The discussion of the imaginary yet highly social, political, economic, and cultural

divide between the ‘global north’ and the ‘global south’ presents complex and
intersecting processes of economics, power relations and dominations, and
developmental thrusts. Although the global south is presented as standing in the losing
side of very Western and First World oriented economic globalization policies and
practices, it still signifies that the countries associated with this label continue to be
globalized. Reiterating Claudio’s (2014) notes on challenging and diminishing global
and/or interstate inequalities, “global institutions have yet to prove that ‘they can
diminish international inequalities’, while ‘nation-states… are in a position to diminish
regional or group inequalities to some extent” (p. 853). Global inequality is a social
construct which makes it viable for deconstruction and therefore, change.

TOPIC 2: ASIAN REGIONALISM

Another way of looking at the world apart from distinctions of ‘global north’ and
‘global south’—these are social constructs connoting the unevenness and inequality
inherent with globalization which produces winners and losers in social, political, and
economic senses—is through the idea of regions. Take the Philippines, for example. Our
country’s archipelagic nature has formed a sense of local regionalism where close-knit
provinces are grouped within a region. The Philippines has seventeen (17) regions.
Although separated by regions, the sense of nationalism of Filipino citizens remains true
as to recognize oneself as a part of a nation-state.

Regions in the Philippines. Image from https://www.philatlas.com/images/regions-light.png

The regionalism in the Philippines is different from the regionalism that will be
discussed for this topic. The lens to look at the phenomenon of regionalism shifts from
the Philippines and extends to its neighboring countries. This poses the questions, “how
did the Philippines come to identify itself with the Southeast Asian region? Why is it a
part of a regional grouping known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)?”
(Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 50). The answer to these questions lies at the very nature of
regionalism.

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 ASEAN region map. Image from https://assets.weforum.org/editor/BJWwsWYHgg5DIHZFkW8HxsmFOpbXPz_e2J6-JNcffTM.png

FEATURES OF REGIONALISM (Claudio & Abinales, 2018)

• The concept encompasses a broader area, although often seen as a political and
economic phenomenon.
• Regionalism, as a phenomenon, can be examined in relation to social structures such
as identities, ethics, religion, ecological sustainability, and health among others.
• A process that must be treated as an “emergent, socially constituted phenomenon”
➔ It means that regions are not natural or given (not established since the beginning
of time), instead, they are constructed and defined by policymakers, economic
actors, civil society, and even social movements.
Just like the idea that the world is divided between ‘global north’ and ‘global south’, the
concept of regionalism is a social construct—people have created it to establish a sense
of organization and membership among social, political, and economic actors (particularly
nation-states) that have a relationship to one another and use this relationship to identify
and achieve goals rooted in a sense of solidarity and identification to each other’s needs.
Because the idea of regions is socially constructed and defined by certain actors, they are
open to deconstruction, changes, and/or reformulations.
• Conceptualizing the region (Mansfield & Milner, 1999; Claudio & Abinales, 2018).
1. Regions are “a group of countries located in the same 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”.
2. A region’s implication moves beyond the proximity of constituent states. Apart
from this proximity, “members of a common region also share cultural, economic,
linguistic, or political ties”. E.g. the languages spoken in Southeast Asia are
branches of the Malayo-Polynesian languages; Asian countries share a collective
social structure, different from the individualistic stance of Western countries.
3. Regionalization and regionalism should not be interchanged.
Regionalization – regional concentration of economic flows; the growing intensity
of interaction and cooperation between neighboring countries
Regionalism – a political process characterized by economic policy cooperation
and coordination among countries; pertains more on intergovernmental
collaborations
• Several reasons for forming regional alliances:
a. Military defense e.g. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
b. Trading partners – countries can pool their resources, get better returns for their
exports, and expand their leverage in the trading arena. e.g. Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

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 c. Protect independence from pressures of superpower politics e.g. Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM) which is an organization of countries that refuse to align with
the Western superpowers
d. Economic crisis compels countries to come together e.g. regional organizations
can establish an emergency fund that can be utilized by their constituent states
struck by the economic crisis to stabilize their economy and not affect the other
economies.
REGIONALISM vis-à-vis GLOBALIZATION: THE CASE OF ASIA PACIFIC AND SOUTH ASIA
In his article, Globalization and the Asia Pacific and South Asia, Ehito Kimura (2014)
presented three (3) frameworks by which we can understand the relationship between
globalization and the regions in the Asia Pacific and South Asia. These frameworks show
how globalization is related to regionalism, yet regionalism can be a reaction against
globalization as well. In his words, the “various lenses through which to explore the
relationship between globalization and the region of [the] Asia Pacific and South Asia…
shows how globalization is a complex process where regional dynamics must be
understood as both a cause and a consequence” (Kimura, 2014: 843). Kimura explained
his frameworks further by citing economic, political, and cultural instances that happened
in the Asia Pacific and South Asia regions throughout history.
Let us be reminded of the definitions of globalization, regionalism, and region:
Globalization – worldwide integration along economic, political, social, and cultural lines
Regionalism – a political process characterized by economic policy cooperation and
coordination among countries; pertains more on intergovernmental collaborations
Region – a group of countries located in the same 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
The three (3) frameworks for understanding the relationship between globalization and
the regions of the Asia Pacific and South Asia are (Kimura, 2014):

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 Illustration of the Asia Pacific and South Asia region. Image from https://media.corporate-
ir.net/media_files/nys/im/presentations/koppen/img009.gif

FRAMEWORK DESCRIPTIONS
The region has • Globalization transforms the region of the Asia Pacific and
been affected by South Asia
globalization • The duality of the effects of globalization on the region:
a. A positive force for bringing economic development,
(externalist political progress, and social and cultural diversity.
view) b. A negative force with the role it plays in economic
underdevelopment and the uprooting of local tradition and
culture.
• MANIFESTATIONS THROUGHOUT THE REGION’S HISTORY:
- The “Western arrival” to the region through colonialism
(beginning from the 1500s) brought enormous changes.
Through colonial rule in the Asia Pacific and South Asia
countries, Europeans brought new economic practices,
religious beliefs, cultural values, and political structures
that affected and changed the region drastically.
- The consequences of Western influence. E.g. pressures
from Western superpowers have made Japan take
subsequent political and economic transformation turning
Japan into a regional and eventually world power.
- Movements for nationalism and independence emerged
in many parts of the world, the Asia Pacific and South Asia
regions included. These movements are products of an
increasingly globalized world. Benedict Anderson (2007)
highlighted that idea of nationalism became modular and
spread to other parts of the globe.
- Post-World War II economic developments and the rise of
financial investments through the role of International
Financial Institutions (IFIs) like World Bank and
International Monetary Fund (the cornerstones of
economic liberalization and globalization in the post-war
global economy). I.e. East Asian countries like Japan, Korea,
and Taiwan drew their economic developments through
economic policies they saw as an increasingly globalized
economic system. IFIs turned their attention to developing
countries in Southeast Asia.

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 - The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 which had the Thai
economy at its core and affected most of Asia was seen as
a result of a failed globalization and the limits of deep
impact globalization in economies in the region.
- Other regional effects of economic globalization and
liberalization include the changes in labor practices and the
rise of non-standard employment (i.e. temporary and part-
time employment). In this type of employment, workers
are not consignees of legal contracts and are subject to
poor working conditions.
- Politics has been a defining characteristic of globalization
as well. The region of the Asia Pacific and South Asia has
witnessed the fall of authoritarian regimes and the rise of
democratic governments. This shift in politics has been
attributed to factors such as the rising middle classes and a
more globally interconnected world.
- The effects of globalization on culture. The idea that
globalization is a form of Westernization, that globalization
is leading to cultural homogenization and the loss of
cultural diversity. This is seen in the changing diet of Asians
(preference for fast food and supermarket produced
goods), changing tastes in music, clothing, television, and
film. This point argues that Western cultural trends have
spread globally and increasingly marginalized how cultural
practices are expressed.
• This framework forwards the idea that the relationship
between globalization and the region is largely a “one-way
process”—outside forces have brought fundamental and far-
reaching changes to the region.
The region is an • This framework forwards the idea that the region is more of an
active agent autonomous agent serving as an engine for globalization.
pushing the • This view shows the important ways in which the region is also
influencing and transforming the nature of globalization itself.
process of
• MANIFESTATIONS THROUGHOUT THE REGION’S HISTORY:
globalization - The presence of the spice trade route suggests the idea that
forward early modern-day history Asia has led the global economy
and fell behind from the 18th-century. I.e. before Europe
circumnavigated the world, spices were already making
their way to various parts of the globe and the European
were interested in cutting out the middleman.
- Asia, not the West, was the central global force in the early
modern world economy (because of the important trade
routes located in the region and the advancements in
science and medicine). The rise of Europe in the 18th-
century came only after the colonial powers extracted
silver from the colonies and pried their way into the Asian
markets.
- Colonies in the Asia Pacific and South Asia influenced the
West as much as the West influenced the region. E.g.
practices and technologies such as counterinsurgency,
surveillance, and torture were developed and perfected in
the colonial Philippines before making their way back to
America.

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 - Cases to dispute the claim that the Asia Pacific and South
Asian countries are at the receiving end of globalization:
Japanese development in the 1950s-1970s shaped and
globalized key parts of the world economy. China’s impact
on the availability and consumption of goods around the
globe.
- Countries in the region like India and China become a major
source of international migrant labor—one of the
fundamental characteristics of globalization. I.e.
remittance from migrants has become a core source of
income for many if the region’s economies. The region is
both the source and recipient of the influences of the
massive globalization of migration.
- The rise of regional free trade arrangements (regionalism)
in the Asia Pacific and South Asia. This regionalism (as
compatible and even pushing forward the process of global
economic integration) can promote regional cooperation
to global cooperation. E.g. open regionalism embodied by
the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
- A broad area of culture and globalization in the region. The
region is the source of a wide variety of cultural
phenomena that have also spread outward to the West and
the rest of the world. E.g. Japan’s Hello Kitty and Anime,
Korea’s K-drama and K-pop, Chinese kung-fu movies, and
India’s Bollywood films.
• In contradiction to the first framework, this framework views
globalization as not working in a one-way street description,
the region is generative of many aspects of the globalization
process.
The region can • The last framework focuses on viewing regionalism as an
be understood as alternative to globalization.
posing an • This perspective sees the region as a source of resistance to
globalization or global or Western powers.
alternative to
• MANIFESTATIONS THROUGHOUT THE REGION’S HISTORY:
globalization - Japan’s colonization of the Asian region and the creation of
the East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere is viewed as a push
back against Western imperialism. E.g. propaganda
centered on the idea of “Asia for Asiatics” and the need to
“liberate” the region from Europe.
- The conceptualization of the Asian values of leaders in the
region argued that Asia has culturally distinct
characteristics that make it different from Western liberal
democracies. Proponents of the Asian value describe
Asians as respectful of authority, hardworking, thrifty, and
emphasizes the community rather than individuality is
antithetical to Western concepts such as individual rights,
political liberalism, and democracy.
- Regional arrangements provide another way that region
serves as an alternative to globalization. I.e. there are other
institutions proposed or implemented at the regional level
that are more exclusive and self-consciously ‘Asian’ such as
the East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC), the proposed Asian
Monetary Fund (AMF).

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 - A more subversive articulation of regionalism as an
alternative to globalization is the emergence of regional
terror networks. E.g. Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), main operation
in Indonesia with links in Malaysia, the Philippines, and
Thailand.
- Disengagement from globalization through various local
movements. E.g. community currency in the village of Santi
Suk in Thailand, local associations, self-sufficiency groups,
cooperative, and local production movements.

Kimura (2014) notes that these frameworks are not definitive, yet they already
offer rich analyses through historical and contemporary accounts on the ways by which
we can see the relationship between globalization and the region of the Asia Pacific and
South Asia.
In connection with Kimura’s (2014) postulations on the relationship between
globalization and regions, the Asian Development Bank (2008) has enumerated several
points regarding the benefits Asia gain from regionalism and the benefits the world gain
from Asian regionalism to answer the question of why Asian regionalism?
BENEFITS OF ASIA FROM REGIONALISM (ADB, 2008: 13)
1. link the competitive strengths of its diverse economies in order to boost their
productivity and sustain the region’s exceptional growth;
2. connect the region’s capital markets to enhance financial stability, reduce the cost
of capital, and improve opportunities for sharing risks;
3. cooperate in setting exchange rate and macroeconomic policies to minimize the
effects of global and regional shocks and to facilitate the resolution of global
imbalances;
4. pool the region’s foreign exchange reserves to make more resources available for
investment and development;
5. exercise leadership in global decision making to sustain the open global trade and
financial systems that have supported a half-century of unparalleled economic
development;
6. build connected infrastructure and collaborate on inclusive development to
reduce inequalities within and across economies and thus to strengthen support
for pro-growth policies; and
7. create regional mechanisms to manage cross-border health, safety, and
environmental issues better.
BENEFITS THE WORLD GAIN FROM ASIAN REGIONALISM (ADB, 2008: 14)
1. generate productivity gains, new ideas, and competition that boost economic
growth and raise incomes across the world;
2. contribute to the efficiency and stability of global financial markets by making
Asian capital markets stronger and safer, and by maximizing the productive use of
Asian savings;
3. diversify sources of global demand, helping to stabilize the world economy and
diminish the risks posed by global imbalances and downturns in other major
economies;
4. provide leadership to help sustain open global trade and financial systems; and
5. create regional mechanisms to manage health, safety, and environmental issues
better, and thus contribute to more effective global solutions to these problems.

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 In summary, regionalism comes as a different phenomenon from globalization yet
it is still highly related to the latter. Both processes are engaged in a complex flux,
continually affecting one another in a two-way connection. Asian regionalism has its
sense of identity and autonomy, as member-states work towards a common goal/s,
participate in regional economy building, and maintain a sense of interstate
community.
The discussions on seeing the world in divides and regions do not aim to
perpetuate a sense of division but a sense of distinction on how globalization as a
multidimensional and uneven phenomenon creates and perpetuates inequality on
one hand, and promote solidarity and community among interstates that are
continually being shaped by globalization and regionalism.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
More on Asian regionalism:
• ASEAN explained in 5 minutes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAnfj8v5acM)
• Benefits and Opportunities of Regional Cooperation in South Asia
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpKwv4qtrZ8)
• What is ASEAN? | CNBC Explains (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDTdXDDzJ1k)
• What Is ASEAN And Why Is It Important For Southeast Asia?
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FIl3bxwLdw)

TASK/ACTIVITY

CROSSWORD PUZZLE OF CONCEPTS

Complete the crossword puzzle of concepts related to the discussions of Global Divides
and Asian Regionalism.

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DOWN
1. economic development is conceptualized in a linear process
7. for the reason that globalization is uneven, it produces and perpetuates a sense of…
11. the regional group in which the Philippines is a part of

ACROSS
2. the bases of the gap between the Global North and the Global South
3. a political process characterized by economic policy cooperation and coordination among
countries
4. an economic framework which leans more on free-market capitalism
5. regional concentration of economic flows; the growing intensity of interaction and cooperation
between neighboring countries
6. the geographical split of 1980s
8. the symbolic designation meant to capture the semblance of cohesion that emerged when
former colonial entities engaged in political projects of decolonization and moved toward the
realization of a postcolonial international order
9. a group of countries located in the same 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
10. the 3 frameworks Kimura (2014) forwarded underscores the relationship of regionalism with...

ASSESSMENT

STATE PROFILING
Select a country, do research, and describe the following aspects:
1. The country’s economic policies
2. The country’s foreign and/or diplomatic policies
3. Membership of the country to international organizations (IO)
4. Determine if the country you have choses is part of the global north or
the global south
5. The country’s condition under globalization and regionalism

Discuss each aspect in depth by providing substantive information and/or data.

Don’t forget to cite your sources, use APA citation style.
Do not copy-paste from the internet. You can read references (like articles
and researches) but make sure to write your own profiling. Refer to the rubrics
below, this is how I will grade your output.
The worksheet is on the next page. You can use another sheet of paper if the
space will not suffice.

ASSESSMENT RUBRICS:
Format: 15%
Citation and ethical integrity: 20%
Integration, organization, and elaboration of data, information, and points: 50%
Writing technicalities (narrative, grammar): 15%

35
TCW WORKSHEET NO. 3 – STATE PROFILING
County:

The country’s economic policies:

The country’s foreign and/or diplomatic policies:

Membership of the country to international organizations (IO):

Determine if the country you have choses is part of the global north or the global south, provide discussion about their
condition:

The country’s condition under globalization and regionalism:

36