FINALS REVIEWER The term “Global Cities” is credited to Saskia
Sassen, a sociologist by profession who
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
Module 7 – Global City and Global Divides
As discussed in the previous lessons about
internationalism, the modern world is
shaped by the global economy, global
politics, and global culture. It has created
global cities and now divides the world into
the Global North and the Global South.
Roaming around the City of Iloilo, there are
signs of global interconnectedness. There
are Starbucks and McDonald’s branches in
Iloilo City. They also have branches in New
Delhi, Dubai, Singapore, Melbourne, Tokyo,
and in almost all global cities of the world.
These branches almost look the same with
similar menus, and business operations
worldwide. This sameness represents the
cultural homogenization that is associated
with globalizing the cities of
the world.
Outside the Starbucks and McDonald’s
establishments, there is a difference
between Singapore and Iloilo. In Iloilo, upon
leaving the café and snack house, hungry
looking beggar, or an Aetas in ragged
clothes, and damaged slippers. Across the
streets are dilapidated houses built from
discarded or used surplus plywood and
galvanized iron sheets.
If the branch happens to be near a classy
subdivision, squatters are surely living next
to the wallet territory. Most likely, these
residents are under threat of being soon
evicted or demolished to make a way for a
larger commercial development that will
serve the city’s middle class.
A. Defining the Global City
The Global City is the main physical and
geographical playground of globalizing
forces. It is a place of population
concentration or migration, and the mixing
of different cultures known as cultural
diversity. It represents in many ways the
world in a bounded limited space. It is
associated with the word
“Cosmopolitanism”.
popularized it in 1990. Her concept of global
cities is primarily economic. In her work, she
initially identified three global cities: 1) New
York, 2) London 3) Tokyo. They are the
homes of the world’s top exchange markets
where global investors buy and sell shares in
major global corporations.
Aside from the three global cities
mentioned, there are lots of global cities of
the world, such as: San Francisco, the home
of the most powerful internet companies,
Twitter, Facebook, and Google. Los Angeles
can now compete with the Big Apple’s
cultural influence. Beijing, Shanghai and
Guangshou in China are now the centers of
trade, commerce, and finance. Sydney
and Melbourne in Australia are among the
most livable cities in the world. Paris and
Dubai are also considered global cities.
B. Indicators of Global Cities
The following are the indicators of global
cities:
1. Strong economic power-largest stock
market of the world,
2. Competitive because of its strong market
of the world,
3. Home of many corporate headquarters,
global corporations, and major
international organizations,
4. Plays a critical role in global economic
supply or manufacturing centers of the
world,
5. Busy container ports and airports,
6. Home of culinary trends and cuisines,
7. Many economic and employment
opportunities,
8. Homes of IT programmers and
engineers,
9. Destinations of professional workers and
center of tourism industries,
10. Centers of higher learning, culture, and
intellectual influences,
11. With most efficient, and incorruptible or
honest government,
12. Centers of global authorities and political
influence,
13. Peaceful and livable in terms of
infrastructures, communication
facilities, transportation services, and
security,
14. Home country’s top politicians,
bureaucrats, policy advisor, and wealthy
and famous artist, film makers, and film
making industries,
15. Powerful, influential decision-making
hub.
Other criteria:
• Purchasing power of the citizens,
• Size of the middle class,
• Potential for growth and
development.
C. Starbucks and the Shanties
Global cities create an image of exciting and
fast-moving luxury cars, high and gigantic
structures, well-built well designed modern
buildings, skyscrapers, towers, and luxurious
hotels. Residents adopted a cosmopolitan or
international lifestyle. However, amidst the
global cities, there are visible realities, the
sights of global inequality, poverty, crimes,
violence, and traffic jams. Globalization is
indeed an uneven process, there are gainers
and losers. There are those who benefit from
it, and there are those who are at the
disadvantage. In other words, they are
described as the Starbucks and the Shanties
phenomenon.
The shanty represents the tenacity of the
locals who is not capable to participate in the
cosmopolitan life or culture represented by
Starbucks. Poverty is viewed as backward, it
is not modern, it is not cosmopolitan, and it
is not global. The shanty dwellers do not
participate in consuming the symbols of
global modernity, but its very presence is
already figured out by mechanisms that are
also global in scope. The shanty is a symbol
of globalization as well as Starbucks.
D. Global Divides: Global North and Global
South
The world is divided into two, the Global
North and the Global South. The Global
North is composed of the development
countries of the world and the Global South
are composed of the underdeveloped and
developing countries of the world. Economic
norms apply only to underdeveloped and
developing countries but not to developed
countries.
The Global North is the one financing or
controlling the WB, IMF, and the WTO to
help developing and underdeveloped
countries to stabilized or cure their ailing
individual economies for them to participate
in the integration of global markets. The WB,
IMF, WTO are dominated by economist from
the Global North and the most often cure is
worse than the illness.
The underdeveloped of the Global South
prevents it from being globalized. The
developing countries are forced to accept
liberalization and marketization or to open
its market to globalization. The globalization
of the developing countries is led by the WB,
and IMF. The WTO saddles the developing
economies with debt thus making them
vulnerable to economic shocks. The
liberalization of the economies in the Global
South has caused widespread poverty
and deepened inequality among the poorest
countries of the world. Globalization creates
both prosperity and poverty. It pushes or
forces people and groups to adopt
modernity associated with western culture,
economic capital investment, and dominant
political governance, while other people and
groups are behind, resulting in global
inequality.
E. Brief Summary
In this contemporary world, global economic
integration is not only inevitable, but it is
also expected to happen with the rise of new
technology. The Global South is now
increasingly defining itself against globalism
but they are the center point of global
modernity that divides the world into two. It
has been articulated in various forms of
globalization process that is uneven.
Module 8 – Global Migration
In the global city, human mobility and
migration are usually detected. The local
people daily encounter and engage with a
variety of people including tourists, force people to migrate to other countries
immigrants, and visitors. The where there are abundant available jobs.
result is a “cosmopolitan feel” resulting in Employment mobility has been increasing
cosmopolitan consumption, work, culture, over a period of time especially in English
networking, and “glocal” (global and local) speaking countries like US, and the UK. Some
transnational community relations. people permanently migrate to another
country for political reasons. Such reasons
The high levels of economic enthusiasm and
maybe the change of government
population mobility or migration are signs of
administration leading to discontentment
economic stability. A competitive economy
that hinders their political ambitions.
requires a flexible workforce. Globalization
Such people migrate to another country to
has created a global labor force market that
find peace and solace. Others decide to stay
caused an increase in global mobility and
in the country where they work temporary
migration that has also affected the local
realizing that living in that foster country is
labor markets. There are two kinds of
much better than their own. Most Filipinos
migration:
are petitioned by their family members to
1. Internal Migration. This is the movement migrate from the Philippines to the US,
of people from one area to another area Canada, and UK. Another reasons for
within one country. migration is as refugees. Refugees
2. International Migration. This is the are unable or unwilling nationality,
movement of people from one country membership in a particular activist-social
to another country by crossing borders. group, or differences in political opinions.
There are five groups of international
migration and they are as follows:
B. States Regulate Migration
A. Immigrants move permanently to
Noticeably for the past few decades
another country,
migration movements are becoming
B. Workers who stay in another
beneficial or detrimental to the host or
country for a fixed period(at least 6
destination countries. Being so, the
months) like Overseas Contract
government has to regulate migration for
Workers (OFW’s),
the protection of the economic interest and
C. Illegal Immigrants,
political stability of the nation-state.
D. Migrants who are petitioned by a
The massive migration movements are now
family member
subject to a serious debate about whether
E. Refugees are known as asylum
migrants influence the minds and the beliefs
seekers who are unable or unwilling
of political leaders such as the United States
to return to their
President Donald Trump and UK Prime
places of origin.
Minister Theresa May who changed their
existing pro-immigration and refugee-
A. Reasons for Migration sympathetic policies of the states. On the
other hand, the Philippines President
There are many reasons why people migrate
Rodrigo Duterte is somewhat sympathetic to
from one place to another. Most of these
the refugees in fact there is an increasing
people migrate to another country from
number of refugees coming to the
developing countries like the Philippines,
Philippines. The Harvard Business School
India, Mexico, and China. Many come from
which conducted a survey in 2011 on the
Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Central
impact of immigration concluded that the
Asia. Their countries of destination are the
likelihood and the magnitude of the adverse
United States, West and Middle East
labor market from immigration are
Countries, and countries in Western Europe.
substantially weaker than is perceived. The
The primary reason for migration is
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
economic or employment. The lack of job
Development reported in 2013 that the
opportunities in one’s country would lead or
natives or local citizens still received higher
support as compared to immigrants. The
massive arrival of refugees from Iraq and
Syria to Europe has modesty increased its
GDP. The refugees from the Middle East to
Germany have not affected the social
welfare programs of the government and
had very little impact on wages and
employment albeit, they have provided a
labor force that is needed in Germany.
C. Benefits and Cost of Migration
Localizing the benefits of migration by
Filipinos abroad, the OFWs, immigrants, and
refugees generated $28 billion for the
Philippines in 2014. These remittances
expectedly made significant contributions.
They created small-time businesses,
generated jobs in medium-term industries,
caused home renovations, helped relatives
and friends, accessed new and imported
products, increased buying capacity,
improved health care, sent children and
relatives to college, and it has overall lifted
households out of poverty. As a
consequence of the benefits mentioned
above, the Philippines has lost one-third of
its college graduates to overseas
countries. The process is called “brain drain”.
Fifty-two percent of Filipinos left the country
for work in developed countries and most of
them are degree holders. The loss of Filipino
professional workforce like licensed nurses,
medical technologists, dieticians, or
nutritionists is detrimental to the health care
delivery services of the Philippines.
Considering the fact, that there are
increasing numbers of medical tourists
coming to the Philippines, the government
has to increase the salaries of medical
professionals working in the Philippines.
Since the Philippines has relatively high
population growth, the government has to
encourage Filipino workers to work or
migrate abroad to transform the labor force
into capital. Aside from that, remittances
have a huge impact on the GDP. Thus, the
Philippine government and the
Philippine Overseas Employment Agency
(POEA) are always challenged to protect the
rights of Filipino migrant workers abroad.
Aside from the brain drain syndrome,
migrant workers are victims of human
trafficking, sexual abuse, rape, unfair labor
practice, child abuse, forced labor,
exploitation, and domestic violence. The
government, private sectors, NGO, and
global organizations have to work hand in
hand to arrest these problems.
D. Integration
Migrant workers have to adapt to the new
environment of the host countries. Working
overseas may be exciting but it has its own
worst nightmares. The first-time migrant
workers suffer disorientation caused by
totally different surroundings, strange
peoples, building structures, climate, food,
and culture. Such dilemma can be relieved
with the help of local fellow citizens that
serve as a safety nest from anxiety and fears.
The local fellow citizens will bridge the
integration processes and later on the
migrant workers will soon assimilate with
the citizens or residents of the host
countries.
It is the primary task of sending countries to
conduct orientation and training seminars
for migrant workers before sending them
overseas. It is necessary to highlight the
importance of the integration processes of
working abroad. They must be briefed on the
culture of the countries, kinds of
government, restrictions, and the like.
E. Brief Summary
Migration like globalization creates an
uneven process. Some migrants are
successful while others are not. It has many
differences and contradictory responses;
some migrants consider their experiences as
liberating, many highly educated
professional migrant workers discover it
to be financially rewarding, while others are
victims of abuses.
On the other hand, governments benefit
from the remittances of migrant workers
significantly, including the GDP. Developed
countries need workers from developing
countries that have an abundant labor force
for skilled workers for jobs that their local
workers reject. Americans prefer to work as
unskilled workers. So they willingly hire
Filipinos to do the dirty skilled jobs, such as;
housekeeping, caretaking, gardening, and
the like. Germany and Japan have older
populations thus, they need migrant workers
both skilled and unskilled to work in
their countries to boost their economies and
maintain their stability. Despite these
benefits, there are still countries that are
protectionists or those who believe that
allowing migrant workers may bring misery
to their economy and or may carry foreign
culture into their country.
In effect, global migration will remain to be
one of the major issues in this contemporary
world. The Philippine economy is dependent
on remittances abroad and with its abundant
labor force will continue to send workers
overseas. This phenomenon transforms
human resource a capital.
Module 9 – Environment Crisis and
Sustainable Development
Nowadays, living in the metropolis is
becoming unsafe not just from robbers, hold
uppers, and snatchers but also from
environmental hazards due to pollution,
climate change, and global warming. By the
time you step out of your house, you will be
susceptible to all kinds of harmful elements
surrounding you. The uncollected garbage.
Clogged drainage, plastic everywhere. Foul
smells, congested traffic, and air pollution
are dangerous to your health that makes you
more vulnerable to illness and disease.
These environmental hazards are indications
of an environmental crisis.
The main reason for this current problem is
the inability of modern societies to cause
stability and sustainability. Human beings
are ineffectual to maintain a cleaner and
greener environment, regular cleanliness of
the surroundings, checking of the drainage
system, and daily garbage collection. They
are not socially conscious of their
responsibility to maintain a healthy
environment. This is a profound breakdown
of the foundations of modern mechanisms
to create healthy living conditions. The
deterioration of the environment has greatly
destabilized the population and the human
species is leading to an ecological
catastrophe.
A. World’s leading Environment Problems:
1. Pollution
Pollution can be caused by natural changes
like volcanic eruption and can be caused by
humans like improper waste disposal.
Pollution is one of the most devastating
effects of development and is a consequence
of modernity. Overpopulation is one of the
causes of pollution. Populated areas are the
most polluted ones. The health conditions of
humans are compromised because of severe
pollution in the air and water. The most
affected by these pollution problems are the
poor, and developing countries. Their low
income and poverty already put them at a
disadvantage by not having enough
resources to meet their healthcare needs.
And as for the developing countries, they
have sacrificed their healthy environment
for development and modernity. Most of the
poor in developing countries are
manufacturers of hazardous products
financed and owned by developed countries.
In Metro Manila, many people are living in
slum areas, where the devastating effects of
environmental problems are high due to
their polluted location, poor waste disposal
system, weak disaster management, and
deprived households. This unhealthy
environment worsens poverty, increases
their vulnerability to illness and disease may
exclude them from economic growth. The
increase in production output needs a
healthy workforce. One of the ironies of
urban pollution is that the necessities of the
poor are also the source of the problem. The
poor are provided with public transportation
which is run mainly on diesel fuel. Diesel fuel
is now considered one of the largest
contributors to environmental pollution
problems worldwide. This problem is
escalating and it is expected to worsen
especially now that more cars are available,
affordable, and needed at this time.
2. Climate Change
Over the past decades, the climate has
changed drastically due to the
environmental problems of pollution and
overpopulation. It has affected the
dimensions of food security. Which are:
availability, accessibility, utilization, and
stability. This simply means that climate
change has an impact on human health,
livelihood assets, food production, and
distribution channels. It includes the impact
on purchasing power and market flows.
Studies revealed that the impacts of climate
change vary from place and it is uneven
across regions.
The geographical location of most poor and
developing that are dependent on
agriculture as their source of income and
livelihood will bring them the higher cost and
few benefits. Agriculture is highly sensitive
to climate change and food production is
affected directly by variations in
agroecological conditions for growing crops.
In many developing countries, the
availability of agricultural resources are
threatened by widespread environmental
degradation. Such include water and air
pollution from manufacturing and mining
industries, and large-scale illegal logging and
deforestation.
3. Global Warming
Global warming is the result of billion of tons
of carbon dioxide coming from
transportation emissions, coal-burning
power plants, air pollution, and other gases
accumulating in the atmosphere. These
pollutions entrap the radiation from the sun
causing the warming of the earth’s surface.
It is now a fact that the global temperature
has risen dramatically in the last 50 years and
continues to rise despite the many efforts to
slow down global warming.
In 1997, the Kyoto protocol was formed and
signed by 192 countries. The primary goal is
to reduce greenhouse gases. In 2010, the WB
reported that such an agreement had a slight
impact on reducing global mission because
of the non-binding nature of the agreement.
Although the Kyoto protocol set its target,
still the individual countries had to
determine the best way to achieve its goal.
In 2015, the Paris Accord was negotiated by
195 countries purposely to limit the increase
in the global average temperature based on
the recommended target goal. The Paris
accord has predetermined the carbon
dioxide emission limits per country.
Today nation-states are challenged to
mitigate the effect of global warming
through legislation, partnership with NGOs’
social movements, education by the
academe, and empowering local
communities to actively participate.
B. Sustainable Development, Sustainable,
and stability
Development is a result of the multi-faced
process of globalization.
Sustainable in itself is a development that
satisfies the needs of the present generation
without compromising the capacity of the
future, assuring the balance between
economic growth, conserving the
environment, and social well-being.
Sustainable development is the organizing
principle for meeting human development
goals which at the same time sustain the
ability of natural systems to provide the
natural resources and ecosystem required
for human existence.
The concept of sustainable development
which came out in the 1980s brought about
by global catastrophic maladies, such as the
destruction of the ozone layer,
environmental degradation, shortage of
food supply, continuous drastic increase of
prices, and wars. When the concept
appeared it warned of the negative
environmental consequences of economic
growth and globalization which has tried to
find solutions to the problems caused by
industrialization and overpopulation growth.
There are three areas to attain sustainable
development and they are as follows:
1. Economic Sustainability. This focuses on
equal economic growth that generates
wealth for all without harming the
environment. Economic investments and
 equal distribution of resources will
strengthen sustainable development.
2. Environment Sustainability, this
concentrates on preventing natural
resources from being used and
exhausted. It ensures the protection of
natural resources by asserting the
conservation of the environment,
investing in renewable energies, water
conservation, sustainable mobility, and
innovating in construction and
architecture.
3. Social Sustainability. This refers to
sustainability that can foster the
development of people, communities,
and cultures to help achieve a
reasonable and fairly distributed quality
of life, health care, and education across
the world. It focuses on the fight for
gender equality, the rights of women,
and fair labor practices. And family
planning.
The United Nations approved the 2030
Agenda which contains the Sustainable
Development Goals. it is a call for action to
end poverty, protect the planet, and
guarantee the global well-being of people
across the planet.
Its specific goals are:
1. Eradicate poverty and hunger, and
guarantee a healthy life:
2. Universalize access to basic services
such as water, sanitation, and
sustainable energy;
3. Support the generation of
development opportunities;
4. Foster innovation and resilient
infrastructures, creating
communities and cities able to
produce and consume sustainably;
5. Reduce inequality in the world,
especially concerning gender
equality in terms of opportunities.
6. Care for the environment by
combating climate change, and
protecting the oceans and land
ecosystem; and
7. Promote collaboration between
different social agents to create an
environment of peace and
sustainable development.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
call for a concerted action worldwide to end
poverty, protect the planet and ensure that
all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The
17 Goals address wide-ranging areas, such as
poverty, health, education, climate and
others.
The SDGs are universal, involving both
developing and developed countries in the
same manner. Leave No One Behind is the
central overarching principle of the SDGs,
indicating that progress should be for all
people and all regions, especially vulnerable
groups, such as migrants, the poor, people
with disabilities, and children and youth.
The achievement of these sustainable goals
will lead to economic prosperity which is
associated with the term economic
“stability”. It means that the economic
condition is relaxed. Neither heading
towards boom or towards depression. In
other words, extreme bubbles of economic
activity must be calmed down before the
burst, considering the fact that fluctuations
in the business cycle are unavoidable. An
intellectual stabilization policy could
mitigate such without
changing significantly the long trends of
economic growth.
C. Global Food Security
Everybody needs food and it is a primary
need for survival. It must be the priority of all
countries whether developed. It must be
considered that it is not only about food and
feeding people but it also encompasses all
dimensional aspects of the economy,
governance, and society. Undeniably, it is
the United States leading the international
efforts to address the need of the level, by promoting sustainability
people for reliable and safe sources of development. The world is now increasingly
quality food. It aims to ensure that every vulnerable to environmental degradation,
nation has the ability to feed its population and all humans are enjoined to participate to
adequate amounts of nutritional foods. And achieve the desired goals to combat global
to assure food security, agriculture must also environmental problems.
be sustainable. Added to that, the following
causes must be addressed:
1. population growth
2. changing taste
3. climate change
4. water security, and
5. troubled framers.
Access to safe, quality, and nutritious food is
fundamental to human existence. Secure
availability of foods has positive impacts on
1.) economic growth and job creation, 2.)
poverty reduction. 3.) trade opportunities,
4.) increase global security and stability, and
5.) improved health and health care:
The National Institute of Food and
Agriculture (NIFA) supports global efforts to
strengthen agricultural production and end
hunger by adopting these global goals”:
1. Helping countries to improve their
agriculture markets and increase
food production;
2. Funding research to heighten disease
resistance in beans and increase crop
production;
3. Collaborating with UN and other
agencies on global initiatives
including the breaking the cycle of
hunger and poverty;
4. Developing and testing new food
products designed to improve
nutritional values of the food aid that
is delivered overseas;
5. Strengthening developing countries
extension system; and
6. Helping developing countries to
improve their agricultural
economies.

D. Brief Summary
There are many devastating challenges
encountered by humans today attributed to
globalization such as climate change, water,
and food scarcity, economic inequality, and
hunger that can only be resolved at a global