Globalization & Global

Politics

Globalization Definitions
Globalization: the Widening,

Deepening & speeding up of World

Wide interconnectedness
Globalization is a Contentious issue
in the study of World Politics
The
intensification of worldwide
social relations which links distant
localities in such a way that local
happening are shaped by events
occurring many miles away & vice
versa

The integration of the World-

economy (Glipin 2001: 364)

De-territorialization or .the
growth of supraterritorial
relations between people
(Scholte 200: 46)

Time- space compressions'

(Harvey 1989)

Concept of Hyper globalists. Bringing

about the demise of sovereign Nation
States - as global forces undermine the
ability of govts to Control their own
economies & societies
Sceptics View point. Rejects the idea of
globalization as so much globaloney
argue that state & Geo Politics remain
the Principle forces shaping World Order
Transformationalist Perspective . As per
this thought Hyper globalists & Sceptics
alike exaggerate their arguments &
misconstrue the Contemporary World
Order

 While

transformationalist takes
globalization
seriously;
they
believe that, it is leading not so
much to demise of sovereign
state, but to a globalization of
Politics

It

is emergence of conspicuously
Global politics in which the
traditional distinction between
domestic & international affairs
is not terribly meaningful

Making Sense of
Globalization

Over the last three decades:

the sheer scale & scope of global
interconnectedness has become
increasingly evident in every
sphere from the economy to the
cultural
World economic integration has
intensified with the expansion of
global commerce,
finance &
productions
Globalization links together the
fate of nations

Crises in one region, are

anywhere in the world alike;

felt

the collapse of the Argentinean

economy in 2002
East Asian recession- 1997
A slowdown in the US economy
Global recession and food crises-2008
Effects of all felt everywhere from
Birmingham to Bangkok

All these acts take their toll on jobs,

production, savings, & investment
many thousands of miles away

Transnational corporations accounts for

25 to 33% of world output, 70% world
trade & 80% intl investment
Organization & mobilization of like
minded people across the globe through
new modes & infrastructure of global
communication
Transnational spread of ideas, cultures
& information
As globalization has proceeded so has
the
recognition
of
transnational
problems requiring global regulation,
climate change to the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction

Move of the people like migrants or

otherwise legal and illegal for the
search of better living brings along
their culture, ideas business etc.
600 millions tourists move each year
Movements from South to North and
East to West
Growing awareness of the multiple
ways in which the Security &
prosperity
of
communities
in
different regions of the World is
bound together

In conclusion the Globalization is

variously
defined
in
the

literature
as:
The
intensification of worldwide
social relations which links
distant localities in such a
way that local happening
are
shaped
by
events
occurring many miles away
& vice versa

Summary
Over the last three decades the
sheer
scale,
scope
of
global
interconnectedness
has
become
increasingly evident in every sphere
from economic to the cultural
Skeptics
do not regard this as
evidence of globalization if that
term means something more than
simply
international
interdependence,
i.e.
linkages
between countries

Conceptualizing Globalization

Taking globalization as the process

characterized by:
1stly, A stretching of social, political &
economic activities across the political
frontiers so that events, decisions, &
activities in one regions of the World
come to have significance for individuals
& communities in distant regions of the
globe-civil wars & conflicts in poor regions effects
richer areas

2ndly, The intensification or the

growing
magnitude
of
interconnectedness, in almost every
sphere of social existence intensification of world
trade to spread of WMD- SARS virus

3rdly, The accelerating pace of global

interaction & processes as the evaluations
of worldwide systems of transport &
communications increases the rapidity or
velocity
with
ideas,
news,
goods,
information, capital & technology move
around the world
4thly, The growing extensity, intensity, &
velocity of global interactions is associated
with a deepening enmeshment of the local
& global in so far as local events may come
to have global consequences & global
events can have serious local consequences
of the world as a shared social space, that
is globality or globalism

But, this not the end. Indeed, there is more

to the concept of globalization than simply
interconnectedness
What is that?

It

is:
dissolution
of
the
significance
of
borders
&
boundaries which separate the
world
into
193
independent
constituent states or national
economic & political spaces
Question: would states let that
happen?

Answer : No, but how?

Contrary
to
sceptics
view
of
interdependence & internationalization,
between
discrete
bounded
national
states, globalization deals with the shift
in human affairs
Globalization is the structural change in
the scale of human, social and political
activities which used to be organized at
local or national scale are now organized
at transnational or global scale
Central to this structural change are
contemporary informative technologies
& infrastructures of communication &
transportations

Although geography & distance still

matter, it is nevertheless the case that
globalization is synonymous with a
process of time space compressions
literally a shrinking world in which
the source of even very local
developments, from unemployment to
ethnic conflict, may be traced to
distant conditions or decisions
Globalization
is a process of deterritorialization of social, political &
economic
activities
no
longer
organized strictly to the borders

 In

summary : globalizations is a
process which involves much more
than simply growing connections or
interdependence between states
It is rather a historical process
involving a fundamental shift or
transformation in the spatial scale of
human social organizations that
links distant communities & expands
the reach of power relations across
regions & continents

 Globalizations

is evident in the
growing
extensity,
intensity,
velocity, & deepening impact of
worldwide interconnectedness
Globalizations denotes a shift in a
scale of social organizations, the
emergence of the world as a
shared social space, the relative
detteritorialization
of
social,
economic & political activity, &
the relative detteritorialization of
power

 Globalizations

can
be
conceptualized as fundamental shift
or transformation in the spatial
scale of human social organization
that links distant communities &
expands the reach of power
relations across regions & contents
Globalizations is to be distinguished
from
internationalization
&
regionalization

Contemporary
Globalization

The era of globalizations is over (Naim

2002)
States have reasserted their power &
borders have been sealed, however
imperfectly, in response to the perceived
worldwide terrorist threat
Skeptics conclude that not only has
globalization been highly exaggerated but
it is a myth which has concealed the reality
of a world which is less interdependent
One of the problems of the sceptical
arguments is that it tends to conflate
globalizations solely with economic trends

The Skeptical View of

Globalizations

Skeptical accounts of globalizations tend

to dismiss its significance for the study of
world politics on the ground that:

By comparison with the period 1870 to 1914,

the world is much less globalized economically,
politically & culturally
Rather than globalization, the contemporary
world is marked by intensifying geopolitics,
the regionalization, & internationalizations
The vast bulk of international economic &
political activity is concentrated within the
group of OECD states

By comparisons with the heyday of

European
global
empires,
the
majority of the worlds populations
& countries in the south are now
much less integrated into the global
system

Patterns of
Contemporary
Globalization

Globalization, to varying degree, is evident in all the

principal sectors of social activity ;

Economic: in the economic sphere, patters of

worldwide trade, finance, & productions are creating
global markets &, in the process, a single global
capitalist economy- what Castells (2000) calls global
informational capitalism; multinational corporation
organize productions & marketing on a global basis
while the operation of global financial markets
determines which countries get credit & upon what
terms

Military:
in the military domain the global arms
trade; the proliferations of weapons of mass
destructions, the growth of transnational terrorism,
the growing significances of traditional military
corporations & the discourse of global insecurity point
to the existence of a global military order

Legal: The expansions of transnational

& international law from trade to
human rights alongside the creations of
new world legal institutions such as
International
Criminal
Courte
is
indicative of an emerging global legal
order
Ecological: a shared ecology involves
shared environmental problems, from
global warning to species protections,
alongside the creations of multilateral
responses
&
regimes
of
global
environmental governance

Culture: involves a complex mix of

homogenization & increased heterogeneity
given the global diffusions of popular culture,
global media corporations, communications
networks, etc., ethnicity & difference
But few culture are heretically sealed off
from cultural interaction
Social: shifting patterns of migrations from
South to North & East to West have turned
migration into a major global issue as
movements come close to the record levels of
great nineteen- century movements of people

The Engines of
Globalization

Globalizations focus on three

interrelated factors

Techniques: Central to any account of

globalization since it is a truism that
without
modern
communications
infrastructure, in particular, a global
system or worldwide economy would not
be possible
Economics: Crucial specially Economic
Logic Capitalist's insatiable requirement
for new markets & profits lead inevitably
to the globalization of economic activity

 Politics:

- Shorthand here for

ideas,
interests,
&
powerconstitutes the third logic of
globalizations
If technology provides the physical
infrastructure of globalization,
politics provides its normative
infrastructure
Government, such as those of the
USA & the UK, have been critical
actors in nurturing the process of
globalization

Three Waves of
Globalization

In the first wave, the age of discovery

(1450- 1850), globalization was decisively
shaped
by
European
expansions
&
conquest
The second wave (1850- 1945), evidenced a
major
expansions
in
the
spread
&
entrenchment of European empire
Third wave; by compressions, contemporary
globalizations (1960 on) marks a new epoch in
human affairs
Just as the industrial revolutions & the
expansion of the West in nineteen century
defined a new age in world history - So today
the microchip & the satellite are icons of a
globalize world order

Summary

The contemporary phase of globalizations

has proved more robust in the aftermath
of 9/11 than the skeptics recognize
Contemporary
globalization
is
a
multidimensional,
uneven,
&
asymmetrical
Contemporary
globalization
is
best
described as a thick form of globalizations
or globalism

A World Transformed:
Globalization & Distorted
Global Politics

The Westphalian
Constitution of world
politics

Territoriality: humankind is organized

principally
into
exclusive
territorial
(political) communities with fixed borders
Sovereignty: within its borders the state
or government has an entitlement to
supreme, unqualified & exclusive political
& legal authority
Autonomy : the principle of selfdetermination or self governance
constructs
countries
as
autonomous
containers of political, social & economic
activity in that fixed borders separate the
domestic sphere from the world outside

From State Centric to

Geocentric
(Geopolitics to Global
politics)

The Post- Westphalian Order

Territoriality: Borders & territory still remain

important, not least for administrative purposes
Under conditions of globalizations, however, a new
geography of political organizations & political
power is emerging which transcends terrorists &
borders
State sovereignty: The sovereign power &
authority of national government the entitlement
of states to rule within their own terrorist spaceis being transformed but not necessarily eroded
Sovereignty today is increasingly understood
as the shared exercise of public power &
authority
between
national,
&
global
authorities

State
autonomy:
in
more
interdependent world, simply to achieve
domestic
objectives
national
governments are forced to engage in
extensive multilateral collaboration & co
operation
But in becoming more embedded in
system of global & regional governance
states confront a real dilemma: in return
for more effective public policy &
meeting their citizens demands, whither
in relations to the drugs trade or
employment, their capacity for self
governance that is state autonomy
comprised

Summary

Globalizations is transforming but not

burying the Westphalian ideal of sovereign
statehood. It is producing the disaggregated
state
Globalization requires a conceptual shift in
our thinking about world politics from a
primarily geopolitical perspective to the
perspective of geocentric or global politics
of worldwide social relations
Global politics is more accurately described
as distorted global politics, because it is
afflicted by significant power asymmetries

From Distorted Global

Politics to Cosmopolitan
Global Politics

 Globalization

creates a double
democratic deficit in that it
places limits on democracy within
states & new mechanisms of
global governance which lack
democratic credentials
Global politics has engendered its
own global political theory which
draws
upon
cosmopolitan
thinking

 Cosmopolitanism

offers
as
account
of
desirability
&
feasibility of the democratization
of global politics
Distorted global politics can be
interpreted as expressing a
contest between the forces of
stateism & cosmopolitanism in
the conduct & management of
world affairs