TABLE OF CONTENTS

Lesson 1: Introduction to the Study of Globalization 1

Defining Globalization 2
Lesson 2: The Structure of Globalization 7
The Global Economy 8
The Global Interstate System 13
Contemporary Global Governance 19
Lesson 3: A World of Regions 27
Global Divides: Locating the Global South 28
Asian Regionalism 32
Lesson 4: A World of Ideas 43
Global Media Cultures 43
The Globalization of Religion 51
Lesson 5: Global Population and Mobility 56
The Global City 57
Global Demography 61
Global Migration 67
Lesson 6: Toward a Sustainable World 72
Sustainable Development 73
Global Food Security 79
Lesson 7: Global Citizenship 85
Global Citizenship 86

References 91
 TOPIC
1. Defining Globalization

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. differentiate the competing conceptions of globalization;

2. identify the underlying philosophies of the varying definitions of
globalization; and
3. agree on a working definition of globalization for the course.

STUDYING THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

Why do you need to study the world?
As rational human beings capable of transcending beyond our biology and nature,
we have shaped the way we live in the world with great feats of discovery, development,
and construction. Our objective realities are constructed in a way that the very society
that we have created becomes an entity that assumes a life of its own, capable of
influencing and even controlling one’s agency. In this society, we have created social
structures, institutions, and systems that help us organize our lives and help us make
sense of our phenomenology (day to day experiences). However, a single society with all
its institutions, structures, and systems is just an aspect of the world, although the world
is pretty much full of it and all about it. When we talk about studying the world, what
aspect/s of it are we trying to touch on? Are we focusing on human relations? World-
systems? Institutions of economy, politics, education, religion, family, media? All of these
can come as abstractions, yet all of these concepts are present in our objective and
subjective realities. Why do we need to understand these? What’s in it for us?
Claudio and Abinales (2018) posed the question “why do you need to study the
world?” to students in tertiary education. In their attempt to answer the question they
posed, the main thesis centers on the idea that students like you, whether you are aware
of it or not, are citizens of the world. They expounded on these by providing points as to
why the study of the world is relevant (Claudio & Abinales, 2018):

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 1. Cure parochialism. From close-mindedness to stretched imagination, outlook,
and concern. One’s concern is not only for their immediate context or
environment.
2. It can teach you more about yourself. With knowledge about other countries, one
can compare their society’s condition with that of other societies/countries. This
comparison may point out uniqueness and even similarities.
3. You are interacting with the world. As global citizens, being aware of what is
happening with the world is a given. With all the interconnectedness and
interdependence, the events happening outside us might bring a positive or
negative impact.
Central to these is the awareness, recognition, and study of globalization as a
phenomenon. And the very idea of globalization is the focus of this course subject—the
study and understanding of what makes up this process and/or phenomenon. The frame
of ontology is making sense of the existence of globalization through themes and issues
related to and confront it, and at the same time, making sense of what is to be a citizen
of the world. From this point, the main question “why do you need to study the world?”
is supplemented by “what does it mean to be a citizen of the world?” (Claudio & Abinales,
2018).

TOPIC 1: DEFINING GLOBALIZATION

As the main concept in the study of the contemporary world vis-à-vis the ontology
(what it is to exist) as a citizen of the world, globalization is in itself a work-in-progress
concept. Academic circles are yet to come up with an encompassing definition that is not
limited to globalization in the contexts of economy and politics. As we progress through
the course, there are numerous definitions and/or conceptualizations of globalization
that will be discussed.
Rather than defining what globalization is, Manfred B. Steger (2013), described
the phenomenon as “the expansion and intensification of social relations and
consciousness across world-time and across world-space” (as cited in Claudio & Abinales,
2018: 7-8).

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 GLOBALIZATION is the expansion and intensification of social relations and
consciousness across world-time and across world-space (Steger, 2013).

Different levels of connections:

EXPANSION refers to both the creation of 1. Social media (establishing global
new social networks and the connections between people)
multiplication of existing connections that 2. International groups of non-
cut across traditional political, economic,
governmental organizations
cultural, and geographic boundaries.
(NGOs)

INTENSIFICATION refers to the expansion, Expansion of global connections  with

stretching, and acceleration of these this connection, transactions happen at a
networks. higher speed  integration of economies,
markets, nation-states, cultures,
institutions
THE HUMAN PERCEPTION OF TIME AND
SPACE; Steger notes that globalization
processes do not occur merely at the The perception that the world has
objective, material level but they also become a smaller space and distance has
involve the subjective plane of human collapsed from thousands of miles to just
consciousness. mouse-click away

GLOBALIZATION (process) vs. GLOBALISM (ideology)

If globalization represents the many processes that allow for the expansion and
intensification of global connections, globalism is a widespread belief among powerful
people that the global integration of economic market is beneficial for everyone, since it
spreads freedom and democracy across the world.

A breakdown of Steger’s (2013) description of globalization together with Claudio & Abinales’ (2018) elucidation.

In addition to this conceptualization, Steger (2014) pointed out that critics of

globalization commit the mistake of conceptualizing the process along economic lines
only, dismissive of globalization’s multidimensional character. This multidimensional
character is described in three processes: globalization as an economic process,
globalization as a political process, and globalization as a cultural process (Steger, 2014:
6).

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 Points forwarded in the multidimensional take of globalization as involving three processes: economic, political, and
cultural (Steger, 2014).

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
Confused with the conceptualization of globalization? You might want to check these
materials:
 Globalization I – The Upside: Crash Course World History #41
([Link]
 Globalization in 3 minutes, theory in 3 minutes
([Link]

In light of the multidimensional character of globalization, anthropologist Arjun

Appadurai (1996) identifies multiple and intersecting dimensions of global cultural flows
he calls ‘landscapes’ or ‘scapes’ (Steger, 2014: 13). These five conceptual dimensions are:
1. Ethnoscape. Flows of people. The movement of people for reasons such as work,
recreation, and/or due to displacement. The shift in populations made of tourists,
immigrants, refugees, and exiles. This is, in part, due to the ease and cheaper
travel costs to travel and borders of countries opening up to accommodate and
offer opportunities to people.
2. Technoscape. Flows of technology. Development and boom of technology that
facilitates cross-border connections and transactions. E.g. the internet,
information technology, and engineering.

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 3. Finanscape. Flows of money. The flow of global capital. International banking and
cash systems allow this to happen. E.g. credit card systems.
4. Mediascape. Flows of information. The production and dissemination of
information through electronic means. The access of people to modern popular
culture. E.g. access to international entertainment like Hollywood films, K-drama,
and anime; media such as newspapers, magazines, the social network.
5. Ideoscape. Flows of ideas. Ideologies of state, and social movements. E.g. posting
of your views on a certain event or human reality on Facebook; religious
missionaries spreading their doctrines to other regions or countries;
environmentalism.

ETHNOSCAPE TECHNOSCAPE FINANSCAPE

flows of people flows of technology flows of money

MEDIASCAPE IDEOSCAPE
flows of information flows of ideas

Appadurai’s five landscapes of globalization (Appadurai, 1996; Steger, 2014)

Appadurai’s five ‘landscapes’ present the idea that there are multiple globalizations, and
this can help make sense the dynamics in globalization as a big process with all its
multidimensional sub-processes (Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 10). As Appadurai (1996) put
it, “[e]ach of these ‘scapes’ contains the building blocks of the new ‘imagined worlds’ that
are assembled by the historically situated imaginations of persons and groups spread
around the globe” (as cited in Steger, 2014: 13).
These descriptions should provide students an overview of what to expect in
undertaking a study of the world and globalization. The concepts presented here will be
tackled in more detail in the succeeding lectures.

TASK/ACTIVITY
PERSONAL CONCEPT MAP OF GLOBALIZATION:
This is a free association exercise of ideas. All you have to do is list all ideas you
associate with “globalization”. Based on the concepts you listed, synthesize your
personal definition of the globalization. Accomplish this activity in one whole sheet
of paper.

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 ASSESSMENT

QUIZ ON THE READING MATERIAL:

Reading material: Steger, M. B. (2014). “Approaches to the Study of

Globalization”. In The SAGE Handbook of Globalization. SAGE Publications Ltd.
Pp. 1-19 [e-copy pagination]

Answer the following questions:

1. What are the four types of globalization critic?
2. What are the main argument of these critics for why they see
globalization as a “globaloney”?
3. Why is it important to recognize globalization’s multidimensional
character?

In one whole sheet of paper, explain your answers clearly. Draw your answer
from your study and understanding of the material. 10 points each.

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 TOPICS
1. The Global Economy
2. Global Interstate System
3. Contemporary Global Governance

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. define economic globalization and identify the actors that

facilitate this process;
2. explain the effects of globalization on governments and
differentiate internationalism from globalism; and
3. identify the functions of the United Nations and the challenges
of global governance in the 21st century.

The succeeding topics are best explored and discussed in view of Held et al.’s
(1999) description that globalization “may be thought of initially as the widening,
deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of
contemporary social life. In connection to this, for Giddens (1999), these “aspects” can
refer to political, cultural, and economic features (as cited in Beczes, 2014: 900). These
conceptualizations reinforce the view of globalization as a multidimensional process or
phenomenon as discussed in the descriptions Steger (2014) provided above.
For this lecture, the economic and political aspects of globalization will be
explored. The concepts, ideas, and perspectives should provide the students with ideas
on how academics and/or scholars of globalization, economics, political science, and
international studies, among others, confront the complex and multidimensional process
of globalization.

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 TOPIC 1: THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION
Economic globalization is defined as,
…a historical process, the result of human innovation and technological progress. It
refers to the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly
through the movement of goods, services, and capital across borders. The term
sometimes also refers to the movement of people (labor) and knowledge
(technology) across international borders (IMF, 2008 as cited in Benczes, 2014: 900).

In this definition, it highlights the role played by the historic feats of human innovation
and the progress that materialized through it, especially in the fields of technology and
knowledge. The focus of these definitions, in relation to globalization, is the increasing
integration of economies and markets around the world. In this regard, economic
globalization has several interconnected dimensions:
1. The globalization of trade goods and services.
2. The globalization of financial and capital markets.
3. The globalization of technology and communication.
4. The globalization of production.
In discussing economic globalization, one is shedding light to the drastic economic
changes happening in the world, the increasing regard for the value of trade, the jumps
in world Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the movement of the investments at faster rates,
the role technology play in the realization of cross-border transactions and relations
among others (Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 12-13).
Furthermore, economic globalization is described as (Benczes, 2014: 900):
1. Functional integration between internationally dispersed activities as opposed to
internationalization which is about the extension of economic activities on nation-
states across borders.
2. Economic globalization is rather a qualitative transformation than just a
quantitative change.
In economic globalization, economies and economic actors are integrated through
internationally recognized and practiced economic policies and practices, where most are
created by economic giants of the First World countries. Economic globalization is more
qualitative because it highlights how it has changed the quality of economic relations,
transactions, the value of trade, capital, consumerism, and so forth.
The definition of economic globalization provided by the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) does not hold water if we take note of the nature of globalization as a
“complex, indeterminate set of processes operation very unevenly in both time and
space” (Dicken, 2004 as cited in Benczes, 2014: 900). We note that globalization in itself

8
is multidimensional, complex, and does not influence or affect nation-states in the same
way which makes it an uneven process as well. With this, a more substantive definition
of economic globalization is required.
The definition provided by IMF (2008) is juxtaposed with the definition provided
by Szentes (2003): “In economic terms globalization is nothing but a process making the
world economy an “organic system” by extending transnational economic processes and
economic relations to more and more countries and by deepening the economic
interdependencies among them” (as cited in Benczes, 2014: 901). Benczes (2014) notes
that this definition claims that only in a global context (i.e. an integrated world economy)
can economic activities and processes can be interpreted.
The role of the nation-state is redefined as a factor and an actor in this arena of
economic activities and processes. In the wake of the global market, nation-states ceased
to exist as primary economic organization units as people consume highly standardized
products and services produced by global corporations (Benczes, 2014: 901). In the height
of the global market system, the national economy has been transformed by globalization
into a global one in that “there will be no national products or technologies, no national
corporations, no national industries” (Reich, 1991 as cited in Benczes, 2014: 901).

GLOBAL ACTORS IN ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION

The process of economic globalization has produced its actors as well. These
economic globalization actors became key players in the global economy and have
touched on local industries of nation-states to create an international, tradable, and not-
context-limited goods and services. Aside from this are economic globalization actors
that try to produce harmony in an ever-growing economic and market integration.

 TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS (TNCs)

- Regarded as another important
economic development that involves
the changing nature of global
production.
- TNCs are believed to be the main
driving force of economic
globalization.
- For realists, TNCs still represent
national interests and have means
through which the rich can exploit the
poor.
- The availability of cheap labor, Transnational Corporations. Image from
resources, and favorable production [Link]
[Link]?414
conditions in the Third World
enhanced both the mobility and the profitability of TNCs.

9
 - TNCs' ability to ‘outsource’ manufacturing jobs—that is, to cut labor costs by
dispersing economic production processes into many discrete phases carried out
by low-wage workers in the global south—is often cited as one of the hallmarks of
economic globalization.
- Enterprises like Wal-Mart, General Motors, Exxon-Mobil, Mitsubishi, and Siemens
belong to the 200 largest TNCs, which accounts for over half of the world’s
industrial output.

 INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF)

- Founded at the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944
alongside the International Banks for Reconstruction and
Development (IBRD)—which was responsible for post-
war reconstruction, as two international institutions.
- The mandate of IMF was to promote international
financial cooperation and strengthen international
trade.
- The IMF was expected to provide short-term financial
assistance (loans) to countries. IMF logo. Image from Wikipedia.
- Official organization for securing international
monetary cooperation.
- Help less-developed countries through research and giving monetary advice.

 WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)

- WTO was launched on January 1, 1995, and has
become an official forum for trade
negotiations.
- It is a formally constituted organization with
legal personality.
WTO logo. Image from Wikipedia.
 WORLD BANK
- Two mandates of the institution: end extreme poverty
and promote shared prosperity.
- Offers financial and technical assistance to developing
countries.
The World Bank logo. Image from
Wikipedia.

 WTO, IMF, and WORLD BANK

- 3 institutions that underwrite the basic rules
and regulations of economic, monetary, and
trade relations between countries.
- Many developing countries have loosened
their trade rules because of the influence and
pressure of these institutions. IMF-WB-WTO. Image from [Link]

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 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
On economic globalization and global economic actors:
 Globalization- trade and transnational corporations | Society and Culture | MCAT |
Khan Academy ([Link]
 How the IMF Monitors the Global Economy
([Link]
 What's the difference between the IMF and the World Bank? | CNBC Explains
([Link]
 Covid-19: why the economy could fare worse than you think | The Economist
([Link]

SOME HISTORICAL NOTES

TIME EVENT
130 BCE – 1453 BCE Silk Road, the oldest known international trading route
from China to the Middle East to Europe.
1571 Establishment of the galleon trade which connected
Manila to Mexico; made the connection between the
Americas and the trading routes possible.
1867 A more open trade system was established when nations
like the United Kingdom, the United States, and other
European countries adopted the gold standard.
World War I (1914 – To support the war efforts, the countries depleted their
1918) gold reserves, forced them to abandon the gold standards.
European countries adopted floating currencies.
1920s – 1930s The Great Depression happened—the worst and longest
recession ever experienced by the Western world.
Early 20th century The world economy operates based on fiat currencies—
currencies that are not backed by precious metals and
whose value is determined by their cost relative to other
currencies. This system allows governments to freely and
actively manage their economies by increasing or
decreasing the amount of money in circulation as they see
fit.
1944 Bretton Woods Conference gave birth to International
Banks for Reconstruction and Development (IBDR), World
Bank, and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
1957 Establishment of the European Economic Community
(EEC).
1964 The United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) was established with the joint
effort of the developing world.

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 1986 – 1994 Multilateral trade negotiations were carried out under the
Uruguay Round.
1995 The Uruguay Round gave birth to a ‘real’ international
trade institution, the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Some historical notes related to the development of economic globalization in the contemporary world (Steger, 2014;
Benczes, 2014; Claudio & Abinales, 2018).

The process of globalization, in general, is multidimensional and uneven. In terms

of economic globalization, the global economy is characterized by increasing linkage of
national economies—that forms the global economy through market integration,
financial flows, and investments by multinational firms (Steger, 2014: 6). In another
perspective offered by the world-systems analysis forwards the idea that “capitalism
under globalization reinforces the structural patterns of unequal change” (Wallerstein,
1983 as cited in Benczes, 2014: 903).
Developed countries and developing countries are tied in a rather ironic
dependency. There is a presence of asymmetry between and among national and
international economic systems which lies at the heart of inequality in economic
globalization. The challenge is how to make the system more just, how the actors can
create and amend policies that close the gap of economic inequalities at the global level.
A large part of globalization processes is anchored on economic changes after all.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
On the detriments of economic globalization:
 Globalization and Trade and Poverty: Crash Course Economics #16
([Link]
 What global trade deals are really about (hint: it's not trade) | Haley Edwards |
TEDxMidAtlantic ([Link]

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 TASK/ACTIVITY

GLOBAL ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS (RESEARCH):

This activity is geared towards familiarizing oneself to an international
economic organization (e.g. Asian Development Bank) or an international
company (e.g. Honda, McDonald’s, etc.)

Research on the following: (a) the origins and history of the institution you have
chosen; (b) map the international connections it has created; (c) identify the
major country-leaders of this institution; (d) locate the Philippines in this map
of interconnections.
Then answer this question: How does this institution influence global economic
activity? How does it affect economics in the Philippines?
Discuss your points clearly. Don’t forget to cite your sources, use APA citation
style.
Format: 500 words maximum. Times New Roman. 12 font size. Single-space. In
short bond paper (8.5 x 11). (Notice to the instructor: this format serves as a parameter
guide and can be adjusted to the needs and/or conditions of the students)
This activity is adopted from the learning activity for “The Globalization of World Economic” in The
Contemporary World textbook (Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 25).

TASK/ACTIVITY RUBRICS:
Format: 15%
Citation and ethical integrity: 20%
Integration, organization, and elaboration of data, information, and points: 50%
Writing technicalities (narrative, grammar): 15%

TOPIC 2: GLOBAL INTERSTATE SYSTEM

The multidimensional character of globalization allows the study of the aspects

that account for this multidimensionality and their respective processes. The topic of The
Global Economy introduced us to the economic aspect of globalization. For this part, we
move to the second aspect which is politics (globalization as a political process).
ATTRIBUTES OF CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL SYSTEM
In this part, the attributes of the contemporary global system, namely, world
politics, the nation-state, internationalism, and the global interstate system will be

13
discussed. The goal is to familiarize oneself with concepts that make up the politics at the
international level. Perspectives on the role of what forms the global politico-interstate
system are indicated to show how scholars take on this globalization aspect differently.

 FOUR KEY ATTRIBUTES OF WORLD POLITICS:

a. There are countries or states that are independent and govern themselves. E.g.
the Philippines is a nation-state, it has a sense of independence from other nation-
states, and has its government (the Republic of the Philippines).
b. These countries interact with each other through diplomacy. E.g. the Philippines
has international relationships with other countries.
c. There are international organizations, like the United Nations (UN), that facilitate
these interactions. I.e. the UN is the center of global governance and the
Philippines is a member of this international organization.
d. Beyond simply facilitating meetings between states, international organizations
also take on lives of their own. I.e. the United Nations has task-specific agencies
like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor
Organization (ILO), aside from being a meeting ground for presidents and other
heads of states.

 THE NATION-STATE
- The nation-state is a relatively modern phenomenon in human history, and people
did not always organize themselves as countries.
- The nation-state is composed of two non-interchangeable terms:
NOT ALL STATES ARE NATIONS. NOT ALL NATIONS ARE STATES.
E.g. many commentators believe that the Bangsamoro is a separate nation
existing within the Philippines, but through their elites, recognizes the authority
of the Philippine state (this is a case of states with multiple nations);
The nation of Korea is divided into North and South Korea (this is a case of a single
nation with multiple states).

1. THE STATE
o Refers to a country and its government.
o The institution that creates warfare and sets economic policies for a country.
It is also a political unit that has authority over its affairs.
o Independent political communities each of which possesses a government and
asserts sovereignty in relation to a particular portion of the earth’s surface and
a particular segment of the human population (Bull, 1995 as cited in Schattle,
2014: 933).
o Essential elements of the state:
a. PERMANENT POPULATION – inhabitant of the country, its citizens
b. TERRITORY – total portion of the land governed
c. GOVERNMENT – an entity that regulates relations among its people and
with other states

14
 d. SOVEREIGNTY – supreme uncontrollable power of the state over its
territory; refers to internal and external authority
INTERNAL AUTHORITY: no individuals or groups can operate in a given
national territory by ignoring the state. I.e. groups like churches,
corporations, and other entities have to follow the laws of the state where
they establish their parishes, offices, or headquarters.
EXTERNAL AUTHORITY: a state’s policies and procedures are independent
of the intervention of other states. I.e. Russia or Germany cannot pass laws
for the Philippines and vice versa.
o States have the following rights:
a. Right to govern its people
b. Right for self-determination
c. Right to impose the country’s policy
d. Right to take over issues in its jurisdiction

2. THE NATION
o “An imagined political community”—imagined as both inherently limited and
sovereign (a conceptual definition forwarded by Benedict Anderson in his
most celebrated work, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and
Spread of Nationalism (1983)). “Imagined” in a sense that the nation allows
one to feel a connection with the community of people even if he/she will
never meet all of them in his/her lifetime. E.g. you know that you live in a
territory with the people in the Visayas or Mindanao even if you haven’t seen
them in person.
o The concept emphasized organic ties to hold groups of people together and
inspire the senses of loyalty and belonging (Schattle, 2014: 933).
o Nations are viewed as socially constructed political communities that hold
together citizens across many kinds of cross-cutting identities: ethnicity,
language, religions, and so forth (Schattle, 2014: 933).
o Nations often limit themselves to people who have imbibed a particular
culture, speak a common language, and live in a specific territory.
o Most nations strive to become states. Nation-builders can only feel a sense of
fulfillment when the national ideal assumes an organizational form whose
authority and power are recognized and accepted by “the people”.

- Nationalism forms a close relationship between nation and state because it is the
one that facilitates state formation. Most nation-states are born out of nationalist
movements. Sovereignty in a state is established because of the nationalist
sentiments for independence (Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 29).
INTERNATIONALISM
Internationalism is born out of the desire for greater cooperation and unity
among states and people, a system of heightened interaction of various sovereign

15
states (Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 32). The principle of internationalism can be divided into
two broad categories: liberal internationalism and socialist internationalism.
PERSPECTIVES ON INTERNATIONALISM (Claudio & Abinales, 2018)
1. Immanuel Kant
o German philosopher Immanuel Kant likened the states in a global system to
people living in a given territory.
o Kant argued that without a form of world government, the international
system would be chaotic.
o Kant imagined a form of global government where states, like citizens of
countries, must give up some freedoms and establish a continuously growing
state consisting of various nations which will ultimately include the nations of
the world.
2. Jeremy Bentham
o British philosopher Jeremy Bentham (coined the term "international" in 1780)
advocated the creation of "international law" that would govern the inter-
state relations.
o Bentham believed that objective global legislators should aim to propose
legislation that would create "the greatest happiness of all nations taken
together".
3. Giuseppe Mazzini
o First to reconcile nationalism with liberal internationalism.
o He believed that a Republican government (no kings, queens, and hereditary
succession) and proposed a system of free nations that cooperated to create
an international system.
o Free, independent states would be the basis of an equally free, cooperative
international system, the basis of global cooperation.
4. Woodrow Wilson
o Wilson saw nationalism as a prerequisite for internationalism.
o In his faith in nationalism, he forwarded the principle of self-determination—
the belief that the world’s nations had a right to free, sovereign government.
o He believed that only by being democratic nations that they would be able to
build a free system of international relations based on international law and
cooperation.
o He advocated for the creation of the League of Nations.
5. Karl Marx
o Marx was an internationalist but he did not believe in nationalism.
o He believed that any true form of internationalism should deliberately reject
nationalism, which rooted people in domestic concerns instead of global
ones.
o Marx placed a premium on economic equality.
o Marx and Engels opposed nationalism because they believed it preventing the
unification of the world’s workers.

16
 From left to right: Kant, Bentham, Mazzini, Wilson, and Marx. Images from Google Image.

The very principles of internationalism forwarded by Kant, Bentham, and Mazzini serve
as the blueprint for the very face of internationalism in the contemporary world which is
the United Nations (this will be discussed further in the next topic).

PERSPECTIVES ON THE RELEVANCE OF THE NATION-STATE AMID GLOBALIZATION

(Benczes, 2014; Steger, 2014):

Different perspectives on the role of nation-states amid globalization have

enriched the study of global politics and the interstate system. These perspectives are
varied and come from different sociopolitical realities yet offer a rich understanding of
the footing of the nation-state in the complex process of globalization.

- States ceased to exist as primary economic organization units in the wake of a

global market, wherein people have access to and consume highly standardized
global products and services produced by global corporations (Ohmae, 1995).
- Globalization transforms the national economy into a global one where there will
be no national products or technologies, no national corporations, no national
industries (Reich, 1991).
- Globalization is redefining the role of the nation-state as an effective manager of
the national economy. The state as the main shelter from the perverse effects of
a free market economy (Boyer & Drache, 1996).
- It is misleading to assume that globalization has relegated the nation-state and its
policies to an obsolete or irrelevant status; governments are acting as the
midwives of globalization (Brodie, 1996).
- States are not influenced uniformly by globalization (Milner & Keohane, 1996).
- Scholars argue for the continued relevance of conventional political units,
operating either in the form of modern nation-states or global cities (Steger,
2014).
- Equipped with the power to regulate economic activities within their sphere of
influence, states are far from being impotent bystanders to the workings of global
forces (Steger, 2014).
17
 - The continued relevance of the nation-states as crucial bargaining agencies that
influence the changing world of power relations (Castells, 2009).

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
To better understand the relationship between nation-states and globalization processes,
you might want to check this TED Talk:
 Do we need Nation States? | Toni Lane Casserly | TEDxBerlinSalon
([Link]

EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION ON THE NATION-STATE

CHALLENGES POSED BY GLOBALIZATION:
1. TRADITIONAL CHALLENGES – external intervention or invasion of another country
2. CHALLENGES FROM NATIONAL/IDENTITY MOVEMENTS – confront cultural and/or
national identity
3. GLOBAL ECONOMICS – globalization as imposing a forced-choice upon states:
either to conform to free-market principles or run the risk of being left behind
Golden Straitjacket (Thomas Friedman): states are now forced into policies that
suit the preferences of investment houses and corporate executives who swiftly
move money and resources into countries favored as adaptable to the demands
of international business, and withdraw even more rapidly from countries deemed
uncompetitive (Schattle, 2014; 933).
4. GLOBAL SOCIAL MOVEMENTS – human rights advocates, transnational advocacy
networks
Scholars are divided on the position of the nation-state in the process of globalization.
Some argue that the nation-state has no firm stand in globalization which is mainly viewed
in the economic dimension. While there are still those who believe that nation-states are
still relevant in the globalization context. Nation-states are still governing agencies and
political units that affect and shape power relations even in the international or global
arenas. As the representative of its people, nations-states are called to practice…
the power to determine economic, social and environmental objects for national
development and the capacity to ensure that transnational corporations meet these
priorities and to set the stage for new forms of participatory democracy whereby the
citizens become effectively involved in international policymaking on trade,
investment, and finance (Cavanagh and Mander, 2004 as cited in Schattle, 2014:
936).

The nation-states of the world are here to stay and play key roles in the shaping of
globalization. This manifests in the formation of regional partnerships with neighboring
countries (e.g. the Philippines in the ASEAN); membership, and active participation in

18
international organizations and global governing bodies like the United Nations;
adherence to universal norms and values; and establishment of transnational networks
among others.
Global politics and interstate conditions have their fair share of positive and
negative implications and results, yet these do not stop nation-states in increasing the
interconnectivity and interrelationship to one another as the forces of globalization bind
them together. The challenge remains as to how global policies created and lobbied by
interstate agencies with a high participatory mandate will create a more just
globalization process in all its economic, political, and cultural aspects.

TASK/ACTIVITY

QUIZ ON THE READING MATERIAL

Reading material: Schattle, H. (2014). “Governments and Citizens in a Globally
Interconnected World of States”. In The SAGE Handbook of Globalization. SAGE
Publications Ltd. Pp. 931-950 [e-copy pagination]
Answer the following questions:
1. What kind of states do we need to handle today’s most pressing
problems?
2. How do nations states remain a relevant factor and actor of
globalization?
3. What are the limitations of transnational networks?
In one whole sheet of paper, explain your answers clearly. Support your claims
with facts. Draw your answer from your study and understanding of the
material. 30 points.

TOPIC 3: CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

Internationalism ideals and interstate relations reconstruct the world into a

borderless one, where ideas, influence, power relations, institutional affairs, and impacts
on human material conditions meet in complex and intersecting contexts. As nation-
states grew closer to one another in terms of economic, political, and cultural practices,
among others, the global structure of this interconnectivity and interrelationship is
confronted with the challenge to maintain interstate harmony—therefore, global

19
harmony—amid individual nation-state interests. This challenge calls for the formation of
a global governance body.
Today, the presence of International Organizations (IOs) adheres to the ideals and
pragmatics of global governance, where various intersecting processes that create an
essence of world order through the creation, recognition, and practice of global norms
(Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 39).

Global Governance. Image from [Link]

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
DEFINITION
There is no global government yet international transactions work in order,
stability, and predictability. This poses the question, “how is the world governed even in
the absence of a world government?” For Wiess and Thakur (2014), the answer to the
question lies in global governance. They defined global governance as “the sum of laws,
norms, policies, and institutions that define, constitute and mediate trans-border
relations between states, cultures, citizens, intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations and the market—the wielders and the objects of exercise of the
international public power” (Weiss and Thakur, 2014: 535).
Global governance is further characterized by Weiss & Thakur (2014):
a. An authority that is constantly shifting and the patchwork of institutional elements
varies by sector.
b. All actors depend upon multilateralism and the underwriting of regularity and
public goods in the international system.

20
 c. If the actors of global governance are to remain viable, international organizations
and the values of multilateralism embedded in them must be reconstituted in line
with 21st-century principles of governance and legitimacy.
d. Global governance actors must be capable of addressing contemporary
challenges effectively.
e. Global governance is a rules-based order without government.
f. Global governance is not a supplement but rather a kind of surrogate for authority
and enforcement for the contemporary world.
g. The emergence of global governance roots from (1) the growing recognition of
problems that defy solutions by a single state; (2) the growth in the numbers and
importance of non-state actors (civil society and market).
h. The United Nations (UN) is both a global governance actor and site.
i. “Good” global governance implies an optimal partnership between the state,
regional, and global levels of actors and between state, intergovernmental, and
nongovernmental categories of actors.

SOURCES OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCE (Claudio & Abinales, 2018):

1. States sign treaties and form organizations to help in the process of drafting and
legislating public international law (i.e. international rules that govern interactions
between states). E.g. peace treaties.
2. International Non-government Organizations (NGOs), though they do not have
formal state power, can influence government or states to behave in a certain
way. E.g. WHO, an international organization under the UN, played a key role in
lobbying guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
International Organizations (IOs) make a big part of global governance.
International Organizations refer to “international intergovernmental organizations or
groups that are primarily made up of member-states” (Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 40).
United Nations or institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World
Bank are usually categorized and called International Organizations (IOs). International
organizations are not a mere amalgamation of various state interests, but IOs can take on
lives of their own—an institution created by man yet can govern the order and
intersecting aspects of human relations and conditions.
POWERS OF IOs (listed by Michael N. Barnett and Martha Finnemore in Claudio &
Abinales, 2018: 41)
1. Power of classification – IOs can invent and apply categories, they create powerful
global standards. E.g. they can define what poverty means and through that,
nation-states can determine who the poor in their demographic are.

21
 2. Power to fix meanings – a broader function related to the power of classification;
the need to address here is for concepts such as “development” to be well-
defined. IOs are viewed as legitimate sources of information by states,
organizations, and individuals. The meaning they create have effects on policies.
E.g. if an IO defined what it means when you say development, then states will
pattern its policies to achieve the kind of development defined by IOs.
3. Power to diffuse norms – IOs can define and/or forward accepted codes of
conduct or behavior. IOs also spread ideas across the world, thereby establishing
global standards. E.g. no discrimination on employment and occupation.
Norms: accepted codes of conduct that may not be strict law, but produce
regularities in behavior.
With these powers, IOs can be sources of great good and great harm (Claudio & Abinales,
2018: 41). As IOs embody global governance, in addition to the powers they have, the
challenge for the actors that comprise these IOs is to uphold fairness in their blanket
deliberations, policies, and actions that unevenly affect nation-states engaged in their
multilateral bureaucracy and forum. Weiss & Thakur (2014) notes that the life and
survival of IOs rest on two factors: (1) the capacity to change and adapt; (2) the quality of
their governance. The capacity to adapt in an ever-changing international condition and
to uphold a premium quality in their leadership and practice of governance.
THE UNITED NATIONS
When we talk about international organizations and
when we try to identify the realization of the definition
of global governance in our objective reality, the
United Nations (UN) takes the center stage. Thakur
(2011) even dubbed the UN as “both a global
governance actor and site” (as cited in Weiss & Thakur,
2014: 535). The United Nations is an international
organization that is taking the lead in facilitating global
dialogue to uphold the global harmony among nation-
states and strengthen their interconnectivity and
interrelationship (Schattle, 2014: 938). The existence United Nations’ emblem. Image from
[Link]
of the UN renders important for global governance in a mmons/thumb/e/ee/UN_emblem_blue.svg
world of nation-states. Weiss and Thakur (2014) notes, /906px-UN_emblem_blue.[Link]
“the world body remains as the embodiment of the
international community of states, the focus of international expectations, and the locus
of collective action as the symbol of an imagined and constructed community of
strangers”.
CHARACTERIZING THE UN:
1. To date, there are 193 sovereign member-states. The Philippines is a member of
the UN. Filipino diplomat Carlos P. Romulo was elected General Assembly
President from 1949-1950 (Claudio & Abinales, 2014: 42).

22
2. Six main organs of the UN:

The United Nation’s Organizational Chart. Image from Google Image.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY (GA): the main deliberative, policymaking, and

representative organ of the UN. All 193 member-states of the UN are represented
in the GA—the only UN body with universal representation. Decisions on
important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new
members, and budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority of the General
Assembly. The General Assembly, each year, elects a GA President to serve a one-
year term of office.
SECURITY COUNCIL (SC): the primary responsibility is on the maintenance of
international peace and security. It has 15 member-states, 5 permanent with veto
power (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and 10
non-permanent members. The Security Council takes the lead in determining the
existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression. SC’s presidency is rotational
(changes every month).
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL: the principal body for coordination, policy
review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social, and
environmental issues, as well as the implementation of internationally agreed
development goals. It has 54 Members, elected by the General Assembly for
overlapping three-year terms. It is the United Nations’ central platform for
reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.

23
 TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL: as established in 1945 by the UN Charter, under Chapter
XIII, to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories that had been
placed under the administration of 7 member-states, and ensure that adequate
steps were taken to prepare the Territories for self-government and
independence.
INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE: the principal judicial organ of the UN. The
Court’s role is to settle, following international law, legal disputes submitted to it
by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by
authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies.
SECRETARIAT: comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of
international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as
mandated by the General Assembly and the Organization's other principal organs.
3. The UN has significant roles in preventing and managing conflicts, championing
human rights and international humanitarian law, liberating the colonized,
empowering women, educating children, housing the refugees, liberating the
colonized, and feeding the hungry among other (Weiss & Thakur, 2014: 535).

4. The UN provides and manages the framework for bringing together the world’s
leaders to tackle the pressing problems of the day for the survival, development,
and welfare of all peoples, everywhere (Weiss & Thakur, 2014: 538).

LIMITATIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS (Schattle, 2014):

1. The UN has never transcended the state's system and instead operates mainly as
a forum for states to air their differences and try to resolve them.
2. The UN represents the world’s people based on their national membership and
not on the basis of their humanity. I.e. national membership to a particular nation-
state is the identity of an individual that is regarded and not on the basic yet deeper
level that the individual is a human being.
3. The UN has been unable to prevent many atrocities and genocides around the
world during its history. I.e. in the presence of global policies, the UN is still unable
to mediate and put an end to atrocities because the perpetrators of these are
members of the UN themselves.
GAPS IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
Five main gaps confront the UN since its foundation, namely, knowledge gaps,
normative gaps, policy gaps, institutional gaps, and compliance gaps. Weiss and Thakur
(2014) elaborated ways on how to identify, diagnose, and fill the gaps through managing
knowledge, developing norms, promulgating recommendations, and institutionalizing
ideas.

24
 MANAGING KNOWLEDGE
1. Recognize the existence of the problem that goes beyond the capacity of any
state.
2. Collect solid data about the nature of the problem, and understand its causes
to explain the problem.
The UN should be a knowledge-based and knowledge management organization. UN
should use its convening capacity and mobilizing power to help funnel knowledge
from outside and to ensure its discussion and dissemination among governments.

DEVELOPING NORMS
Once a problem has been identified and diagnosed, the UN helps to solidify a new
norm of behavior through summit conferences, and international panels.
From knowledge to norms: when a problem serious enough warrants attention from
international policy community, new norms need to be articulated, disseminated, and
institutionalized.
International norms can be transmitted down into national politics and incorporated
into domestic laws or into the policy preferences of political leaders through elite
learning.

FORMULATING RECOMMENDATIONS
As new problems emerge and new norms arise, they highlight gaps in policy that also
need attention.
The policy stage refers to the statement of principles and actions that an organization
is likely to take in the event of particular contingencies.
The UN’s ability to convene and consult widely plays an enormous part in its ability to
formulate recommendations for specific policies, institutional arrangements, and
regimes.

INSTITUTIONALIZING IDEAS
Virtually every problem has several global institutions working on significant aspects
of solution.
Institutions can facilitate problem solving even though they do not possess any
coercive powers.
Globalization has led to more practice in international cooperation but has introduced
additional layers of complexity and conflict potential. The creation of institutions
requires the knowledge, normative and policy-making gaps have been at least partially
filled.
Once knowledge has been acquired, norms articulated and policies formulated, an
existing institution can oversee their implementation and monitoring.
Steps in addressing the gaps in global governance (Weiss & Thakur, 2014)
25
 As the symbol of global governance, the United Nations is not a perfect
international organization. However flawed and limited the UN is, no one can discount
how it mediates inter-state relations and how it influences definitions, policies, state
actions, and the social, economic, political, and cultural discourses at the international
level. In the end, global governance has transcended from a strict hierarchy of
international action involving nation-states to global efforts that involve the dynamics
and participation of both nation-states and non-nation-states actors. In the end, the
actors, arenas, and architecture of global governance are continually evolving (Weiss &
Thakur, 2014: 550).

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
More on contemporary global governance through the United Nations:
 How Does The UN Work? ([Link]
 The United Nations Is Created | Flashback | History
([Link]
 How Powerful Is The United Nations?
([Link]
 FAO Policy Series: Global Governance
([Link]

ASSESSMENT

THINKPIECE:
As we have familiarized ourselves with the mandate and ASSESSMENT
institutional nature of the United Nations, let’s take a closer look at RUBRICS:
its role in the world and in the country. In your paper, Format: 15%
1. explore the importance of the United Nations for the global Citation and
interstate system, why do we need such international ethical integrity:
organization; and 20%
2. cite three (3) instances where the United Nations has helped, Sense and clarity
influenced, and/or affected the Philippines in any way (be it of arguments,
in policy making, human rights, calamities and disasters, and data, information,
diplomacy). Provide necessary details of each instance. and points: 50%
Writing
Discuss your points clearly. Don’t forget to cite your sources, use technicalities
APA citation style. (narrative,
Format: 500 words maximum. Times New Roman. 12 font size. grammar): 15%
Single-space. In short bond paper (8.5 x 11). (Notice to the instructor: this
format serves as a parameter guide and can be adjusted to the needs and/or
conditions of the students)
26
 TOPICS
1. Global Divides: Locating the Global South
2. Asian Regionalism

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. define the term “Global South”;

2. differentiate the Global South from the Third World;
3. differentiate between regionalization and globalization; and
4. identify the factors leading to greater integration of the Asian
region.

It is easy to see the world as divided in terms of continents and nation-state

territoriality, we learn and notice this easily. However, beyond the physical and
geographical boundaries and/or borders, some divides exist not on the premise of
geography but the premises of economy, politics, institutions, and social structures.
Globalization has removed and produced these divides. The former pertains to the
greater connection and integration of economies, nation-states, cultures, and peoples—
the very nature of the process. While the latter pertains to divides that have been
highlighted through the realization of economic inequality, imperialism, and politicking
among others. Even in the presence of a divide, the divisions are still connected by a sense
of dependence, capitalistic and neo-liberal ideals, and power relations.
In this lecture, concepts like the global north, global south, First World countries,
and Third World countries, among others, will be explored. Moreover, the concept and
practice of regionalism, especially in the Asian context, will be discussed.

27
 TOPIC 1: GLOBAL DIVIDES: LOCATING THE GLOBAL SOUTH

In the illustration provided below, the world is presented in a binary. The blue
areas are what constitutes the global north, and the red areas constitute the global
south—our country, the Philippines is a part of this. The concepts of ‘global north’ and
‘global south’, ‘First World country’, and ‘Third World country’, and ‘developed country’
and ‘developing country’ are social constructs that relate to the very nature of
unevenness and inequality in the process of globalization. We note in the previous
discussions that globalization does not affect every nation-state or country in the same
way. At the end of the day, globalization has produced losers and winners in terms of
socioeconomic and politico dynamics found in this increasing interconnectivity and
expansion of networks. As Claudio (2014) put it, globalization creates undersides and
engenders the visible process of the north-south divide.

The Global Divide. Image from [Link]

North_South_divide.[Link]

This unevenness and inequality inherent to the process of globalization create

both affluence and poverty, “pushing peoples and groups into a modernity associated
with Western culture and capital, while simultaneously leaving behind others” (Claudio,
2014: 850). We are reminded that globalization is a very Western concept and Western
process altogether. As social, economic, and political norms are developed under the idea
of global governance, there is an incongruence and/or difference with the application of
economic norms developed countries apply to itself and those they impose on developing
countries (Ibid.).
Claudio (2014) posited that drawing the lines between the global north and the
global south has a powerful political function wherein critics of global inequality and
activists of global equality can distinguish who are the beneficiaries of the uneven systems

28
of global power. The global south stands at the bad side of this inequality which is why
the bulk of the discussion focuses on it.
THE GLOBAL NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE (Royal Geographical Society, n.d.)

 The concept of a gap between the Global North and the Global South in terms of
development and wealth.
 In the 1980s, the world was geographically split into relatively richer and poorer
nations. To show this phenomenon, the Brandt Line was developed.
 In this model (Brandt Line), richer countries are almost all located in the Northern
Hemisphere of the globe, except for Australia and New Zealand.
 Poorer countries are mostly located in tropical regions and the Southern
Hemisphere of the globe.

Illustration of the Brandt Line. Image from [Link]

4741-af0a-a6a8b75f32b4&lang=en-GB

 Substantial researches reveal that the inequality between the world’s richest
countries and the poorest countries is widening.
 Economic development and inequalities become more complex that the Brandt Line
of a binary nature in a geo-economic sense does not account for poorer countries
experiencing significant socioeconomic development, and countries located at the
global north experience third world realities.

CHARACTERIZING THE GLOBAL SOUTH (Claudio, 2014)

 The Global South is not a directional designation or a point due south from a fixed
north. It is a symbolic designation meant to capture the semblance of cohesion that
emerged when former colonial entities engaged in political projects of decolonization

29
 and moved toward the realization of a postcolonial international order (Grovogui,
2011 as cited in Claudio, 2014).
 The terms ‘global south’, ‘Third World’, and ‘developing country’ point to the common
phenomena: the underdevelopment of certain states/people and their lack of
representation in global political processes.
 These terms are also used to represent all ways to represent interstate inequalities
in all aspects of globalization.
 The social, economic, political, and cultural realities of the countries in the global
south are shaped by large-scale projects from imperialism, cold war-era containment,
to neo-liberal globalization, among others.
 Countries that form the global south are mostly colonies of Western countries like
Europe and America (both are First World countries) in the past. In the postcolonial
context, the likelihood of being poor is higher for states associated in the global
south (Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and South America). Many of these formerly
colonized countries are the same ones inadequately represented in global
organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the various international
banks.
 In the global south, the struggle for autonomous governance is largely waged as a
struggle to democratize the state to make it responsive to the needs of people on the
ground rather than the demand for external power.
 The global south is a product of Western imagination and a ‘savior’ stance. I.e. the
Western countries (colonizers) believed that countries that have a different form of
society from them are not ‘civilized’ and require saving by the imposition of social,
political, economic, and cultural colonial projects.
 The global south has been the specter and the necessary counterpoint of global
modernity as it has been articulated in various forms. The paradox of globalization
remains no development without underdevelopment, no globalism without parochial
localism.
 For Walden Bello (2006), development in the global south must catalyze the country’s
financial resources for development from within, rather from a dependence on
foreign investments and foreign financial markets (as cited in Claudio, 2014: 853).

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
More on global divides:
 What Does 'Third World Country' Mean?
([Link]
 Why Some Countries Are Poor and Others Rich
([Link]
 Third World vs First World Countries - What's The Difference?
([Link]
 Income and Wealth Inequality: Crash Course Economics #17
([Link]

30
IDEOLOGIES/THEORIES THAT CONTINUALLY RE-IMAGINE THIS DIVIDE
 Neo-liberalism: in economics, refers to forced liberalization and marketization of
developing economies; an economic framework which leans more on free-market
capitalism; most industrialized and first world countries follow neoliberal economic
principles e.g. free trade, deregulated market
 Walt W. Rostow’s Modernization Theory: economic development is conceptualized
in a linear process, where nation-states are assumed to progress through five stages
of economic growth.

Rostow’s Modernization Theory model. Image from [Link]

[Link]

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
On globalization theories:
 Globalization theories | Society and Culture | MCAT | Khan Academy
([Link]

The discussion of the imaginary yet highly social, political, economic, and cultural
divide between the ‘global north’ and the ‘global south’ presents complex and
intersecting processes of economics, power relations and dominations, and
developmental thrusts. Although the global south is presented as standing in the losing
side of very Western and First World oriented economic globalization policies and
practices, it still signifies that the countries associated with this label continue to be
globalized. Reiterating Claudio’s (2014) notes on challenging and diminishing global
and/or interstate inequalities, “global institutions have yet to prove that ‘they can

31
diminish international inequalities’, while ‘nation-states… are in a position to diminish
regional or group inequalities to some extent” (p. 853). Global inequality is a social
construct which makes it viable for deconstruction and therefore, change.

TOPIC 2: ASIAN REGIONALISM

Another way of looking at the world apart from distinctions of ‘global north’ and
‘global south’—these are social constructs connoting the unevenness and inequality
inherent with globalization which produces winners and losers in social, political, and
economic senses—is through the idea of regions. Take the Philippines, for example. Our
country’s archipelagic nature has formed a sense of local regionalism where close-knit
provinces are grouped within a region. The Philippines has seventeen (17) regions.
Although separated by regions, the sense of nationalism of Filipino citizens remains true
as to recognize oneself as a part of a nation-state.

Regions in the Philippines. Image from [Link]

The regionalism in the Philippines is different from the regionalism that will be
discussed for this topic. The lens to look at the phenomenon of regionalism shifts from
the Philippines and extends to its neighboring countries. This poses the questions, “how
did the Philippines come to identify itself with the Southeast Asian region? Why is it a
part of a regional grouping known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)?”
(Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 50). The answer to these questions lies at the very nature of
regionalism.

32
 ASEAN region map. Image from [Link]

FEATURES OF REGIONALISM (Claudio & Abinales, 2018)

 The concept encompasses a broader area, although often seen as a political and
economic phenomenon.
 Regionalism, as a phenomenon, can be examined in relation to social structures such
as identities, ethics, religion, ecological sustainability, and health among others.
 A process that must be treated as an “emergent, socially constituted phenomenon”
 It means that regions are not natural or given (not established since the beginning
of time), instead, they are constructed and defined by policymakers, economic
actors, civil society, and even social movements.
Just like the idea that the world is divided between ‘global north’ and ‘global south’, the
concept of regionalism is a social construct—people have created it to establish a sense
of organization and membership among social, political, and economic actors (particularly
nation-states) that have a relationship to one another and use this relationship to identify
and achieve goals rooted in a sense of solidarity and identification to each other’s needs.
Because the idea of regions is socially constructed and defined by certain actors, they are
open to deconstruction, changes, and/or reformulations.
 Conceptualizing the region (Mansfield & Milner, 1999; Claudio & Abinales, 2018).
1. Regions are “a group of countries located in the same geographically specified
area” or “an amalgamation of two regions [or] a combination of more than two
regions” organized to regulate and “oversee flows and policy choices”.
2. A region’s implication moves beyond the proximity of constituent states. Apart
from this proximity, “members of a common region also share cultural, economic,
linguistic, or political ties”. E.g. the languages spoken in Southeast Asia are
branches of the Malayo-Polynesian languages; Asian countries share a collective
social structure, different from the individualistic stance of Western countries.
3. Regionalization and regionalism should not be interchanged.

33
 Regionalization – regional concentration of economic flows; the growing intensity
of interaction and cooperation between neighboring countries
Regionalism – a political process characterized by economic policy cooperation
and coordination among countries; pertains more on intergovernmental
collaborations
 Several reasons for forming regional alliances:
a. Military defense e.g. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
b. Trading partners – countries can pool their resources, get better returns for their
exports, and expand their leverage in the trading arena. e.g. Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
c. Protect independence from pressures of superpower politics e.g. Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM) which is an organization of countries that refuse to align with
the Western superpowers
d. Economic crisis compels countries to come together e.g. regional organizations
can establish an emergency fund that can be utilized by their constituent states
struck by the economic crisis to stabilize their economy and not affect the other
economies.
REGIONALISM vis-à-vis GLOBALIZATION: THE CASE OF ASIA PACIFIC AND SOUTH ASIA
In his article, Globalization and the Asia Pacific and South Asia, Ehito Kimura (2014)
presented three (3) frameworks by which we can understand the relationship between
globalization and the regions in the Asia Pacific and South Asia. These frameworks show
how globalization is related to regionalism, yet regionalism can be a reaction against
globalization as well. In his words, the “various lenses through which to explore the
relationship between globalization and the region of [the] Asia Pacific and South Asia…
shows how globalization is a complex process where regional dynamics must be
understood as both a cause and a consequence” (Kimura, 2014: 843). Kimura explained
his frameworks further by citing economic, political, and cultural instances that happened
in the Asia Pacific and South Asia regions throughout history.
Let us be reminded of the definitions of globalization, regionalism, and region:
Globalization – worldwide integration along economic, political, social, and cultural lines
Regionalism – a political process characterized by economic policy cooperation and
coordination among countries; pertains more on intergovernmental collaborations
Region – a group of countries located in the same geographically specified area or an
amalgamation of two regions [or] a combination of more than two regions organized to
regulate and oversee flows and policy choices
The three (3) frameworks for understanding the relationship between globalization and
the regions of the Asia Pacific and South Asia are (Kimura, 2014):

34
 Illustration of the Asia Pacific and South Asia region. Image from [Link]
[Link]/media_files/nys/im/presentations/koppen/[Link]

FRAMEWORK DESCRIPTIONS
The region has  Globalization transforms the region of the Asia Pacific and
been affected by South Asia
globalization  The duality of the effects of globalization on the region:
a. A positive force for bringing economic development,
(externalist political progress, and social and cultural diversity.
view) b. A negative force with the role it plays in economic
underdevelopment and the uprooting of local tradition and
culture.
 MANIFESTATIONS THROUGHOUT THE REGION’S HISTORY:
- The “Western arrival” to the region through colonialism
(beginning from the 1500s) brought enormous changes.
Through colonial rule in the Asia Pacific and South Asia
countries, Europeans brought new economic practices,

35
 religious beliefs, cultural values, and political structures
that affected and changed the region drastically.
- The consequences of Western influence. E.g. pressures
from Western superpowers have made Japan take
subsequent political and economic transformation turning
Japan into a regional and eventually world power.
- Movements for nationalism and independence emerged
in many parts of the world, the Asia Pacific and South Asia
regions included. These movements are products of an
increasingly globalized world. Benedict Anderson (2007)
highlighted that idea of nationalism became modular and
spread to other parts of the globe.
- Post-World War II economic developments and the rise of
financial investments through the role of International
Financial Institutions (IFIs) like World Bank and
International Monetary Fund (the cornerstones of
economic liberalization and globalization in the post-war
global economy). I.e. East Asian countries like Japan, Korea,
and Taiwan drew their economic developments through
economic policies they saw as an increasingly globalized
economic system. IFIs turned their attention to developing
countries in Southeast Asia.
- The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 which had the Thai
economy at its core and affected most of Asia was seen as
a result of a failed globalization and the limits of deep
impact globalization in economies in the region.
- Other regional effects of economic globalization and
liberalization include the changes in labor practices and the
rise of non-standard employment (i.e. temporary and part-
time employment). In this type of employment, workers
are not consignees of legal contracts and are subject to
poor working conditions.
- Politics has been a defining characteristic of globalization
as well. The region of the Asia Pacific and South Asia has
witnessed the fall of authoritarian regimes and the rise of
democratic governments. This shift in politics has been
attributed to factors such as the rising middle classes and a
more globally interconnected world.
- The effects of globalization on culture. The idea that
globalization is a form of Westernization, that globalization
is leading to cultural homogenization and the loss of
cultural diversity. This is seen in the changing diet of Asians
(preference for fast food and supermarket produced
goods), changing tastes in music, clothing, television, and

36
 film. This point argues that Western cultural trends have
spread globally and increasingly marginalized how cultural
practices are expressed.
 This framework forwards the idea that the relationship
between globalization and the region is largely a “one-way
process”—outside forces have brought fundamental and far-
reaching changes to the region.
The region is an  This framework forwards the idea that the region is more of an
active agent autonomous agent serving as an engine for globalization.
pushing the  This view shows the important ways in which the region is also
influencing and transforming the nature of globalization itself.
process of
 MANIFESTATIONS THROUGHOUT THE REGION’S HISTORY:
globalization - The presence of the spice trade route suggests the idea that
forward early modern-day history Asia has led the global economy
and fell behind from the 18th-century. I.e. before Europe
circumnavigated the world, spices were already making
their way to various parts of the globe and the European
were interested in cutting out the middleman.
- Asia, not the West, was the central global force in the early
modern world economy (because of the important trade
routes located in the region and the advancements in
science and medicine). The rise of Europe in the 18th-
century came only after the colonial powers extracted
silver from the colonies and pried their way into the Asian
markets.
- Colonies in the Asia Pacific and South Asia influenced the
West as much as the West influenced the region. E.g.
practices and technologies such as counterinsurgency,
surveillance, and torture were developed and perfected in
the colonial Philippines before making their way back to
America.
- Cases to dispute the claim that the Asia Pacific and South
Asian countries are at the receiving end of globalization:
Japanese development in the 1950s-1970s shaped and
globalized key parts of the world economy. China’s impact
on the availability and consumption of goods around the
globe.
- Countries in the region like India and China become a major
source of international migrant labor—one of the
fundamental characteristics of globalization. I.e.
remittance from migrants has become a core source of
income for many if the region’s economies. The region is

37
 both the source and recipient of the influences of the
massive globalization of migration.
- The rise of regional free trade arrangements (regionalism)
in the Asia Pacific and South Asia. This regionalism (as
compatible and even pushing forward the process of global
economic integration) can promote regional cooperation
to global cooperation. E.g. open regionalism embodied by
the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
- A broad area of culture and globalization in the region. The
region is the source of a wide variety of cultural
phenomena that have also spread outward to the West and
the rest of the world. E.g. Japan’s Hello Kitty and Anime,
Korea’s K-drama and K-pop, Chinese kung-fu movies, and
India’s Bollywood films.
 In contradiction to the first framework, this framework views
globalization as not working in a one-way street description,
the region is generative of many aspects of the globalization
process.
The region can  The last framework focuses on viewing regionalism as an
be understood as alternative to globalization.
posing an  This perspective sees the region as a source of resistance to
globalization or global or Western powers.
alternative to
 MANIFESTATIONS THROUGHOUT THE REGION’S HISTORY:
globalization - Japan’s colonization of the Asian region and the creation of
the East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere is viewed as a push
back against Western imperialism. E.g. propaganda
centered on the idea of “Asia for Asiatics” and the need to
“liberate” the region from Europe.
- The conceptualization of the Asian values of leaders in the
region argued that Asia has culturally distinct
characteristics that make it different from Western liberal
democracies. Proponents of the Asian value describe
Asians as respectful of authority, hardworking, thrifty, and
emphasizes the community rather than individuality is
antithetical to Western concepts such as individual rights,
political liberalism, and democracy.
- Regional arrangements provide another way that region
serves as an alternative to globalization. I.e. there are other
institutions proposed or implemented at the regional level
that are more exclusive and self-consciously ‘Asian’ such as
the East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC), the proposed Asian
Monetary Fund (AMF).

38
 - A more subversive articulation of regionalism as an
alternative to globalization is the emergence of regional
terror networks. E.g. Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), main operation
in Indonesia with links in Malaysia, the Philippines, and
Thailand.
- Disengagement from globalization through various local
movements. E.g. community currency in the village of Santi
Suk in Thailand, local associations, self-sufficiency groups,
cooperative, and local production movements.

Kimura (2014) notes that these frameworks are not definitive, yet they already
offer rich analyses through historical and contemporary accounts on the ways by which
we can see the relationship between globalization and the region of the Asia Pacific and
South Asia.
In connection with Kimura’s (2014) postulations on the relationship between
globalization and regions, the Asian Development Bank (2008) has enumerated several
points regarding the benefits Asia gain from regionalism and the benefits the world gain
from Asian regionalism to answer the question of why Asian regionalism?
BENEFITS OF ASIA FROM REGIONALISM (ADB, 2008: 13)
1. link the competitive strengths of its diverse economies in order to boost their
productivity and sustain the region’s exceptional growth;
2. connect the region’s capital markets to enhance financial stability, reduce the cost
of capital, and improve opportunities for sharing risks;
3. cooperate in setting exchange rate and macroeconomic policies to minimize the
effects of global and regional shocks and to facilitate the resolution of global
imbalances;
4. pool the region’s foreign exchange reserves to make more resources available for
investment and development;
5. exercise leadership in global decision making to sustain the open global trade and
financial systems that have supported a half-century of unparalleled economic
development;
6. build connected infrastructure and collaborate on inclusive development to
reduce inequalities within and across economies and thus to strengthen support
for pro-growth policies; and
7. create regional mechanisms to manage cross-border health, safety, and
environmental issues better.
BENEFITS THE WORLD GAIN FROM ASIAN REGIONALISM (ADB, 2008: 14)
1. generate productivity gains, new ideas, and competition that boost economic
growth and raise incomes across the world;

39
2. contribute to the efficiency and stability of global financial markets by making
Asian capital markets stronger and safer, and by maximizing the productive use of
Asian savings;
3. diversify sources of global demand, helping to stabilize the world economy and
diminish the risks posed by global imbalances and downturns in other major
economies;
4. provide leadership to help sustain open global trade and financial systems; and
5. create regional mechanisms to manage health, safety, and environmental issues
better, and thus contribute to more effective global solutions to these problems.

In summary, regionalism comes as a different phenomenon from globalization yet

it is still highly related to the latter. Both processes are engaged in a complex flux,
continually affecting one another in a two-way connection. Asian regionalism has its
sense of identity and autonomy, as member-states work towards a common goal/s,
participate in regional economy building, and maintain a sense of interstate
community.
The discussions on seeing the world in divides and regions do not aim to
perpetuate a sense of division but a sense of distinction on how globalization as a
multidimensional and uneven phenomenon creates and perpetuates inequality on
one hand, and promote solidarity and community among interstates that are
continually being shaped by globalization and regionalism.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
More on Asian regionalism:
 ASEAN explained in 5 minutes
([Link]
 Benefits and Opportunities of Regional Cooperation in South Asia
([Link]
 What is ASEAN? | CNBC Explains
([Link]
 What Is ASEAN And Why Is It Important For Southeast Asia?
([Link]

40
 TOPICS
1. Global Media Cultures
2. The Globalization of Religion

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. analyze how various media drive various forms of global;

2. explain the dynamic between local and global cultural
production;
3. explain how globalization affects religious practices and beliefs;
and
4. analyze the relationship between religion and global conflict and,
conversely, global peace.

The tripartite character of globalization allows us to see the phenomenon as an

economic process, political process, and cultural process altogether. The discussions on
the structures of globalization (the global economy, interstate system, and contemporary
global governance), and the global divides and Asian regionalism pretty much introduced
us to the economic and political aspects of globalization. Although the phenomenon is
largely viewed through economic and political aspects or lenses, the succeeding topics
will reveal to us that globalization has a dynamic relationship with global culture and
media forces as both processes shape one another.
In this chapter, the succeeding topics focus on the processes that make up a sense
of “global culture” experienced by people that have access to certain forms of media.
With this, we explore how these shape the integration, interconnection, and interrelation
of people all over the world.

TOPIC 1: GLOBAL MEDIA CULTURES

In the pursuit to answer the question of “when did globalization begin?”, cultural
anthropologist Arjun Appadurai (1996) contends that advances in media (i.e. television,
computers, and cellphones) together with migration (i.e. changing migration patterns as

43
people easily move around the world) fundamentally changed the human life and gave
way to globalization (as cited in Lule, 2014: 662). With this contention, we go back to
Appadurai’s (1996) five ‘scapes’: ethnoscape (flows of people), technoscape (flow of
technology), finanscape (flow of money), mediascape (flow of information), and
ideoscape (flow of ideas), all of which helps us to gain an understanding to the
multidimensional character of globalization, these flows make up the multiple and
intersecting dimensions shaping the global culture.

Global media culture. Image from [Link]

[Link]

In his article, Globalization and Media: Creating the Global Village, Lule (2014)
forwards the ideas that (1) globalization could not occur without media; and (2)
globalization and media have proceeded together through time and supported these
claims by outlining the development of media throughout time. The essence of these
ideas is simplified in the statement that “media have made globalization possible” (Lule,
2014: 661). Moreover, he cited instances by which media has played significant roles in
shaping the global processes of economics, politics, and culture—the three aspects that
make up the multidimensionality of globalization. Lastly, Lule’s (2014) article looks at the
concept and phenomenon of the ‘global village’ through the conceptualizations and
perspectives offered by Marshall McLuhan and Lewis Mumford.
CONCERTO OF GLOBALIZATION AND MEDIA (Lule, 2014)
Globalization – a set of multiple, uneven, and sometimes overlapping historical
processes, including economics, politics, and culture, that have combined with the
evolution of media technology to create the conditions under which the globe itself can
now be understood as ‘an imagined community’
This definition entails that
1. Globalization involves multiple processes—economic, political, and cultural.
2. Developments in media technology are crucial to globalization.
3. We can understand that globe itself as an ‘imagined community’.

44
Media – plural for medium; a means of conveying something, such as channel of
communication
EVOLUTION OF MEDIA AND GLOBALIZATION
Lule (2014) outlined five major media periods throughout history through which
he described the process of how the media of each time shaped and/or contributed to
the globalization of our world (p. 664). The five media periods are oral communication,
script, print, electronic, and digital—all are nuanced medium that played key roles in
pushing forward the economic, political, and cultural processes of globalization. The
descriptions Lule provided should help you grasp the ideas mentioned above, that
globalization could not occur without media, and globalization and media have proceeded
together through time.

oral
communication script print electronic digital

ORAL COMMUNICATION
The human speech is the oldest and most enduring medium.
How language facilitated globalization?
1. Language allowed humans to cooperate.
2. Sharing information about necessities such as land and water source as well as
knowledge on the climate and weather helped humans to travel and adapt to
their environments.
3. Sharing of information about tools and weapons led to the spread of
technology—language was the most important tool.
4. As human beings settled, language led to markets, trade of goods and services,
and eventually into international trade routes.

SCRIPT
Script, as the very first writing, allowed humans to communicate and share knowledge
and ideas over much larger space and across much longer times.
Scripts such as the alphabet learned by people around the world is central to the
evolution of humankind and its civilizations.
Scripts allowed for the written and permanent codification of economic, cultural,
religious, and political practice. These codes spread out over large distances and handed
down through time.

45
 PRINTING PRESS
The ‘information revolution’ transformed markets, businesses, nations, schools,
churches, governments, and armies among others.
With the advent of the printing press, reading material suddenly was cheaply made
and easily circulated. Millions of books, pamphlets, and flyer were produced,
reproduced, and circulated.
The printing press encouraged the literacy of the public and the growth of schools.
The explosive flow of economic, cultural, and political ideas around the world
connected and changed people and cultures.
Two consequences produced through the development and practice of printing press
(Eisenstein, 1979):
1. Printing press preserved and standardized knowledge.
2. Print encouraged the challenge of political and religious authority because of
its ability to circulate competing views.

ELECTRONIC MEDIA
Electronic media include the telegraph, telephone, radio, film, and television.
These media helped in shaping globalization through the following:
1. Corporations and businesses were able to exchange information about markets
and prices, and newspapers could report information instantaneously through
the telegraph, telephone, and cellphone.
2. Artists used film to capture powerful narratives that resonated within and
across cultures.
3. Television allowed people to view pictures and stories from across the globe—
the world was brought into the homes.

DIGITAL MEDIA
The computer has facilitated globalization through the following:
1. In the area of economics, computers allow global trading to happen 24 hours
a day. Computers allow for the access of economic information as well.
Moreover, computers and the internet allow the streamline of tasks, research,
and industrial or corporate aspect to a global marketplace.
2. In politics, the computer and internet allow citizens access to information from
around the world, even information that governments would like to conceal.
3. With the access to information from around the globe, the internet allows
people to adopt new practices in music, sports, education, religion, arts and
other areas of cultures.
4. Social networking sites connect people around the world in a virtual
community.
46
 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
More on the interplay of globalization, culture, and media:
 Cultures, Subcultures, and Countercultures: Crash Course Sociology #11
([Link]
 Mass media | Society and Culture | MCAT | Khan Academy
([Link]
 The Medium is the Message ([Link]
 But Wait: How DOES The Media Tell You What To Think?
([Link]
 Globalization and culture ([Link]

THE GLOBAL VILLAGE

The conceptualization of the “global village” is rooted on the idea that the people
of the world came to know the world and imagined themselves acting in the world
through the media, and by doing so they became active agents in the sphere of
globalization (Lule, 2014: 668).
The idea of an existing “global village” has the following implications (Lule, 2014: 668-
669):
1. The media linked the globe with stories, images, myths, and metaphors. I.e.
echoes the flows of information and ideas.
2. According to Steger (2008), the media is bringing about a rising global imaginary
i.e. the globe itself is an imagined community where people imagine themselves
to be part of the world.
 Benedict Anderson’s (1991) conceptualization of the nation as an ‘imagined
community’ presents the idea that people will never meet every person in the
nation, but in their minds, they imagine themselves as one and with a sense
of communion.
3. Marshall McLuhan argued that the media have connected the world in ways that
created a ‘global village’. The global village is envisioned as a utopia where people
are drawn closer by media as if they are neighbors because of how the media
mediates accessibility and smooth connection where people can share
information, knowledge, and cultures.
4. For Lewis Mumford, the dark side of the ‘global village’ lies at how corporations
and industries used media technology, not for beyond-borders-human-
connections-and-relations but capitalism, militarism, profit, and power plays.
Because media and globalization have connected people from around the world,
it is safe to imagine the world as a ‘global village’ yet this idea presents to us that the
connection, closeness, and interdependence of the social structures that comprise the

47
global village did not lead to collective harmony and peace. The dynamics between media
and globalization in the economic, political, and cultural aspects show the dystopia in the
conception of the global village.
The table below presents descriptions by which economic, political, and cultural
globalization and the media is affecting one another in the shaping of the global village.

Media and  By creating the conditions for global capitalism and by

Economic promoting the conceptual foundation of the world’s
economy proves that media have made economic
Globalization
globalization possible.
 The media fosters the conditions for capitalism and
consumerism by packing television channels and radio
stations with advertisements of products. E.g. when you
watch television, you are bombarded with advertisements
that try to persuade you to buy the products presented.
Sometimes, the time allotted for advertisements is longer
than the actual show you are watching.
 According to McChesney (2010), the global media system is
better understood as one that advances corporate and
commercial interests and values. Moreover, the
commercial media system is geared towards promoting
consumerism above political participation or socio-
economic change.
 For Adorno and Horkheimer (2008), the mindless
entertainment consumerist media can distract audiences
from critical thinking, sapping time, and energy from social
and political action.
 Another aspect of media and economic globalization is the
disastrous influence on news that creates a passive
apolitical populace and “mass production of ignorance”.
Media and  In the realm of politics, individual journalists are subject to
Political brutal and intense intimidation of actors who are
contending for power. Journalists are censored and there
Globalization
are numerous cases where journalists are killed for
reporting about corruption, syndicates, and politicians’
atrocities—they die without justice.
 The global village can be a war zone where numerous
forces compete for wealth and power, within and across
borders.
 Economic, political, and personal pressures shape the news
around the globe, as governments have the coercive power
to shape and manipulate the news and information that
circulate.

48
  With the manipulation of news, digital media is deemed to
have the potential to invigorate and transform political life
through the opportunity for alternative voices within and
across borders to be acknowledged. But this too can be
silenced. E.g. governments can use social media platforms
such as Facebook to spy upon or track down protesters and
oppositions.
Media and  Through media platforms such as newspapers, magazines,
Cultural movies, radio, and the internet, the media produce and
display cultural products that range from pop songs to
Globalization
films.
 The media also generate numerous and ongoing
interactions among cultures—the commingling of media,
culture, and globalization.
 For Jan Nederveen Pieterse (2008), there are three
outcomes when we talk about the influence of
globalization on culture.
1. Cultural differentialism – cultures are different, strong,
and resilient; despite globalization, these cultures will
endure and cultural diversity will be maintained. This
view also suggests that cultures are destined to clash as
globalization continues to bring them together. E.g. the
West and Islam will be locked in conflict.
2. Cultural convergence – globalization will bring about a
growing sameness of cultures. This outcome suggests
that cultural homogeneity will occur through cultural
imperialism in which the culture of “more developed
nations” invade and take over the cultures of “less
developed nations”. I.e. a global culture which is highly
American culture.
3. Cultural hybridity – globalization will bring about an
increasing blending or mixture of cultures. This
“mixing” will create new cultural forms, from music to
food to fashion. For Pieterse, this outcome is common
and desirable.

The discussion on media and globalization covers a broad dimension as it touches

even on the three aspects of globalization respectively. The instances cited prove how the
media and globalization have been in a partnership in shaping human lives throughout
history. The development of media cultures, the conceptualization of the global village,
and the ways by which media and globalization affect one another resonates to the way
people—as the practitioners and embodiment of these media themselves—find ways to

49
connect, interact, and relate to one another in a sense of imagined community. Indeed,
the interplay of media and globalization has numerous ways by which they shape human
lives.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
On global village and dynamisms of culture with globalization:
 Diversity and globalization: James Sun at TEDxBayArea Ignite
([Link]
 Multiculturalism as a threat and multiculturalism as an asset | Rebar Jaff |
TEDxErbil ([Link]
 Marshall McLuhan - The World is a Global Village (CBC TV)
([Link]

TASK/ACTIVITY

KOMIKS

Create a six-panel comic strip illustrating your experience with the global
media cultures. As an individual connected to the world through different
media (language, news, magazines, popular culture, and the internet), how
does this shape or influence your life. You can derive your illustration from
any of these ideas:
a. The manner by which the accessibility of ideas/information, and the
growing connection of peoples and cultures shape or influence the
way you live and the way you understand your place in the world.
b. The positive and negative effects of using media that you experienced
personally.
c. Your experience of local media cultures versus your experience of
American media cultures in terms of popular culture like music and
film.
d. The way by which global media cultures have helped you to stay
connected, informed, and sane during the Covid-19 pandemic
lockdowns.
You are free to use any illustration style and materials in your comics. Create
your comics strip in a short bond paper.

TASK/ACTIVITY RUBRIC:
Artistic elements (design, art style, medium):
20%
Creativity: 30%
Narrative, theme, ideas and/or ideals
50 through the comic strip: 50%
forwarded
An example of a six-panel comic strip
 TOPIC 2: THE GLOBALIZATION OF RELIGION

Religion is both an institution and a facet of a culture where the belief systems
and/or world views of peoples are contained. And if institutions and culture, in their
general sense, are subject to a dynamic relationship with globalization then religion is no
exception. There are contrasting views when it comes to the interplay of religion vis-à-vis
globalization. One pertains to the idea that religion rides at the back of globalization and
benefits from it. The other is rooted in the perspective of religious people that
globalization is an immoral thing that subjects man into the pursuit of economic
development and stability rather than a divine-ordained life that is characterized by
humility, dependence, and faith to God.

An illustration of religion and globalization. Image from [Link]

content/uploads/2016/08/20131031_011553_1103lipcol.jpg?w=640

Claudio and Abinales (2018) enumerated the clash between religion (i.e. a
collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and world views that establish symbols that
relate to humanity to spirituality and moral values) and globalism (i.e. a widespread belief
among powerful people that the global integration of economic market is beneficial for
everyone since it spreads freedom and democracy across the world) in terms of ideas and
practices related to the powerful force of globalization.
The clash between religion and globalism is described through the following (Claudio &
Abinales, 2018: 62-63):

51
 RELIGION GLOBALISM
• concerned with the sacred • places value on material wealth
• follows divine commandments • abide by human-made laws
• assumes the possibility of • puts premium on how much human
communication between humans action can lead to the highest
and the supreme being material satisfaction
• the supreme being has a social • globalists are not worried if they go
power over the human being and to heaven or hell, they life is about
judges human action in moral terms developing skills on how to seal
• less concerned with wealth, they trade deals, raise profits, improve
refuse materiality for a government revenue collections,
simple/humble existence protect the rich from excessive
• a religious person's duty is to live taxing, and enriching themselves
righteously such that when they die, • globalists trains to be shrewd
they are assured with a place in businessperson
heaven • globalists use politics as both means
• religious people aspire to become and ends to open up further the
saints economies of the world
• religious people detest politics • the globalist idea is focused on the
• religious evangelization is in itself a realm of markets
form of globalization • globalists wishes to spread goods
• religions are concerned with and services
spreading holy ideas around the
world

With these clashing points between religion and globalism, several questions can be
raised, how exactly religion relates to globalization? What are the ways by which
globalization influence or affect the religions in the contemporary world? And, is religion
for or against globalization?
Victor Roudometof (2014) in his article, Religion and Globalization, discussed the
sociological take on the relationship of religion with globalization under the idea of what
he called the ‘religion-globalization problematic’ (p. 882). An overview of the
secularization paradigm became a prerequisite and sets the stage for the study and
presentation of the religion-globalization problematic. The inquiry on the relationship
between religion and globalization has produced agendas by which it can be interpreted
and then understood (Roudometof, 2014: 882).

SECULARIZATION PARADIGM
The modern world is a secular one, not because of people becoming less religious
or the growing separation of the church and the state, but because there has been a shift
in the framework of understanding human conditions (Roudometof, 2014: 883).

52
Secularization is understood as this shift; “it makes it possible for people to have a choice
between belief and non-belief in a manner hitherto unknown” (Ibid.). In our secular
society today, people have the freedom to choose if they are going to live their life under
a belief or non-belief. Individuals today are not compelled to be members of a religion or
to follow and live by religious practices. The presence of agnostics (do not have any belief
in any deity) and atheists (they do not believe in the existence of a deity) today are
manifestations of this shift of human condition with regards to belief systems and/or
worldviews contained in religions.
Two Ideas Concerning Secularization (Roudometof, 2014: 883-884):
1. Post-secular society
- This idea was forwarded by Jürgen Habermas
- Post-secularity is seen in contemporary societies, whereby religion makes a
return to the public sphere
- It is characterized by a revitalized religiosity that takes many forms:
fundamentalism, and public flagging of religious belief that is not matched by
religious practice
2. Secularism as an active project
- This idea forwards that secularism is a multifaceted movement
- Secularization occurs as an outcome of social action and no longer occur as a
result of broader cultural, economic, and political changes
Limits of the Secularization Paradigm (Roudometof, 2014: 884-885):
1. It is unable to recognize the social and cultural power of the religious factor.
2. The limited view on the study of religion: limited to the study of the institution
and the individual, disregarding the non-institutional, collective, and public
cultural dimension of religion.
3. The focus and descriptions of the study of religion and secularization paradigm
were drawn from mainly the cultural elements and historical experience of the
West and ignore the non-Western religions.
4. A central issue in this paradigm concerns non-Western experience and major
contentions on the existence of Western bias in concepts, methods, and research
agendas.

THE RELIGION-GLOBALIZATION PROBLEMATIC

For the discussion of the relationship between religion and globalization, we cite
Robertson’s (1992) statement on globalization. He defined globalization as “the
compression of the world”. Compression means the “accelerated pace of contact among
cultures, peoples, and civilizations or the send that the world is shrinking” (Robertson,
1992 as cited in Roudometof, 2014: 885). This idea of compressing and shrinking
53
produced by contemporary globalization has resulted in several “religious-centered”
reactions such as the rise of religious nationalism, the return of religion into public life,
the proliferation of international terrorism, and the increasing personalized construction
of individual religiosity (Roudometof, 2014: 886).
The religion-globalization problematic offers two different lines of theorizing and
interpretation: the globalization of religion, and globalization and religion (Obadia, 2010
as cited in Roudometof, 2014: 886).

GLOBALIZATION OF RELIGION
• The spread of religions and specific genres/forms/blueprints of religious
expression across the globe.
• Forwards the idea that the very notion of what constitutes a ‘religion’ is the
product of a long-term process of inter-civilization or cross-cultural interactions.
• The study of secularism and the adaptation of secularization in various cultures
and faiths across the globe is an important facet of this.
• The spread of religion through missionaries that benefit from the channels of
globalization such as international travel, and the use of media (news, internet,
film, music, television) to become familiar to proliferate religious ideas.

GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION

• The position and place of religion are problematized within the context of
globalization.
• Concerns the relations and the impact of globalization upon religion.
• Religious institutions generally tend to adopt either strategy of cultural defense or
strategies of active engagement with globality.
• A religion can reject globalizing trends and impulses, it is nevertheless shaped by
them and is forced to respond to new-found situations.
• Incorporates the notion of resacralization as a response to secularizing agendas
and views instances of transnational nationalism cloaked in religious terms as
cultural expressions stimulated by globalization. E.g. ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria) ideals and actions as a defense against the materialism of globalization

In addition to this theorizing of the relationship between religion and globalization,

according to Claudio and Abinales (2018),
religion is thus not the “regressive force” that stops or slow down globalization; it is
a “pro-active force” that gives communities a new and powerful basis of identity. It
is an instrument with which religious people can put their mark in the reshaping of
this globalizing world, although in its own terms (p. 67).

54
The relationship between religion and globalization, then, cannot be limited to the idea
that the two are entirely opposing and/or contradicting as the diagram on the
contradictions between religion and globalism shows (see diagram above).
As another institutional and cultural force shaping the integration and
interconnection of people in the borderless world, the difference in religions and beliefs
encourages genuine respect from one another rather than mere tolerance that can
parade as a mask for discrimination and racism among others. Religion and globalization
will remain to coexist in the contemporary world, the shifts and changes in related human
conditions will be shaped by the interplay of culture with economics and politics.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
On religion in the contemporary world:
 The five major world religions - John Bellaimey
([Link]
 Religion, faith and the role they play today | The Economist
([Link]
 Animated map shows how religion spread around the world
([Link]
 Religion: Crash Course Sociology #39 ([Link]
3e8CWA)
 Faith and Globalization ([Link]

ASSESSMENT

WATCH AND REACT:

Watch the PBS documentary, “The Rise of ISIS” and create a 3- to 5- ASSESSMENT
minute reaction video. Through the reaction video, you can express RUBRICS:
your thoughts, ideas, and realizations regarding the documentary Quality of
you’ve watched. This is just like writing a reaction paper but you have content: 30%
to record yourself voicing out your ideas, thoughts, and realizations. The reaction
You can outline the flow of the reaction video so that you will be able (Ideas,
to maximize the duration and focus on the significant points. arguments, and
Moreover, explore the dynamics of religion and globalization through points
the conditions of the ISIS. The outline can go like this forwarded): 50%
[introduction/context  your thoughts, ideas, and realizations  Creativity and
your understanding of the dymanics of religion and globalization reaction video
through the conditions of the ISIS] but you can create your own flow. quality: 20%
It doesn’t have to be a fancy reaction video, you have the freedom to
be creative as long as it is informative and offers your analyses on the
documentary.
55
Link: [Link]
 TOPICS
1. The Global City
2. Global Demography
3. Global Migration

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. identify the attributes of a global city. Analyze how cities serve

as engines of globalization;
2. explain the theory of demographic transition as it affects the
global population; and
3. analyze the political, economic, cultural, and social factors
underlying the global movements of people. Display first-hand
knowledge of the experiences of OFWs.

From economies, political structures, and cultural practices that shape,

characterizes, and/or influence globalization and vice versa, we narrow the focus on the
idea that globalization is also a spatial process (concerning spaces). We know that the
processes of globalization are in motion, but questions can be raised, where do we see
globalization taking place? How do these contexts affect demographics and global
movements of people?
The succeeding topics focus on the spatial and contextual aspects of globalization
and how economic, political, and cultural processes shape these spaces. In addition to the
spaces of globalization, we will also look at the aspect of human agency in relation to
globalization. Mainly, on how globalization is changing a country’s demographics and how
the ethnoscape (flows of people) of globalization, such as migration, illustrate the global
population and the movements of people around the world.

56
 TOPIC 1: THE GLOBAL CITY

We constantly note that globalization has paved the way for the increasing
integration and interconnection of economies, political structures, cultures, and peoples
from all over the world. Globalization has established both international and
transnational institutions and social structures. Because globalization is ‘global’ we
assume that it is embodied by the whole world—like the entirety of the earth. But
because globalization is inherently uneven, some contexts and spaces embody its essence
more than the other. If London, New York, and Tokyo are considered and recognized as
‘global cities’, then this poses the question, what constitutes a global city? If these cities
can be global cities, can Manila be one as well?
The conception of the ‘global city’ answers to the character of globalization as a
spatial phenomenon because it occurs in physical spaces and because its movements
are based in places (Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 84). The increase in skyscrapers seen in
the horizon, the movement of people to the cities for work, studies, or leisure, and the
conditions by which the poor are displaced outside the city to give way to ‘progress’
manifest the idea that globalization—although global in scope—its entirety can be seen
in the unit of a city. For Claudio and Abinales (2018), “cities act on globalization and
globalization acts on cities. They are sites of as well as the mediums of globalization. Just
as the internet enables and shapes global forces, so too do cities.” In connection to this,
Colic-Piesker (2014) argues that the idea of a ‘global city’ “has a central place in
understanding contemporary spatial patterns of globalization.”

Global City. Image from [Link]

[Link]

57
CHARACTERIZING THE GLOBAL CITY (Claudio & Abinales, 2018; Colic-Peisker, 2014)

 The global city is the main physical and geographic context of globalizing forces, the
global flow of people, capital, and ideas are interconnected in the daily experiences
of its residents.
 The global city represents and contains the world in a bounded space.
 Global cities are hubs of innovation, creativity, and productivity. Global cities are
financial centers, with great concentration of geopolitical power, cultural
powerhouses, and higher education hubs and creative industries.
 For sociologist Saskia Sassen (1991), the most defining characteristic is economic
power, which largely determines which cities are global. According to Sassen, global
cities are the “command centers”, the main spaces of triumphant global capitalism.
E.g. New York has the largest stock market; there are 613 company headquarters in
Tokyo; the biggest container port in the world is found in Shanghai.
 According to the Global Power City Index by the Japanese Mori Foundation, the global
power of cities is measured through six criteria:
a. Economy
b. Research and development
c. Cultural interaction
d. Liveability
e. Environment
f. Accessibility
Moreover, according to the Index, there is a sense of “magnetism” by which global
cities deserve their status: a comprehensive power to attract creative people and
excellent companies from around the world. Similar to Moretti (2012), global cities
represent “brain hubs” that have concentrations of innovative people and firms, has
good “human ecosystems” for businesses, and provides support functions or
“secondary services” for innovators.

 The ‘things’ produced in global cities are not material, they are immaterial such as
ideas and knowledge. This “symbolic economy” based on abstract products like
financial instruments, information, and popular culture (arts, fashion, music, etc.) has
increasing importance as manufacturing companies move out of cities into slum cities
in Third World countries.
 Economic opportunities in a global city attract talents from across the world. E.g. IT
programmers and engineers from Asia moved to San Francisco and became key figures
in Silicon Valley’s technological boom.
 Global cities are characterized by occupational and income polarization, with the
highly paid professionals on one end and providers of low-paid skill services on the

58
 other. This condition continually reimagines social classes, income distribution, and
the labor market, and perpetuates the inherent inequality in globalization.
 Global cities are centers of authority and in some instances, centers of political
influence. E.g. Washington D.C. is America’s seat of state power; United Nations’
headquarters in New York; headquarters of ASEAN in Jakarta.
 Global cities are centers of higher learning and cultural experiences. They attract
international students. E.g. Harvard University in Boston; the American film industry
in Los Angeles; Singapore’s cultural hub.
 The cultural power of global cities ties them to the imagination. I.e. references in
songs and films deliver a message of a “greater pasture” in global cities, persuading
people to move into one.
 Global cities are melting pots for cultural diversity, as a consequence of human
mobility and migration. I.e. presence of foreign population either for work, education,
or tourism purposes.
 Globalization has created the global labor market, leading to an increase in
transnational mobility and migration of people coming from different places
into the global cities.
 The “magnetism” of global cities is not only for the creative and innovative
professionals and firms but also for other necessary workers (those in the low-
skilled, poorly paid service sector).
UNDERSIDES OF THE GLOBAL CITY (Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 89-92)

 Global cities can be sites of great inequality, poverty, and violence—these spaces
create winners and losers.
 Among the most profound downsides of everyday life in a global city are high housing
costs, long working hours, competitive labor market, long commuting time,
discrimination and racism, loss of sense of community which promotes greater
individuality among neighbors and residents.
 Environmental aspect:
a. Cities like Singapore and Tokyo with dense population and extensive public
transportation systems have lower carbon footprints  environmentally
sustainable
b. Cities like Manila and Bangkok with dense population and no extensive public
transportation coupled with unregulated car industries lead to a high level of
pollution  environmentally unsustainable
c. Cities consume the most energy
 Socio-political aspect:
- Cities are targeted for major terrorist attacks because of their high population,
global influence, and their embodiment of globalization. E.g. 9/11 attack in
New York

59
 Economic aspect:
- Today, it is common to find towering buildings alongside shantytowns housing
the urban poor population.
- Cities are now becoming the same mechanism that drives out and displaces
the poor, in favor of wealthier people (gentrification).
- The number of middle-class population is decreasing as the binary socio-
economic divide between the rich and the poor widens.
The very nature of global cities as the sites and medium of globalization embody
complex and interwoven economic, political, cultural, and demographic processes. If we
perceive globalization as an abstract process taking place at the world level, the
conditions in the global city illustrate to us that globalization is also tangible and closer to
home. Global cities pretty much exemplify globalization and its intricate influence and
relation to our everyday lived experiences.
As global cities are viewed as more of a horseman of economic globalization than
the other aspects of politics and culture, the inherent unevenness and inequality of
globalization manifest on how it treats economic players, human agency, human labor,
social structures, human experiences, and living conditions. The challenge of creating an
experience of globalization in an equalizing manner is yet to materialize.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
More on global city:
 Global Cities - Full Documentary ([Link]
4oMnmu47Q&t=68s)
 Urbanisation and the growth of global cities
([Link]
 Issues Illustrated: Global Cities
([Link]
 Saskia Sassen | Global Cities
([Link]
 Urbanization and the future of cities - Vance Kite
([Link]
 How to Make an Attractive City
([Link]

60
 TASK/ACTIVITY

A POSTCARD FROM THE GLOBAL CITY:

Because most global cities attract creative and innovative people from around
the world, capitalize on your creative juices for this activity.
Create a collage depicting the essence of a global city. It is up to you if you will
focus on the bright side of the city lights or the undersides in the dark alleys or
shantytowns of the metro.
You are free to use any illustration style (you can draw or paint) and materials
in your postcard, you can even do this digitally. The postcard size is 5 (L) x 7 (W)
inches, so you have to customize the paper you will use. Your postcard can be in
portrait or landscape orientation.
TASK/ACTIVITY RUBRICS:
Artistic elements (design, art style, medium): 20%
Creativity: 30%
Narrative, theme, ideas and/or ideals forwarded through the postcard: 50%

TOPIC 2: GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHY

In the discussion of global demography, we narrow the focus to the human

population and on how forces of globalization are shaping and affecting demographic
aspects (i.e. population size, mortality rates, income, the incidence of disease, and fertility
rates), and global movements of people (migration). The conditions of global
demography are influenced by the interplay of local and global economic, political, and
cultural processes. The challenge regarding the increasing global population relates to the
issues of global food security, healthcare, environmental sustainability, land-use, socio-
economic inequalities, and marginalizing and/or discriminating policies.
In the unit of the family, parents have different motivations for having children
which are highly influenced by their contexts and cultures. For families living in rural,
agricultural communities, having many children is advantageous because all are expected
to be additional hands in tending the farm and the kinship will be beneficial in keeping
the familial ties together. In contrast to urban, educated, and professional families who
will choose to have just one or two children because the couples are tied down to their
careers. In these cases, different perspectives on family-hood or family life have
significant effects on a country’s demography. Nowadays, “having or not having children
is mainly driven by economic” (Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 96).

61
 Global demography. Image from [Link]

The movements of people to urban areas and/or global cities are marking
significant changes in demography as well. As people move to the cities for work, studies,
and other reasons, population count and human density in cities with small land-area
spike up. In a similar case, international migration has been an omnipresent force in
relation to globalization and its influence on the human population.
DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION
In his article, The Demographic Transition: Three Centuries of Fundamental
Change, Ronald Lee (2003) traced and discussed the dramatic demographic transition in
three centuries by taking a comparative lens on different demographic aspects (mortality
declines, fertility transition, population growth, and shifts in age distribution) from cases
and data of three categories of countries (Most Developed Countries, Less Developed
Countries, and Least Develop Countries).
For Lee (2003), there are temporal phases of demographic transition, which are
the pre-demographic transition phase and the actual demographic transition period. Lee
(2003) characterized the two phases.

PRE-DEMOGRAPHIC ACTUAL DEMOGRAPHIC

TRANSITION TRANSTION PERIOD
• life was short • mortality decline
• births were many • fertility decline
• growth was slow • growth rates: accelerate and then
• the population was young slow again
• low fertility
• long life
• an old population

62
According to Lee (2003), “[t]his demographic transition has brought momentous changes,
reshaping to economic and demographic life cycles of individuals and restructuring
populations” (p. 167). These shifts in population conditions indicated above are shaped
by changes that influenced significant fluctuations in the human population itself. In
addition, the “classic demographic transition” begins with mortality decline, then a time
of reduced fertility, resulting in an interval of increased and decreased population growth,
and population aging as the culmination (Lee, 2003: 170).
CLASSIC DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION

increase
and
mortality reduced decrease population
decline fertility in aging
population
growth

ASPECTS OF DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION (Lee, 2003)

a. Mortality Declines
- Reduction in contagious and infectious diseases due to developments in
preventive medicine and public health measures.
- Improved personal hygiene.
- Improvements in nutrition. Better-nourished populations with stronger organ
systems were better to resist disease.
- Improvements in the storage and transportation of regional and local food
items.
- Increases in income improved nutrition in childhood and throughout life.
- Reduction in chronic and degenerative diseases, i.e. heart disease and cancer.
- Publicly organized and funded biomedical research has played an increasingly
important part.
b. Fertility Transition
- Some improvement in child survival is a response to parental decisions to
invest more in the health and welfare of a smaller number of children.
- Fertility will also be influenced by how economic change influences the costs
and benefits of childbearing.
- Rising incomes have shifted consumption from nonagricultural goods and
services to educated labor.
- Parents with higher incomes choose to devote more resources to each child;
with a high cost for each child, parents choose to have fewer children.

63
 - The influence of contraceptive technology for fertility decline is another
aspect.
c. Population Growth
- Population growth is determined by the combination of fertility and mortality.
- According to United Nation’s trajectory forecast and prediction, the global
population will reach 8.9 billion by 2050 and just below 9.5 billion by 2100—
currently, we are at 7.8 billion people in the whole world.
d. Population Aging
- Both low fertility and longer life contribute to the aging of the population.
- When population aging is due to declining fertility, it raises the share of the
elderly population without altering the remaining life expectancy of older
individuals.
- Population aging due to declining mortality is generally associated with
increasing health and improving the functional status of the elderly.
These aspects are largely situated within the international contexts by comparing trends,
forecasts, and projection regarding the trajectory of the global population, 50 years or a
century from now.
THE PERILS AND CONTROL-MECHANISMS OF OVERPOPULATION
The current figures when it comes to the global population are at 7.8 billion
people in the whole world. As the trajectory of population growth leans more on the
increasing size for the next 50 or 100 years, the current problem with overpopulation
will heighten. As the number of people increases, the perils of overpopulation loom.
Claudio and Abinales (2018) have discussed some of these ‘perils’ and prospective
solutions governments can take to ‘control’ their population growth:
1. Overpopulation will bring about the environmental degradation that will lead to
food shortage and massive starvation. There is a growing sense of global food
insecurity.
2. The free expansion of family members would lead to a crisis in resources, which
may result in widespread poverty, mass hunger, and political instability.
3. Advocates of population control push for universal access to reproductive
technologies (condoms, pills, abortion, and vasectomy) and giving women the
right to choose whether to have children or not.

64
 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
On global demographic transition and human population trajectories:
 Mapping global population and the future of the world | The Economist
([Link]
 Overpopulation – The Human Explosion Explained
([Link]
 Demographic transition | Society and Culture | MCAT | Khan Academy
([Link]
 Population dynamics | Society and Culture | MCAT | Khan Academy
([Link]

PHILIPPINE DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

Presented below is the current demographic data of the Philippines. The data are mainly
sourced from Worldometer and Philippine Statistics Authority.

 The Philippines 2020 population is estimated at 109,581,078 people at mid-year

according to UN data.
 The Philippines population is equivalent to 1.41% of the total world population.
 The Philippines ranks number 13 in the list of countries (and dependencies) by
population.
 The population density in the Philippines is 368 per Km2 (952 people per mi2).
 The total land area is 298,170 Km2 (115,124 sq. miles)
 47.5 % of the population is urban (52,008,603 people in 2020)
 The median age in the Philippines is 25.7 years.

65
Demographic forecasts and predictions indicate an increasing trajectory of the Filipino
population for the next thirty years. With our existing institutional crises, failing
governmental policies and programs, rampant poverty and hunger, increasing
unemployment rate, decreasing purchasing power of the poor, environmental
degradation, the continuing trend of the population will pose challenges and problems at
intersecting and multilevel dimensions. We will start to ask how we are going to feed
additional million mouths, how are we going to accommodate more people in our limited
land area, how do we mitigate the tendency to move past our carrying capacity, and how
do we assure the next generations that they can still live securely.
Global demography is a broad topic which draws a lot of data and analyses from
different disciplines in the social sciences, data sciences, and statistics. Globalization will
continue to have a huge impact on human populations, mobility, migration, and related
conditions. Aside from the challenges of making globalization more just and capable of
upholding interstate and global harmony, making the results of the processes more
humane and mindful of different human conditions should be considered as well.

TASK/ACTIVITY
Characterizing Philippine demographics: Has the Philippines
undergone the demographic transition? Why or why not? TASK/ACTIVITY RUBRICS:
You can include in your paper data from institutional reports, Format: 15%
news reports, United Nations forecasts and projections on Citation and ethical
Philippine population trajectories. If the Philippines has indeed integrity: 20%
undergone a demographic transition, discuss the reasons. Integration, organization,
Discuss your points clearly. Don’t forget to cite your sources, and elaboration of data,
use APA citation style. information,
Format: In short bond paper, Times New Roman Font, 12 font and points: 50%
size, single-space. (Notice to the instructor:66this format serves as a Writing technicalities
parameter guide and can be adjusted to the needs and/or conditions of the (narrative, grammar): 15%
students)
 TOPIC 3: GLOBAL MIGRATION

In the discussion of the global city, we focused on the spaces by which the large-
scale process of globalization manifests greatly in a context-bound perspective. In the
previous topic on the global population, we looked at forecasts and predictions of human
population trajectories in light of an ongoing demographic transition process. For the last
topic of this chapter, we focus on the movements of people under the push and pull of
globalization.
Global migration, or the process of migration in general, is seen as another
product of the increasing interaction and interconnection of peoples, structures, and
systems brought by globalization. People can move from one country to another.
Migration is an intersection of economic, political, sociological, and anthropological
processes and conditions that pushes or pulls people toward the idea and action of
moving or migrating to another place.

Global migration data. Image from [Link]

The movement of people under globalization processes is inevitable. Humans are

migratory beings. Similar to birds that migrate to warmer areas during winter to survive,
the motivations of human beings to migrate are partly for the sake of survival as well.
However, what differentiates the migratory human with the migratory bird is that
migration is not solely for surviving but for numerous humanistic motives driven by very
complex human conditions.
67
WHAT IS MIGRATION?
In definition, migration refers to the temporary or permanent movement of
people from one place to another. According to Claudio and Abinales (2018), there are
two types of migration: internal migration and international migration (broken down
into five groups).

MIGRATION - the temporary or

permanent movement of people
from one place to another

INTERNAL MIGRATION – people INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION –

moving from one place to another people cross borders of one country
within one country. E.g. moving to another. E.g. moving from
from Mindoro to Manila Mindoro to Japan

5 TYPES OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION

1. Immigrants - people who move permanently to another country
2. Temporary Labor Migrants – workers who stay in another country for a fixed
period (usually under contract)
3. Illegal migrants - Those who seek employment in another country without
necessary documents; also called undocumented or irregular migrants
4. Family members – migrants whose families have “petitioned” them to move
to the destination country
5. Refugees/Asylum-seekers - those who are unable or unwilling to return to
their country of origin because of fear of persecution (usually because of
their race, religion or social or political group)
Defining migration (Claudio & Abinales, 2018)

The conceptualization of migration reveals to us that migration comes in different forms.

It is not only the idea that migration is when people move from one country to another.
In our case in the Philippines, moving from one province or island to another can be
considered as migration already, and under international migration, there are different
forms of movements as well. Of course, people don’t just move from one place to another
for no reason at all. After all, migration is a result that stems from human conditions.
According to Ronald Skeldon (2012), some persistent views about migration
include the idea that the movement of people are somehow fixed to the circumstance
that poor people (from Third World countries) will always come to the richer cities (global
city) or in First World countries of the global north. Moreover, international migration is
more rampant than internal migration. Take the case of the Overseas Filipino Workers

68
(OFWs), they are part of the international labor market from a Third World country (the
Philippines), these OFWs move to other countries in hopes of better jobs and source of
income (economic reasons). Most OFWs work in the Middle East, East Asia, the United
States, and Europe among others.
REASONS FOR MIGRATION

 Economic – better economic opportunities in terms of jobs, income and

compensation, and working conditions.
 Geopolitical – migration to other countries to seek asylum and become refugees to
avoid geopolitical conflicts like war, governmental atrocities, and police and military
brutality, and persecution among others.
 Institutional – moving to other countries because of their better societal and civil
welfare conditions, i.e. better government, healthcare services, education, and
there’s peace.
 Environmental – migration to other countries with greater food security, sustainable
development, and less environmental and climatic disasters.
BENEFITS AND DETRIMENTS OF MIGRATION (Claudio & Abinales, 2018)

BENEFITS DETRIMENTS
• Migrant workers' remittances make • Brain Drain - poor countries lose
significant contributions to the their skilled workers to rich
development of small- and medium- countries; professionals, skilled and
term industries that help generate talented workers are moving to
jobs richer countries because of better
• Remittances change the economic opportunities and benefits
and social standing of the migrant • Governments of home countries are
workers in their home country, aware that they are losing
• The purchasing power of the migrant professional workers yet they
worker's family doubles, they can continue to promote migrant work
now afford education and healthcare because of the remittance's impact
on the country's GDP
• Human trafficking
• Integration of the migrants to the
host country

The inherent inequality and unevenness in the process of globalization have created
winners and losers when it comes to the globalization of people. Richer countries
became winners for having skilled, talented, and professional workers from other
countries working for their economies. While poor countries experience brain drain
because all of the skilled and professional people have left the country, in part, through

69
the state policy and the role remittances play in the home country’s GDP. Likewise, for
the migrants themselves, they are winners if they can lift their families from poverty for
having better economic and living conditions in their host countries. But for migrants who
experience a rather negative turn of events, e.g. through human trafficking, they will not
see migration as something beneficial to them but rather detrimental and dislocating.
Nation-states have different takes on migration. Not every state is willing to usher
in migrant workers, many have strict state policies in ensuing that foreigners will not
easily enter their territories and commit international violations and/or crimes. In the part
of the migrating people, they still face discrimination from the citizens of their host
country in terms of their work (the blue- and white-collar jobs divide), cultural and
linguistic differences, and a sense of intensified exclusion and “othering” among others.
Global migration has its fair share of beneficial and detrimental results. As it
manifests and pushes forward greater globalizing processes in economic, political, and
cultural levels the challenge in terms of the movements of people around the world or
locally is how to ensure that the migrants are safe from abuse, oppression, and
discrimination. On a greater scale, making globalization just in all economic, political,
cultural, and human population and movement aspects remains the biggest challenge.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
More on migration:
 Migration: Crash Course European History #29
([Link]
 What does it mean to be a refugee? - Benedetta Berti and Evelien Borgman
([Link]
 How migration could make the world richer | The Economist
([Link]
 Map Shows How Humans Migrated Across The Globe
([Link]
 Migrations and Intensification: Crash Course Big History #7
([Link]

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 ASSESSMENT

OFW INTERVIEW:
Interview a former or a current OFW (face-to-face or online). Ask them about the
reason for their migration, the positive and negative sides of being a migrant
worker, and what do they think about the current conditions of global migration
in relation to the state of our country’s economy.
In an essay, write about what you’ve learned or your insights from your interview
on global migration from the first-hand experiences and/or realities of the OFW
you did an interview with.
Ethical guidelines for this assessment:
1. Prior to the conduct of the interview, prepare a consent letter for your
target participant/interviewee. Make sure to provide the necessary details
about this activity (purpose, who else has access to the information/data
that you will be presenting, assurance that you will uphold their rights
whether they consent for the interview or not).
2. When the consent has been granted, make sure to respect the
participant/interviewee’s conditions (in terms of the duration of the
interview and the information he/she will disclose).
3. During the interview, maintain proper interview etiquette even if the flow
of the interview is informal (lax conversation between the student and the
participant).
4. Constantly create an atmosphere of respect in the manner of asking your
interview questions and assessing their responses if the need for follow-up
questions arises.
5. Do not forget to end the interview in a positive note. Thank your
participant and reaffirm that the data/information you gathered from
them will be used for academic purposes only.
6. For proof of credibility, attach a photo of your interview session (a photo
of you and your participant if you conducted face-to-face or video
conference interview, or screenshots of your interview session). Make sure
that you will also ask for their consent to take a photo or take screenshots
of your conversation. Do not attach a photo that will incriminate and/or
violate your participant’s rights to privacy.
Format: 500 words. Times New Roman. Font size 12. Single-space. In short bond
paper (8.5 x 11). (Notice to the instructor: this format serves as a parameter guide and can be
adjusted to the needs and/or conditions of the students)

ASSESSMENT RUBRICS:
Format: 10%
Interview and narrative drawn from the OFW interviewee: 25%
Discussion of Insights, thoughts, and realizations vis-à-vis the conditions and realities of
global migration: 50%
Writing technicalities (narrative, grammar): 15%
71
 TOPICS
1. Sustainable Development
2. Global Food Security

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. differentiate stability from sustainability;

2. articulate models of global sustainable development;
3. define global food security; and
4. critique existing models of global food security.

This chapter proceeds to discuss the different effects of globalization processes

(economic, political, cultural, global population, and global migration) on the
environment. As nation-states aim for development, most happen at the expense of their
natural environments. As globalization framework parade itself as inclusive and
sustainable development, the drastic effects of the process leave natural environments
exploited, habitats damaged, and natural resources monopolized by the rich leaving the
poorer populations at the mercy of corporation products and climatic disasters.
Climate change is real in as much as globalization is real. Some perspectives frame
globalization as the producer and perpetrator of climate change. Especially economic
globalization which is highly capitalistic—everything revolves around the source of
production and capital that encourages economies of countries to operate on industries.
And industries in turn capitalize on natural resources. As industries demand more raw
material, the natural resources deplete.
In terms of our increasing global population, the challenge is to equip future
generations with resources that they can still utilize. As the population increases,
pollution is widespread, land-use is maximized, crop-producing lands are turned into
residential areas, mountains are flattened to accommodate housing projects and/or
industrialization, and carrying capacity used beyond its limit. Feeding the current
population is a pressing problem of today, what more feeding the future generations.

72
 For this chapter, we take an environmental lens as we look at the different effects
or impacts of globalization and its development ideals on environments, natural
resources, and food security vis-à-vis current and future human populations.

TOPIC 1: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
The ecological crisis, pollution problems, climate change, and global warming are
among the most pressing problems we face at the global level when it comes to the
relationship of development (under economic globalization) with the environment. These
problems are largely shaped by human actions and by how human populations interact
with their environment in light of their pressing needs. According to Conserve Energy
Future (as cited in Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 120), there are numerous environmental
challenges that the world faces today:
a. The destruction caused by industrial and transportation toxins and plastic in the
ground; the defiling of the sea, rivers, and water beds by oil spills and acid rain;
the dumping of urban waste
b. Changes in global weather patterns (flash floods, extreme snowstorms, and the
spread of deserts) and the surge in the ocean and land temperature leading to a
rise in sea levels (as the polar ice caps melt because of the weather), plus the
flooding of many lowland areas across the world
c. Overpopulation
d. The exhaustion of the world’s natural non-renewable resources from oil reserves
to minerals and potable water
e. A waste disposal catastrophe due to the excessive amount of waste (from plastic
to food packages to electronic waste) unloaded by communities in landfills as well
as on the ocean; and the dumping of nuclear waste
f. The destruction of million-year-old ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity
(destruction of coral reefs and massive deforestation) that have led to the
extinction of particular species and the decline in the number of others
g. The reduction of oxygen and the increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
because of deforestation, resulting in the rise in ocean acidity by as much as 150
percent in the last 250 years
h. The depletion of the ozone layer protecting the planet from the sun’s deadly
ultraviolet rays due to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere
i. Deadly acid rain as a result of fossil fuel combustion, toxin chemicals from erupting
volcanoes, and the massive rotting vegetables filling up garbage dumps or left on
the streets
j. Water pollution arising from industrial and community waste residues seeping
into underground water tables, rivers, and seas

73
 k. Urban sprawls that continue to expand as a city turns into a megalopolis,
destroying farmlands, increasing traffic gridlock, and making smog cloud a
permanent urban fixture
l. Pandemics and other threats to public health arising from wastes mixing with
drinking water, polluted environments that become breeding grounds for
mosquitoes and disease-carrying rodents, and pollution
m. A radical alteration of food systems because of genetic modifications in food
production

Globalization and ecological challenges. Image from [Link]

These environmental problems are global in scale but affect people unevenly.
Affluent people can ‘tolerate’ environmental degradation because they have the means
and access to healthcare, unpolluted areas for their residence, healthy food items, and
clean water among others. While poor people suffer even more as they usually live in
urban slums with a high concentration of waste pollution, they have no access to healthy
food items and clean water, air pollution from vehicles lead to respiratory diseases (they
cannot afford healthcare services), and because of their lower purchasing power, they
can only afford to buy goods that are packed in plastic packaging (which in turn
perpetuates the waste pollution they have in their areas) among others.
In another perspective, richer nations in the global north produce wastes,
pollution, and environmental problems in third world countries where their industries are
located, e.g. Coca-Cola factories in India which waste and chemical byproducts are
unregulated and spill to community areas caused great problems as the community’s
water sources accumulate waste toxins and cannot be used for the people’s necessities.
The irony is that these environmental problems from first world industries and
corporations are projected as the sole problem of the third world country and that the
third world country should solve these problems for the sake of the whole world. Third
world countries are left with all these environmental problems reinforcing their poverty,
‘under-development’, and ecological disadvantage when the root of all these comes from
uneven economic globalization and the ills of capitalism.

74
 Now, the question we pose is if it is possible to continue with developments under
globalization while mitigating ecological degradation, climate change, and global warming
altogether? How can we achieve sustainable development? And, what does it take to
forward just and environmentally-wise economic policies and practices at the global
scale?

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
On the global environmental crisis:
 Causes and Effects of Climate Change | National Geographic
([Link]
 Fleeing climate change — the real environmental disaster | DW Documentary
([Link]
 Why humans are so bad at thinking about climate change
([Link]
 The disarming case to act right now on climate change | Greta Thunberg
([Link]
 Who Is Responsible For Climate Change? – Who Needs To Fix It?
([Link]

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In the Brundtland Report of the United Nations in 1987, sustainability, in its
economic sense, was defined as “development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
(Plóciennik, 2014: 162). The definition of sustainability has three fundamental
components: environmental protection, economic growth, and social equity. In the
Sustainable Development Framework, the aspect of the environment in relation to
economic development is given more focus and importance, calling out institutional
practices (in economy and politics) that will help preserve the environment and make the
people responsible for the use of resources.

UN-SDGs. Image from [Link]

75
 The United Nations is leading the call for action in mitigating environmental
degradation, climate change, and global warming with their Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) initiative which started in 2015 and with the participation of 193 nation-
states. These goals are desired to be achieved by the year 2030. According to the UN,
[t]he Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more
sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those
related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace,
and justice. The 17 Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind,
it is important that we achieve them all by 2030 (n.d.).

The UN-SDGs envisions the solutions to the intersecting economic, political, institutional,
and environmental problems many countries face today through the 17 Goals. These
goals are set at the global governance level of the UN mandate, it is still up to the
respective nation-states if their governments will align their programs, policies, and
actions to the 17 Goals.

17 Goals. Image from [Link]

[Link]

The 17 Goals (from SDGs booklet, United Nations (n.d.))

1. No poverty – end extreme poverty in all forms by 2030
2. Zero Hunger – end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and
promote sustainable agriculture
3. Good health and well-being – ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all
at all ages

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 4. Quality education – ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote
lifelong learning and opportunities for all
5. Gender equality – achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Clean water and sanitation – ensure availability and sustainable management of
water and sanitation for all
7. Affordable and clean energy – ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable,
and modern energy for all
8. Decent work and economic growth – promote sustained, inclusive and
sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work
for all
9. Industry, innovation, and infrastructure – build resilient infrastructure, promote
inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
10. Reduced inequalities – reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Sustainable cities and communities – make cities and human settlements
inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable
12. Responsible consumption and production – ensure sustainable consumption and
production patterns
13. Climate action – take urgent action to combat climate changes and their impacts
14. Life below water – conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine
resources for sustainable development
15. Life on land – protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial
ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and
reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Peace, justice, and strong institutions – promote peaceful and inclusive societies
for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective,
accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Partnership for the goals – strengthen the means of implementation and
revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Because the 17 Goals are varied and cover most, if not the entirety, of the different
problems humanity face today, the SDGs are perceived as very ambitious. But the UN
assures that through their United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and with the
partnership of individual nation-states, stakeholders, and the civil society, it is possible to
champion these goals by 2030.
Globalization has produced both the problem and the perceived solution
concerning the pressing environmental crisis and the goals for sustainable development.
As globalization forward capitalistic and unethical practices that leave our environment
in a detrimental state, the members of the global governance (made possible through
globalization) are doing their best to comply and achieve the goals of sustainable
development.

77
 The UN-SDGs are not mere idealism, because they are rooted in actual
materialistic human conditions. The goals of sustainable development are inclusive, it is
not only on the aspect of the human needs like food and water, but it also accommodates
strengthening the institutions and developing mechanisms and practices by which the
natural resources can be sustained. The present generations owe a secure future for the
coming generations.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
More on climate action and sustainable development:
 The Green New Deal, explained
[Link]
 How We Can Make the World a Better Place by 2030 | Michael Green | TED Talks
([Link]
 What Is Sustainable Development?
([Link]
 Sustainable Development Goals: Improve Life All Around The Globe
([Link]
 Going green shouldn't be this hard
([Link]

TASK/ACTIVITY

DIY: FORWARDING SUSTAINABILITY

The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals is not limited to the
undertakings of the nation-states and stakeholders, even you as part of the civic
society can contribute a huge part in achieving and championing these goals. As an
active member of the society, you can do so much in combatting economic crises.
For this activity, you can write an essay, a poem, compose a song, create a video
or illustrate the ways by which you can forward sustainability and
environmentalism in your everyday life. You can write pledges and to-dos to help
mitigate environmental degradation, climate change, and global warming. You can
also write a poem, compose a song, or create a video of persuasion for yourself or
for others to take a stand and help in promoting sustainability and/or
environmentalism. Or you can illustrate alternative lifestyles that you can use as
reminders or persuasive materials (zero waste lifestyle, zero plastic use, etc.).
The essence of this activity is for you to develop a sense of commitment to take a
stand and take action in light of the different environmental, institutional, and
global crises we face today.
TASK/ACTIVITY RUBRICS:
Quality of content (persuasion, information, action): 30%
Creativity: 20%
Narrative, theme, ideas and/or ideals forwarded vis-à-vis campaign towards
sustainability: 50%

78
 TOPIC 2: GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY

The current status and challenges with global food security are largely anchored
on the pressing environmental crises, demographic changes, socioeconomic inequalities,
and related issues we face today. International organizations, nation-states, and
concerned civil society are turning their focus on the topic and discourse of global food
security and its implications to human life in an ever-complex and complicated
contemporary world.
The discourse on global food security catalyzes on the issue of feeding the
increasing population of the world, and the prevalence of hunger and malnutrition that
people, mostly from poor and/or developing countries, experience. According to
Barthwal-Datta (2014), “the challenge of food security in a globalized world is complex,
multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral—and one being compounded by the impacts of
climate change” (p. 122). Global food security is complex, multi-dimensional, and multi-
sectoral as it is influenced by the intersecting processes of economy, politics,
demography, climate change, human rights, and sustainability. Even in the Sustainable
Development Goals discussed in the previous topic, “Zero Hunger” is the second goal
hoped to achieve by 2030.

Global food security. Image from [Link]

GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY DISCOURSE

According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), “food security exists when
all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and
nutritious food that meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and

79
healthy life” (FAO, 2002 as cited in Barthwal-Datta, 2014: 122). This conceptualization
comprises four key dimensions of food security: availability, stability, access, and
utilization (Schmidhuber & Tubiello, 2007).
AVAILABILITY
 the overall ability of the agricultural system to meet food demand
 the agro-climatic fundamentals of crop and pasture production
 the entire range of socio-economic and cultural factors that determine where
and how farmers perform in response to markets
STABILITY
 relates to individuals who are at high risk of temporarily or permanently losing
their access to the resources needed to consume adequate food, either because
these individuals cannot ensure ex-ante against income shocks or they lack
enough ‘‘reserves’’ to smooth consumption ex-post or both
 an important cause of unstable access is climate variability
ACCESS
 covers access by individuals to adequate resources (entitlements) to acquire
appropriate foods for a nutritious diet
 a key element is the purchasing power of consumers and the evolution of real
incomes and food prices
UTILIZATION
 encompasses all food safety and quality aspects of nutrition
 its sub-dimensions are related to health, including the sanitary conditions
across the entire food chain

Other perspectives on global food security associate it on the wider concept of

human security in various reasons (Barthwal-Datta, 2014: 123):
1. Proponents of human security see hunger as the most prevalent and gravest
threat to human security.
2. Food insecurity by way of hunger and malnourishment is a deeply incapacitating
threat to individuals and one that leaves them unable to conduct basic functions
of life.
3. Poverty is the main cause of food insecurity, which is in turn linked more broadly
to ‘political security, socio-economic development, human rights and the
environment’, placing it at the heart of all human security concerns.
4. The links between poverty, food security, and human security are particularly
evident in the face of food price spikes—sudden increases in food prices are most
harmful to those who are poor, such households become particularly vulnerable
to hunger and malnourishment; and, in certain socio-political contexts, food price
spikes may also help fuel civil unrest in the form of protests and riots.
Looking at the issues of global food security as embedded in the very nature of human
security is a perspective that can help further pinpoint structural, institutional, and

80
systemic processes influencing how human beings approach food supply and demand,
crop production and consumption, and the ways by which food security can be sustained
both at the local and international levels. Meeting the four dimensions of food security is
the key to ending hunger and malnutrition.
FACTORS SHAPING GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY DYNAMICS
To combat food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition and ensure a future of global
food security, nation-states, international organizations, and other actors should be able
to respond to and address complex, intersecting, and multi-faceted forces affecting food
systems around the world (Barthwal-Datta, 2014: 125). Moreover, with the increased
interconnectedness of peoples and networks brought by globalization, food system
activities, outcomes, and interactions become increasingly tied up and this is reinforced
by global networks such as transport, telecommunications, and finance.
Five trends are shaping global food security dynamics in the contemporary world
(Barthwal-Datta, 2014: 125):
1. Rising food prices and poverty
- the impact of food price spikes has been most devastating for those who live
in, or precariously close to, poverty
- sharp and sudden increases in food prices are detrimental to small farmers
who cannot often respond to such price increases in time to be able to take
advantage of them
- rising food prices is harmful to the farming households that are net consumers
of food, and rely on the market to fulfill their security needs
- the role of deeper structural issues related to the corporate food regime, and
the recent global food price spikes have occurred in the context of artificial
cheapening of traded food
2. Population growth and urbanization
- as population sizes increase in the coming years, the world is faced with a
challenge of feeding billions of people
- as more and more people move from the rural to urban areas in search of
better livelihoods, there are fewer people of working age left behind to
produce the growing quantities of food required to meet the rising demands
in urban areas
- as urban populations expand further, the pressure on food systems in terms
of the increased demand for land and water, and environmental degradation
and pollution from urban and industrial waste, are set to intensify further
3. Rising incomes and changing diets
- an overall growing global population means a corresponding increase in the
total demand for food at the global level
- as incomes in developing countries continue to grow, more and more people
can access food in greater quantities (not only in cereals but also in meat and
food items with sugar)

81
 - the overall demand for grains for direct consumption and indirect
consumption through animal products (poultry, pork, eggs, and dairy items)
continues to expand
4. Biofuel production, land-use change, and access to land
- biofuel production involves using plant starch, oils, animal fats, and sugars to
create an alternative fuel and lessen the use of fossil fuels; in this manner,
crops are produced to be used as biofuel and not to be eaten by people
- there are serious risks of creating a battle between food and fuel that will leave
the poor and hungry at the mercy of the rapidly rising prices for food, land,
and water
- in diverting food crops away from use as food and livestock feed, biofuel
production puts pressure within the food system to bring other lands into
cultivation for food purposes, with implications for greenhouse gas emissions
- there are land grabbing cases by which small farmers are being forcibly
removed from their lands without compensation, thereby contributing to both
land concentration (in the hands of wealthier farmers and large agribusiness)
and landlessness in these communities
- without tenure security, small farmers tend to refrain from investing in
practices that ensure the sustainable use and management of natural
resources such as land and water, this has negative consequences for the
environment and farm productivity
5. Climate change
- climate change affects all four dimensions of food security: food availability,
food accessibility, food utilization, and food systems stability—it has an impact
on human health, livelihood assets, food production, and distribution
channels, as well as changing purchasing power and market flows
- agriculture is highly sensitive to climate, and food production is affected
directly by variations in agro-ecological conditions for growing crops
- the impacts of climate change will be mixed and uneven across regions
- the geographic location of most poor, developing countries around the world
and their continuing dependence on agriculture as the single most source of
livelihoods, means that climate change will bring them high costs and few
benefits, their heightened vulnerabilities to the impacts of climate change are
also an impediment to adaptation
- the impacts of climate change may further damage the agricultural resource
base by shrinking the availability of suitable land for crop production and
freshwater resources
- climate change is expected to have a corresponding impact on incomes,
worsening poverty, and the ability of households to invest in a better future,
forcing them to use up meager saving just to survive
- climate change is expected to cause further increases in global food prices and
continue to drive people out from their homes within countries across borders
in search of food, water, and livelihoods

82
 - many crops reliant on irrigation are requiring greater amounts of water as
temperatures rise, while the availability of freshwater resources is being
threatened by rising seas levels that cause saltwater intrusion in groundwater
The issues confronting global food security are shaped by the interplay of demographic,
socio-economic, environmental, and policy-related factors. In order to respond to these
challenges, nation-states, organizations, and other actors need to strengthen and further
develop agricultural knowledge, science and technology, and supporting policies and
institutions. We have yet to achieve the four key dimensions of food security to be able
to provide for the current generations and the generations to come.
The human agency plays a key role in the process of achieving global food security
and championing the “zero hunger” goal. Our mundane yet very relevant relationship
with the environment, our diets, consumption patterns, and purchasing power have an
impact on how we move towards sustainability and global food security. Of course,
human agency is just a fraction. Structural, institutional, and systemic changes must be
undertaken to fully ensure a sustainable and secure future not only for human beings but
for the natural world that houses them. We are yet to champion socio-economic and
political justice, sustainability, and food security in the contemporary world.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
On global food security:
 The diet that helps fight climate change
([Link]
 Food waste is the world's dumbest problem
([Link]
 Food security of world’s poorest communities threatened by Covid-19 pandemic,
warns UN food body ([Link]
 Why beef is the worst food for the climate
([Link]
 Ensuring food security in the time of pandemic | ANC
([Link]
 Food Security in an Insecure World | Future of Food
([Link]
 A global food crisis may be less than a decade away | Sara Menker
([Link]

83
 ASSESSMENT

CAMPAIGN-MAKING
Given the issues the population of the world faces in relation to global food
security, civil awareness and involvement plays a significant role in calling out
injustices in the corporate food regimes, raising awareness on environmental
degradation in relation to food production and consumption, and coming up
with alternatives that can promote global food security, among others. As we
problematize on food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition, we can start
contributing to the mitigation of these through our human agency (our
choices, decisions, ethical consumption patterns, and involvement to call out
injustices and make the perpetrators accountable).
For this activity, create a slogan or campaign that is anchored on the status
and challenges of global food security. The slogan can be a persuasive
material to raise awareness on the conditions of hunger and malnutrition
people experience, or to encourage people to practice ethical food
consumerism (buying goods from local farmers rather than from
corporations). Include an illustration for the background of your slogan.
Format: in short bond paper (8.5 x 11); the slogan is at the center; illustration
as the background of the text (you can draw, paint, or digitally make the
background); your slogan should not exceed 15 words.

[slogan]

ASSESSMENT RUBRICS:
Background design and creativity: 20%
Syntax (how the phrase/sentence is constructed) and pragmatics (meaning)
creativity: 30%
Slogan content, adherence to the theme, and the idea/s forwarded: 50%

84
 TOPIC
1. Global Citizenship

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. articulate a personal definition of global citizenship; and

2. appreciate the ethical obligations of global citizenship.

The discussions about the contemporary world through the lens of globalization
began with understanding interrelated macrostructures such as economy, politics, and
culture. As the lessons progress, the framework for looking at globalization vis-à-vis the
contemporary world shifts from macro- to micro-analysis. We began by understanding
globalization as a concept and as a process and proceeded to unravel the structures of
globalization, i.e. the global economy, interstate system, and contemporary global
governance. Apart from being a multidimensional process, globalization is inherently
uneven or unequal as well, the conceptualization of global divides and regionalism attests
to these. Moreover, globalization has created global media cultures and global cities as
hubs of globalizing processes closer to individuals and their homes. In terms of
globalization and the aspect of the human population, demographic transitions and
migration are evident on a global scale. Globalization has an impact on the environment
as well, and the challenges of sustainability and food security are pressing on.
These globalization processes and patterns are not abstract structures and
systems, the human agency plays a great part in creating globalization (before it
transcends to abstraction itself yet still material) and sustaining it. Our lives have been
tied to globalization processes. In an earlier discussion on global media cultures, we note
that we are global citizens of the world—the processes of globalization made us one. But
we may ask, what do we do as global citizens? How significant is our human agency in the
grand narrative of globalization in the contemporary world? And how do we become
ethical and just in dealing with the benefits and detriments of globalization? The answers
to these lie at understanding and practicing global citizenship.

85
 TOPIC 1: GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

The notion of global citizenship is largely anchored on the notion of global civil
society, and to understand what constitutes a global citizen necessitates the discussion
of the global civil society. It is impossible to make sense of global citizenship or what it
means to be a global citizen without understanding the context which makes it possible
for us to conceptualize one. The discussion on the global civil society already gives us ideas
on global citizenship.
To contextualize the topic and the discussion on global civil society vis-à-vis global
citizenship, it is important to note that many perspectives equate activists of
transnational social movements with the status of global citizens (Carter, 2001).
Accordingly, global civil society is perceived to be a product of the development of
transnational organizations pursuing professional and social interests as an important
feature of international politics (Carter, 2001: 77). Because global civil society is
international, it exists on different levels from interstate relationships. Global civil society
may appear as an amalgamation of campaigning transnational organizations and
volunteers committed to global causes (Carter, 2001: 78). Characterizing the global civil
society may prove more points.

Amnesty International as global civil society. Image from

[Link]

CHARACTERIZING THE GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY (Carter, 2001)

 Theorists of global civil society move from the focus on the state and economy as
what constitutes it to a focus on religious, educations, cultural, and leisure
institutions, professional bodies, interest groups and charities, campaigning
groups, and consumer groups.
 The value of many institutions of civil society is their relative freedom from
governmental or partisan political influence.

86
  Although civil society is a sphere outside direct control, the nature of the state
defines the role and nature of the civil society. E.g. when the state is oppressive,
the civil society can react through resistance and/or siding with the oppressed.
 Global civil society builds upon the autonomy of civil society bodies within their
nation-states and links them within a transnational realm independent of all
nation-states.
 Global civil society can also partially substitute for and precede world governance.
 The political significance of civil society depends on it including the growing range
of transnational trade unions, professional nongovernmental organizations
representing women, students, or young people.
 Relation of global civil society to the nation-state:
a. Global civil society transcends state frontiers whenever transnational
networks or movements correspond, hold conferences, and plan common
action to promote social interests that unite them.
b. Global civil society poses a direct challenge to states when groups within one
country ignore or oppose official policies to create links with citizens in other
countries when they jointly campaign against their governments in support of
shared goals.
 Global civil society promoting global world governance:
a. Global civil society strengthens international society as opposed to anarchy
between nation-states. Friendship and cooperation between peoples are likely
to encourage cooperation between governments.
b. Popular initiative to promote universal humanitarian goals strengthen the
political salience of principles of human solidarity or respect for human
rights—global civil society underpins and promotes emerging international
law.
c. The role of many bodies within global civil society is to assist and lobby
international government organizations to promote goals of governmental
internationalism or cosmopolitanism.
 Global civil society is creating a context for strong forms of international law and
global governance.
THE GLOBAL CITIZEN
According to Oxfam, “[a] global citizen is someone who is aware of and
understands the wider world—and their place in it. They take an active role in their
community, and work with others to make our planet more equal, fair, and sustainable.”
In another description, “global citizenship is all about encouraging young people to
develop the knowledge, skills, and values they need to engage with the world. And it's
about the belief that we can all make a difference” (Oxfam, n.d.). The descriptions are
self-explanatory yet encourage a deeper reflection and self-assessment. Are you aware
and do you understand the world and your place in it? Do you play an active role in your
community? What are you doing to forward equality, justice, and sustainability? How do
you develop knowledge, skills, values, and ethics to engage with the world? In what ways

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do you produce positive and lasting change that ripples throughout consciousness and
practices? More importantly, how do you know that you are a global citizen?

Global Citizenship. Image from [Link]

Carter (2001) has provided different contexts by which global citizenship is

manifested. Global citizenship with the ideals of cosmopolitanism and has a sense of
activism in the transnational level manifest concerns and campaigns for human rights,
gender equality, and transnational solidarity. Moreover, a global citizen participates in
global scale philanthropy through transnational action for aid and development, engaged
in green activism and ecological citizenship, and ethical consumerism. In essence, a global
citizen is aware of the multidimensional, multi-sectoral, and multi-level social processes
that cut across territorial borders and calls for transnational participation and action.
Global citizenship roots from the recognition of global human and social realities which
creates a sense of solidarity among peoples to contribute to challenging and changing
oppressive systems in relation to human rights, equality, socio-economic development,
environmentalism, consumerism, and ethics.
The inherent inequality in globalization confronts the global citizen with dilemmas
in social, economic, and political inequalities, discrimination and prejudice, and the
challenges that come from environmental degradation, food insecurity, and
overpopulation. With these, the global citizen is endowed with ethical obligations. The
global citizen is an individual who is aware of and firmly understands the interdependent
system of societies and their relative position in the arena. The global citizen is a vehicle
for materializing ideals and ideas, and making things happen at the transnational level.
The global citizen acts beyond the interest of their nation-state to connect with other
peoples and join in their thrust to social justice, rule of law, solidarity, harmony, and
peace.
Just like any sense of citizenship, global citizenship through the global civil society
perpetuates a way of life that weighs ethics in the multidimensional and uneven process

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of globalization. With our exposure and contribution to the different facets of
globalization, it is evident that we have roles to play. It takes awareness, participation,
and action to live by the ways of social citizenship. We are called to become active agents
of positive change—champion human rights and gender equality, mitigate environmental
degradation and become ecological citizens, become ethical consumers, and help put an
end to any kind of oppression. These appear as big responsibilities but these are
obligations that come with becoming more aware, emphatic, and progressive. In the
words of Carter (2001), “a global citizen is someone who consciously adopts this role and
is committed to social justice, diversity, sustainable economic development respecting
the environment, and to a peaceful world” (p. 96).

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
More on global citizenship:
 Civil Society | Shaping A Future Where People Matter
([Link]
 What does it mean to be a citizen of the world? | Hugh Evans
([Link]
 Global citizenship is… ([Link]
 Learning to live together in peace through Global Citizenship Education
([Link]
 The Benefits of Global Citizenship
([Link]

TASK/ACTIVITY

PERSONAL CONCEPT MAP OF GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP:

This is a free association exercise of ideas. All you have to do is list all ideas you
associate with “global citizenship”. Based on the concepts you listed, synthesize
your personal definition of the concept. After this, list the obligations of a global
citizen (what do you think are the responsibilities of a global citizen, what
obligations these people hold, how are they benefiting the world). Accomplish this
activity in one whole sheet of paper.

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 ASSESSMENT

“I AM A GLOBAL CITIZEN”
The idea of becoming or being a global citizen seems far-fetched especially if
one is in denial that globalization is real or if a global civil society really exists. To
resolve this dilemma, one way would be is for the individual to reflect upon
him/herself and assess if in any way or in any effort does he/she manifest “global
citizenship” traits.
For your final activity, through an essay, a poem, a video, a drawing, or a mind
map, try to answer the question:
What does it mean to be a citizen of the world? Or, what does it mean to be a
Filipino and a citizen of the world? How can you become an ethical global
citizen?
This activity is adopted from the learning activity for “Conclusion: The Global Filipino” in The
Contemporary World textbook (Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 134).

ASSESSMENT RUBRICS:
Quality of content: 30%
Ideas, arguments, points, and philosophies forwarded: 50%
Creativity, : 20%

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