Contemporary World- Regions PDF

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THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD What are Regions? • According to Mansfield and Milner, economic and political definitions of regions vary but what is agreeable is that regions are a group of countries located in the same geographically specified area organized to regulate and oversee flows and policy choices." • A region is an area of land that has common features. A region can be defined by natural or artificial features." • Regions, large or small, are basic units of Geography." Regionalism vs Regionalization • Regionalism is a political process characterized by economic policy cooperation and coordination among countries, while Regionalization talks about the actual processes of real integration which tie people or economies together irrespective of national political boundaries." • Regionalism describes the activities of the organizations to establish the legal and non-legal framework which influences the operation and the decision-making of each economic actors within the relevant regional area, while Regionalization can be viewed as the result of the independent decision making of the economic actors." Countries respond to globalization in various ways: • Some are large enough that they are able to dictate how they participate in global integration processes. Some offer their cheap labor to the world. (e.g. China & India)" • Some compensate for their lack of resources by turning themselves into financial and banking hubs. (e.g. Switzerland & Singapore)" • Singapore even developed their harbor facilities and made themselves 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." • Some form regional blocs:" • Because there is strength in numbers." • For military defense. (e.g. National Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO, which is also the most widely known defense group] vs. Warsaw Pact [which was a reaction of the Soviet Union against the NATO])" • To pool their resources. (e.g. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC])" • OPEC Members based on number of oil barrels exported, from highest to lowest: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, UAE, Kuwait, Venezuela, Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Libya, Ecuador, Rep. of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon." • To protect themselves from superpower politics. (e.g. Non Aligned Movement [NAM])" • To unify and coordinate through economic crises. (e.g. Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN])" Global North and Global South • The Brandt Line - developed in the 1980s as a way of showing the global divides. Northern Hemisphere countries tend to be the richer countries and Southern Hemisphere countries

co un tr ies h av e e xpe ri enc ed s ig nifi ca nt economic and social development." Non-State Regionalism (New Regionalism) • Not only states agree to work together in the name of a cause(s). Even smaller communities also engage in regional organizing." • It is identified with reformists who share the same “values, norms, institutions, and system that exist outside of the traditional, established mainstream institutions and systems." • Some organizations partner with governments to initiate social change. These organizations are referred to as “legitimizers.” They participate in “institutional mechanisms that afford some civil society groups voice and influence in technocratic policy-making processes." • 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." • Another challenge is the discord that may emerge among them. (e.g. pro-LGBTQ+ NGOs and religious NGOs.)" Challenges to Regionalism • Resurgence of Militant Nationalism (Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric against the NATO and why it is still existing even if the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact have been gone for so long. Plus, Donald Trump is demonizing the NATO.)" • Crises within regional blocs (e.g. Greece vs the EU; ASEAN members debating as to the degree to which they will sacrifice sovereignty in the name of camaraderie." • Differing visions as to what regionalism should be for." Religion vs Globalism • Religious fundamentals disagree with globalism:" • Religion is to sacred; globalism is to material wealth." • Religion is to divine commandments; globalism is to man-made commandments." • Religion is to the possibility of communicating with the transcendent; globalism is to how much action will lead to the highest satisfaction, and the wisdom earned from this." • Religion is to living a virtuous and sinless life, with less concern about wealth because wealth is said to be an evidence of humanity’s weakness; globalism is to less worrying about heaven and hell." • Religion is to spreading holy ideas worldwide; globalism is to spreading goods and services worldwide." • Religions regard earthly categories (race, l an g u ag e , c i t iz e n sh i p) a s i n fe r i or a n d membership to them is superior because they are connected with the divine." • Because of the difference in perspectives, some practice isolationism where they establish fortresses where they can practice their religion free from the government and non believers who could distract or tempt them to abandon their faith and become sinners. (e.g. The Followers of the Dalai Lama, The Knights of Rizal, The Mormons)"

tend to be poorer (except Australia and New Zealand because they are part of the Global North)" • Today, the world is much more complex than the Brandt Line depicts as many poorer

• Some religiou s commu ni ties ju st ify the ir opposition to government authorities on religious grounds."

THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD • Peter Berger says that, “the contemporary world is furiously religious.”" • Religions are the foundations of modern republics." • Iranian Leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini says that Islamic rule is the superior form of government because it is spiritual and the secular ideals are flawed." • Secularism - a society where the powers of the state and church are separate. " • Theocracy - a system of government where religious leaders rule in the name of God or their god." • The Nahdlatul Ulama in Indonesia does not only teach about Islam but also about the Social Sciences, Modern Banking, Civic Education, Modern Banking, Woman Rights, Pluralism, and Democracy." • In some cases, religion was a result of a shift in state policy. (e.g. Anglican Church)" • José Casanova states, “Historically, religion has always been at the very center of all great political conflicts and movements of social reform. From independence to abolition, from nativism to women’s suffrage, from prohibition to the civil rights movement, religion had always been at the center of these conflicts, but also on both sides of the political barricades.”" • Old world religions (Islam and Christianity) see globalization less as an obstacle and more as an opportunity to expand their reach all over the world." • Religion is NOT the regressive force that stops or slows down globalization; its is a pro-active force that gives communities a new and powerful basis of identity." • Religion and globalism disagree but religions benefit from globalist products:" • Fa st , long-dista nce tr a nsport a nd communications." • Availability of English as a global vernacular." • The know-how of modern management and marketing." • Although tensions between religion and globalism still exist:" • Some Muslims think globalization is a “trojan horse.”" • The World Council of Churches thinks it is accountable to the negative impacts of economic globalization." • Pope Francis says globalization is “fatally destined to suffocate hope and increase risks and threats.”" • The Lutheran World warns that, “our world is split asunder by forces we often do not understand, but that result in stark contrasts between those who benefit and those who are harmed, especially under the forces of globalization…”" • According to Bayer and Beaman, “religion, it seems, is som ehow ‘outsid e’ looking at globalization as problem or potential.”" Media and Globalization • According to Jack Lule, the media is a means of

same stories, their perception of the world would contract." • The different media extend and amputate the sen ses - Med ia may expand the communicational reach, but it may dull the users’ communicating capacity." • e.g. The invention of the Papyrus, Egypt, 400 BCE: Before it, people exchanged stories orally, which means they had to memorize everything. But then, people realized they could just write everything down, avoiding the hassles of having to memorize everything. This, according to some philosophers, dulled the capacity to remember." • The TV was introduced back in the 1960s. And it has steered families away from the dining room to the living room to eat while watching primetime shows. TV has also drawn people away from playing games or reading books." • After McLuhan, many scholars further grappled with the challenges of global media culture. A lot of these thinkers assumed that global media had a tendency to homogenize culture." • Although it must be noted that the media are neither inherently good nor bad." • Herbert Schiller argued that not only was the world being Americanized, it has also led to the American capitalist values like Consumerism." • Consumerism - the belief that personal wellbeing and happiness depends to a very l arg e e xt e nt o n t he l ev e l o f pe r so na l consumption, particularly on the purchase of material goods. The general view of life in a consumerist society is consumption is good, and more consumption is even better." • John Tomlinson says that cultural globalization is just a euph emism for “Wester n C ultura l Imperialism” since it promotes “homogenized, Westernized, consumer culture.”" • Commentators and scholars believed that due to the globalization of media and American leadership, there would be Cultural Imperialism." • Cultural Imperialism - The imposition by one usually politically or economically dominant community of various aspects of its own culture onto another, non-dominant community. " Challenges to Cultural Imperialism • Media consumers are active participants in the meaning-making process, who view media texts through their own cultural lenses." • Ien Ang said Viewers don’t just receive American culture in a “passive and resigned way,” she noted that viewers put “a lot of emotional energy” into the process and they experienced pleasure based on how the program resonated with them. Her study was expanded further by Katz and Liebes, concluding that People from diverse cultural backgrounds had their own ways of understanding." • The Cultural Imperialism thesis has been belied by the renewed strength of regional trends in the globalization process. Thus, it is no longer tenable to insist that globalization is a unidirectional process of foreign cultures overwhelming local...