Global Issues: Challenges of Globalization Week 1

From International Relations to Global Issues

International Relations - is essentially concerned with interaction among worlds state governments and actors
-modern state began in Europe in 1648 in the Peace of Westphalia which ended the Thirty Years War

From International Relations to Global Issues

- States and nations are used interchangeably; they are not exactly the same a) a state is a legal and political unit that must be internationally recognized, be politically organized, and be a populated geographic area that has sovereignty
Note: sovereignty is the ability of the state to be independent from the control of another state All states have ideologies (=system of values, beliefs and ideas)

From International Relations to Global Issues

b) nation, meanwhile, speaks of a group of people who have strong emotional, cultural, linguistic, religious and historical ties - Scholars and practitioners in international relations prefer to use nation-state

From International Relations to Global Issues

- International relations generally would like to answer three questions a) contexts in which states operates; how these contexts shape or influence the decisions governments make b) major objectives of states and in international politics c) Explanations as to the choices of the states

From International Relations to Global Issues

-at the heart of those questions lies the concept of power
power is the ability to get others to do things they would ordinarily do or to behave in ways they would prefer to avoid
-

Core understanding of international relations is the view of power struggle among countries
State-centric model emphasizes that states as the dominant, almost exclusive actor in world politics

Core Principles

IR revolves around one key problem:

How can a group such as two or more nations serve its collective interests when doing so requires its members to forego their individual interests?

Example: Problem of global warming. Solving it can only be achieved by many countries acting together. The problem of how to provide something that benefits all members of a group regardless of what each member contributes to it

Collective goods problem

Core Principles

In general, collective goods are easier to provide in small groups than large ones.

Small group: defection (free riding) is harder to conceal and has a greater impact on the overall collective good, and is easier to punish.

Collective goods problem occurs in all groups and societies

Particularly acute in international affairs

No central authority such as a world government to enforce on individual nations the necessary measures to provide for the common good

Core Principles

Three basic principles offer possible solutions for this core problem of getting individuals to cooperate for the common good without a central authority to make them do so.

Dominance

Solves the collective goods problem by establishing a power hierarchy in which those at the top control those below

Status hierarchy

The advantage of the dominance solution

Symbolic acts of submission and dominance reinforce the hierarchy. Hegemon/superpower

Disadvantage of the dominance solution

Forces members of a group to contribute to the common good Minimizes open conflict within the group Stability comes at a cost of constant oppression of, and resentment by, the lower-ranking members of the status hierarchy. Conflicts over position can sometimes harm the groups stability and well-being.

Reciprocity

Solves the collective goods problem by rewarding behavior that contributes to the group and punishing behavior that pursues self-interest at the cost of the group

Easy to understand and can be enforced without any central authority Positive and negative reciprocity Disadvantage: It can lead to a downward spiral as each side punishes what it believes to be the negative acts of the other.

Generally people overestimate their own good intentions and underestimate those of opponents or rivals.

Identity

Identity principle does not rely on selfinterest. Members of an identity community care about the interests of others in the community enough to sacrifice their own interests to benefit others.

Family, extended family, kinship group roots

In IR, identity communities play important roles in overcoming difficult collective goods problems.

Nonstate actors also rely on identity politics.

IR as a Field of Study

Practical discipline Theoretical debates are fundamental, but unresolved. IR is about international politics, but the field is interdisciplinary: relates to economics, history, sociology, and others

Issue areas: global trade, the environment, etc. Conflict and cooperation mix in relationships among nations Subfields

Usually taught within political science classes Domestic politics of foreign countries, although overlapping with IR, generally make up the separate field of comparative politics.

International security studies International political economy (IPE)

Actors and Influences

Principal actors in IR are the worlds governments. IR scholars traditionally study the decisions and actions of those governments, in relation to other governments. Individual actors: Leaders and citizens, bureaucratic agencies in foreign ministries, multinational corporations, and terrorist groups

Pluralism and Interdependence

-the transition from traditional international to global issues is based on the theory of pluralism and interdependence - Its main concern is how human activities are intertwined and interconnected - The theory takes into consideration the nonstate actors
Note: nonstate actors are organizations that are not formally associated with governments and play a crucial role in international agenda

Pluralism and Interdependence

- In an increasing global society, human security is strengthened
human security deals with everyday challenges humans face that involve military issues

Human security focuses on 7 aspects

Economic security Food security Health security Environmental security Personal security Community security Political security

Pluralism and Interdependence

-

Global issues tackle the new period in international relations or post-international politics Global issues indicates how globalization intertwines many aspects of human activities and how essential it is to adopt an interdisciplinary approach in order to understand our world and its impact in our lives

State Actors

Most important actors in IR are states. State: A territorial entity controlled by a government and inhabited by a population.

State government exercises sovereignty over its territory. Recognized as sovereign by other states Population forms a civil society; group identity Seat of government with a leader head of government or head of state

State Actors

The international system:

Set of relationships among the worlds states, structured according to certain rules and patterns of interaction. Modern international system has existed for less than 500 years. Nation-states Major source of conflict: Frequent mismatch between perceived nations and actual borders. Populations vary dramatically. Great variation in terms of the size of states total annual economic activity

Great powers

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Most powerful of these states are called superpowers

Figure 1.1

State Actors

Not formally recognized as states

Taiwan: operates independently but claimed by China Formal colonies and possessions: Puerto Rico (U.S), Bermuda (British), Martinique (French), French Guiana, the Netherlands Antilles (Dutch), the Falkland Islands (British), and Guam (U.S.) Hong Kong (reverted from British to Chinese rule) The Vatican (Holy See) ambiguous status

Including various such territorial entities with states brings the world total to about 200 state or quasi-state actors. Other would-be states:

Kurdistan (Iraq), Abkhazia (Georgia), and Somaliland (Somalia) may fully control the territory they claim but are not internationally recognized

State actors are strongly influenced by a variety of nonstate actors.

Nonstate Actors

Called transnational actors when they operate across international borders

Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)

Examples: OPEC, WTO, African Union, UN Vary in size from a few states to the whole UN membership

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)

NGO, House of Peace

Private organizations; no single pattern Examples: Amnesty International, Red Cross

Nonstate Actors

Multinational corporations

Companies that span multiple countries Exist within one country but either influence that countrys foreign policy or operate internationally, or both Example: State of Ohio (entirely a U.S. entity) operates an International Trade Division

Substate actors

Table 1.2

Many actors involved in IR

Levels of Analysis

Response: IR scholars sorted out the influences, actors, and processes, and categorize them into different levels of analysis

Leads to complexity of competing explanations and theories

Example of applying different levels of analysis

Perspective on IR based on a set of similar actors or processes that suggests possible explanations to why questions Individual, domestic (state or societal), interstate, global levels of analysis

No correct level for a given why question. Levels of analysis help suggest multiple explanations and approaches to consider in trying to explain an event.

War in Iraq

Table 1.3

Interdependence and globalization

Interdependence- a political and economic situation in which two states are simultaneously dependent on each other for well-being Globalization the integration of markets, politics, values and environmental concerns across borders

Periods of globalization
First wave of globalization is as old as human civilization Second wave of globalization is associated with the European conquest of Asia, Latin America and Africa Third wave of globalization which began in 1870 and declined around 1914 was marked by breakthrough in technological developments, global production of primary commodities and mass migration; 1914-1945 Fourth wave of globalization was from 1945 to 1980 spurred by retreat of nationalism and protectionism and the strengthening of internationalism and global cooperation, led by U.S. Fifth wave of globalization is the current period characterized by unprecedented interdependence among nations and the powerful nonstate actors

Causes of Globalization

Natural desire of man Revolutions in transportation Financial market integration Advances in military and medical technology

Forms of globalization

Economic and trade globalization Financial globalization Political globalization Military globalization Cultural globalization

Resistance to globalization

Mainly coming from U.S.A. and France

Globalization

Globalization: Three conceptions of/schools of thought on this process compete.

1. 2.

3.

Globalization as the fruition of liberal economic principles/global marketplace Perspective characterized by skepticism: Worlds major economies are more integrated today than before WWI. North-South divide increasing with globalization; distinct and rival regional blocs; fragmenting of larger units into smaller ones Globalization as more profound than the skeptics believe, yet more uncertain than the view of supporters of liberal economics.

Globalization is changing both international security and IPE, but IPE more quickly and profoundly.

Figure 1.2

Table 1.5

Myths/Debates(?) globalization
(1) Downward pressure on wages
- a more significant factor is technology

(2) The race to the bottom

- Globalization has not caused the worlds multinational corporations to simply scour the globe in search of the lowest-paid laborers.

(3) Globalization is irreversible

-In the long run, globalization is likely to be an unrelenting phenomenon. But for significant periods of time, its momentum can be hindered by a variety of factors, ranging from political will to availability of infrastructure

(4) Openness to globalization will, on its own, deliver economic growth - Integrating with the global economy is, as economists like to say, a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for economic growth. (5) The shrinking state -Technologies that facilitate communication and commerce have curbed the power of some despots throughout the world, but in a globalized world governments take on new importance in one critical respect, namely, setting, and enforcing, rules with respect to contracts and property rights.

Global Issues: Challenges of Globalization Week 1