IS 19.
GLOBAL POLITICS
Chapter 4: The Economy in a Global Age
Capitalism
- A system of generalized commodity
production in which wealth is owned
privately and economic life is
organized according to market
principles
*Industrialization expanded the productive
capacity of capitalism
Types of Capitalist Systems:
Enterprise Capitalism
Social Capitalism
State Capitalism
Enterprise Capitalism
- USA
- Market is self-regulating
- Minimum public ownership
- Weak trade unions, strong labor
unions are an obstacle to profit
maximization
- Productive wealth is owned by
financial institutions
- Disadvantage: Tendency towards
material inequalities and social
fragmentation
Social Capitalism
- Rooted in central and Western
Europe (Germany)
- Social Market = marrying market
competition with the need for social
cohesion and solidarity, long-term
investment, not short-term
profitability
- Trade unions enjoy representation
- Disadvantage: Since it draws on
consultation and negotiation, it leads
to inflexibility and makes it difficult for
businesses to adapt to market
conditions
- Relatively high expenditures are
needed to sustain high-quality
welfare provision
State Capitalism
- China is the standard bearer of State
Capitalism
- Capitalist economies in which the
state plays a crucial directive role
- Emphasis on cooperative and long-
term relationships (sometimes called
Collective Capitalism)
- Firms provide the social core in state
capitalism
- Stresses on teamwork and building
on a collective identity
- Merits to the laborers, in return for
their hard work and effort, they are
given merits (lifetime employment,
pensions, social protection, etc.)
- Strength lies in pragmatism and
flexibility
- Disadvantage: Failure to respond to
the changing pressures of the global
economy
Neoliberalism
- Economy works when left alone by
the government, reflecting a belief in
free market economics
Economic Globalization
- All national economies have been
absorbed into an interlocking global
economy
How globalized is economic life?
International Trade
- Grew at double the rate of
international production
Transnational Production
- Linked to the growing importance of
TNCs
- Global sourcing
Global Division of Labor
- Specialization in what states in
certain parts of the world can offer
(both developed and developing
states)
Globalized Financial System
- Allowed money and capital to flow
both within and between national
economies with great ease
Chapter 5: The State and Foreign Policy in a
Global Age
State (Montevideo Convention)
- Defined territory
- Permanent population
- Effective government
- Capacity to enter into relations with
other states
 - *the political existence of the state is *Political globalization opens up
not dependent on international opportunities for the state. Working through
recognition international organzitions and regimes may
*Underlying character of the state is expand the capacities of the state allowing
Sovereignty them to continue to extend their influence
- Principle of absolute and unlimited
power, the absence of a higher authority in either Welfare State
domestic or external affairs - Takes prime responsibility for the
*The need for sovereignty arose from the social welfare of its citizens
self-seeking and power-interested nature of man discharged through a range of social
Internal Sovereignty development endeavors
- Power within the state Competition State
- Crucial to the development of state - Pursues strategies to ensure long-
structures and systems of rule term competitiveness in the
External Sovereignty globalized economy
- Absolute and unlimited authority of - Strengthens education and training
the state as an actor on the world to guarantee success
stage Failed State
- Defines a state’s relationship to other - Unable to perform its key role of
states and other international actors ensuring domestic order by
- Guarantees that the territorial monopolizing the use of force within
integrity and political independence its territory
of states is inviolable - This failure primarily stems from
The state and globalization colonialism
- the rise of globalization is inevitably Return of the State
marked by the decline of the state as 1. Unique capacity to maintain
a meaningful actor domestic order and protect its
citizens has been underlined by new
- Globalization has brought about security challenges that have
qualitative changes in the role and emerged in the 21st century. The
significance of the state state exists to master violence. It
Supraterritoriality is a war-making institution.
- Social life transcends territory 2. Reasserted itself as an agent of
through the growth of transborder modernization. Improved aspects of
and transglobal communications social life to boost productivity and
*Globalization has also become associated provided support for key industries.
with the trend towards regionalization 3. Promoting development.
Emphasized state building as a key
Economic Sovereignty aspect of the larger process of
- Absolute authority which the state peace-building.
exercises over economic life State Building
conducted within its borders - Construction of a functioning state
- It is difficult to see how this can be through establishment of legitimate
reconciled in a globalized economy institutions for the formulation and
Political Globalization implementation of policy
- Reflects the growing importance of REALIST
international organizations Sovereignty
- These are organizations that are Unitary actor is state – coercive power
transnational in that they exert
influence not within a state but within LIBERALIST
an international area Diminishing sovereignty because of
many actors
 Sovereignty is relational, not absolute
Governance
- Various ways through which social
life is coordinated
- Broader term than government
FOREIGN POLICY: End of Foreign Policy?
The making of foreign policy has been
traditionally regarded as one of the key
features of international politics and is often
seen as ‘high politics’.
Foreign policy making is a worthwhile activity
because:
1. The world is still more separated into
distinctive communities
2. Foreign policy highlights the crucial
interplay between structure and
agency. Foreign policy underlines
the crucial significance of a sphere of
decision, choice and intentionality
within global politics
Decision-making process:
Individual level – personal priorities,
psychological and cognitive dispositions
Nation-state level – nature of the
government and state
Systemic level – power balances within
the international system, web of
interdependence, dynamics of capitalism
Theories of political decision-making
Rational Actor Model
- Human rationality as the foundation
of economic models
- Based on the self-interested pursuit
of material satisfaction\
- Objectives are met by man in a
rational and consistent manner
- Disadvantage: Rational calculation
may not seem appealing because
decisions are made on the basis of
inadequate and inaccurate
information
Incremental Models
- Principal alternative rational
decision-making
- Policy makers adjust their positions
in the light of feedback in the form of
feedback about the impact of the
previous decisions made
- Allows flexibility and the expression
of divergent views
Bureaucratic Organization Models
- Came from organizational models
that highlights impact of decisions on
the values and patterns of behavior
within an organization
- Came from bureaucratic models that
highlights the impact of bargaining
between personnel and agencies
each pursuing different interests
Cognitive Processes and Belief
Systems Models
- Emphasizes how behavior is
structured by perception
- What people see and understand is
what their concepts and values allow
them to see and understand
Chapter 6: Society in a Global Age
SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS: THICK TO THIN?
Society also has an international
dimension in that shared norms and values
and regular patterns of interaction among
states have created “international society”
Industrialization changed the
structure of society, with the emergence of a
social class as the central organizing
principle of society
Gemeinschaft – or community, typically found in
traditional societies characterized by natural
affection and mutual respect
Gesellschaft – association, the looser, artificial
and contractual bonds typically found in urban
and industrial societies
Post-industrial societies
- Societies based on service
industries, rather than
manufacturing industries
- Key feature is the process of de-
industrialization, reflected in the
decline of labor-intensive industries
- Solidaristic culture rooted in clear
political loyalties and strong union
organization
 - Characterized by growing atomism,
or the strong capacities of
individuals to sustain themselves
New technology and information society
Technological change has always been
closely linked to social change
3 modern information revolutions:
1. Development of telegraph,
telephone and radio
2. Television, early generation
computers and satellites
3. New media, mobile phones, cable
and satellite television, powerful
computers, internet
Technological derteminism
- Tech development is assumed to be
the principal motor of social,
economic and political change
- Globalization became inevitable
once such technologies became
widely available
Network
- Means of coordinating social life
through loose and informal
relationships between people or
organizations for the purpose of
knowledge dissemination or
exchange
Risk, uncertainty and insecurity
People are exposed as never before to
influence beyond the parameters of their face-
to-face interactions
Hardware based modernity to liquid software
modernity
- Liquid society is characterized by the
new remoteness and unreachabilty
of global processes coupled with the
fluid state of people’s lives
- Led to a substantial increase in the
levels of uncertainty and insecurity
in society
- Chaos Theory
o As more things influence
more things, these
consequences become
more difficult to predict
- Modern society is replete with
manufactured risks and instabilities
of various kinds
o Chemical pollution, ozone
depletion, acid rain and
climate change
- Economic globalization also meant
that economic conditions and
livelihoods in one part of the world
can be more easily affected by
events in other parts of the world
- Levels of personal security have been
undermined by the vast spread of
weapons of mass destruction and
the growth in global terrorism
Social and cultural implications of globalization
Cultural globalization has been seen to
become significant. The essence of
globalization is the process whereby cultural
differences between nations and regions are
tending to be flattened out – cultural
homogenization
- Chief factors that fueled cultural
globalization have been the growth
of TNCs, especially global media
corporations
*Cultural globalization amounts to cultural
imperialism
- Cultural flows are between unequal
partners and are used as a means through
which powerful cultures exert domination over
weaker cultures
Main ingredients of Cultural Globalization
Spread of consumerism
Growth of individualism
Consumerism goes global
Coca Colonization
 - Refers to the emergence of global
goods and global brands
- Captures the psychological and
emotional power these brands hold
over consumers through marketing
and advertising
Commodity Fetishism
- Commodities are invested with
symbolic and social significance,
allowing them to sway human
beings
McWorld
- Tied together by technology,
ecology, communications and
commerce
McDonaldization
- Global commodities and commercial
and marketing practices associated
with the fast food industry have
come to dominate more and more
economic sectors
The westernization model of cultural
globalization derives from the fact that the
West is the home of consumer capitalism and
industrial society
Americanization model – goods and
images that dominate modern commerce and
media derive from the US
Critiques of Cultural Globalization:
1. Seen to serve the interests of
economic or political domination
2. Cultural homogenization has been
seen as an assault on local, regional
and national distinctiveness
3. Consumerism and materialism have
been condemned as a form of
captivity, manipulation and distorts
values and denies happiness
Rise of individualism
This is widely seen as a consequence of
the establishment of industrial capitalism as the
dominant mode of social organization. People
were encourage to think for themselves and
about their own interests. This gave rise to
economic individualism
- Individuals are entitled to autonomy
in matters of economic decision-
making
Individualism is said to have weakened
community and our sense of social belonging
and lead to the growth of Gesellschaft
relationships
But liberalist view individualism as social
progress since it forwards enlightened thinking
Global Civil Society
- Autonomous groups and
associations that operate
independently of the government
- Highlights a realm in which
transnational non-governmental
groups and associations interact
Development of this can be cited to the
theory of Countervailing Power
- Concentration of power tend to be
temporary because they stimulate
oppositional forces on the
emergence of rival centers of power
Global civil society is a reaction to the
perceived domination of corporate interests
within the globalization process.
The rise of Global Civil Society is a
backlash against the triumph of neoliberalism
*The Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 is seen as the
first ever global civil society
Transnational social movements and NGOs
Transnational social movements
attracted the young and the educated. Tended
to be concerned with quality of life issues and
cultural change
New Politics – stresses decentralization
and participatory decision-making and
embracing a more innovative and theatrical form
of protest politics
NGOs are viewed as key actors within global
civil society because they are institutionalized
and professional insiders.
Chapter 7: The Nation in a Global Age
Nationalism and World Politics
Nationalism – the nation is or should be the
most basic principle of political organization
Nations are cultural entities, collections
of people bound together by shared values and
traditions
*A nation is different from an
ethnic group
- Possess a communal identity and a
sense of cultural pride but lacks
collective political aspirations
Primordialism
- National identity is historically
embedded
Modernism
- National identity is forged in
response to changing social and
historical circumstances
Classical nationalism has been strongly
associated with liberal ideas and values. Based
on the fundamental assumption that
humankind is naturally divided into a collection
of nations each possessed of a separate
identity. Central theme is national self-
determination.
*Nation-states are inherently imperfect as none
is ethnically and culturally pure
Nationalism, war and conflict
Nationalism is also expressed through
the politics of aggression, militarism and war.
*Some argue that nationalism has been infected
by chauvinism
- belief in the superiority of one’s own
group or people
A world on the move
Migration has been part of human experience
throughout history, but the development of
substantial villages did not stop migration,
however
Cause of migration
Migration was usually a consequence of
conquest and invasion, followed by settlement
and colonization
But some migrants travelled by choice
for economic reasons
Another reason is religious or political
persecution
Why and how has migratory patterns changed
in recent years?
1. There has been an acceleration in
the rate of migration in the 1970s
and peaked in early 1990s
2. International migration has come to
be more closely associated with
economic factors and developments
3. Onset of globalization has
intensified pressures for
international migration
Transnational communities and diaspora
Emergence of transnational
communities is one of the chief features of the
modern globalized world. These communities
are bound together by familial ties and economic
flows.
Hybridity and multiculturalism
The most significant implication of
increased international migration – social and
cultural diversity has reached such a level that
the idea of a return to the monoculturalism of the
traditional nation-state has become
impracticable
Multiculturalism
- Recognizes the fact of cultural
diversity and holds that such
 differences should be respected and Cultural nationalism
publicly affirmed - Places primary emphasis on the
The advance of multiculturalism has gone hand regeneration of the nation as a
in hand with the campaigns for minority rights. distinctive civilization rather than on
self-determination
Why multiculturalism is good? Resurfacing of nationalism in the 20th century
- Cultures can thus learn from and 1. Uneven distribution of ethno-
enrich each other, widening cultural history – the underprivileged or
opportunities and strengthening relatively deprived communities
intercultural understanding have been drawn to emulate more
Liberal multiculturalists powerful nations who are able to
- Stress the importance of unity, celebrate their identity without
arguing that diversity can and should fear
be confined to the private sphere, 2. Ability of nationalism to call on the
leaving the public sphere as a realm deep resources of religious belief to
of integration legitimize rule and mobilize
Conservatists populations
- Nationalism and multiculturalism 3. The idea of an ancestral homeland
are fundamentally incompatible has remained and will continue to
- Human beings are limited and remain a potent symbol
dependent creatures who are
naturally drawn to others similar to
them
- *multiculturalist societies are
inherently fractured and conflict-
ridden
Nationalism revived
Increasing cross-border cultural,
economic and population flows appeared to
render the sovereign nation-state redundant.
But, nationalism has shown remarkable
resilience. With the overwhelming mass of
people, they accept that they belong to a nation
and nationality continues to retain and
unrivalled position as the basis for political
allegiance.

*Nationalism cannot be a dying doctrine because

ethnic communities have not and cannot die out

Rise of cultural and ethnic nationalism

Globalization has strengthened cultural
and ethnic forms of nationalism