Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World

Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

Introduction to Globalization
The Unstoppable Force of Globalization
The world has undergone an enormous transformation in the last 40 years
most notably in the aspect of science and technology which play a pivotal role in
the affairs of state and non-state actors. We have seen the sudden collapsed of
walls and borders to give way to the unrestrained flow of goods, ideas, and
people across the globe. Guns and ammunitions are put into silence as computers
and microchips engendered connectivity making everyone at everywhere gets
into the global game. Science fictions of the past are now turning into a marvel of
reality science. The sense of awe we have over these marvelous inventions need
to be further decoded and regulated for they have the maximum capacity to bring
the world into disarray and anarchy. The approaching future is set into another
revolution of which not all of us are prepared to embrace it. Being fast comes at a
price. As China and the emerging market economies are going ecstatic over the
upside effect of globalization at the expense of ecology, we have been repeatedly
warned of the deteriorating state of our environment and its cathartic
consequences should it remained ignore. Climate change has already reproduced
protracted conflicts on top of sectarian, racial, and cultural rifts which blew out of
proportion in many parts of the world resulting to the death of innocent lives
indiscriminately. Despite of the upside and downside of globalization, no one can
stop it as we are living in an era where every human being lived in this planet can
possibly be connected in the virtual world and potentially capable of making a big
difference for better or for worst.
What is Globalization?
Bookstores and libraries are now awash of books with globalization theme.
The convergence of commerce, technology and human movement made this
subject matter possible. To define globalization is an arduous task since it entails
multiple factors and disciplines. Authorities and experts in global economic and
political affairs have something to say about globalization:
1. Globalization as the growing economic interdependence of countries
worldwide through increasing volume and variety of cross-border
Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

transactions in goods and services, freer international capital flows, and

more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology. – IMF
2. Globalization is the interweaving of markets, technology, information
systems and telecommunications systems in a way that is shrinking the
world from a size medium to a size small and enabling each of us to reach
around the world farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before,
and enabling the world to reach into each of us farther, faster, deeper,
cheaper than ever before. – Thomas L. Friedman, author, The Lexus and the
Olive Tree
3. Globalization can be defined as the intensification of worldwide social
relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are
shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. – Anthony
Giddens, Sociologist
4. Globalization is the process of economic integration of countries, through
the increasing flow of goods, services, capital and labor. – Joseph Stiglitz,
author, Globalization and Its Discontents

Metaphors of Globalization
1. Flow- Economic states and head of states forged an unprecedented
collaboration and cooperation by relaxing or even lifting rules that
protected their respective borders allowing the massive flow of goods,
people and ideas to come in without much delay. European Union was
then considered the most illustrative display of such cooperation on a
regional level and consequently became an ideal template for
globalization. The value of trade among countries quadrupled, jobs are
being globalized, trade barrier reduced, economic markets expand,
financial and monetary transaction integrated, and individuals became
mobile. Some of the successful multilateral agreements which expedite
the process of globalization are as follows:

a. GATT – General Agreement on Tariffs on Trade

b. APEC – Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation
c. NAFTA – North American Free Trade Agreement
d. ASEAN INTEGRATION
e. WTO- World Trade Organization
Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

Apart from the unrestricted flow of commerce and goods from one
border to another, migrants also take advantage of this opportunity. As
border wall collapsed, people from the Eastern hemisphere immediately
moved to the Western side of the world and skilled workers from the
developing world found a greener pasture in the developed world. The
Diaspora of Chinese Capitalist and the dispersal of Filipino OCW as
servants of globalization across the globe proved as good examples of
the case stated above. Due also to globalization, native culture can be
easily diffused and merged it with another local culture. McDonald and
Hollywood cinematic universe are good agents of globalized culture. The
birth of Knowledge Economy made information more democratized and
accessible. The availability of information and data over the cyberspace
choose no particular country and gave people a chance both living in the
upland or lowland a chance to participate in the dynamic world of
exchange in the cyberspace.

2. Friction – The rules they created which led to globalization somehow

resulted into friction among the major players. Initially, developing
economies were fearful of the rich countries from exploiting the hidden
agenda of globalization. Globalization was expected to have a dire
impact on local industries as protectionist measures were gradually
eased or removed from trade equations and other related agreements.
Ironically, fear about globalization is now being harbored by those states
which championed it at the earlier stage. United States of America is
accusing several big players in the global market of manipulating the
trade rules to its gross disadvantage. News regarding the possible trade
war between US and China are shaping up with inimical consequences
on both sides. Emerging conflict in the physical world among
superpower states spilled over in the virtual world. Internet which is the
least governable sphere of human activities is a new battlefield. Russian
hackers caused disruption in the American political exercise and America
is losing billions of dollars in economic value every year due to Chinese
cyber espionage. Internet has also been used as an efficient portal to
induce religious extremism and other ungodly endeavors. Recently, the
Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

US electoral exercises had been hacked by the Russians rekindling the

cold war climate between the two post powerful countries in terms of
military capacity. Hate culture against migrants is emerging in countries
believed to be tolerable in multicultural community in the past. As the
reach of free market economy expanded, globalization created
enormous wealth for the upper class (investors and business
owners/operators) putting them mile away above from the middle class
resulting to huge income inequality in many parts of the world. The
world’s eight richest billionaires control the same wealth between them
as the poorest half of the globe’s population. According to a known
analyst, if the scandalous gap between the rich and the poor will not be
narrowed, the world will not become a safer place to live at. Mass
number of people as result of their disgust with the said imbalance may
resort to bold actions and support radical policies.

3. Acceleration- Technology is indeed a great equalizer. The computing

ability of intelligent gadgets such as computer, mobile phone and among
other things are exponentially increasing due to the exponential power
of microchips frequently upgrade every after two years. This is the most
significant development in the history of the intellectualization of
human civilization after only the birth of Gutenberg’s Printing Press. The
acceleration of technology constantly sparks the engine of globalization
and globalization brought so much stress to Mother Nature. Technology
must be used as a tool of empowerment for human being without
impairing his future survival.

4. Disruption – UBER was born in 2008 with a humble beginning. Ten years
ago, it was unthinkable to think of a world with the immense comfort of
an innovative solution to frequent problems encountered by the riding
public. UBER emerged triumphant as it branched out to over 58
countries and it is currently valued at roughly $66 billion making it the
world’s biggest transportation service company without owning a single
unit of transportation vehicle. On top of UBER’s sudden meteoric rise,
giant tech companies are now exploring the future of transport industry-
a world where we will see autonomous vehicles (driverless cars) dotting
Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

the roads in the coming future. Disruptors like UBER are definitely
aiming to weaken the dominant brand and create a new market.

Example of Disruption: Netflix outperform cable subscription.

Air BNB is an alternative over reputable hotel chains. Apple is a
disruptive company. Online shopping, of which Amazon and Alibaba are
the flagship companies, is causing so much disruption in the retail
industry. Several tech companies such as Google and Tesla are exploring
the possibility of having driverless cars in the near future is another
disruption. China as economic state is a disruption to many advanced
liberal democratic industrialized countries.

5. Dislocation - A century ago, the agricultural sector was the biggest

provider of livelihood to many. Then people decided to leave their plow
and land as they went to cities since huge demand for workforce in the
growing manufacturing industry was the call of that time. With the
advent of a more advanced technology, jobs usually performed by
humans are now being automated. A society with a high rate of
unemployment as people lost their jobs due to automation is a cautious
recipe for social instability and political disorder. As a result of this,
income among middle class earners in the developed world significantly
reduced making them disgruntled and disenchanted with existing liberal
order of their societies.

6. Connectivity – For a country not to be caught dumbfounded in this

furious race for globalization, one must be connected to the
interdependent networks of global economy. There are two important
aspects that will facilitate the country’s desire to get engage in the
globalization process.

a. Hard Infrastructure (Infrastructural Capital) – these are physical

infrastructures such as roads, bridges, harbors, airports and the likes
b. Soft Infrastructure (Human and Public Administration Capital)-
climate and policies conducive to business, the intellectual and
Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

physical capacities of the workforce, the technological pipelines that

maximize the benefits of internet connectivity.

The Future of Globalization

In his book, The Future, former US Vice President and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore,
outline the Six Drivers of Changes as Globalization intensifies. They are as follows;
1. Earth Inc. - the emergence of a deeply interconnected global economy;
2. The Global Mind – the emergence of planet wide electronic
communications grid
3. Power in the Balance - the emergence of a completely new balance of
political, economic, and military power in the world;
4. Outgrowth – the emergence of rapid, unsustainable growth in a variety of
areas, including population, resource consumption, and pollution flows, to
name only a few;
5. The Reinvention of Life and Death – the emergence of a revolutionary new
set of powerful biological, biochemical, genetic, and materials science
technologies; and
6. The Edge – the emergence of a radically new relationship between human
civilization and the Earth’s ecological systems.

Contesting Ideologies Behind the Making of Globalization- The Ideas That

Conquered the World
A. Imperialism – Empires are said to have been the first driver of
globalization. Powerful country is positioned to impose her will over a
weak country usually by coercive means. As it conquered one territory
to the other, the ideology of oneness is enhanced. There are several
reasons why a dominant country is often lured into territorial
expansionism. First, it badly needs the raw materials from faraway
places of which she is lacking at to propel the industrialization scheme.
Second, she needs to install military presence in the four corners of the
globe to keep her rivals away from dominating the encompassing body
of waters of which her survival as an empire entirely dependent on it-
Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

she who controls the sea controls the world. And third, empires are not
solely land grabbers for sometimes they anointed themselves as
redeemers of humanity. United States and United Kingdoms shared the
same mission of purifying human civilization from backwardness,
ignorance, and uncivilized rituals.

B. Liberalism and Capitalism – Liberal Democracy and Capitalism are very

much compatible to one another. According to several experts in the
international political economy, they are the twin pillars of modern day
prosperity. Liberalism is out to create an atmosphere where anybody
can think anything provided it is not harmful to social order. While
capitalism is inducing anyone to think anything innovatively and convert
it into a tool of commerce to reap profit with no ceiling. Liberal societies
in world history often became the cradle of technological and industrial
revolutions in which the march of capitalism got intensified and as an
effect reproduced in many parts of the world. Liberal democracy exists
when citizens in theory are treated equal under the law and their basic
rights are inviolably protected. Capitalism is an economic system in
which the means of production or services are privately owned and
mainly operated for profit. Thus, liberal democracy and capitalism thrive
in a social condition where the dictate of individualist well-being is
usually upheld.

C. Socialism – Capitalism enrich the few and weaken the populace. So

much profit yet so much exploitation. Socialist icons like Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels believe that history is mainly operated on the premise
that there is indefinite tug of war between those who have and those
who have nothing. Men exploited his fellow men in the name of profit
and endless intimacy to power and influence. Such dismal tale shall
continue to perpetuate unless the status quo be reversed. Peasants and
workers rose to the situation and claimed the mantle of power from
traditional rulers who lorded the Earth for so long. The call to social and
political revolution trans-continentally unfolded in a domino effect.
Revolutionaries turned into prophets overnight as they envisioned a
workers’ paradise under the watch of a monolithic communist party.
Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

USSR (now Russia) and China became the foremost vanguards of the
Socialist World Order. Later, people who were lured to join the
revolutionary movements which swept across the globe trapped again in
the hand of another exploitative regimes disguised as their saviors and
messiahs for being sons and daughters of the soil. North Korea best
depict such narrative. Socialism ensures that the wealth of society
should be fairly distributed among people. Under socialism, means of
production are typically owned by the states. The government is both
considered the political and economic architect which strongly
discourage in a capitalist set up. Social inequality and social injustice are
something that are supposedly alien in the vocabulary of Socialism.
Scandinavian countries- Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and
Iceland- are true to this ideologue. People under these societies are
enjoying the generous patronage of their welfare states. Their citizens
need not to worry about their health, education and social safety nets
since those are covered by states fundamental provisions.

D. Nazism – God did not create men equal before his eyes. Some are
actually created to inherit his omniscient power on earth. And sorry to
say some are meant to become helpless in surviving the tumultuous
cycle of human civilization thereby they must simply perish. Adolf Hitler,
master of the Germany’s Third Reich, imbued this belief as his
Fatherland got humiliated and reduced into powerless empire in the
aftermath of World War I. To reinstall his country towards road to
greatness again, Hitler engineered a strong state of which the full reach
of its power shall be used to weed out the weak, the undesirable and
those who conspired the downfall of his country so that the ultimate
end to a perfect global society shall be achieved by whatever means.
Fascist and Nazis are not tolerant of accepting the creation of
harmonious society in a multi-cultural basis.

Theories of Globalization
Globalization is made possible due to the exchange of goods, money, ideas,
and culture with the advancement of transportation and communication
Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

technology. But the origin of trade is considered as old as human civilization.

Known merchants and traders in the early phase of human history established
trade routes that linked one region to the other. The Chinese had Silk Road which
served as a commercial and cultural bridge between the east and west. The
spread of Islam and Christianity in many parts of world was partly driven by
commercial interest. There are many theories which explained the growth of
globalization.
1. World Systems Theory – the world is divided into three main regions: core,
periphery and semi-periphery. Core countries such as from US and Western
Europe have usually stable government and diversified economy. Periphery
countries are those from Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia with weak
political and economic institutions and primarily dependent on extraction
of natural resources. Semi periphery are countries in between core and
periphery states with relatively diversified economy. Brazil and India are
typical types of semi-periphery states.

2. Modernization Theory – this theory proposes that most societies have

followed pattern of growth which is from traditional to modernized way of
life. This can possibly take place depending on the ability of the county to
adopt technology and establish political and economic institutions which
promote economic growth. The book “Why Nation Fails” states that there
are two kinds of institutions which either promote or deter economic
growth; Inclusive and extractive institutions

3. Dependency Theory- Third world countries are believed to have lacking of

mature economic and political institutions usually seen in industrialized
societies and thus will have less chance of experiencing economic
acceleration. They are usually rich in natural resources and solely
dependent on these resources to be exported in rich countries.

Why Most Nations Are Poor and Few are Rich? There are several ways in
measuring the economic well being of a particular country. Calculating the GDP is
most traditional of them all. Alternative to it, Human Development Index (HDI),
introduced in the 1990, was created to emphasize that people and their
Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a

country, not economic growth alone. HDI summarized the key dimensions of
human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a
decent standard of living. Another radical measurement is the Gross National
Happiness (GNH) which was introduced by Bhutan. GNH gives importance to
collective happiness as the goal of governance by reconciling harmony with
nature and traditional values. The four pillars of GNH's are 1)
sustainable and equitable socio-economic development; 2) environmental
conservation; 3) preservation and promotion of culture; and 4) good governance.
Although globalization created two waves of economic transformation uplifting
hundreds of millions of people in the developing world from absolute poverty
most particularly in China and India, a sizeable number of countries remain
economically maldeveloped with particular reference to Sub Sahara African
States. Geography and Culture are not the only factors which can best explained
as to why these countries remain impoverished. The role of politics (Institutional
Factor) plays dominant role having these countries stuck in the poverty trap for so
many years. If political institutions are organized as extractive and concentrated in
the hands of a narrow elite, then economic institutions will only serve the
purpose of the ruling elites extracting the maximum wealth for themselves. If
they are organized as inclusive, power being dispersed among the many rather
than concentrated among the few, then this institutional environment will create
incentives of inclusive economic institutions, where innovation and creative
destruction will ensure the creation of sustainable economic growth and
development. Becoming a rich nation necessitates the overthrow of the ruling
elites and the distribution of power and political rights evenly within a society.
The government has to become accountable and responsive to its people, who
can then use this security and stability to advance on the economic opportunities
available to them. The institutionalization of political dynasty in the Philippines is
a glaring example of an extractive politics/institution. The excellent education
system in Finland making no child left behind is an epitome of an inclusive
politics/institution.
Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

Name: ____________________________ Professor:______________

Yr/Sec:____________________________

Exercise A: Forecast/Predict the trajectory of globalization using the

following indicators. Explain it in bullet point presentation.

1. The Future of Bioengineering

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2. The Future of Energy

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____________________________________

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3. The Future of Social Media

___________________________________

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Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

4. The Future of USA and China

__________________________________
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___________________________________

5. The Future of Food

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6. The Future of City

___________________________________

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Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

Exercise B: Read the statement carefully and write the letter of the
correct answer on the space before each number.

____ 1. Globalization represents an increasing integration of all of the

following except
a. Economics b. Culture c. Morality d. Communications
____ 2. Advances in what have rapidly expanded the speed with which
merchandise, money, people, information and ideas move over long
distances?
a. Politics b. Technology c. Legal System d. Education
____ 3. Globalization could not exist without
a. Increased Trade c. Common Religion
b. Global Transportation d. Common Currency
____ 4. The flow of goods and services across national borders, with
little or no government control is known as
a. Free Trade b. Buy and Sell c. Black Market d. Barter
____ 5. Which of the following do not facilitate globalization?
a. Improvements in communication
b. Barriers to trade and investment
c. Relaxing immigration controls
d. Removal of controls on movement of capital across borders
____ 6. Which of the following is a driver of globalization?
a. Restriction on Foreign Investment c. Technological Advancement
b. Weak Competition d. Economic exploitation

____ 7. In Business, the internet facilitates globalization by

a. Making it more difficult to contact potential customers abroad
b. Cutting the cost for firms of communicating across borders
c. Making it harder to send money from one country to another
Flow and Friction in the Era of Global Convergence: A Survey of Contemporary World
Professor Mark Lino C. Decena

d. Making it easier for governments to censor the information received

by citizens abroad
____ 8. Act of restraining trade between states through methods such
as tariffs on imported goods is known as
a. Globalization c. Embargo
b. Protectionism d. Foreign Direct Investment
____ 9. What are the criticisms made to globalization?
a. Environmental destruction c. Threats to national sovereignty
b. Growing Inequality d. All of the above
____ 10. Globalization is process that happens all over the world. Choose
the most globalized group of countries;
a. Lithuania, Kenya, Madagascar
b. Singapore, USA, UAE
c. Cuba, Costa Rica, Switzerland
d. North Korea, China, Vietnam