CHAPTER 3

WA

World of Regions
WWW

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the lesson, the students should
be able to:
• define the term "global south" from the Third
World;
• analyze how a new conception of global relations emerged
from the
experience of Latin America;
and,
• analyze how different Asian states confront the challenges
of
globalization and
regionalization.

A World of Regions: Asia and Europe in the

American Imperium
Observing the dramatic shift in world politics since the end of
the Cold War, Peter J. Katzenstein argues that regions have
become critical to contemporary world politics. This view is in stark
contrast to those who focus on the purportedly stubborn persistence
of the nation-state or the inevitable march of globalization. In
detailed studies of technology and foreign investment, domestic and
international security, and cultural diplomacy and popular culture,
Katzenstein examines the changing regional dynamics of Europe
and Asia, which are linked to the United States through Germany
and Japan.
Regions, Katzenstein contends, are interacting closely with an
American imperium that combines territorial and non-territorial powers.
Katzenstein argues that globalization and internationalization create open or
porous regions. Regions may provide solution to the contradictions between states
and markets, security, nationalism, and cosmopolitanism. Embedded in the
American imperium, regions are now central to world politics.
(Source: Peter 1. Katzenstein, Cornell University Press, “Studies in
Political
Economy)

39
North-South Divide
The North-South divide is broadly considered a socio-
economic and political divide. Generally, definitions of the Global
North include the United States, Canada, Western, Europe, as well
as Australia and New Zealand. The Global South is made up of
African, Latin America, and developing Asia including the Middle
East. The North is home to all the members of the G8 and four of
the five permanent members of the United Nations Security
Council.
The North mostly covers the West and the First World, along with
much of the Second World, while the South largely corresponds
with the Third World. While the North may be defined as the richer,
more developed region and the South as the poorer, less
developed region, many more factors differentiate between the two
global areas. 95% of the North has enough food and shelter. The
Global South “lacks appropriate technology, it has no political
stability, the economies are disarticulated, and their foreign
exchange earnings depend on primary product exports.”
Nevertheless, the divide between the North and the South
increasingly corresponds less and less to reality and is increasingly
challenged. .
In economic terms, the North - with one quarter of the world
population - controls four-fifths of the income earned anywhere in the
world. 90% of the manufacturing industries are owned by and
located in the North. Inversely, the South – with three quarters of
the world populations – has access to one-fifth of the world
income. As nations become economically developed, they
may become part of the "North”, regardless of geographical
location; similarly, any nations that do not qualify for
“developed" status are in effect deemed to be part of the "South".
Global South
The Global South is a term that has been emerging in the
transnational and postcolonial studies to refer to what may also
be called the “Third World" (i.e., Africa, Latin America, and the
 developing countries in Asia),"developing countries," "less
developed countries," and "less developed regions.” It can also
include poorer “southern" regions of wealthy "northern" countries.
The Global South is more than the extension of a “metaphor for
underdeveloped countries." In general, it refers to those 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.'

40
Global South versus Third
World
"There is no Third World; There is no global south" - Martin Lewis. IN
the 1960s, '70s and '80s, scholars divided the earth into three
parts: The First World, the Second World, and the Third World.
The reigning "three worlds theory," however, was conceptually
incoherent, combining incommensurate geopolitical and socio-
economic features. The "First World" encompassed all
industrialized, democratic countries, which were assumed to be allied
with the United States in its struggle against the Soviet Union. Yet, not all
were: Finland and Switzerland, among others, maintained strict neutrality. The
Second World" was anchored on the industrialized, communist realm of the
Soviet Union and its eastern European satellites, yet it often included poor
communist states located elsewhere. The “Third World," was defined
simultaneously as the non-aligned world and as the global realm
of poverty and under-developed. poor Soviet allies - Mongolia,
Cuba, North Korea, and North Vietnam (after 1975, Vietnam) - were
thus counted as Third World in economic terms and as Second World in
political terms. China's Cold War situation was even more ambiguous; a
non-industrialized country at the time, it ceased to be a Soviet ally in 1961,
and by the 1980s was no longer an enemy of the United States. Yet
it continued to be commonly mapped as part of the Second World.
(Source: Martin W. Lewis, Nov. 15,2010)

How the “Third World" became the Global

South":
The Origins of the Third
World ...
As published in the International Encyclopedia of the
Spcial Sciences edited by A. Heelblod (2007), the world was
largely divided into several empires in the 19th century. each
empire possessed a 'civilized central and peripheries that were more or
less primitive or even "barbaric". It is unlikely the citizens of what is now often
called the "Global North" ("developed" or high-income countries) would
have given much thought to the inhabitants of what was to become
known as the Third World, and now, the Global South, also called
"developing" or low-income countries. When they did, most would have
considered these peoples to be inferior in some way, by virtue of being
non-white, less educated, or even “primitive.”
"Third World" was coined in 1952 by Alfred Sauvy, a French
demographer, anthropologist, and economic historian who compared it
with the Third Estate, a concept that emerged in the context of the French
Revolution. (First Estate refers to the clergy and the monarch, Second
Estate to the nobility, and Third Estate to the balance of the eighteenth-
century
French population - as contrasted the poor countries to the First World (the non-
Communist, high-income, "developed" countries) and the Second World
(Communist countries, which though not as wealthy as those of the First
 World, were then characterized by greater order, higher incomes,
and longer life expentancies.)
Most people in the Third World, though rules by European
colonies, lived far from global sources of economic, political, and
military power. Until very recently, most were subjugated, most
illiterate, and few may have been aware that, even then, they
formed a majority of the world population. But such awareness
was growing among leaders within these poor countries, many of
whom had been educated, at least partly, in Europe or America. This
awareness and exposure to Western culture raised expectations and
hopes and inspired many Third World leaders to try to improve
colonial living conditions and win political independence.
Opposition to domination by the First World (colonization) also
grew through increasing migration and travel, including that
stimulated by the two World Wars. Many troops who had
participated in these wars, particularly on the allied side, were
from what soon to be called the Third World. Global Conception
Emerged from the Experiences of Latin American Countries

Growth rate in some Latin American countries have surprised

many: They have been continuously high for some years and
promise to be so in the next period as well.
Latin American's contributions are especially visible and
relevant such as regionalism, security management, and Latin
America's relations with the outside world.

Asian
Regionalism
 Asian regionalism is the product of economic interaction,
not political planning. As a result of successful, outward oriented
growth strategies, Asian economies have grown not only richer,
but also closer together. In recent years, new technological trends
have further strengthened ties among them, as have the rise of
the PRC and India and the region's growing weight in the global
economy. But adversity also played a role. The 1997/90 financial
crisis dealt a severe setback to much of the region, highlighting
Asia's shared interests and common vulnerabilities and providing.“
impetus for regional cooperation: The challenge now facing Asia's
poney makers is simply put yet incredibly complex:
TITI I “wo IKTUKITI --

In the early stages of Asia's economic takeoff, regional integration

proceeded slowly. East Asian economies, in particular, focused on exporting
to developed country markets rather than selling to each other. Initially,
they specialized in simple, labor-intensive manufactures. As the more
advanced among them graduated to more sophisticated products, less
developed economies filled the gap that they left behind. The Japanese
economist Akamatsu (1962) famously compared this pattern of development
to flying geese. In this model, economies moved in formation not because
they were directly linked to each other, but because they followed similar
paths. Sincethese development paths hinged on sequential- and sometimes
competing-ties to markets outside the region, they did not initially yield
strong economic links within Asia itself.
Now, though, Asian economies are becoming closely
intertwined. This is not because the region's development strategy has
changed; it remains
predominantly nondiscriminatory and
outward-oriented. Rather, interdependence is deepening
because Asia's economies have grown large and prosperous
enough to become important to each other, and because their
patterns of production increasingly depend on networks that
span several Asian economies and involve wide ranging
exchanges of parts and components among them.
Regionalism versus
Globalization
Regionalism is the process of dividing an area into smaller segments
called regions. Example is the division of nation into states or provinces.
Business use regionalization as a total in management.
On the other hand, globalization is the process of international
integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas, and
other aspects, such as technology, etc.
As to nature, globalization promotes the integration of economics across
state borders all around the world but regionalization is precisely the
opposite because it is dividing an area into smaller segments.
TOA ..
As to market, globalization allows many companies to trade on
international level so it allows free market but in regionalized system,
monopolies are likely to develop.
As to cultural and societal relations, globalization accelerate to
multiculturalism by free and inexpensive movement of people but,
regionalization does not support this.
As to aid, globalized international community is also more
willing to come to the aid of a country stricken by a natural
disaster but, a regionalized system does not get involved in
the affairs of other areas.
As to technological advances, globalization has driven
great advances in technology but advanced technology is
rarely available in one country or region.
Factors Leading to the Greater Integrationof the Asian
Regions
Regional integration is a process in which neighboring states
enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through
common institutions and rules. The objectives of the agreement
could range from economic to political to environmental,
although it has typically taken the form of a political economy
initiative where commercial interests are the focus for achieving
broader socio-political and security objectives, as defined by
national governments. Regional integration has been organized
either via supranational institutional structures or through
intergovernmental decision-making, or a combination of both.

Past efforts at regional integration have often focused on

removing barriers to free trade in the region, increasing the
free movement of people, labor, goods, and capital across
national borders, reducing the possibility of regional armed
conflict (for example, through Confidence and Security Building
Measures), and adopting cohesive regional stances on policy
issues, such as the environment, climate change and migration.
Intra-regional trade refers to trade which focuses on economic
exchange primarily between countries of the same region or
economic zone. In recent years countries within economic-
trade regimes such as ASEAN in Southeast Asia for
example have increased the level of trade and commodity
exchange between themselves which reduces the inflation
and tariff barriers associated with foreign markets resulting in
growing prosperity.