Chapter 5: A World of

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, the student should be able to:
1. differentiate between regionalization and globalization;
2. explain how regions are formed and kept together;
3. discuss the advantages and disadvantages of regionalism; and
4. identify the factors leading to a greater integration of the Asian region.

PRE-TEST
 What do you think is best, to be a regionalized country or globalized one?

CONTENT
Governments, associations, societies, and groups form regional organizations and/or networks as a way of coping with
the challenges of globalization. Globalization has made people aware of the world in general, but it has also made Filipinos
more cognizant of specific areas such as Southeast Asia. How, for instance, did the Philippines come to identify itself
with the Southeast Asian region? Why is it part of a regional grouping known as the association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN)?

While regionalism is often seen as a political and economic phenomenon, the term actually encompasses a broader
area. It can be examined in relation to identities, ethics, religion, ecological sustainability, and health. Regionalism is
also a process, and must be treated as an "emergent, socially constituted phenomenon." It means that regions are not
natural or given; rather, they are constructed and defined by policymakers, economic actors, and even social
movements.

This lesson will look at regions as political entities and examine what brings them together as they interlock with
globalization. The other facets of regionalism will then be explored, especially those that pertain to identities, ethics,
religion, ecological sustainability, and health. The lesson will conclude by asking where all these regionalisms are
bringing us as members of a nation and as citizens of the world.

Countries, Regions, and Globalization

Edward D. Mansfield and Helen V. Milner state that economic and political definitions of regions vary, but there are certain
basic features that everyone can agree on. First, regions are "a group of countries located in the same geographically
specified area" or are "an amalgamation of two regions [or] a combination of more than two regions" organized to
regulate and "oversee flows and policy choices."" Second, the words regionalization and regionalism should not be
interchanged, as the former refers to the "regional concentration of economic flows" while the latter is "a political
process characterized by economic policy cooperation and coordination among countries.

Countries respond economically and politically to globalization in various ways. Some are large enough and have a lot
of resources to dictate how they participate in processes of global integration. China, for example, offers its cheap and
huge workforce to attract foreign businesses and expand trade with countries it once considered its enemies but now
sees as markets for its goods (e.g., the United States and Japan). Other countries make up for their small size by taking
advantage of their strategic location. Singapore and Switzerland compensate for their lack of resources by turning
themselves into financial and banking hubs. Singapore developed its harbor facilities and made them a first-class transit
port for ships carrying different commodities from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and mainland Southeast Asia to
countries in the Asia-Pacific. In most cases, however, countries form a regional alliance for—as the saying goes— there is
strength in numbers.

Countries form regional associations for several reasons. One is for military defense. The most widely known defense
grouping is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formed during the Cold War when several Western European
countries plus the United States agreed to protect Europe against the threat of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union
responded by creating its regional alliance, the Warsaw Pact, consisting of the Eastern European countries under Soviet
domination. The Soviet Union imploded in December 1991, but NATO remains in place. Soldiers from NATO
countries hold their flags.

Countries also form regional organizations to pooI their resources, get better returns for their exports, as well as expand their
leverage against trading partners. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was established in 1960 by
Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela to regulate the production and sale of oil. This regional alliance flexed
its muscles in the 1970s when its member countries took over domestic production and dictated crude oil prices in the
world market. In a world highly dependent on oil, this integration became a source of immense power. OPEC's success
convinced nine other oil-producing countries to join it."

Moreover, there are countries that form regional blocs to protect their independence from the pressures of superpower
politics. The presidents of Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, and Yugoslavia created the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in
1961 to pursue world peace and international cooperation, human rights, national

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sovereignty, racial and national equality, non- intervention, and peaceful conflict resolution. It called itself non- aligned
because the association refused to side with either the First World capitalist democracies in Western Europe and North
America or the communist states in Eastern Europe. At its peak, the NAM had 120 member countries. The movement,
however, was never formalized and continues to exist up to the present, although it lacks the same fervor that it had in the
past.

Finally, economic crisis compels countries to come together. The Thai economy collapsed in 1996 after foreign currency
speculators and troubled international banks demanded that the Thai government pay back its loans. A rapid withdrawal of
foreign investments bankrupted the economy. This crisis began to spread to other Asian countries as their currencies
were also devalued and foreign investments left in a hurry. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) tried to reverse the
crisis, but it was only after the ASEAN countries along with China, Japan, and South Korea agreed to establish an
emergency fund to anticipate a crisis that the Asian economies stabilized.

The crisis made ASEAN more "unified and coordinated." The Association has come a long way since it was formed as
a coalition of countries which were pro-American and supportive of the United States intervention in Vietnam. After the
Vietnam War, ASEAN continued to act as a military alliance to isolate Vietnam after it invaded Cambodia, but there were
also the beginnings of economic cooperation.

Non-State Regionalism
It is not only states that agree to work together in the name of a single cause (or causes). Communities also engage in
regional organizing. This "new regionalism" varies in form; they can be "tiny associations that include no more than a few
actors and focus on a single issue, or huge continental unions that address a multitude of common problems from
territorial defense to food security." Organizations representing this "new regionalism" likewise rely on the power of
individuals, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and associations to link up with one another in pursuit of a particular
goal (or goals). Finally, "new regionalism" is identified with reformists who share the same "values, norms, institutions,
and system that exist outside of the traditional, established mainstream institutions and systems."

Their strategies and tactics likewise vary. Some organizations partner with governments to initiate social change. Those who
work with governments ("legitimizers") participate in "institutional mechanisms that afford some civil society groups voice
and influence [in] technocratic policy-making processes." For example, the ASEAN issued its Human Rights Declaration in
2009, but the regional body left it to member countries to apply the declaration's principles as they see fit. Aware that
democratic rights are limited in many ASEAN countries, "new regionalism" organizations used this official declaration to
pressure these governments to pass laws and regulations that protect and promote human rights.

In South America, left-wing governments support the Hemispheric Social Alliance's opposition to the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), while members of the Mesa de Articulacion de Asociaciones Nacionales y Redes de
ONGs de América Latina y El Caribe (Roundtable of National Associations and Networks and NGOs in Latin America
and the Caribbean) participate in "forums, summits, and dialogues with presidents and ministers." Likewise, a group called
the Citizen Diplomacy Forum tries to influence the policies and programs of the Organization of American States. In
Southeast Asia, the organization of an ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights was in part the result of non-
government organizations and civil society groups pushing to "prevent discrimination, uphold political freedom, and
promote democracy and human rights throughout the region.

Other regional organizations dedicate themselves to specialized causes. Activists across Central and South America
established the Rainforest Foundation to protect indigenous peoples and the rainforests in Brazil, Guyana, Panama, and
Peru. Young Christians across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and the Caribbean formed Regional
Interfaith Youth Networks to promote "conflict prevention, resolution, peace education, and sustainable development."
The Migrant Forum in Asia is another regional network of NGOs and trade unions "committed to protecting and promoting
the rights and welfare of migrant workers.

These organizations' primary power lies in their moral standing and their ability to combine lobbying with pressure
politics. Unfortunately, most of them are poorly financed, which places them at a disadvantage when dealing with their
official counterparts who have large state funds. Their impact in global politics is, therefore, limited.

New regionalism differs significantly from traditional state- to-state regionalism when it comes to identifying
problems. For example, states treat poverty or environmental degradation as technical or economic issues that can be
resolved by refining existing programs of state agencies, making minor changes in economic policies, and creating new
offices that address these issues. However, new regionalism advocates such as the NGO

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Global Forum see these issues as reflections of flawed economic development and environmental models. By "flawed," they
mean economic development plans that are market-based, profit-driven, and hardly concerned with social welfare,
especially among the 'poor.

Another challenge for new regionalists is the discord that may emerge among them. For example, disagreements
surface over issues like gender and religion, with pro-choice NGOs breaking from religious civil society groups that side
with the, Church, Muslim imams, or governments opposed to reproductive rights and other pro-women policies.
Moreover, while civil society groups are able to dialogue with governments, the latter may not be welcoming to this new
trend and set up one obstacle after another. Migrant Forum Asia and its ally, the Coordination of Action Research on AIDS
(CARAM), lobbied ASEAN governments to defend migrant labor rights. Their program 56 The Structures of Globalization
of action, however, slowed down once countries like Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand refused to recognize the rights
of undocumented migrant workers and the rights of the families of migrants."

Contemporary Challenges to Regionalism

Today, regionalism faces multiple challenges, the most serious of which is the resurgence of militant nationalism and
populism. The refusal to dismantle NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union, for example, has become the basis of the
anti-NATO rhetoric of Vladimir Putin in Russia. Now, even the relationship of the United States—the alliance's core
member—with NATO has become problematic after Donald Trump demonized the organization as simply leeching off
American military power without giving anything in return.

Perhaps the most crisis-ridden regional organization of today is the European Union. The continuing financial crisis of
the region is forcing countries like Greece to consider leaving the Union to gain more flexibility in their economic policy.
Anti-immigrant sentiment and a populist campaign against Europe have already led to the United Kingdom voting to
leave the European Union in a move the media has termed the "Brexit."

ASEAN members continue to disagree over the extent to which member countries should sacrifice their sovereignty
for the sake of regional stability. The Association's link with East Asia has also been problematic. Recently, ASEAN
countries also disagreed over how to relate to China, with the Philippines unable to get the other countries to support its
condemnation of China's occupation of the West Philippine Sea.49 Cambodia and Laos led the opposition favoring diplomacy
over confrontation, but the real reason was the dramatic increase of Chinese investments and economic aid to these
countries. Moreover, when some formerly authoritarian countries democratized, this "participatory regionalism" clashed
with ASEAN's policy of non-interference, as civil society groups in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand demanded
that the other countries democratized adopt a more open attitude towards foreign criticism.

The member countries of ASEAN

A final challenge pertains to differing visions of what regionalism should be for. Western governments may see regional
organizations not simply as economic formations but also as instruments of political democratization. Non-Western and
developing societies, however, may have a different view regarding globalization, development, and democracy.
Singapore, China, and Russia see democracy as an obstacle to the implementation and deepening of economic
globalization because constant public Inquiry about economic projects and lengthy debate slow down Implementation
or lead to unclear outcomes. Democracy's tedious procedures must, therefore, give way to efficiency.

Conclusion
Official regional associations now cover vast swaths of the world. The population of the countries that joined the Asia-Pacific
Economic Council (APEC) alone comprised 37 percent of the world's population in 2007. These countries are also part
of "smaller" organizations that include the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Caribbean and Pacific

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Group of States, and the Union of South American Nations. Even "isolationist" North Korea is part of the Regional
Forum, which discusses security issues in the region.

In the same way the countries will find it difficult to reject all forms of global economic integration, it will also be hard for
them to turn their backs on their regions. Even if the UK leaves the EU, it must continue to trade with its immediate
neighbors and will, therefore, be forced to implement many EU rules. None of this is to say that regional organizations
will remain unaltered. The history of regionalism shows that regional associations emerge as new global concerns arise.
The future of regionalism will be contingent on the immense changes in global politics that will emerge in the 21st
century.

LEARNING ACTIVITY
From Kingdoms to Empires, to Colonies, and to Republics
Organize yourselves based on these following broad regional divisions:

 North America
 China
 Korea
 Middle East
 South America
 Japan
 South Asia
 Southeast Asia

At the beginning of the 16th century, before the Europeans ruled the world, these regions had their own empires and
kingdoms. When the Spanish established the first global empire, some of these kingdoms and empires disappeared or
were weakened. This process was continued under the British colonial rule, and other powers began to carve their own
spheres of interests. Europeans dominated and made colonies out of these areas.

After World War I, however, there began a noticeable shift, this time with colonies challenging the colonial rule and
demanding that they be allowed to become nations and determine their own future. This pursuit was what US President
Woodrow Wilson called "the principle of self-determination" (see the discussion on this in the Lesson 3) reached a
high point when World War II destroyed the empires, and the colonies achieved their independence.

Choose a regional division and trace how it has changed from the time before European powers like
Britain and Spain ruled the world, then during the era of colonialism, until its independence.

List what kinds of changes happened to these areas (once principates, then provinces, then republics) and the
people who inhabit there. Finally, see how the nations and republics that were born from the ashes of
colonialism after World War II looked back on the past era to explain their own histories.

NOTE: Choose only 2 regional divisions above.

ASSESSMENT
Answer the following questions. 10 points each.
1. How is regionalism different from and yet a part of globalization?
2. What is the difference between state-to-state regionalism and non-state regionalism?
3. What triggers various regionalist projects?

RUBRICS
Criteria 5 4 2 1

Exceeds Expectation Meets expectation Needs improvement Inadequate

Quality of Piece was written in an Piece was written in an Piece had little style or Piece had no style or
Writing extraordinary style and interesting style and voice voice
voice voice
Gives some new Gives no new
Very informative and Somewhat informative information but poorly information and very
well-organized and organized organized poorly organized
Grammar, Virtually no spelling, Few spelling and A number of spelling, So many spelling,
Usage & punctuation or punctuation errors, minor punctuation or punctuation and
Mechanics grammatical errors grammatical errors grammatical errors grammatical errors that it
interferes with the
meaning

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REFERENCE:
Claudio, L.E., & Abinales, P.N. (2018). The Contemporary World. C&E Publishing, Inc. Quezon City

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