WORLD OF REGIONS THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD WORLD OF REGIONS LESSON 1: Global Divides The North and The South and Asian Regionalism 1.1: Countries, Regions and Globalization 1.2: Non-State Regionalism 1.3: Contemporary Challenges to Regionalism Objectives: • Look at Regions as political entities. • What brings them together as they interlock with globalization. • Explore the other facets of regionalism, especially those that pertain to identities, ethics religion, ecological and health. • Differentiate between regionalization and globalization. • Conclude by asking where all these regionalism are bringing us members of a nation and as citizens of the world. GLOBAL DIVIDES: THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH AND ASIAN REGIONALISM DEFINITION GLOBAL NORTH Refers to develop societies of Europe and North America, which are characterized by established democracy, wealth, technological advancement, political stability, aging population, zero population growth and dominance of world trade and politics. GLOBAL SOUTH Refer to what may be called the “Third World Countries” or he less developed countries and less developed regions. Global North are considered at the high income countries such as America, Australia, New Zealand , Belgium , Japan and Netherlands. Global South is referring to less developed countries characterized by low level of economic development, large inequalities in living standards and low life expectancy. These third world countries are Asia, Africa , Latin America and Oceania. “ Has a powerful political function” Green: First World Yellow : Second World Red : Third World FOUR WORLDS MODEL • FIRST WORLD – Refers to the called developed, capitalist , industrial countries roughly, a bloc of countries aligns with the united states after a world war II, with more or less common political and economic interests. • E.g.: North America, Western Europe, Japan, South Korea and Australia. FOUR WORLDS MODEL • SECOND WORLD – Refers to the former communist-socialist , industrial states ( formerly the eastern bloc, the territory and sphere of influence of the union of soviet socialist republic) today Russia , Eastern Europe, North Korea and Some of the Turk states ( 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, Oceania, and Latin America. CONCEPT OF THIRD WORLD The Term “Third World” originated in a 1952 article by Alfred Sauvy. Early Definitions of the Third World emphasized its exclusion from the East-West conflict of the Cold War as well as the ex-colonial status and poverty of the nations it comprised. Efforts to mobilize the Third World as an autonomous political entity were undertaken. Following this, the first Non-aligned Summit was organized in 1962. WHAT MAKES A NATION THIRD WORLD? Countries suffer from high poverty. High Child Morality. Low economic and educational development. Low self consumption of natural resources. Vulnerable to exploitation by large corporations and industrialized nation. Less technological advancement. Economies are dependent on the developed countries. Unstable Governments High Fertility Rates High-Gender related illiteracy Lack of middle class And a small elite upper class that controls the country’s wealth and resources. HISTORY The North-SOUTH divide is a socio-economic and political division of Earth popularized in the late 20th century b and early 21st Century. The idea of categorizing countries began during the Cold War with the classifications of East and West. Brandt Line is a visual depiction of the north-south divide, proposed by West German former Chancellor Willy Brandt in the 1980’s. It encircles the world at a latitude of approximately 30 degrees North, passing between North and Central America , North of Africa and the Middle East, climbing north over China and Mongolia, but dipping south so as to include Australia and New Zealand in the “Rich North”. The term “global south” and similar categories are relevant to the study of globalization : (as a result of large scale political projects- MAY SERVE AS RHETORICAL ANCHORS IN A GRAMMAR THAT REPRESENTS GLOBAL DIFFERENCE Levandar and Mignolo (2011) ‘the important question may not be “what the global south is” but rather “for whom and under what conditions the global souths become relevant’. Sparke (2007) _ The Global South is everywhere , but it is also somewhere and that somewhere, located at the intersection of entangled political geographies of dispossession and repossession. DIVISION BASIS (DEVELOPMENT) Being categorized as part of the “North” implies development as opposed to belonging to the “South”, which implies a lack thereof. The North becomes synonymous with economic development and industrialization while the South represents the previously colonized countries which are need of help in the form of international aid agendas. Economic Development refers to advancements in technology, a transition from an economy based largely on agriculture to one based on industry and an improvement in living standards. WHAT INCLUDES NORTH AND SOUTH? Generally definitions of the Global North include the G8 countries, the United States, Canada, all member states of the European Union, Israel, Japan, Singapore, South Korea , as well as Australia and New Zealand and four of the Five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, excluding China. The Global South is made up of Africa, Latin America and developing Asia, including the Middle East , and it is home to the BRIC countries (excluding Russia): Brazil, India, and China which along with Indonesia are the largest Southern states. FUTURE OF NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE Economists have argued that international free trade and unhindered capital flows across countries could lead to a contraction in the NorthSouth divide. As some countries in the South experience rapid development there is evidence that those states are developing high levels of South-South aid . For example of Bangladesh, Malaysia, India and etc. Move towards equality the United States Nations has also established its role in diminishing the divide between North and South through the Millennium Development Goals, all which were to be achieved by 2015. ASIAN REGIONALISM Regionalism is often as a political and economic phenomenon, the tern 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. COUNTRIES, REGIONS AND GLOBALIZATION State that economic and political of regions vary, but there are certain basic features that everyone can agree on. COUNTRIES, REGIONS AND GLOBALIZATION • Region are “a group of countries located in the same geographically specified area” or “an amalgamation of two regions [or] a combination of more or “two regions” organized to regulate and “oversee flows and policy choices”. • The words regionalization and regionalism should not be interchanged, as the former refers to the regional concentration of economic flows” while the latter is “political process characterized by economic policy cooperation and coordination among countries. COUNTRIES, REGIONS AND GLOBALIZATION • Examples: -China offers its cheap and huge workforce. -Other countries make up for their small size by taking advantage of their strategic location like Singapore and Switzerland. • Countries from regional associations for reveal reasons: 1. Military defense. 2.Regional organizations to pool of the resources. 3.Economic crisis compels countries to come together. COUNTRIES, REGIONS AND GLOBALIZATION • 1.Military Defense The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formed during Cold War when several countries plus the United States agreed to protect the 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. COUNTRIES, REGIONS AND GLOBALIZATION 2. Regional organizations to pool of the resources was established in 1950 by Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to regulate the production and sale of oil. The regional alliance flexed its muscles in the 1970’s 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. COUNTRIES, REGIONS AND GLOBALIZATION 4. Economic crisis compels countries to come together. The thai economy collapsed in 1966 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. The crisis began to spread in Asian countries as there currencies were also devalued and foreign investments left in a hurry. The 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 the crisis that ASIAN economies stabilized. The crisis made ASEAN more “unified and coordinated”.
