LESSON 1

GLOBAL DIVIDES: THE NORTH ANDTHE SOUTH

While globalization is a phenomenon, regionalism is also seen as political and economic

phenomenon. The world consists of different regions which refers to group of countries
situated in same geographic location or amalgamate one another to oversee flows and
policy choices. Countries on these regions respond economically and politically to
globalization thereby forming regional associations for common purposes like military
defense and economic security.

Regionalism is a political process characterized by economic policy cooperation and

coordination among countries (Claudio, 2018). Whereas regionalization is the
concentration of economic flow within region thereby binding together the region's
economy. Since regionalism is a process, regions are not given or naturally created.
They are product of political and economic actors, and even social movements. Regions
group and divide due to common traits and vested interests. The world is divided
according to socio-economic and political aspects.

NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE

The North-South Divide or Rich-Poor Divide is the socio-economic and political division
between the wealthy developed countries known as "the North," and the poorer
developing countries or "the South." Although most of the countries under "the North"
are located in the Northern Hemisphere, the divide is purely not based on geographic
location. Some countries located in the same hemisphere may not be qualified for
"developed" status. In effect may be deemed part of "the South". This divide is recently
known as development gap which puts greater emphasis on the gap between the
economically rich and poor countries.

The Global North mostly encompasses the West and the First World, along with many
of the Second World. It is the home of all the G8 (Canada, France Germany, Italy,
Japan, United Kingdom, United States and European Union) Global North also includes
the outer most regions of the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, and developed
members of Asia (the Four Asian Tigers - Hong Kong Singapore, Taiwan and South
Korea). The North, with one quarter of the world population, controls four-fifths of the
income earned anywhere in the world. I. owned 90% of the manufacturing industries
which are also located in the countries belonging to the North.

The Global South refers to regions of Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. It
includes the countries belonging to the Third World and Periphery. These are regions
outside Europe and North America. With three-fourth of the world populations, only has
access to one-fifth of the world income. Hence, countries that have low-income and
often politically or culturally marginalized. "The use of the phrase Global South marks a
shift from a central focus on development or cultural difference toward an emphasis on
geopolitical relations of power," (Dados, 2012).

The Brandt Line proposed by Willy Brandt in 1980s attempted to show growing income
inequality between countries. Above the line are the rich countries, whereas below the
line are the poor countries. However, this theory is no longer considered as valid since
in today's context some of the world's strongest economies lie below the Brandt line.

GLOBAL SOUTH VS THE THIRD WORLD

The emergence of the term Global South is in part to aid countries in the Southern
Hemisphere to work in collaboration on political, economic, social, environmental,
cultural, and technical issues. This is called a South-South Cooperation (SSC), "a
political and economical term referring to the long term goal of pursuing world economic
changes that mutually benefit countries in the Global South and lead to greater
solidarity among the disadvantaged in the world system" (Gray, 2016).

Global South was first used in 1969 in a contemporary political sense and continued to
gain appeal throughout the second half of the 20th century.

It was a French demographer, anthropologist and economic historian Alfred Sauvy

(1898-1990) who coined the term "the Third World" in 1952, comparing it with Third
Estate, a concept that emerged during the French Revolution which refers to the French
population. The term was accepted because it clearly differentiated the poor countries
from the First World where countries are wealthy, and to Second World (Communist
states) though not so wealthy but characterized by greater order, higher incomes, and
longer expectancies (Butler, 2007).

There growth and develop of the developing countries in the 1970's was slowing.
Developed countries were becoming dependent on the Third World for energy due to
the decline of US oil reserves. These likely increased the economic power of the Third
World. It was at this time that the term North and South were firstly widely used in lieu of
the long standing geographical and cultural partition of the East and West. The Global
South was merged to the Third World in order to avoid the stigma brought about by the
form "Third World" as being very poor and thus created a new world order (Butler 2007).

To explain further, Third World countries are experiencing deep poverty, inequality, and
underdevelopment. They are the countries at the periphery that produce mainly agrarian
and mineral raw materials for industrialized states. In deeper sense, the developing
countries originally belong to the Global South still has a chance to become a
developed country.

GLOBAL RELATIONS IN LATIN AMERICA

Latin America, like Africa, has small populations but endowed with rich natural
resources. Because of this, this region is target for grand-scale pillage for capital
accumulation by Europe and the United States. Countries in Latin America were under
the control of either Spain or Portugal during the Colonial Era. During the 19th century,
the world capitalist system exploited the peonized peasants. The tillers, laborers, and
uneducated were subject to brutality by big agrarian landowners. The natural resources
like mines were exploited by the developed countries.

The emigration of peasants from the countryside in the 20th century resulted to
"modernization poverty" replacing rural poverty in Latin America. A settlement of jerry-
built shacks or favelas emerged in the cities. A lot of people were now living in the urban
areas alongside with the change of politics imposing fascist dictatorship. Certain rights
were abolished like right to vote. Specialized police services were established giving
extra-legal authority to arrest and torture people who go against the government. The
brutal super-exploitation in Latin America are worse compared to other regions in the
world. Until now, some countries in the region are still suffering and recovering from the
brutal treatment as the result of dictatorships. The situation of the Philippines during and
after the colonial era was much better compared to the experiences of Latin America.

Even before the current globalization trends appear in Latin America, they were actually
experiencing the wide-raging globalization which resulted to exploitation and abuse.
Danilo Anton (1998) in his article, "Different waves of globalization in Latin America".
The first wave of globalization was the military wave that happened around 15th to 16th
centuries. Extra continental military invasion of the Americas was immediately felt.
There were political and cultural annihilation of the indigenous people. The first wave
was extremely brutal.

The second wave of globalization was the economic wave. The Spanish and
Portuguese colonies were well established this time in the 90th century. Latin America
was the basic source of raw materials by the European countries. During this time, the
globalization development was mainly related to the requirements of the European
industrial revolution. Natural resources in this period were exploited and workers were
abused. However, infectious diseases were reduced, communication, and
transportation were developed.

Cultural wave was the third globalization wave. Due to the nature of technological
changes, globalization affects the cultural sphere of Latin America. Computers and
telecommunications were now made available and air travel has become widespread.
The flow of merchandise and trade is easier and accomplishing lots of things. Women
has become increasingly important in the workplace. A lot of changes were happening.
Communication was becoming better. People within the region can now communicate
with each other and to other regions of the world. But new disease was introduced like
AIDS or HIV.
Though the impact of the third wave was already felt during the 20th century, the impact
of the second wave was still felt and very much alive. Both waves in the last decade
was simultaneously experienced affecting many countries around the world. The better
effects brought by the third wave were often outweighed by its negative impacts. A lot of
raw materials were produced and exported outside the region resulting to higher income
to the detriment of the environment. Native trees or crops were replaced by other plants
highly demanded by the importing countries resulting to soil erosion. Increased
consumption of sea products promoted expansion of aquaculture resulting to reduction
the water quality.

Despite of these effects, the national cultures of Latin America still exist These are
important assets to regional societies. However, many individuals and communities
have no political control over their common destinies. The weakening of the state
capacity and the increase in access of information might be a source of opportunity for
the individuals and communities. The tools offered by this new globalization, according
to Anton (1998), might paved the way for planetary survival and social renewal.

LESSON 2

Groups, associations, institutions, societies, communities and governments form

organizations or networks in regions. The linkages and communications have made the
people more aware of the world around them. Globalization has made various citizens
cognizant of specific areas, particularly on territories or continents where they live.
People are able to identify themselves with regions they belong to.

REGIONALIZATION VS GLOBALIZATION

As discussed previously, regionalization is the concentration of economic flow within

region thereby binding together the region's economy. It is a process of dividing areas
into smaller segments called regions. While s promotes economic integrations across
state borders around the world allowing many companies to trade internationally that
permit free market. Whereas the former, may not allow corporations outside its region to
trade and more likely create monopolies within the region.

Regionalization and globalization are key defining features in contemporary world

politics. They are not actually a complete new processes. Ever since men started to
travel around the globe by boat or by land, globalization had started. As previously
said, the exact meaning of globalization, and defining it is a controversial risk. It is
always understood as the increased flow of goods, services, capital, people, and
information across borders (Jacoby, 2010). Whether people share the same culture,
history or commerce, the basic sense of region is a group of countries with the same
geographic location (Mansfield, 1999). The countries in this region decided to integrate
and interact socially and economically leading to regionalization (Hurrell, 2007).

INTEGRATION OF ASIAN REGION

The process by which two or more neighboring nation-states agree to cooperate and
work closely together to achieve peace, stability, and wealth is regional integration. It is
overcoming barriers among neighboring countries jointly managing shared resources
and assets for common good. The European Union supports regional integration to
achieve prosperity, peace, and security.

Cooperation among countries within the region usually start with economic integration. It
is the process by which different countries come to agreement to remove trade barriers
(e.g ., tariffs, quotas and border restrictions) between them. Eventually political
integration follows as cooperating states have become completely integrated into a
single market since there is a need for common policies in social aspect (e.g .,
education, health care, employment benefits, and pensions) and political institutions.
Single market is the midpoint between political and economic integration the
cooperating states become so integrated that all barriers are removed. It will come to a
point that the countries involved are totally integrated that they will adopt a common
currency with a monetary policy regulated by a single central bank, even share the
same foreign policies and merge their armies (McCormick, 1999). The European Union
is the best example of regional integration. They are almost nearing to the point of total
integration. They have their common currency, the Euro. Who knows in the near future,
EU will combine politically and maximum scale of total integration.

It took time for Asia to integrate economically due to, first, its unbalanced economic
growth. Some countries in Asia have medium-high income (e.g ., Singapore and South
Korea), others are of medium-low income (e.g ., Philippines and Indonesia), and low
income earners (e.g ., Pakistan and Cambodia). Second reason for the delay is
diversified cultures, religions and customs among the people. Asia has a long history
and brilliant ancient civilization but impedes the progress of integration. Issues and
problems of security is the third cause of delay. The issues on terrorism and boundary
disputes and other problems brought some negative consequences to the progress of
Asia's economic integration (Kang, 2009).

The integration of East and South Asia is the product of global economic integration.
According to Sally (2010), East-Asian integration is the strongest in trade in transport
and machinery which the heart of these products is processing trade (also known as
fragmented or network trade). This kind of trade is trade in parts or components where
different parts of the production process are located in different countries. The
production chains ended in a labor-intensive assembly operations happened mostly in
China since 1990s before export to final consumer markets in the West. Accordingly,
South Asia was seen to increase in manufactured exports but dropped compared to
East Asia in 1970's except in garments. With this South Asia lacks global integration
and the least integrated region in the world. Currently. Asian countries are driven to
combine their resources for economic integration for obvious reason.

The ASEAN or South East Asian Nations was established on August 8, 1967 in
Bangkok, Thailand. Up today, there are 10 member-states of which the Philippines is
one of its founding members. The gist of the aims and purposes of ASEAN is to
accelerate the economic growth, promote on matters of socio-cultural interests, and
maintain regional peace and prosperity. In 2007, These objectives are clearly
manifested in its three pillars: ASEAN Political-Security Community; ASEAN Economic
Community; and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. ASEAN has convened to form the
ASEAN Community in 2015, of which its four main goals are: Single Market and
Production Base; Highly- Competitive Economic Region; Equitable Economic
Development; and Integration into the Global Economy (Coloso, 2015).

In her article, Austria (2004), discussed three factors that drive economic integration of
the ASEAN: Market-led process through the international production sharing of MNCs.
The unilateral and multilateral reduction of barriers to trade and invest, rapid
development of transportation, and information technology made it possible to establish
and set up businesses in Asian Countries. TNCs or MNCs geared their businesses to
developing countries where labor-intensive segment of the production chain is located
and wages are low; Institution-led process through the free trade, investment
agreements, and functional cooperation. Barriers to intraregional trade were reduced
due to ASEAN Free Trade Act (AFTA) which attracted the FDI-driven production
networks. AFTA created an environment for MNCs to freely choose their cross-border
bases and conduct their economic activities, thereby allowing the exploitation of factor
price within the region Private-led process is the Sub-regional Economic Zones
(SREZs) aim to enhance the attractiveness of investment in the continuous areas by
combining their advantages and exploit economic complementaries. SREZs are private
sector-led with the roleof national and local governments limited only to facilitating
through policy framework and investment promotion. These zones are usually located
within national borders of the country with their aims to increase trade and investment,
create job, and establish effective administration.

According to former Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Assistant Secretary

Ceferino Rodolfo, "Asia is the most dynamic and fastest-growing region in the world;
and in Asia, the most dynamic is Southeast Asia; and in Southeast Asia, the fastest
growing sub-region is the Philippine". The Philippines has current trade agreements with
ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), WTO (World Trade Organization)
and APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and exports to countries with which
that has signed Free Trade Agreements (FTA). It enacted Republic Act No. 10641 in
2014 entry of foreign banks, is allowed and legalized removing specific limits on the
number of foreign bank, reopening the three modes of entry, and allowing up to 100
percent foreign ownership in an existing bank and a new banking subsidiary.

CHALLENGES ON REGIONALIZATION AND GLOBALIZATION IN ASIA

Though increasing trade and financial sector integration offers enormous benefits
however, this poses new challenges (Camdessus, 1997). One of the challenges
perhaps is in trade. The openness of Asian economy encouraged competitiveness and
transfer of technology. Other countries should open their economies to enjoy the benefit
of trade liberalization while those already benefited must ensure that the openness is
extended to new frontiers. It is important to increase transparency and free flow of
information on which the service and financial sectors depend. Further, there is a need
to develop effective policies for noncompetitive industries. With this, a number of
countries need to improve their infrastructure, especially in transportation,
telecommunications, and power supply to sustain growth. In turn, public finances should
be strengthened by reducing outlays in less productive areas and regional trade
initiative should be compatible with the global trade liberalization.

Another challenge is in the financial flows. Stable macroeconomic policies will give
confidence to financial markets and attract private savings in the domestic level and
regional cooperation. Transparent and predictable regulatory policies, and reliable legal
framework are essential ingredients in creating a favorable investment climate. Then the
increasing pace of financial innovation and integration pose a problem. Room for policy
maneuver and scope for policy mistakes is limited due to large capital flows. The
regulation and supervision of Asia countries should keep pace with the complexities of
banking business. Policies should be enacted that will strengthen the banking systems
without fear of aggravating banking sector problems.

Regional policy coordination is another challenge. Each country has an increasing stake
in the sound policies of the others with countries becoming more integrated. Countries
within the region can play a constructive role in encouraging each other in maintaining
sound policies. On the talk given by Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, Rodolfo C. Severino at the Symposium on "AFTA and Beyond" on May
30, 2002, he said that regional integration is the only way to generate sufficient
economic activity, improve efficiency, heighten competition, attract investments, and
thus create jobs. He said further that Southeast Asian countries should integrate to be
competitive in the global economy to counteract forces of globalization. The massive
agriculture subsidies in the European Union, Japan, and United States; agricultural
protection in the guise of quarantine regulations; the abuse of anti-dumping; imposition
of prohibitivecosts and litigation to developing countries are among the policies that
strengthen the value of protectionism among the Asian countries. Thus, ASEAN has no
choice but to create a strong bond to have a better chance working together in the
harshly competitive world.

CHALLENGES: ASEAN AND COVID-19

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has severely affected East and
Southeast Asian economies, especially by disrupting the flow of goods and services in
the region's global value chains (GVCs). The impacts and implications of pandemic on
the regional economy, especially with respect to regional economic governance are
widely discussed by ASEAN Leaders in various meetings to forge a more coordinated
regional response. The meetings with the health officials of ASEAN member states, and
the ASEAN + 3 countries (the People's Republic of China, Japan and Republic of
Korea), and between Heads of States, Foreign Ministers, Defence Ministers, Ministers
for Finance, Ministers for Agriculture and Forestry, and Ministers for Labour had
impelled commitments to combat against the pandemic.

Outlining the commitments on related-health issues: Information sharing on detection,

control and interventions; coordinating cross border health response, including contact
tracing and outbreak investigation; capacity building interventions on public health
emergency, scientific research, preparedness and response; strengthening early
warning system for pandemics and other epidemic diseases; and support to ensure the
adequacy of essential medicines, vaccines and medical devices both within the member
countries and the region, alongside with the setting up a reserve of essential medical
supplies, and COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund for public health emergencies.

Pledges on Economic, agriculture, labor and tourism-related issues: ensuring the

resilience of supply chain, coordination for preservation, transport and distribution
technologies and infrastructure to reduce food insecurity, supporting the development
and implementation of a post-COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Plan to build up ASEAN
tourism capabilities; and addressing the impact of COVID-19 on labor and employment.

However, there are shortcomings in the Regional response on the pandemic, by far the
regional commitments on the meetings barely matched up with the actions on the
ground. Firstly, the coordinated regional response was difficult because of the different
levels of infections, specifics national responses and political will. For instance, the
responses of Singapore and Vietnam, cited as global success, quite different from other
countries that lack interest in combating the disease. Secondly, the pandemic itself
results in vastly fundamental tensions. The global health threat needs greater
coordination and cooperation within countries in a region, however, the generic
responses to the crisis focused on lockdowns and border restrictions, which undermines
regional integration. The lockdowns and border closures rendered migrant workers from
other others within the region more vulnerable and neglected.

Undocumented workers like Burmese were deported from Malaysia and thousands of
migrant workers from Laos and Myanmar flocking to border crossings, defying the
Bangkok lockdown to return home have been jobless. The lack of social protection of
the undocumented migrant workers in and from ASEAN states poses risks to their
health and access to health services. Indubitably, the economic impact of Covid-19 is
likely to be long-term. The Asian Development Bank assesses the economic losses in
Asia and the Pacific to range between $1.7 trillion to $2.5 trillion, with the region
accounting for about 30% of the overall decline in global output. The crisis henceforth
calls for economic collaboration among countries within the regions to stimulate
economic growth.