UNIT III THE WORLD OF REGIONS

1. Global Divides: The North and the South (focus: Latin America)
2. Asian Regionalism

Global Divides: The North and the South (focus: Latin America)

Global South refers to the regions of Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania
mostly low- income and often politically or culturally marginalized. It may
also be called the "developing World" such as Africa, Latin America, and the
developing countries in Asia, "developing countries," "less developed
countries," and "less developed regions” (122) including poorer "southern"
regions of wealthy "northern" countries (123). In general, Global South refers
to these countries' "interconnected histories of colonialism, neo-imperialism,
and differential economic and social change through which large inequalities in
living standards, life expectancy, and access to resources are maintained (124).
Contemporary critics of neo-liberal globalization use the global south as a
banner to rally countries victimized by the violent economic cures of
institutions like the International Monetary Fund.

Three Primary Concepts of Global South

1. It refers to economically disadvantaged nation-states and as a post-cold war

alternative to “Third World”.

Third World" is a phrase frequently used to describe a developing nation. The phrase
"Third World" arose during the Cold War to identify countries whose views did not align
with NATO and capitalism or the Soviet Union and communism. The First World
described countries whose views aligned with NATO and capitalism, and the Second
World referred to countries that supported communism and the Soviet Union (125a).
Third World countries are largely characterized as poor and underdeveloped. In these
countries, low levels of education, poor infrastructure, improper sanitation and
poor access to health care mean living conditions are seen as inferior to those in the
world's more developed nations. As a result, the terms Third World country and
developing nation have become increasingly interchangeable in recent decades (126b).

2. The Global South captures a deterritorialized geography of capitalism’s

externalities and means to account for subjugated peoples within the borders of
wealthier countries, such that there are economic Souths in the geographic North
and Norths in the geographic South.

3. It refers to the resistant imaginary of a transnational political subject

that results from a shared experience of subjugation under contemporary global
capitalism. 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 and moved toward the realization of a post-
colonial international order (126).
The process of globalization places into question geographically bound
conceptions of poverty and inequality. The increase and intensification of
global flows spread both poverty and affluence. Spaces of underdevelopment in
developed countries may mirror the poverty of the global south, and spaces of
affluence mirror those of the global north (127).
The strongest vehicle for social redistribution and the main mechanism for
social transfer is the state. The redistributative function of the state becomes
crucial in the context of economic globalization where the goal of neo-liberal
economists and institutions is precisely to dismantle local state oversight
(128).
The development of the global south must begin by drawing most of the country
’s financial resources for development from within rather than becoming
dependent on foreign investments and foreign financial markets (129).
The global south is not relevant for those who live in countries traditionally
associated with it but also signifies that the south continues to be globalized.
It also represents emergent forms of progressive cosmopolitanism. It is an
always emergent and provisional internationalism.

New Internationalism in the Global South

The ills of the global south are being globalized. Underdeveloped states of the
global south are ravaged by merciless IMF policies in the 1980’s. The economic
prescriptions of the IMF as cures are recommended for countries in the global
south. Other countries like Greece realize the similarity of problems in the
global south that inspirations were drawn from poorer nations. The global south
has provided model of resistance for the world like Gandhi’s non-violence that
initially directed at colonial authority in India is now part of global protest
culture, as well as benefits of critiques of international financial
institutions from the experiences and writings of intellectuals and activists
from the global south. A similar globalization of the south’s concern is
arising from the issue about global environment. Amidst the existential threat
of climate change the most radical notions of climate justice are being
articulated in the global south. As global problems increase, it is necessary
for people in the north to support people from the south. As a symbol and
metaphor, global south is not only relevant for those who live in countries
traditionally associated with it. The global in global south does not only mean
that the south is the globe but also signifies that the south continues to be
globalized. The global south while embedded in specific geographic imaginaries,
represents emergent forms of progressive cosmopolitanism. It is always emergent
and provisional internationalism.

Asian Regionalism
Regionalism refers to the decentralization of political powers or competencies
from a higher towards a lower political level. More specifically, it
distinguishes between top-down from bottom up regionalism where top - down
regionalism describes the decentralization of competencies or the establishment
of regional institutions by the state while bottom -up includes all patterns of
endeavors toward political decentralization from within the particular region
(130). Globalization is the intensification of economic, political, social, and
cultural relations across borders and a consciousness of that intensification,
with a concomitant diminution in the significance of territorial boundaries
(131).

Views of Globalization in the Asia Pacific and South Asia

Globalization is an external phenomenon being pushed into the region by world
powers particularly the United States and Europe. From this perspective,
globalization can be understood as a process that transforms the Asia Pacific
and South Asia. It is a force for good bringing economic development, political
progress, and social and cultural diversity to the region.

The Asia Pacific and South Asia refer together to the regions of East (or
Northeast) Asia, South Asia, the Pacific Islands, and South Asia. It includes
some of the world’s most economically developed states such as Japan, South
Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan, and highly impoverished countries such as
Cambodia, Laos, and Nepal. It also includes the largest and most populous states
on the globe including China and India and some of the world’s smallest such
as the Maldives and Bhutan (132). The Asia and South Pacific has emerged over
the past decade as a new political force in the world. The economies of Japan,
Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan have strategic relevance in today’s
global system. They are the focused of global powers outside of the region. A
foreign policy shift called “Pacific Pivot” was implemented by the United
States to commit more resources and attention to the region. This shift which
is also called “Atlantic Century” was termed “Pacific Century” by US
Secretary of States Hilary Clinton. He stated that the Asia Pacific has become
a key driver of global politics. It is the home to several key allies and
important emerging powers like China, India, and Indonesia. Globalization in
the Asia Pacific and South Asia is an external phenomenon being pushed into the
region by world powers like US and Europe. Globalization in this context is a
process that transforms the Asia Pacific and South Asia. It can be viewed as a
force for good, bringing economic development, political progress, and social
and cultural diversity.

Asia Pacific and South Asia’s Impact on Globalization

Asia was the central global force in the early modern world economy. It was the
site of the most important trade routes and in some places more advanced in
technology than West such as science and medicine. Colonies in the Asia pacific
and South Asia influenced the West and vice versa. They were often “laboratories
of modernity” (133). Colonialism was not simply a practice of Western
Domination but a product of what one thinks of as Western and modern.

1. Japan embarked on procuring raw materials like coal and iron at unprecedented
economies of scale allowing them to gain a competitive edge in the global
manufacturing market as well as globalized shipping and procurement patterns
which other countries modeled (134).

2. China pursues similar pattern of development at present and is now the world
’s largest importers of basic raw materials such as iron and surpassed Japan,
the US and Europe in steel production. It also surpassed the World bank in
lending to developing countries. It had an enormous impact on the availability
and consumption of goods around the world (135). This simple scale of China’s
development is shaping and furthering globalization.

3. India opened -up and emphasized an export-oriented strategy. Textiles and

other low wage sectors have been a key part of the economy with highly successful
software development exports. It also plays a key role in global service
provisions as trends in outsourcing and offshoring increase (136).

4. India and China have also become a major source of international migrant
labor, which is also one of the fundamental characteristics of the era of
globalization. This includes the migration of highly skilled labor into the
high- tech industry based in Silicon Valley. India, China and the Philippines
were three of the top four recipient states of migrant remittances.

5. The trend of the rising regional free arrangements in the Asia Pacific and
South Asia. This kind of regionalism would mean as bulwark to globalization or
as compatible and even pushing forward the process of global economic
integration. Regionalism can promote learning, assuage domestic audiences to
the benefits of free trade, and form the institutional framework to scale up
from regional cooperation o global cooperation (137). Regionalism can act as
springboard for globalization. One distinguishing feature of regional
institutions in Asia Pacific and South Asia is the adoption of “Open Regionalism
” which aims to develop and maintain cooperation with outside actors. This is
meant to resolve the tension between the rise of regional trade agreements and
the push for global trade as embodied by World Trade Organization (WTO) (138),
the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade
between nations (139). “Open” refers to the principle of non-discrimination,
more specifically an openness in membership and openness in terms of economic
flows (140). Open regionalism is embodied by Asia Pacific Economic cooperation
or APEC.

6. In culture and globalization in the region, the source of a wide variety of

cultural phenomena that have spread outward to the West and the rest of the
world is the region. Examples include “hello Kitty” created in Japan including
Anime, Pokemon, Power Rangers Korean popular culture called ‘K-Wave”
comprising of Korean dramas, music (K-pop) and the smash hit “Gangnam Style”
of Korean pop star PSY. Asia Pacific and South Asia are on the receiving end of
globalization. The region serves as the source of many aspects of globalization
process which can be seen in history, economy, political structure and culture.

The Region-Making in Southeast Asia and Middle-Class Formation: The Third Wave
Regionalization entails complex and dynamic interactions between and among
governmental and nongovernmental actors which resulted to hybrid East Asia. The
main engines of hybridization are explained by the successive waves of regional
economic development that is powered by developmental states and national and
transnational capitalism that nurtured sizeable middle-classes that share a lot
in common in terms of professional lives and their lifestyles, in fashion,
leisure, and entertainment, in their aspirations and dreams. The middle-class
occupies different positions in their respective societies as well as in
relation to their nation-states as they constitute the expanding regional
consumer market (141). The product of regional economic development in the post
war era are the middle classes in east Asia. Regional economic development took
place within the context of the American informal empire in “Free Asia”, with
the US-led regional security system and the triangular trade system as its two
major pillars. Furthermore, the national states in the region promoted it
actively under democratic or authoritarian developmentalist regimes, both of
which espoused the politics of productivity, a politics of that transformed
political issues into problems of output and sought to neutralize class conflict
in favor of a consensus on economic growth (142).
The first wave of regional economic development took place in japan from mid-
1950’s to the early 1970s and led to the emergence of a middle-class by the
early 1970s.
The second wave took place between the 1960s and 1980s in South Korea, Taiwan,
Hongkong and Singapore and led to the formation of middle -class societies in
these countries by the 1980s.

Two salient points in the history of east Asian middle-class formation.

1. Middle class formation in Southeast Asia was driven by global and regional
transnational capitalism working in alliance with national states while middle
class in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan were created by developmental states
and national capitalism.
2. New urban middle classes in East Asia, whether in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan,
or Southeast Asia, with their middle-class jobs, education, and income, have in
turn created their own new lifestyles commensurate with their middle-class
income and status.

Middle Classes in The Philippines

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

Regional Implications of Middle -Class Formation in East Asia

Complex historical forces shaped new urban middle classes. They are product of
regional economic development, which has taken place in waves under the U.S.
informal empire over a half century, first in Japan, then in South Korea,
Taiwan, Hongkong, and Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines,
and now in China. They are product as well for development states. Their
lifestyles have been shaped in very complex ways by their appropriation of
things American, Japanese, Chinese, South Korean, Islamic and other ways of
life, often mediated by the market. The political consequences of the rise of
East Asia middle classes vary. The cultural and political hegemony of the South
Korean middle classes is embodied by single generation, while that of the
Taiwanese middle classes manifest itself in the political assertiveness of an
ethnic majority. Southeast Asian middle classes also exemplify the diversity
and complexity of class formation. Thai middle classes are coherent socially,
hegemonic culturally, and ascend politically; their counterparts in Malaysia
and Indonesia are socially divided, dependent on the state, politically
assertive and vulnerable; and the Philippine middle classes are socially
coherent, less dependent on the state, culturally ascendant, but politically
vacillating.