Philippine Christian University – Dasmarinas

Aguinaldo Highway, Sampaloc 1, City of Dasmarinas, Cavite

Second Semester, Academic Year 2022-2023

COURSE TITLE The Contemporary World SEMESTER

UNITS 3 YEAR LEVEL
COURSE DESCRIPTION This course introduces students to the contemporary world by examining the multifaceted
phenomenon of globalization. Using the various disciplines of the social sciences, it examines the
economic, social, political, technological, and other transformations that have created an increasing
awareness of the interconnectedness of peoples and places around the globe. To this end, the course
provides an overview of the various debates in global governance, development, and sustainability.
Beyond exposing the student to the world outside the Philippines, it seeks to inculcate a sense of
global citizenship and global ethical responsibility.

MODULE 6
Governments and citizens in a globally interconnected world of states

TOPIC LEARNING OUTCOMES

The students shall be able to:
- understand the issues confronting the nation-state

ENGAGE
Let the learners surf online the definition, idea, or concept and share it to online whiteboard/ chat box section and tell something
about it.
• What is your idea of inclusivity?
• How would you describe our government in terms of inclusive service to
the people?
• Why is there such a call for an inclusive approach to our society?

EXPLORE

The class is divided into three groups through a breakout room or a temporary google meeting
for the activity.
• What have you found out about the main idea of inclusivity? (definition, idea, and
concept)
• What more you would like to learn about inclusivity in relation to government and
citizens?

EXPLAIN AND ELABORATE

Introduction
The globalization of governance generally occurs through increasingly complex, multilayered interrelationships between states,
international institutions, local and international non-state actors, and of course, ordinary people. These complexities necessarily
limit the capacities of national governments to rein in competitive economic forces, control the flow of information and ideas, or
singlehandedly ‘manage’ state-security challenges. Debates about the nature of the ‘New World’ in which we find ourselves
illuminate the contested nature of governance processes, policies, and practices, at every level.

Page 1 of 3
 • Most market globalists insist that governments have no business trying to control global commerce through law or
regulation either nationally or globally.

• For justice globalists, the failure of governments to regulate market forces is merely further evidence of the need for a
global order in which the nation-state is no longer the central actor. Neither perspective satisfactorily captures the complex
power dynamics in global and national affairs. Periodic financial crises demonstrate that markets can fail – and fail
spectacularly – yet heavy-handed government intervention to control market forces can also be catastrophic.

• In a world abundant with rules and regulatory institutions, there exists no general agreement as to the proper framework
of governance. As a result, the realization of ‘global governance’ has remained equally elusive. Definitions of global
governance are differentiated by subtle variations in language and emphasis.

‘Governance is a social function centered on the making of collective choices regarding matters of common concern to
the members of human groups’, involving both ‘command’ processes but crucially ‘public and private deliberation.’

• Market liberals place enormous faith in the power of market forces and political rationality to restrain the use of force and
promote international cooperation. The pacifying qualities of affluence is read into evidence of declines in the incidence of
organized violence since the end of the Cold War, linked in part to rising per capita incomes and democratization.

• Extreme market globalists go so far as to argue that markets, if permitted to operate without any government intervention
whatsoever, are sufficient for the ordering of global economic relations and, by extension, all global relations. Across this
liberal globalist spectrum, politics, or rather the pursuit of political power is bemoaned as an obstacle to ‘rational’ policy.

Stressing the deliberative dimension of global governance, Wayne

Sandholtz argues that normative globalization is the product of the
constant interplay between rules and behaviors.

A consequence of increasing global network density, global

deliberation accommodates civil society organizations and private
corporations engaged in alternative forms of global diplomacy beyond
the state.

Civil society actors play a significant role in shaping the terms of global
debates about the moral use of force, human rights, environmental
conservation, and of the norms of aid and development.

Image source (above): Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Theoretical-model-for-evaluating-contemporary-global-

governance-Source-Cadman-2011-5_fig1_251238578

In the corporate world, the global organization of production, marketing, finance, product standards and certification, monitoring,
and business cooperation constitute spheres of ‘private authority’ and private international law through which corporate actors exert
normative influence over the rules of global business regulation and with this the regulatory practices of states.

The power of non-state actors to create or change global norms varies with the capacities of individual agents and coalitions of
actors. Civil society organizations are neither unified nor uniform in composition. The most politically active NGOs (non-
governmental organizations) assume a ‘presumptive legitimacy’ to operate in public space, to persuade, lobby, and mobilize public
opinion in pursuit of normative goals. Mercantile actors shape normative order largely away from public view, through internal
governance arrangements and by relying upon market power to recruit or coerce states.

EVALUATE

Guided Questions:
1. What can you say about the political, social, economic problems that our country is facing right now?
2. Enumerate the factors of these issues and problems of our country.
3. Explain the causes of these factors to understand the issues and problems.

Page 2 of 3
 EXTEND
Given that you are one of the highest officials in the government, how would you address the issues and problems of the country.
As mentioned above, give a concrete plan to address each of the four-pressing dilemmas of our country.

Reference
Manfred Steger, Paul Battersby, & Joseph Siracusa. (2014). The SAGE Handbook of Globalization. SAGE Publications Ltd.

Page 3 of 3