THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD REVIEWER

Chapter 1 What is Globalization

Globalization
- Primarily viewed as economic process
- Usually refers to the integration of the national markets to a wider global market signified by
the increased free trade
- Described by Manfred Steger as the expansion and intensification of social relations and
consciousness across world time and across world space
- Globalization processes do not occur merely at an objective, material level but they also involve
the subjective plane of human consciousness
- Scholars do not necessarily disagree with people who criticize unfair international trade deals

Expansion – refers to both the creation of social of new social networks and multiplication of existing
connections that cut across traditional political, economic, cultural, and geographic boundaries.
Intensification – refers to the expansion, stretching, and acceleration of international networks
- Shanghai steadily returned to its role as a major trading post
Globalism – widespread belief among powerful people that the global integration of economic markets
is beneficial for everyone, since it spreads freedom and democracy across the world
- Arjun Apparudai said different kinds of globalization occurs on multiple and intersecting
dimensions and integrations called scapes
Scape – intersecting dimensions of integration
Ethnoscape – global movement of people
Mediascape – flow of culture
Technoscape – circulation of mechanical goods and software
Financescape – global circulation of money
Idioscape – political ideas move around

Chapter 2 The Globalization of World Economics

IMF (International Monetary Fund)

- regards economic globalization as a historical process representing the results of human
innovation and technological process
- According to them, the value of trades (goods and services) as a percentage of world GDP
increased from 42.1 % in 1980 to 62.1% in 2007
- Increased trade also means that the investments are moving all around the world faster

UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)

- The amount of foreign direct investments flowing across the world was 57 billion dollars in 1982
- In 2015 the number was 1.76 trillion dollars

International Trading Systems

- Oldest known international trade route is Silk Road which spanned from China to Middle East to
Europe
- It was called as silk road due to the most profitable product in this network is silk
 - Although silk road was international, it wasn’t truly global because it had no ocean routes that
could reach the American continent
- Traders used silk road regularly from 130 BCE (Chinese Han Dynasty until 1453 BCE when
Ottoman Empire)

Bretton Woods System

- Used after two world wars
- Inaugurated in 1944 during the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference to prevent
catastrophes of the early decades of the century from reoccuring
- Largely influenced by the ideas of the British economist John Meynard Keynes
- Keynes believed that economic crises occur not when a country does not have enough money,
but when money is not being spent and, thereby not moving
Global Keynesianism
- The government should have an active role in managing the economy of the country.
IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development)
- Responsible for funding postwar reconstruction projects.
- First institution.
IMF
- Second institution
- Global lender of last resort to prevent individual countries from spiraling into credit crises.
GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)
- Various countries committed to this after Bretton Woods System
- Main purpose was to reduce tariffs and other hindrances to free trade

Neoliberalism
- Focuses on free trade and the notion that the government shouldn’t interfere with the workings
of economy
- Focuses on privatization of various sectors such as water, transportation, and electricity
Transition from Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
- Started in the early 1970s when OAPEC (Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries)
issued an oil embargo to America
- End of Bretton Woods System and reliance to gold as money standard crippled America’s
Economy
- Milton Friedman and Friedrich proposed neoliberalism
- The Washington Consensus adopted the ideology of neoliberalism
Main Proponents of Neoliberalism
- Margaret Thatcher: Prime Minister of United Kingdom
- Ronald Reagan: President of United States
Problems with Neoliberalism
- In Post Communist Russia, neoliberalism was suggested to implement in Russia
- Privatization was done in Russia but only the elite members of the society during the communist
era were able to participate in the free market thus what happened was oligarchy
- 2007-2008 Financial Crisis dealt a huge blow to the world economy; worst economic crisis since
the Great Depression
Economic Globalization
- Global financial crisis will take decades to resolve
- The United States, Japan, and member countries of EU were responsible for 65% of global
exports while developing countries only accounted for 29%
 - By 2011, developing countries like PH, India, China, Argentina, Brazil accounted for 51% of global
exports
- According to IMF, the GDP rose over five fold in the 2nd half of the 20th century and it was this
growth that created large Asian economies like Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore
- Developed countries are often protectionists eg: Japan protecting its rice while USA protecting
its sugar industry

Chapter 3 A History of Global Politics: Creating an International Order

Attributes of Today’s Global System

1. Countries/States are independent and govern themselves.
2. Countries interact w/ each other through diplomacy.
3. International orgs (U.N.), facilitate these interactions.
4. International orgs also take on lives of their own.

WHO – World Health Organization

ILO – International Labour Organization

Christendom
-People see themselves as members of larger political categories like “Christendom” (the entire
christian world)

“Not all states are nations and not all nations are states”
E.g. Scotland has own flag and culture but belongs in a state w/c is U.K.

State
-Refers to a country and its gov’t
-4 attributes: *exercises authority over a specific population, called its citizens
* governs a specific territory
* state has a structure of gov’t that craft various rules that people follow
* state has sovereignty over its territory
Sovereignty
-refers to internal and external authority.
-internally, no indiv/grps can operate in a given national territory by ignoring the state
-groups, orgs, churches, corporations have to follow the laws of the state
-externally, sovereignty means that a state’s policies & procedures are independent of
interventions of other states

Nation
-Accdg to Benedict Anderson, it is an “imagined community”
-It is limited bc it does not go beyond a given “official boundary”
-Rights and responsibilities are mainly the privilege and concern of the citizens of that nation
-being limited means that the nation has its boundaries
-(In citizenship conversion) Nations limit themselves to people who have imbibed a particular
culture, speak a common language, and live in a specific territory
-“imagined” doesn’t mean that the nation is made up
 -nation allows one to feel a connection w/a community of people even they will never meet all
of them in his/her lifetime.
-nation-builders can only feel a sense of fulfillment when that nat’l ideal assumes an
organizational form whose authority&power are recognized and accepted by “the people”
-if there are communities that are not states, they often seek some form of autonomy w/in their
“mother states”
Ex. Canada- has diff. Laws about language
Scotland- though part of the UK, has a strong independence movement (Scottish nationalist
Party)
-nation and state are closely related because it is nationalism that facilitate nation formation.
-nationalist movement- allowed the creation of nation state.
-states become independent and sovereign because of nationalist
sentiment.
-sovereignty- fundamental principle of modern state politics.

The Interstate System

-traced back to the Treaty of Westphalia(1648)- 30 year war agreement between the major continental
powers of Europe. (Catholic VS Protestants).
-Holy roman empire, Spain, France, Sweden and Dutch Republic- design sys. That averts war in the
future.(complete control over their domestic affairs and swear not to meddle in each other’s affairs, also
called the Westphalian Sys.)
-WS is challenged by Napoleon Bonaparte. *Bonaparte believe in the principles of French Revolution,
liberty, equality, and fraternity (rest of Europe and thus challenged the power of kings, nobility and
religion in Europe)
-In every country they conquered, french implemented the Napoleonic Code.
-Napoleonic code forbade the birth privileges, encouraged freedom or religion and promoted
meritocracy in government service. –( This system shocked the the monarchies and the hereditary elites
(dukes, duchnesses, etc) of Europe and they mustered their armies to push back against the French
Emperor.)
-Anglo and Prussian armies finally defeated Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo in 1815 ending the the
later’s mission to spread his liberal code across Europe.
-The royal powers created a new system that, in effect, restored the Westphalian system to prevent
another war and to keep their systems of privilege
-The Concert of Europe- was an alliance of “great powers” (the UK, Austria, Russia and Prussia) that
sought to restore the world of monarchial, hereditary and religious privileges of the time before the
French Revolution and the Napoleonic war. It was an alliance that sought to restore the sovereignty of
states.
-“Metternich System”- named after the Austrian diplomat, Klemens von Metternich, who was the
system’s main architect
-The “Concert’s Power and authority” lasted from 1815 to 1914, at the dawn of World War 1
-States are considered sovereign and Napoleonic attempts to violently impose systems of government in
other countries are frowned upon.
-For ex, the most powerful grouping in the UN, the security council has a core of five permanent
members, all having veto powers over the council’s decision-making process

Internationalism
-The Westphalian and Concert systems divided the world into separate, sovereign entities.
-Since the existence of this interstate system, there have been attempts to transcend it.
-has 2 forms: liberal internationalism snd socialist internationalism.
-First thinker is german philosopher Immanuel Kant in the 18th century.
Internalization Type equation here.