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Lesson 7 The Asian Integration

This lesson examines Asian regionalism and how Asian countries address challenges of globalization. It will define regionalization versus globalization, identify factors driving Asian integration like economic cooperation organizations, and analyze how Asian states confront issues of globalization, regionalization, and COVID-19. The lesson concludes with students reflecting on these topics personally.

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Aaron Manuel Munar
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334 views

Lesson 7 The Asian Integration

This lesson examines Asian regionalism and how Asian countries address challenges of globalization. It will define regionalization versus globalization, identify factors driving Asian integration like economic cooperation organizations, and analyze how Asian states confront issues of globalization, regionalization, and COVID-19. The lesson concludes with students reflecting on these topics personally.

Uploaded by

Aaron Manuel Munar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LESSON 7: ASIAN REGIONALISM

This lesson looks at the mechanism of unique integration of the world’s biggest land
mass and population – the Asian region and how nation-states approach
contemporary challenges.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. differentiate between regionalization and globalization:
2. identify the factors that lead to a greater integration of Asian regions; and
3. analyze how different Asian states confront the challenges of globalization,
regionalization, and COVID-19.

Preliminaries Trigger Questions:


Write your answer on the paper.
1. What problems do developing countries face today, and
2. How can individuals contribute to solutions rather than awaiting the generosity of
the state or other actors?

Today we shall look closely at the unique integration mechanism of the Asian
region and how nation-states therein approach the contemporary challenges and
facets of world homogenization, division, and pandemic. The lesson will conclude on
the level of reflective students’ personalization.

Critical Reading

Governments, associations, societies, and groups form regional organizations


and/or networks as a way of coping with the challenges of globalization.
Globalization has made people aware of the world in general, but it has also made
Filipinos more cognizant of specific areas such as Southeast Asia. How, for instance,
did the Philippines come to identify itself with the Southeast Asian region? Why is it
part of a regional grouping known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN)?

While regionalism is often seen as a political and economic phenomenon, the


term actually encompasses a broader area. It can be examined in relation to
identities, ethics, religion, ecological sustainability, and health. Regionalism is also a
process, and must be treated as an “emergent, socially constituted phenomenon.” It
means that regions are not natural or given; rather, they are constructed and defined
by policymakers, economic actors, and even social movements.

Edward D. Mansfield and Helen V. Milner state that economic and political
definitions of regions vary, but there are certain basic features that everyone can
agree on. First, regions are “a group of countries located in the same geographically
specified area” or are “an amalgamation of two regions [or] a combination of more
than two regions” organized to regulate and “oversee flows and policy choices.”
Second, 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. One is for military
defense. Countries also form regional organizations to pool their resources, get
better returns for their exports, as well expand their leverage against trading
partners. Moreover, there are countries that form regional blocks to protect their
independence from the pressures of superpower politics.

Finally, economic crisis compels countries to come together. Official regional


associations now cover vast swaths of the world. The population of the countries that
joined the Asia Pacific Economic Council (APEC) alone comprised 37 percent of the
world’s population in 2007. These countries are also part of the “smaller”
organizations that include the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the
Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, and the Union of South American Nations.

Even “isolationist” North Korea is part of the Regional Forum, which discusses
security issues in the region. (Lisandro E. Claudio and Patricio N. Abinales)
Globalization and regionalization are the same for they refer to integration. Their
difference lies on the scope. Globalization is worldwide while regionalization focuses
on a specific geographical region. As a response to world homogenization and
division, regionalism that comes in various forms of regional alternatives to
globalization spawned within and among regions in Asia.

Asian integration did not happen based on one historical event for there were
different factors that led to this alliance. Asian regionalism is a new concept among
the continental communities. New to cooperation and collaboration goals, it has the
50-year-old ASEAN group and the failed East Asia Economic Group (EAEG). The
ASEAN community is comprised of three pillars – political security community,
economic community, and socio-cultural community. ASEAN has also partnered with
three EAST Asian countries – China, Japan, and South Korea. It is called the
ASEAN + 3. Its goal is to address the 1997 Asian financial crisis and help each other
cope with the crisis. In this context, ASEAN has concretized regionalism in the Asian
region.

There are some aspects that led to a greater Asian integration. First,
integration has been market-driven. Within Asia, there are a variety of systems,
institutions, procedures, social relations, and infrastructures that are put in place for
countries to engage in exchange. Second, formal institutions such as the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) were established. Conceived in the 1960, ADB promotes
social and economic development in Asia. Third, economic grants and overseas
development assistance are made available by better Asian economies. For
example, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) aims to work on
human security and quality growth. Fourth, production networks have expanded.
Economies are mainly on comparative advantage through the regional division of
labor. Fifth, cooperation among the ASEAN and East Asian countries ensued the
ASEAN + 3 Financial Ministers’ Process that established two economic structures –
the Chiang Mai Initiative and the Asian Bond Markets Initiative.
The process aims to strengthen policy dialogue, coordination, and
collaboration on common financial, monetary, and fiscal issues. (Tumoroh C.
Brazalote, Ryan M. Leonardo, and Bernardino C. Ofalia)

ACTIVITY
Write your answer on the paper.
1. Differentiate regionalization from globalization.
2. What are the factors that lead to a greater integration of Asian regions? Give
examples for each.
3. How do Asian states confront the contemporary challenges of globalization,
regionalization, and pandemic?

ESSAY
Write your essay on the paper.
Identify the strengths of the Philippines that may contribute to a sustainable ASEAN
integration in meeting the COVID-19 challenge.

Prepared by:

AARON SIBAOT MUNAR


Instructor

Reference:

 Tumoroh C. Brazalote, Ryan M. Leonardo, and Bernardino C. Ofalia. 2019.


The Contemporary World Outcome-Based Module.
 Lisandro E. Claudio and Patricio N. Abinales. 2018. The Contemporary World.
C & E Publishing, Inc. Quezon City Philippines.
 https://doi.org/10.1093/jaenfo/jnaa019
 https://gened.fas.harvard.edu/urgent-problems-enduring-questions

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