act as
mediators between the effects of globalization
and the national economy.
 On the other hand, some experts claim that the
actors are now the global corporations.
Ohmae (1995) argues that the nation-state has
ceased to exist as the primary economic
organization unit in the global market.
 The establishment of an international
monetary system (IMS) is one of the actors
that facilitate economic globalization. IMS
refers to internationally agreed rules,
conventions, and institutions for facilitating
international trade, investments and flow of
capital among nation-states.
MARKET INTEGRATION
 Role of international financial institutions in the
creation of a global economy
 After the second world war, almost all countries
around the world faced the great challenge of
bringing their feet back on the ground. As a
substitute to the unsuccessful League of
Nations, the United Nations (UN) was
established on October 24, 1945. Primarily, it
was tasked to promote international
cooperation and to restore international order.
 In the 1960s, regional development banks
were established: the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) in 1960 and the African
 Development Bank (AfDB) in 1964. These two
are intergovernmental financial institutions that
were created to spur social progress and
economic growth in order to address and
reduce poverty. As financial institutions, ADB
and AfDB are anchored on the goal of fostering
sustainable development in their respective
member countries.

 Both intergovernmental and private financial

institutions help facilitate the functionality of
a global economy by lending money to their
member states and global corporations. For
example, the World Bank helps in project
lending, establishes structural reforms, provides
support and technical assistance, and helps
design modern and durable social safety nets
for the benefit of both developed and
developing nations (Stiglitz, 1998).

History of global market integration in the 20th

century
Global market integration did not happen overnight.
It was the result of the establishment of a global
economy that involved the homogenization of trade
and commerce. Prior to trends in globalization of the
20th century, international trade and exchange of
goods and services were already practiced.

American corporations operating internationally

were at a great advantage after the war for they had
no competition. They had the capacity to produce,
organize, and distribute products because America
was not devastated by the war. Literatures officially
traced the start of the contemporary market
integration from the return of the Japanese and
European corporations to the global market.

Attributes of Global Corporation

The ascent of global corporations is a reflection of a
globalized market integration. TNCs and MNCs are
no longer limited to their home countries. They are
able to expand their reach to other continents and
countries.

These global corporations have common attributes.

Neubauer (2014) identifies three of them- an agent
of desired economic development, an economic
prominence, and a very powerful entity that can
create a crisis.