LESSON 5 : A WORLD OF REGIONS
life such that when he/she dies, he/she is assured of a
Regionalism is often seen as a political and economic phenomenon,
REGIONALISM is a process, and must be treated as an “ emergent,
socially constituted phenonmenon”. it means that regions are not
natural or given, rather, they are constructed and defined by
policymakers, economic actors, and even social movement.
COUNTRIES, REGIONS, AND GLOBALIZATION
- Edward D. Mansfield and Helen V. Milner state that
economic and political definition of REGIONS vary.
Basic Features of Regions
1. Regions are “a group of countries located in the same
geographically specified area” or are “an amalgation of
two regions or a combination of more than two regions”
organized to regulate and oversee flows and policy
choices.
2. the words regionalization and regionalism should not be
interchanged, as the former refers to the “Regional
concentration of economic flows” while the latter is “a
political process characterized by economic policy
cooperation and coordination among countries.”
Countries Form Regional Associations for Several Reasons
1. for military defense
2. to pool their resources, get better returns for their
exports, as well as expand their leverage against trading
partners.
3. to protect their independence from the pressures of
superpower politics.
4. economic crisis compels countries to come together.
NON – STATE REGIONALISM
It is not only states that agree to work together in the
name of single cause. communities also engage in regional
organizing. this “New Regionalism” varies in form. they can be “tiny
Associations that include no more than a few actors and focus on a
single issue, or huge continental unions that address a multitude of
common problems from territorial defense to food security.
Organizations representing this “New Regionalism” likewise rely on
the power of individuals, Non – Governmental Organizations
(NGO’s), and association to link up with one another in pursuit of a
particular goal.
LESSON 6 : THE GLOBALIZATION OF REGION
Religion, much more than culture, has the most difficult relationship
with globalism.
- the two are entirely contrasting belief systems. Religion is
concerned with the sacred, while globalism places value
on material wealth.
- religion follows divine commandments, while globalism
abides by human – made laws.
- religions assumes that there is the possibility of
communication between the humans and the
transcendent.
- this link between the human and the divine confers some
social power on the later
- “God”, allah, or Yahweh defines and judges human action
in moral terms
- Globalism”s yardstick, is how much of human action can
lead to the highest material satisfaction and subsequent
wisdom that this new status produces.
- Religious people are less concerned with wealth and all
that comes along with it.
- a religious person’s main duty is to live a vituous, sin – less
place in the other world.
- globalists are less worried about whether they will end up
in heaven or hell. their skills are more pedestrian as they
aim to seal trade deals, raise the profits of private
enterprises, improve government revenue collections,
protect the elites from being excessively taxed by the state
and naturally enrched themselves.
- if he/she has a strong social conscience,the globalist sees
his/her works as contributing to the general progress of
the community, the nation, and the global economic
system.
- the religious aspires to become a saint; the globalist trains
to be a shrewd business person.
- the religious detests politics and the quest for power for
they are evidence of humanity’s weakness; the globalist
values them as both means and ends to open up further
the economies of the world.
- religion and globalism clash over the fact that religious
evangelization is in itself a form of globalization.
- the globalist ideal is largely focused on the realm of
markets, the religius is concerned with spreading holy
ideas globally, while the globalist wishes to spread goods
and services.
REALITIES
Peter Berger argues that far from being secularized, the
contemporary world is furiously religious. in most of the world,
there are variable explosions of religious fervor, occuring in one
form of another in all the major religious traditions.
Religion is the foundation of the modern republic.
RELIGION FOR AND AGAINST GLOBALIZATION
there is hardly a religious movement today does not use
religion to oppose “profane” globalization. yet, two of them so
called”old world religions” – Christianity and Islam - globalization
less as an obstacle and more as an opportunity to expand their reach
all over the world.
Globalization has freed communities from the constraint
of the nation – state, but in process, also threatened to destroy the
cultural system that bind them together.
Religion seek to take the place of these broken “traditional
ties” to either help communities cope with their new situation or
organize them to oppose this major tranformation of their lives. it
can provide the groups moral codes that answer problem ranging
from people’s health to social conflict to even personal happiness.
religion is thus not the aggressive force that stops pr slows
down globalization; it is a pro active force that gives communities a
new and powerful basis of identity.