GLOBAL POLITICS,

GOVERNANCE, AND THE

GLOBALIZATION IN THE ASIA-
PACIFIC AND SOUTH ASIA

GECC 107 | THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

“FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS”
OUTDATED AND INACCURATE?

• There are more than 100 countries that fit the label of “Third World”, but they have vastly
different levels of economic stability.

• NOWADAYS, social scientists sort countries into groups based on their specific levels of
economic productivity. HOW? Through GDP – total output of a country, GNI – GDP per
capita
THE GLOBAL
DIVIDE
RACIAL INEQUALITY

• RITZER (2015)

“At the global level, whites are disproportionately in the dominant North, while blacks are
primarily in the south; although this is changing with the South-to-North migration.”
THE GLOBAL DIVIDE

• the manifestations of CULTURAL HOMOGENIZATION – being QUESTIONED

e.g. Starbucks branches in Melbourne, Manila, New York and New Delhi

• how globalization affects people by geography: ENVIRONMENT where GLOBAL

CORPORATIONS are located
(Recall interrelated factors of globalization: proximity, location and attitude)
THE GLOBAL SOUTH
• Common Manifestations:
children begging on the streets
sidewalk vendors selling on the streets
bag snatchers and other vagabonds
newly built condo, big shopping malls, corporate buildings with a shantytown background
where houses are built from discard plywood and galvanized iron sheets
poor sanitation, healthcare and foul smell
poor family members are unemployed or employed in the informal sector
security and safety is under question (usually casualties of fire; Catriona Gray as a
politician: I work a lot in the slums of Tondo, Manila)
always under threat of being evicted or having their shanties demolished for a large
commercial development
THE GLOBAL DIVIDE

• The DIVIDE tells us that globalization had created INEQUALITY.

• While cities in the south have the amenities of McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and
people in the south also watches NBA games and turn on the CNN, the form of globalization is
UNEVEN.
GLOBAL
INEQUALITY AND
THE FUTURE
SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION

• This is a process in which people are set apart for different treatment by virtue of their statuses,
roles and other social characteristics.

• It sets the stage for social inequality, which is a condition in which people have unequal access
to wealth, power and prestige.

• This description fits most of the citizens in the global south.

GLOBAL SOCIAL HIERARCHY

• There are nearly 200 nations in the world, in which some have much greater wealth, power and
prestige than others.

• Today, the welfare and life chances of billions of people depend not only on where they fit in
their nation’s class system, but also where their nation ranks in the GLOBAL SYSTEM OF
STRATIFICATION
MODERN WORLD-SYSTEMS THEORY
BY IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN
• Based on the factors such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, import-export ratios,
quality of life, and the relative strength of military and state institutions, the nations of the
world can be divided into three major strata:
CORE
SEMI-PERIPHERY
PERIPHERY

• Beeghley: boundaries among nation-states in each of the three strata are “semipermeable”
THE CORE (UPPER CLASS)

• They receive disproportionate share of the world’s wealth and surplus production.

• Advanced industrial or postindustrial economies: GLOBAL NORTH (United States, Germany,

France, Australia, United Kingdom, France, the Scandinavia etc.)

• They are also the primary base of the world’s banks and investment firms and of 300 or so
giant transnational corporations whose combined assets comprise “roughly a quarter of the
productive assets in the world” (Barnet and Cavanaugh, 1994)
THE SEMI-PERIPHERY (MIDDLE
CLASS)
• They are moving toward industrialization and a diversified economy, and their moderately
strong governments give them a share of the surplus and some leverage in their dealings with
the core nations (Chirot, 1997)

• Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Taiwan

THE PERIPHERY (LOWER AND
WORKING CLASSES)

• They are poor and powerless and derive minimal benefits from their participation in the world
economy. e.g. Haiti, Bangladesh and Ethiopia

• Transnational corporations, such as Exxon, Siemens and Toyota, provide poor countries with
scarce capital, new technology, management skills and products that are essential for rapid
growth (Sowell, 2003)
THE PERIPHERY (LOWER AND
WORKING CLASSES)
• Although transnationals do reinvest some profits locally, a large share of the profits goes to the
core nations.

• Land that could have been used to meet people’s subsistence need is diverted from domestic
use to the production of agricultural exports.

• Because of intensive advertisements that are invested by the core’s companies such as baby
formula, cigarettes and soft drinks, new and more costly needs are created that only core
nations can fulfill (Kerbo, 2001)
REASONS FOR ANALYZING STATES
AND INTERSTATES INEQUALITIES
1. DE-COLONIZATION PROCESS – the realization that the likelihood of being poor is higher
for people who live in states now considered associated with the global south in regions like
Asia, Africa, and the Middle East

2. STATE-LEVEL SOLUTION ORIENTED APPROACH – the global environment crisis is a

reflection of interstate inequality

3. TRANSNATIONAL PHENOMENA ARE RESULTS OF STATE POLICIES – acts of

deterritorialization such as labor migration need to be placed in the context of the state
A CALL FOR STATE ACTIVISM
IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH
COLONIALISM: HOW
THE GLOBAL SOUTH
RESPONDED
C L A S S I F I C AT I O N S O F R E S P O N S E
1. SOLIDARITY

• Contemporary conceptions of the global south are FUELED by the NOTION OF

SOLIDARITY among colonized states – ANARCHIST AND ANTI-COLONIAL IDEAS
2. SOCIALIST INTERNATIONALISM

• union of socialist parties – SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

• They try to attack the exploitative interactions between core and peripheral economies.
3. DECOLONIZATION

• United Nations paved the way for granting independence of over 80 ex-colonies countries.

• International law ceased to formally divide the world into civilized and uncivilized nations.

• Enshrinement of the principles of self-determination, postcolonial nationalisms

4. THE EMERGENCE OF THE THIRD
WORLD COUNTRIES
• What united the countries of the Third World was not a common identity or culture, but it
began as a common resistance to new forms of colonialism

• Outdated and inaccurate

• Involvement of Third World countries in the development practice of First World countries.
E.g. US-Bangladesh relations
5. THE EMERGENCE OF CONSERVATIVE ANTI-
WESTERN NATIONALISM AND REGIONALISM

• Berger (2004):

“I take the view that the notion of a Third World, even in a limited or reinvented form, is
intellectually and conceptually brankrupt, while politically Third Worldism has already lost any
relevance or legitimacy it once had. Challenging neoliberal globalization and post-cold war
capitalism means moving beyond territorial politics of nation-states – a politics to which the
Third Worldism is inextricably connected.”
THE ASIA-
PACIFIC REGION
THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

• In addition to differences in language and culture, the variation among states and peoples in
this region is enormous.

• The countries in this region also vary widely according to geography, political systems,
historical experience, and broad demographic characteristics.

• ECONOMIC GROWTH || POVERTY, HUNGER, HIV/AIDS, GENDER INEQUALITY AND

OTHER SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
WHY GLOBAL POWRS ARE FOCUSED
ON ASIA-PACIFIC AND SOUTH ASIA
1. The Asia-Pacific and South Asia had emerged over the past decade as a new political force in
the world. This is due to the robust economic growth in China and India and the strategic
implications that this brings to regional and global players.

2. Japan still remains a relevant though declining force in the region and the world, and other
countries including the Koreas, Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan all have economic and
strategic relevance in today’s global system.
EFFECTS OF
GLOBALIZATION
IN THE REGION
THREE PERSPECTIVES
THE EXTERNAL PHENOMENON

• From this perspective, globalization can be understood as a process that transforms the Asia-
Pacific and South Asia.

• On one hand, it can be seen as a force for good signs for bringing economic development,
political progress, and social and cultural diversity to the region.

• Others see the darker effects of globalization including its role in economic development and
the uprooting of local tradition and culture.
THE REGION AS MORE OF AN AUTONOMOUS AGENT
SERVING AS AN ENGINE FOR GLOBALIZATION

• This view shows important ways in which the region is also influencing and transforming the
nature of globalization itself.

• Historically, many scholars now argue that the early history of Asia has led the global economy
only “falling behind” from the 18th century.

• Reid (1988) notes that the Europeans did not create the spice trade.
THE ANTI-GLOBAL IMPULSE: REGIONAL
ALTERNATIVES TO GLOBALIZATION
• The relationship of Asia-Pacific and South Asia to globalization is a regional alternative to
globalization.

• The arguments from this perspective see the region as a source of resistance to globalization or
to Western powers.