Unit 1: The Structures of

Globalization
• This unit will introduce you to the various drivers of globalization process, with
specific focus on economics and politics.
• One must realize that there are big institutions that create a large-scale changes.
• This unit will first trace the emergence of these institutions historically.
• It will then move on to explain how they affect the countries and people today.
• The major learning outcomes of this unit are to:
• Analyze the various contemporary drivers of globalization; and
• Describe the emergence of global economic and political systems.
Lesson 1: What is Globalization?
• Learning outcomes
• At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
• Agree on a working definition of globalization for the course.
• Differentiate the competing conceptions of globalization; and
• Narrate a personal experience of globalization.
A Story: Gio, Latif and the Laksa
• Gio – international affairs student in a university in Cebu City, he obtained funding to join the
school team participating in an international model UN competition in Sydney, Australia.
• At the height of the competition, Gio made plenty of new friends and became particularly close
to Latif from the Malaysian team.
• The two started talking when Latif asked Gio where he was from.
• Upon discovering that Gio was from the Philippines, Latif lit up and declared that he was a big fan
of Filipino actors Jericho Rosales and Kristine Hermosa.
• Gio was pleasantly surprised to learn that Latif had seen every episode of the ABS-CBN telenovela
“Pangako Sayo”. The show had aired on Malaysian TV a few years back and its two stars had
developed a modest following.
• Ashamed that he did not know as much about Malaysia as Latif knew about the Philippines, Gio
asked Latif what his country was like. Latif, he discovered was from a Muslim university in Kuala
Lumpur. Gio asked him what he liked best about living in “KL” and Latif immediately mentioned
the food.
• Latif explained that in Kuala Lumpur, one can find Chinese, Indian and Malay cuisines. He told Gio
that this assortment of foodways was the result of how the British reorganized Malaysian society
during the colonial times. The British did little to change the way of life of the Malays who were
the original residents but brought in Chinese laborers to work in the rubber plantation and tin
mines, and Indians to help manage the bureaucracy and serve as the initial professional core of a
potential middle class. One of the ways that these ethnic groups were identified was though their
foodways.
Gio, Latif and the Laksa (cont.)
• According to Latif, Malaysia eventually became famous for these cuisines which can be found in
the various “hawker centers” across the nation’s cities and towns. These food stands are located
in outdoor food parks where locals and tourists taste the best of Malaysia from nasi lemak to
laksa.
• Gio interrupted Latif and asked, “What is Laksa?” He felt more ashamed at his lack of knowledge.
“Ahhh.. Let me show you what it is and how it is prepared!” replied Latif.
• The next day, Latif took Gio to a Malaysian restaurant a few blocks away from the university. Gio
was surprised to discover that Malaysian food was readily available in Sydney. Having noticed
this, Latif explained to his Filipino friend that, over the years, as more and more Malaysian
students moved to Sydney to study, Malaysian restaurants followed suit. Soon after, they were
catering not only to these students, but to Australia-born “Sydneysiders” as well, whose culinary
tastes were becoming more and more diverse.
• Gio finally had his first taste of laksa- a rice noodle soup in a spicy coconut curry sauce. He found
the flavors intense since like most Filipinos, he was not used to spicy food. However, in deference
to his friends, he persisted and eventually found himself enjoying the hot dish.
• After the meal, Gio and Latif went to a neaby café and ordered “flat whites”- an espresso drink
similar to latte, which is usually served in cafes in Australia and New Zealand. Both knew what flat
whites were since there were Australian-inspired cafes in both Kuala Lumpur and Cebu.
Gio, Latif and the Laksa (cont.)
• The new friends promised to stay in touch after the competition, and added each
other on facebook and Instagram. Over the next two years, they exchanged
emails and posts, congratulated each other for their achievements, and
commented on and liked each other’s photos. Latif sent his mother’s recipe to
Gio and the latter began cooking Malaysian food in his home.
• A few years after graduation, Gio moved to Singapore, joining many other
overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the city-state. The culture was new to him,
but one thing was familiar: the food served in Singapore was no different from
the Malaysian food he had discovered through Latif. He would later learn from
Singaporean colleagues that the island country was once part of the British
colony of Malay and the postwar independent Federation of Malaysia. Singapore,
however, separated from the Federation in August 1965 and became a nation-
state. Today, they may be two distinct countries in this part of the world, but
Singapore and Malaysia still share the same cuisine.
Gio, Latif and the Laksa (cont.)
• After he settled down in his apartment, Gio sought out and found a
favorite laksa stall in Newton Hawker Center. He would spend his
weekends there with friends eating laksa and other.
• One Saturday, while Gio was checking his facebook feed along the very
busy Orchard Road-Singapore’s main commercial road- he noticed that
Latif had just posted something 5 minutes earlier.
• It was a picture from Orchard Road. Surprised but also excited Gio sent
Latif a private message. Latif replied immediately saying that he too had
moved to Singapore and was, at that moment, standing in front a
department store just a few blocks away where Gio was.
• The two friends met up, and after a long hug and quick questions as to
what each was up to, they ducked into a café and renewed their
international friendship by ordering a pair of flat whites.
Global Experiences
• Gio and Latif’s story is fictional but very plausible since it is, in fact, based on the real-life experience of one of
the authors. It was through such friendships that one was able to experience the meaning and impact of
globalization.
• The story shows how globalization operates at multiple, intersecting levels. The spread of Filipino TV into
Malaysia suggests how fast this popular culture has proliferated and criss-crossed all over Asia.
• The Model UN activity that Gio and Latif participated in is an international competition about international
politics. Gio met Latif (a Malaysian involved in the model UN) in Sydney, a global city that derives its wealth and
influence from the global capital that flows through it.
• Sydney is also a metropolis of families of international immigrants or foreigners working in the industries that
also sell their products abroad.
• After the two had gone back in their home countries, Gio and Latif kept in touch through facebook, a global
social networking site that provides instantaneous communication across countries and continents.
• They preserved their friendship online and then rekindled this face-to-face in Singapore, another hub for global
commerce with 40% of the population being classified as “foreign talents”.
• What other hints of globalization did you find in the story?
Some Description
• Our discussion should begin with this intuitive sense that something is happening, and it is not
affecting everyone in the same way.
• Gio’s story is a very privileged way of experiencing global flows, but for other people, the shrinking of
the world may not be as exciting and edifying e.g. sexual and domestic servants in foreign lands.
• Governments that decide to welcome the foreign investments on the belief that they provide jobs
and capital for the country offer public lands as factory or industrial sites. In the process, poor people
living in these lands, also called “urban poor communities” are being evicted by the government.
• The irony is that these people forcibly removed from the “slums” are also labor force sought by
foreign companies. They had to be kicked out of their homes, and then told that they could take an
hour or two of bus travel from their relocated communities back to the “old home” for minimum
wage work.
• Thus, Is globalization good or bad? Is it beneficial or detrimental? First, globalization is a complex
phenomenon that occurs at multiple levels. Second, it is an uneven process that affects people
differently.
Globalization: A Working Definition (cont.)
• Most accounts view globalization as primarily an economic process.
• When a newspaper reports that nationalists are resisting “globalization,” it usually refers to the
integration of the national markets to a wider global market signified by the increased free trade.
• When activists refer to the anti-globalization” movement of the 1990s, they mean resisting the
trade deals among countries facilitated and promoted by global organizations like the World
Trade Organization.
• The best scholarly description of globalization is provided by Manfred Steger who described the
process as “the expansion and intensification of social relations and consciousness across
world-time and across world-space”
• Expansion refers to the creation of new social networks and the multiplications of existing
connections that cut across traditional, political, economic, cultural and geographic boundaries.
• These various connections occur at different levels. Social media for example, establish new
global connections between people while international group of non-governmental organizations
are networks that connect a more specific group – social workers and activists.
• Intensification refers to the expansion, stretching, and acceleration of these networks. Not only
are global connections multiplying but they are also becoming more closely-knit and expanding
their reach. For example, there has always been a strong financial market connecting London and
New York.
 Globalization: A Working Definition (cont.)
• With the advent of electronic trading, the volume of the trade increases exponentially, since traders can now
trade more at higher speeds. The connection is thus accelerating.
• The intensified trading network between London and New York may expand and stretch to cover more and
more cities.
• In 2012 when the monsoon rains flooded much of Bangkok, the Honda plant making some of the critical car
parts temporarily ceased production. This had a strong negative effect on Honda-USA which relied heavily on
the parts being imported.
• Steger notes that globalization processes do not occur merely at an objective, material level but they also
involve the subjective plane of human consciousness. In other words, people begin to feel that the world has
become a smaller place and distance has collapsed from thousands of miles to just a mouse-click away.
• For example, email, social media, global news from internet and cable tv.
• Steger posits that his definition must be differentiated with globalism. If globalization represents many
processes that allow for expansion and intensification of global connections, globalism is a widespread belief
among powerful people that global integration of economic markets is beneficial for everyone.