The World of Regions

Republic of the Philippines
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

The National Engineering University
Alangilan Campus
Golden Country Homes, Alangilan Batangas City, Batangas, Philippines 4200
Tel Nos.: (+63 43) 425-0139 local 2121 / 2221
E-mail Address: ceafa@g.batstate-u.edu.ph | Website Address: http://www.batstate-u.edu.ph
College of Engineering - Department of Mechanical Engineering
THE WORLD OF REGIONS
THE GLOBAL DIVIDES

➢ The Global divides is “not strictly geographical”. The concept, Global North and Global
South, is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political
characteristics.
➢ Global North refers to countries with the highest level of development and
industrialization. These nations are highly industrialized, have political and economic
stability and have high levels of human health. They are also called developed countries
(Australia, Canada, Europe, Russia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea,
Taiwan and the United States.)
➢ Global South refers to countries that’s mostly low-income, often politically or culturally
marginalized and having interconnected histories of colonialism, neo-imperialism, and
different economic and social change through which large inequalities in living standards,
life expectancy, and access to resources emerge. They are also called developing
countries (Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Pacific Islands, and the developing
countries in Asia, including the Middle East).
➢ The global South is not a directional designation or a point due south from a fixed north
but a symbolic designation meant to capture the semblance of interconnection that
emerged when former colonial entities engaged in political schemes of decolonization and
moved toward the realization of a post-colonial international order.
The Primary Concepts of Global South
1. It refers to economically disadvantaged countries and as a post-cold war alternative to

“Third World”.
2. It captures a deterritorialized geography of capitalism’s externalities and means to

account for subjugated peoples within the borders of wealthier countries, (there are
economic Souths in the geographic North and Norths in the geographic South).
3. It refers to the resistant imagery of a transnational political subject that results from a
shared experience of subjugation under contemporary global capitalism.
New Internationalism in the Global South
➢ Internationalism
 System of heightened interaction between various sovereign states, particularly the
desire for greater cooperation and unity among states and people.
 Principle of cooperation among states, for the promotion of their common good.
➢ Types of Internationalism
 Liberal Internationalism: cooperation among the state is inevitable for achieving
common goals in the world.
 Revolutionary Internationalism: conflicts within the societies are determined by
international factors.
 Hegemonic Internationalism: world is being integrated based on unequal term with
the dominance of one state over the other.
➢ The ill of the global south is 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. The global south has
provided model of resistance like 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.
ASIAN REGIONALISM
Regionalism
➢ Regionalism is an expression of a common sense of identity and purpose combined with
the creation and implementation of institutions that express a particular identity and
shape collective action within a geographical region.
➢ Edward D Mansfield and Helen Milner
 Regions are “a group of countries located in the same geographically specified area”
organized to regulate and “oversee flows and policy choices.”
 Regionalization and regionalism should not be interchanged. Regionalization refers
to “regional concentration of economic flows” while regionalism is a “political
process characterized by economic policy cooperation and coordination among
countries”
Views of Globalization in the Asia Pacific and South Asia

➢ The Asia Pacific and South Asia refer to the regions of East (Northeast) Asia, South Asia,
the Pacific Islands, and South East Asia.
➢ It includes some of the world’s most economically developed states such as Japan, South
Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan, and highly impoverished countries such as Cambodia,
Laos, and Nepal. It also includes the largest and most populous states like China and
India and some of the world’s smallest states such as the Maldives and Bhutan.
➢ The Asia and South Pacific has emerged over the past decade as a new force in the world.
The economies of Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan have strategic
relevance in today’s global system.
➢ A foreign policy shift called “Pacific Pivot” was implemented by the United States to
commit more resources and attention to the region. This shift which is also called “Atlantic
Century” was termed “Pacific Century” by US Secretary of States Hilary Clinton. She
stated that the Asia Pacific has become a key driver of global politics. It is the home to
several key allies and important emerging powers like China, India, and Indonesia.
➢ Globalization in the Asia Pacific and South Asia is a phenomenon being pushed into the
region by world powers like US and Europe. It can be viewed as a force bringing economic
development, political progress, and social and cultural diversity.
Asia Pacific and South Asia’s Impact on Globalization
➢ Asia was the central global force in the early modern world economy. It was the site of
the most important trade routes and in some places more advanced in technology than
West such as science and medicine. The following are the Asia Pacific and South Asia’s
impact on globalization:
 Japan embarked on procuring raw materials like coal and iron at unprecedented scale
allowing them to gain a competitive edge in the global manufacturing market as well
as globalized shipping and procurement patterns which other countries modeled.
 China pursues similar pattern of development at present and is now the world’s
largest importers of basic raw materials such as iron and surpassed Japan, the US
and Europe in steel production. It also surpassed the World bank in lending to
developing countries. It had an enormous impact on the availability and consumption
of goods around the world.
 India opened-up and emphasized an export-oriented strategy. Textiles and low wage
sectors have been a key part of the economy with highly successful software
development exports. It also plays a key role in global service provisions as trends
in outsourcing.
 India and China have also become a major source of international migrant labor. This
includes the migration of highly skilled labor into the high-tech industry based in
Silicon Valley (home to many start-up and global technology companies like Apple,
Facebook and Google). India, China and the Philippines were three of the top four
recipient states of migrant remittances.
 “Open Regionalism” in Asia Pacific and South Asia aims to develop and maintain
cooperation with outside actors. This is meant to resolve the tension between the rise
of regional trade agreements and the push for global trade as embodied by World
Trade Organization (WTO), the only global international organization dealing with the
rules of trade between nations.
 In culture and globalization, the source of a wide variety of cultural phenomena that
have spread outward to the West and the rest of the world is in the region. Examples
include Hello Kitty, Anime, Pokemon, (from Japan) which become regional and global
phenomenon; the regional and global rise of Korean popular culture called ‘K-Wave”
(Korean dramas and K-pop).
➢ Asia Pacific and South Asia serves as the source of many aspects of globalization process
which can be seen in history, economy, political structure and culture.
The Region-Making in Southeast Asia and Middle-Class Formation
➢ Regionalization entails complex and dynamic interactions between and among

governmental and nongovernmental actors which resulted to hybrid East Asia. The
successive waves of regional economic development are powered by developed states
and national and transnational capitalism.
➢ This nurtured sizeable middle-classes that share a lot in common in terms of professional
lives and their lifestyles, in fashion, leisure, and entertainment, in their aspirations and
dreams.
➢ The middle-class occupies different positions in their respective societies as well as in
relation to their nation-states as they constitute the expanding regional consumer market.
➢ The product of regional economic development in the post war era are the middle classes
in east Asia. Regional economic development took place within the context of the
American informal empire in “Free Asia”:
 The first wave of regional economic development took place in japan from mid-
1950’s to the early 1970s and led to the emergence of a middle-class by the early
1970s.
 The second wave took place between the 1960s and 1980s in South Korea, Taiwan,
Hongkong and Singapore and led to the formation of middle-class societies in these
countries by the 1980s
 Third wave: Middle class formation in Southeast Asia was driven by global and
regional transnational capitalism (regional trade). New urban middle classes in
Southeast Asia have created their own new lifestyles commensurate with their
middle-class income and status.
Middle Class in The Philippines

➢ New urban middle classes emerged in the post 1986 Philippines. They were created
through growth in retail trade, manufacturing, banking, real estate development, and an
expanding range of specialist services such as accounting, advertising, computing, and
market research.
➢ Fostered by government policies of liberalization and deregulation, the development of
these new enterprises has been oriented both toward the export and domestic markets
and has entailed increasingly diverse sources of foreign investment and variable
subcontracting, franchise, and service relationships, with a noticeable expansion of ties
connecting the Philippines to other countries in East and Southeast Asia.
Regional Implications of Middle-Class Formation in East Asia

➢ Middle classes are product of regional economic development:
 It has taken place in waves under the U.S. informal empire over a half century, first
in Japan, then in South Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong, and Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia and Philippines, and China.
➢ They are product as well for the development of states:
 Their lifestyles have been shaped in very complex ways by their appropriation of
things. American, Japanese, Chinese, South Korean, Islamic and other ways of life,
often mediated by the market.
➢ Southeast Asian middle classes also exemplify the diversity and complexity of class
formation.
 Thai middle classes are clear socially, hegemonic culturally, and ascend politically.
 Malaysian and Indonesian middle classes are socially divided, dependent on the state,
politically assertive and vulnerable.
 Philippine middle classes are socially coherent, less dependent on the state, culturally
ascendant, but politically indecisive.
Prepared by:
___________________________
Mr. Gian Nicolo Dexter M. Atienza
Lecturer

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Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Engineering - Department of Mechanical Engineering

THE WORLD OF REGIONS

THE GLOBAL DIVIDES

1. It refers to economically disadvantaged countries and as a post-cold war alternative to

2. It captures a deterritorialized geography of capitalism’s externalities and means to

Views of Globalization in the Asia Pacific and South Asia

The Region-Making in Southeast Asia and Middle-Class Formation

➢ Regionalization entails complex and dynamic interactions between and among

Middle Class in The Philippines

Regional Implications of Middle-Class Formation in East Asia

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