GEC 8

A WORLD OF REGIONS
MAP OF THE WORLD
Core Values/ Biblical Principles/ Inspirational
Quotes
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the module, the students should be able to:

• Discuss the concept of global division and stratification

• Appraise historical antecedents relating to the
understanding of the global divide; and
• Create an infographic showing the characteristics of the
divisions of the world
Learning Activities

For the assessment, you will create an infographic

showing the characteristics of the divisions of the
world. The instructions, as well as the rubrics for
scoring, can be found on Canvas Assignment page.
TOPICS

• Lesson 12 Global Divides

• Lesson 13 The Global South/ Global North
• Lesson 14 Asian Regionalism
 INTRODUCTION
• What is Regions?
• Are “ a group of countries located in the
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”
• Large size territories ( such as counties,
provinces, and countries, or large sections of
countries such as the (Midwest USA) that
encompasses many places, all or most of
which share a set of attributes of places that
make up a different region.
Reasons of Forming Regional Associations
1. Military Defense
• NATO- North Atlantic Treaty
organization
• Form during the Cold war when several;
Western European countries plus the
United States agreed to protect Europe
against the threat of the Soviet Union.
• WARSAW PACT
• A regional alliance created by Soviet
Union
• Soviet Union imploded in Dec. 1991 but
NATO remains in place.
 Reasons of Forming Regional Associations
2. Pool their resources, get better return
for their exports and expand their
leverage against trading partners.
• OPEC- Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries.
• It was established in 1960 by Iran,
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
• It aims to regulate the production and
sale of oil.
• OPEC`s success convinced 9 other oil
producing countries to join it.
 Reasons of Forming Regional Associations
3. Protect their independence from
the pressure of superpower
policies.
NAM- Non-aligned Movement
• Created by Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia,
and Yugoslavia in 1961 to pursue world
peace and international; cooperation,
human rights, national sovereignty, racial
and national equality, non intervention and
peaceful conflict resolution.
• Because the association refused to side with
either first world countries capitalist
democracies in Western Europe and North
America or communist states in Easter
Europe.
• With 120 member countries.
 Reasons of Forming Regional Associations

4. Economic Crisis compels

countries to come together.
• Example:
• The Thai economy collapsed in 1996 after
the foreign currency speculators and
troubled international banks demanded
that the Thai government pay back its
loans.
• It made ASEAN more “unified and
coordinates”
 Regionness as a concept has varying degrees (Hettne, 1996)

1.Region as a geographical unit-a region

can be construed as a place, as a physical
environment

2. Region as a social system- a

conglomerate of people occupying a
particular space and possession unique
dynamics of interaction.

3. Region as an organized cooperation- a

region can be construed as a group of
nations who agree to take part and form a
formal organization.
Regionness as a concept has varying
degrees (Hettne, 1996)

4. Region as a civil society- a region can

construed as a network of cultural and
social linkages among countries who Civil society
voluntarily take part in a cooperation
among nations.

5. Region as an acting subject- as a

group of nations concerned about peace,
welfare, and prosperity of its people,
The growing integration in the Asian Region has been brought by:

1. Enhanced dialogue between citizens of various nations

2. Expanding intraregional trade and investments

3. Increased connectivity
Asian integration is “market-friendly, multitrack and multispeed”
and has thus become beneficial to the region.

ASIAN Region Cooperation

APEC- Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
EAS- East Asian Summit
APC Asia Pacific Community
EAC East Asian Community
ASEAN- Association of Southeast Asian Nations
APT- ASEAN Plus Three
GLOBAL DIVIDES

What is global divide?

• Global disparities, often due to stratification due to
differing economic affluence but can also be in other
aspects of globalization.
• The term global divide connotes disparities in income and
living conditions between the advanced and developing
states.
 GLOBAL DIVIDES
What is global divide?
• Global disparities, often due to
stratification due to differing economic
affluence but can also be in other
aspects of globalization.
• The term global divide connotes
disparities in income and living
conditions between the advanced and
developing states.
 Stratification
• Social stratification -is the system by
which a society ranks its members by
groups into a hierarchy, typically in an
order that reflects their wealth, status,
and/or power.”

World Atlas

• - Is essentially the phenomenon of

segregating, grouping, and ranking people
based on the differences in class, race,
economic status, and other categories.
Perspectives/Theories in Global Stratification
Modernization Theory
This theory suggest that all societies
undergo a similar process of evolution-
from, agricultural, industrial, and urbanized
and modern- that is motivated and catalyzed
by internal factors

- low-income countries can improve their

global economic standing by adjusting their
cultural values and attitudes to work and
through industrialization and other forms of
economic growth

(courses.lumenlearning.com)
 Perspectives/Theories in Global Stratification
Dependency Theory

- states that stratification is primarily

caused by the cycle of dependence and
exploitation of core countries (high-
income countries) to semi-peripheral and
peripheral countries (middle and low-
income countries).
 Perspectives/Theories in Global Stratification
• World system perspective

-states that the global system is a stratified

structure on inequality based on
institutionalized exploitation. Global power
relations for centuries have structured the
development and underdevelopment of
countries.
-composed of boundaries, structures,
member, groups, rules of legitimation, and
coherence.
History
• Prehistoric Era

A. Paleolithic
“Old Stone Age”

B. Neolithic
“New Stone Age”
Prehistoric Era

Nomadic way of living

Agriculture

Complex tasks Food surpluses

Labour divisions Rise of leisured upper class

development of agriculture permitted the creation of the first cities .

• Cities
• territorial states and empires

•complex civilizations arose in the Eastern Hemisphere

•indigenous societies in the Americas remained relatively
simple and fragmented into diverse regional cultures.
Middle Ages

• time of war, ignorance, famine and pandemic

• rise of Christianity of the Islamic Golden Age and the
Italian Renaissance
18th century

- New modes of production

- factory mass production
- Mechanization
- Age of enlightenment
- Scientific revolution
• Age of Exploration
- Europeans Americas,
- Britain Indian subcontinent,
Egypt
Malay Peninsula
- France Indochina
- Dutch Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)
- Russia colonized pre-agricultural areas of Siberia.

- The 20th century opened with Europe at an apex of wealth and power, and with
much of the world under its direct colonial control or its indirect domination. Much
of the rest of the world was influenced by heavily Europeanized nations: the
United States and Japan.
World Map before World War I
• After world war I, powerful ideologies rose to
prominence

- Russian Revolution created the first communist

state

- Militaristic fascist dictatorship in Italy, Germany,

and Spain
• World War II

• During the early stages, the conflict was confined mainly

to Europe, but later extended to the rest of the world
following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which led
to the United States also entering the war.
• The war ended with the fall of Berlin to the Red Army in
May 1945 and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
August 1945.
- The war had left two countries with principal
power to influence international affairs: United
States and the Soviet Union

- Suspicion between these countries led to a forty-

five-year stand-off and arms race, the Cold War.
 Political-economic Alliance
The cold war yielded two chief political
factions:
1. The Western Bloc- comprised by the
industrial/capitalist US and the North
Atlantic Alliance (NATO), which
include United Kingdom. Canada,
France. Italy among others. ( First
world Countries)

2. Eastern Bloc- ( Albania, Poland,

Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, and Afghanistan, led by the
communist/socialist Russian Soviet
Federative Socialist Republic. ( Second
World Countries
 Four Worlds Model
• First World- refers to the so called
developed, capitalist, industrial
countries roughly, a bloc of countries
aligns with the united states after world
war II, with more or less common
political and economic interest: North
America, Western Europe, Japan, and
Austria.
• Second World- refers to the former
communist-socialist, industrial states
(formerly Eastern bloc, the territory and
sphere of influence of the union of soviet
socialist republic) Today: Russia,
Eastern Europe (e.g. Kazakhstan) as well
as China.
 Four Worlds Model
• Third World- despite ever evolving
definitions, the concept of 3rd world
serves to identify countries that suffer
from high infant morality, low economic
development, high levels of poverty, low
utilization of natural resources, and
heavy dependence on industrialized
nations.
• These are the developing and
technologically less advanced nations of
Asia, Africa, Oceanic and Latin America.
 Four Worlds Model
• The 3rd World Nations- tend to have
economies dependent on the developed
countries and are generally characterized as
poor with unstable governments and having
high rates of population, growth. Illiteracy,
and disease.
• Key factor is the lack of middle class- with
impoverished millions in a vast lower
economic class and very small elite upper class
controlling the country`s wealth and
resources.
• Most third world nations also have a very
large foreign debts
• AFTER THE COLD WAR
• First world is often used to describe countries with economic and
political stability regardless of affiliation
• Second World Concept is rarely used
• Third World” increasingly became associated with the countries
with low GDP and citizens living in poverty
Willy Brandt
• The ‘Brandt Line’ is a
visualization created to
illustrate international
inequalities and the
socioeconomic gulf that
separates regions of the
world.
 GLOBAL NORTH

• More affluent and economically stable

countries

USA, Canada, G8 nations, permanent

members of the UN Security Council,
Australia, New Zealand

64 countries with a high Human

Development Index
Better standard of living and quality of life

Life expectancy: US – 79 women; 77 men ;

Somalia- 51 women; 48 men
Education and health care: Canada- free
universal healthcare and free secondary
education; Africa- little education, hardly no
health care
 Global South
• Agrarian based

dependent economically and politically

on the Global North,

the Global North has continued to

dominate and direct the global south in
international trade and politics

Unstable government and poor economy

Poor standard of living and quality of life

Low Gross Domestic Product

Low Human Development Index

 Global North Global South

levels of productivity managerial competence low of living and

access to information, worker and deprivations in human
motivation and institutional development
flexibility

Population Growth 1/6 of the world 5/6 of the world population

population

Dependency burdens 1/3 of the population almost ½ of the population

Agricultural production more production less production

Exports and international Economy is geared Economy is geared towards

Relations towards exportation inportation
• North and south divide is less geographical but
more socio-economic categorization.
• In this time of the pandemic: there is a growing social unrest in the
Philippines and elsewhere in the world, we hear of conflicts and
bloody wars in Afghanistan, in Myanmar, between Palestine and
Israel.

The gaps between the strata within and among nations has been
increasing. But we have learned that Human stratification and
division is as old as time. Understanding the origin and aspects of
division will ultimately guide us in alleviating gaps in these
divisions for better world order. In our personal lives, we must also
understand the origin and aspects of our problems and dreams to
address our needs adequately and plan our future. One’s
development and dilemma should not be always be passed on
external factors because one’s self is the most decisive factor..
Thank you for Listening!
References
• Botor, et al.(2020) A Course Module for The Contemporary World. Rex Book Store. Manila, Philippines

• Crossman, Ashley. (Aug. 28, 2020). A Brief Guide to Modernization Theory. Retrieved from thoughtco.com/modernization-
theory-3026419.
• Crossman, Ashley. (2020, August 27). Dependency Theory. Retrieved from
https://www.thoughtco.com/dependency-theory-definition-3026251.

• Discover the History of the Second World War 1939-1945 - Learning resource (the-map-as-history.com)

• First, Second, and Third World - Nations Online Project

• Lemuel Ekedegwa Odeh [PDF] .A comparative analysis of Global North and Global South economies. | Semantic Scholar

• Holder, J. (2021). Tracking Coronavirus Vaccinations Around the World.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-vaccinations-tracker.html.

• Pre and Post World War 1 Map Comparison - Mr. Knight (weebly.com)
• https://biologydictionary.net/symbiosis