TH E G LO
O F W O RLD An 'in inttrod odu uct ctio ion n
to in intternationaL
reLations
4e
J ohn Ba Bay ylis· St Ste eve Sm Smiith • P atricia Ow Owe ens
• Introduction
16
• Making sense of globalization··
16
• Conceptualizing globalization
18
• Contemporary globalization
20
• A wo w orld transformed: globalization and distorted global politics • Fro From m dis distor torted ted glo global bal pol politi itics cs to cosmop cosmopoli olitan tan
·
politics?··········· ········· ········· ········· ········· ········· ········· ········· ········ ··· global glo bal politics?·······
• Conclusion
23
29 32
world wo rld po polit litics, ics, even if conce concept ptuall ually y distinct stinct,, are practically insep inseparab arable le.. It al also so req equir uires es re retthi hink nking ing man any y of This Th is chap chaptter of offfer ers s an acco accou unt of gl glob obal aliz izat atio ion n an and d it its s
the th e traditiona traditionall organizing assump as sumptions tions and instit institut utions ions
consequen conseq uences ces for world politics ics.. It def defines ines glob globalizaaliza-
of mod oder ern n po poli littica icall li life fe-fr -from om
tion as a histor historica icall pr proces ocess s wh which ich in invo volv lves es the wi wide denn-
racy ra cy-si -sinc nce e
ing,, deepe ing deepenin ning, g, spe speed eding ing up and growin growing g im impa pact ct of
simpl ply y or orga gani nized zed al alon ong g na nattio iona nall or ter erri rittor oria iall
worldwiide inte worldw interconnect rconnectedness edness.. This pro process, cess, how howeve ever, r,
The Th e ra radi dica call lly y une nev ven distrib distribut ution ion of power power in tod today ay''s
is hi high ghly ly un une even su such ch that that fa farr fr fro om br brin ingi ging ng ab abou outt a
world wo rld,, how howev ever er,, mak akes es fo forr a distor distortted glo globa ball po polit litics ics
more coop cooperat erative ive wo world rld it generat generate es pow powerf erful ul sour sources ces
in whic which h the int inter erest ests s of the the few more more often tha han n no nott
of fri fricti ction on,, co conf nfli lict ct,,
tak ake e pr prece ecede dence nce ov over er the the intere erest sts s of the the majo ajori ritty of
and an d fr frag agm men enttat atio ion. n.
It also ha has s
sov so vere ereignt ignty to democ-
in a gl glob obal alize ized d wor orld ld po pow wer is no no longer longer line li nes s.
thoug th ough h
humankind.. Whe humankind Whetthe herr a mor more e just and dem democr ocrat atic ic glo glo--
it by no mean eans, s, as many many hav have e ar argu gued ed or de desire sired, d, pr pree-
bal politi politics cs can be fashion fashioned ed out of the cont contem empor porary ary
figur fig ures es it its s demise. demise. Globali Globalizat zation ion is tra ransf nsfor orm min ing g wo world rld
global glo bal con condit dition ion is a mat mattter of int inten ense se deb debat ate e am amon ong g
polit pol itics ics and thi this s cha chapt pter er ex explo plore res s som some e of tho hose se sig sig--
theorists, th eorists, pract practioners ioners,, an and d polit political act activ ivist ists s ali alike. ke. This
nifica nif icant nt tra transf nsfor orm mat ation ions. s.
It con conclu clude des s tha hatt a con concep cep--
chapte chap terr has thre three e int interr errelat elated ed obje objecti ctives ves:: to elucidat elucidate e
tua uall shift shift in our think thinking ing is requir required ed to gr grasp asp fully fully the
and elabo elaborat rate e th the e conce concept pt of globaliza globalizati tion; on; to ex examine
nature nat ureof of th these ese chan changes ges.. Th This is conce concep ptua uall sh shif iftt in inv volves
and ex expl plor ore e it its s im impli plicat cation ions s for world world po polit litics ics;; and to
embra em bracing cing th the e idea of glob global al poli politi tics cs:: the po poli littics of
reflec refle ct up upon on the the key normativ normative issue ssues s it po poses ses for the
an em embr bryo yoni nic c glo globa ball soci societ ety y in which which domest estic ic an and d
study stu dy of world world politics ics..
impor im porta tant nt conseq consequen uences ces for the the nat nation-st ion-stat ate e
Introduction
, -
Globalization-simply
the widening,
speeding up of worldwid e
deepening,
and
interconnectedness-is
a
international
relations-which
very distinction-provide
are constructed
upon this
at best only a partial insight
contentious issue in the stud y of world politics. Some-the
into the forces shaping the contemporary wor ld (Rosenau
hyperglobalists-argue
in Mans bach, Ferguson, and Lampert 1976: 22).
that it is bringing
demise of the sovereign nation-state undermine their
the
a bility
own economies
the
as global forces
of governments and societies
Scholte 2000). Other s-the
about to
control
(Ohmae
hardly surprising such intense
that glo balization
d e bate. Accor dingly,
should engender this chapter
com-
the idea
mences by elucidating the conce pt of globalization before
of globalization as so much 'globaloney', and argue that
ex ploring its implications for the stud y of wor ld politics.
states and geopolitics remain the principal forces shaping
The chapter is organized into three main sections: section
world order (Kr asner 1999; Gilpin 2001). This chapter
one will addr ess several interrelated
takes a rather different appr oach-a
transformationalist
What is globalization? How is it best conce ptualized
perspective-ar guing
the
d efined? How is it manifest today, most es pecially given
and sceptics
sceptics-re ject
1995;
Since it is such a 'slippery' and misused concept it is
that
both
alik e exagger ate
thereby misconstr ue
their
hy perglobalists ar guments
the contemporar y
and
world ord er .
By contrast, while the transfor mationalist
pers pective
takes globalization ser iously, it acknowled ges
that it is
questions, namely: and
the events of 9/11? Is it really all that new? Section two will discuss the ways in which glo balization is contributing to the emergence of a distorted global politics which is highly skewed in f avour of a global power elite and to the
leading not so much to the d emise of the sovereign state
exclusion of the major ity of humankind .
but to a globalization of politics: to the emergence of a
three will r eflect upon the ethical challenges posed by the
conspicuously global politics in which the traditional
realities of this distorted global politics. It examines cur·
distinction between domestic and international
rent thinking about the conditions, and prospects,
is not terribly
meaningf ul.
Under these
affairs
Finally, section
f or a
conditions
more humane global politics which isboth mor e inclusive
'politics everywhere, it would seem, are r elated to politics
of, and r esponsive to, those in greatest need in the global
ever ywhere else' such that the or thodox approaches to
community.
Making sense of globalization
Over the last three decad es the sheer scale and scope of glo bal inter connected ness
has become increasingly evi-
d ent in ever y sphere f ro m the economic to the cultural. Wor ld w ide economic integration has intensif ied as the ex pansion of glo bal commerce,
f inance, and pro-
Every day over $1.88 trillion flows across the world 's foreign exc~ange markets so that no gover nment,
even
the most power fu l, has the resources to r esist sustained s peculation against its currency and ther eby the credibility of its economic policy (see Ch. 26). In 1992 the British
d uction links together the fate of nations, communi-
government was forced to a bandon its economic str ategy
ties, and households across the world's ma jor economic
and devalue the pound as it came under sustained attack
r egions and beyond within an emer ging global market
from currency speculator s.
economy. Crises in one region, whether the collapse of
Transnational
corporations
now account
for be-
the Argentinean economy in 2002 or the East Asian r eces-
tween 25 and 33 per cent of world output,
sion of 1997, take their toll on jobs, prod uction, savings,
cent of wor ld tr a de, and 80 per cent of international
and investment many thousands of miles away, while a
investment,
slowdown in the US economy is felt everywhere from
exceed s consid era bly
Birmingham to Bangkok .
them key player s in the glo bal economy controlling
while overseas production
70 per
by these firms
the level of world exports, making the
location and distribution
of economic and technological
resources. New modes and infrastr uctures
of glo bal communi-
cation have made it possible to organize and mo bilize
Globalization is va r iously def ined in the literature as:
wor ldwid e protests in ear ly
'The intensif i cation of wor ldwide social relations w hich link distant loca lities in suc h a way that loca l hap penings are shaped by event s occurring many mil es away and vice versa.'
2003 against military intervention in Iraq and the 45,000
(Giddens 1990: 21)
like-minded people across the glo be in virtual real time, as expressed in coor d inated international
non-governmental
organizations (NGOs),
from Green peace to the Climate Action Network, not to mention the activities of transnational
criminal and ter-
rorist networks, from dr ugs cartels to AI Qaeda. With a global communications also come the transnational and infor mation, tural
has
the growth of supraterritorial
spread of ideas, cultures,
from Madonna
among lik e-minded
infrastr ucture
3 'De-territorialization--or ... relations between peo ple.'
to Muham~ad,
both
peoples and between d i fferent cul-
grou ps-reinforcing
simultaneous
towards both an expand ed among the like-minded
tendencies
sense of glo bal solid arity
and difference, if not outr ight
the multiple ways in which the security and prosperity of communities
in d i fferent regions of the world is
hostility, between different cultures, nations, and ethnic
bound together . A single terrorist bombing in Bali has
groupings.
repercussions for public perceptions of secur ity in Europe
People-with
their cultures-are
their millions-whether migration
also on the move in
legally or illegally-with
glo bal
almost on a scale of the great nineteenth-
century movements but transcend ing
and the USA, while agricultural subsidies in the USA and the EU have significant consequences for the livelihoods of far m ers in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
all continents, f rom
We inhabit a wor ld in which the most distant events
south to north and east to west, while over 600 million
can rapidly, if not almost instantaneously, come to have
tourists are on the move every year.
very profound consequences for our individual and collec-
As globalization has proceeded so has the recognition of transnational
problems
requiring
global regulation,
from climate change to the proliferation
of weapons of
mass destruction. Dealing with these transnational has led to an explosive growth of transnational bal for m s of rule-making
issues
and glo-
and regulation. This is evid ent
tive prosper ity and perceptions of security. For those of a sceptical persuasion, however, this is far from a novel condition nor is it necessarily evidence of globalization if that term means something
interdependence, that is linkages between countries.
What, then,
d istinguishes
in both the expanding jurisdiction of established interna-
zation from notions
tional organizations , such as the International Monetary
depend ence?
Fund
more than simply international the concept
of glo bali-
of internationalization
or inter -
What, in other words, is globalization?
or the International Civil Aviation Organization, and
the liter ally thousands of informal networks of cooperation between par allel gover nment agencies in different countr ies, fr om the Financial Action Task Force (which brings together government exper ts on money-laundering
from
different countries) and the Du blin Group (which brings together drug enforcement agencies fr om the Euro pean Union, USA, and other countries). With the recognition of global pro blems and global interconnectedness
has come a growing awareness of
• Ov er the last three decade s the sheer scale and scope of glo bal interconne ctedness has bec ome incr eas ingly eviden t in every s phere from the economic to the cultural. Sceptics do not regar d this as evidence of globalization if that term means something more than simply international interdependence, i .e. linkages bet ween countries. The key issue be comes what we under s tan d by the term ·globalization'.
Conceptualizing globalization Initially, it might be helpful to think of globalization as a
bounded
process characterized by:
sceptics refer to it, the concept of globalization seeks to
national states, or internationalization
as the
capture the dramatic shift that is underway in the organi• a stretching of social, political, and economic activi-
zation of human affairs: from a world of discrete but
ties across political frontiers so that events, decisions,
interdependent
and activities in one region of the world come to have
social space. The concept of globalization
significance for individuals and communities
ries with it the implication
in dis-
national states to the world as a shared therefore car-
of an unfolding process of
tant regions of the globe. Civil wars and conflict in the
structural change in the scale of human social and eco-
world's poorest regions, for instance, increase the flow
nomic organization.
of asylum seekers and illegal migrants into the world 's
political activities being organized primarily on a local or
affluent countries;
national scale today, they are also increasingly organized
• the intensification, or the growing magnitude , of inter-
on a transnational
Rather than social, economic, and
or global scale. Globalization therefore
connectedness, in almost every sphere of social existence
denotes a significant shift in the scale of social organiza-
from the economic to the ecological, from the activities
tion, in every sphere from the economic to the security,
of Microsoft to the spread of harmful microbes, such as
transcending
the SARS virus, from the intensification of world trade to the spread of weapons of mass destruction; • the accelerating pace of global interactions cesses as the evolution transport
of worldwide
and communication
the world's major regions and continents.
Central to this structural
change are contemporary
informatics technologies and infrastructures and pro-
systems
of
increases the rapidity
nication and transportation.
of commu-
These have greatly facilitated
new forms and possibilities of virtual real-time worldwide organization and coordination, from the operations
or velocity with which ideas, news, goods, information,
of multinational corporations to the worldwide mobiliza-
capital, and technology move around the world. Routine
tion and demonstrations
telephone
ment. Although geography and distance still matter , it is
banking transactions
in the UK are dealt
with by call centres in India in real time;
nevertheless
• the growing extensity, intensity, and velocit y of global interactions
is associated with a deepening
enmesh-
of the anti-globalization
the case that glo balization
with a process of time-space shrinking world-in
move-
is synonymous a
compression-literally
which the sources of even very local
ment of the local and global in so far as local events
developments,
may come to have global consequences
may be traced to distant conditions or decisions. In this
and global
events can have serious local consequences, a growing collective awareness
creating
or consciousness
from unemployment
to ethnic conflict,
respect globalization embodies a process of deterritori-
of
alization: as social, political, and economic activities are
the world as a shared social space, that is globality or
increasingly 'stretched' across the globe, they become in a
globalism. This is expressed, among other ways, in the
significant sense no longer organized solely according to a
worldwide diffusion of the very idea of globalization
strictly territorial logic. Terrorist and criminal networks,
itself as it becomes incorporated
for instance, operate both locally and globally. National
into the world's many
languages, from Mandarin to Gaelic.
economic space, under conditions of globalization, is no longer coterminous with national territorial space since,
As this brief description
suggests, there is more to the
for example, many of the UK's largest companies
have
concept of globalization than simply interconnectedness.
their headquarters
It implies that the cumulative scale, scope, velocity, and
panies now outsource
depth of contemporar y
East Asia among other locations. This is not to argue
interconnectedness
is dissolving
the significance of the borders and boundaries
which
abroad while many domestic comtheir production
to China and
that territory and borders are now irrelevant, but rather
separate the world into its some 193 constituent states or
to acknowledge
national economic and political s paces (Rosenau 1997).
their r elative significance, as constraints
Rather than growing interdependence
action and the exercise of power, is declining. In an era of
between discrete
that under conditions
of globalization upon social
Tak e just one component of the iPod nan o, the centr a l microchip pr o vided by the U.S.com pany PortalPlayer. The core techno logy of the chip is licensed from British firm ARM and is mod ified by PortalPlayer's pr o gramm ers in Calif o rnia, Washington State, a nd Hyderabad. PortalPlaye r then work s with microchip design com panies in California that send the finished design to a 'foundry' in Taiwa n (China) that pr o duces 'wafer s ' (thin metal disks) imprinted with thousand s of chips. The capital costs of these foundries can be more than $2 .5 million. These wafer s ar e then cut up into individual disk s and sent elsewher e in Taiwan (China) where each one is tested. The chips are then encased in plastic and r eadied for
instantaneous organization,
real-time
global
the d istinction
communication
and
assembly by Silicon-War e in Taiwan (China) and Amkor in the Re public of Korea. The finished micr ochi p is then war e housed in Hong Kong (China) bef o re being transported to mainland China where the iPod is assem bled. Wor k ing conditions and wages in China are low relative to Western standards and levels. Many wor ker s live in dor m itories and work long hours. It is suggested that ove rtime is compulsor y. Nevertheless, wages are higher than the average of the region in which t h e assem bly plants are located and allow for substantial transfers to rural areas and hen ce contribute to declining rur a l pover y. PortalPlayer was only established in 1999 but had revenues in e xcess of $225 million in 2005. Por talPlayer's chief executive of f icer has argued that the outsourcing to countries such as India and Taiwan (China) of 'non -critical asp ects of your business' has been crucial to the development of the f irm and its innova tion: 'it al lows you to become nimbler and spend R&D dollars on core strengths .' Since 2003, soon after the iPo d was launched, the share pr ice of Apple, the company that produces and sells the iPod, has risen from just over $6 to over $60. Those who own shar es in A p ple ha ve benef ited f rom the globalization of the iPod. So ur ce: C. joseph, 'The iPod's Incredible journey', Mai l on Su nd ay , 15 July 2006 ; 'Meet the iPod's "Intel'" Bu siness Tr end s , 32(4) (April),2006
political glo balization-many
other actors, from interna-
between the d o mestic and
tional organizations to criminal networks, exercise power
the international, insid e and outside the state br eak s d own.
within, across, and against states. States no longer have a
Ter ritorial bord er s no longer d emar cate the bound ar ies
monopoly of power r esour ces whether economic, coer-
of national economic or political s pace.
cive, or political.
A 'shrinking world' im plies that sites of power and the
To summar ize:
glo balization
is a process
which
subjects of power quite liter ally may be continents a part.
involves much mor e than simply growing connections or
Under these conditions the location of power cannot be
interdepend ence
disclosed simply by reference to local cir cumstances.
As
the War in Ir aq (2003-) demonstrates, the k ey sites of glo bal power, whether in Washington,
the United Nations
in New Yor k, or London, ar e quite literally oceans apar t from the local communities
between states. It can be d efined as:
whose d estiny they may
A historical tr ansformation or ganization
pr ocess involving a f undamental in the spatial that
links
scale of human
d istant
communities
shif t or social and
ex pands the reach of power relations across regions and continents.
determine. In this regard globalization involves the idea that power, whether economic,
political, and cultur al
Such a d ef inition ena bles us to distinguish globalization
or militar y is increasingly or ganized and exer cised at a
f r om mor e s patially delimited processes such as inter-
distance. As such the conce pt of globalization
nationalization and regionalization. Wher eas
interna-
the relative denationalization of power in so far as, in
tionalization refers to growing interdepend ence
between
an increasingly interconnected
states, the ver y idea of internationalization
d enotes
global system, power is
pr esumes
organized and exercised on a trans regional, transnational,
that they remain discrete national
or transcontinental
demarcated border s. By contr a st, globalization refers to a
basis while-see
the discussion
of
units with clearly
If globalization
refers to transcontinental
or tran-
sregional networks, flows, or inter connectedness, regionalization
' .. . 2 00 4 was still a good one for globalization. International trade grew by a robust 9 percent, and trade became more central to most national economies. Trade in merchandise led the way, gr ow ing even faster than ser v ices. Many countries in the developing wo rld shared in the profits as commodit y prices soared, thanks to powerful demand from China. And it wasn 't just steel, fuel, and concrete that headed east. So too did piles of mostly Western cash: Foreign investment in Asiajumped 45 percent from the p r evious year . Latin America also got a boo st from f o reign investors, who upped their ante in the region b y 44 percent. O verall, foreign direct investment increased 9 percent, and most of that increase was due to investment in developing countries .'
then
can be conceived as the intensification
of patterns of interconnectedness
and integr ation among
states which share common borders or ar e geographically proximate as in the European Union (see Ch.25). Accordingly, whereas flows of trade and finance between the world 's three major economic blocs-North Asia Pacific, and Europe-constitute
America,
globalization,
by
contr ast, such flows within these blocs ar e best described as regionalization.
process in which the very distinction between the domestic and the external breaks down. Distance and time are colla psed, so that events many thousands of miles away can come to have almost immediate local consequences while the impacts of even more localized developments may be diffused rapidly around the globe. This is not to argue that distance and border s are now irr elevant. It is rather to acknowled ge that, under conditions of globalization, their r elative S igni ficance , as limits upon the exercise of power, is not quite so strong as it may have been
• Globalization is evident in the growing exten sity, intensity, velocity, and deepening impact of worldwide interconnectedness. • Globalization denotes a shift in the scale of social organization, the emergence of the world as a shared social s pac e, the relative deterritorialization of social, economic , and political activity, and the relative denationalization of power . • Globalization can be conceptualized a s a fundamental shift or transf o r ma tion in the spatial sca le of huma n social organization that links distant communities and ex pands the reach of pow er relations across regions and continents. • Globalization is to be distinguished from internationalization and regionalization.
in the past.
Contemporary globalization
According to John Gray, the cataclysmic attacks on the
1999; Gilpin 2002). By contrast, for many of a more glo-
United States on 11 September 2001 heralded a new
balist persuasion,
epoch in world affairs, 'The era of globalization is over'
has engendered are evidence of a pervasive ' clash of glo-
(Nairn 2002). States have reasserted their power and bor-
balizations'. This is expressed in the f or m of a heighten-
ders have been sealed, however imperfectly, in response
ing confrontation
to the perceived worldwide terrorist threat. Measured in
modernity (i.e. ways oflife) and the globalization of reac-
terms of flows within the circuits of the world-economy,
tions against it. What is at issue here, at least in part , are
economic globalization undoubtedly stalled by compari-
differing (theoretical
son with the position at the turn of the centur y. This has
globalization.
been seized u pon by those of a sceptical persuasion conf ir mation
of their argument
as
(Hir st and Thompson
9/11 and the climate of insecurity it
between the globalization of Western
and historical)
interpretation s
of
One of the problems of the sceptical argument is that it tends to conflate globalization
solely with economic
2003). Sceptics conclude that not only has globalization
trend s. It thus tends to overlook other evid ence. Indeed,
been highly exagger a ted but it is a myth which has con-
contemporar y
globalization
is not a singular process:
cealed the reality of a wor ld which is less interdepend-
it oper ates within all aspects of social life fr om politics
ent than it was in the nineteenth century and one which
to production,
remains dominated by geopolitics (Hirst and Thom pson
cation. It is implicated directly and indirectly in many
culture to crime, and economics to edu-
Sceptical accounts of globalization tend to dismiss its significance for the study of world politics. They do so on the grounds that: By compar ison with the period 1870 to 1914, the wor ld is much less glo bal ized economically, politically, and cultur ally. 2 Rather than globalization, the con temporar y world is marked b y intensifying geopolitic s, regionalization, and internationalization. 3 The vast bulk of int ernational economic and political activity is con centrated within the group of OECD state s. 4 By co mparison with the heyday of European global empires, the ma jority of the wor ld's population and countries in the South are now much less integrated into the global system.
5 Geopolitics, state power, nationalism , and territorial boundaries are of gr owing, not less, importance in world politics. 6 Inter nationaliza tion o r regionalization are creatures of state policy not corporate actors or capitalist imperatives. 7 Glo balization is at best a self -ser v ing myth or ideolo gy which reinf o r c es Wester n and par ticular ly US hegemony in wor ld politics. (Hirst and Thompson 7999,2003; Ha y 2000 ; Ho ogvelt 2007; Gilpin 2002)
aspects of our daily lives, from the elothes we wear, the
tary globalization. To this extent contempor ar y globalization
food we eat, the knowledge we accumulate, throqgh to our
is highly uneven, with the result that in seeking to under stand
individual and collective sense of security in an uncertain
it we have to ask the prior question: the globalization of
world. Evidence of globalization is all around us: universi-
what? Contrar y to the sceptics, it is cr ucial to r ecognize
ties are literally global institutions from the recruitment
that globalization is a complex multidimen sional
of students to the dissemination
patterns of economic globalization and cultural globaliza-
To understand
contemporary
of academic research. globalization
pr ocess:
therefore
tion are not identical. In this respect, to draw gener al con-
requires a mapping of the distinctive patterns of world-
elusions about globalizing trend s simply fr om one domain
wide inter connectedness
in all of the key sectors of social
produces a f alse picture. As noted , in the af termath of 9/11
activity, from the economic and the political through to
the slowdown in economic glo balization was her ald ed by
the militar y, the cultural, and the ecological.
sceptics as marking the end of glo balization yet this ignored
As Box 1.4 illustrates, globalization is occurring, albeit
the acceler ating pace of globalization in the militar y, tech-
with var ying intensity and at a varying pace, in every domain
nological, and cultural domains. Moreover, what is highly
of social activity. Of course it is more ad vanced in some
distinctive a bout contemporar y globalization is the conflu-
domains than others. For instance, economic globalization is
ence of globalizing tendencies across all the key domains of
much more extensive and intensive than is cultural or mili-
social activity. Signif icantly, these tend encies have proved
Glo balization, to var y ing degrees, is evident in all the principal sectors of social activity:
institution s such as the International Cr iminal C ourt is indicative of an emer g ing global le gal order .
Economic: in the economic sphere, patter n s of wor ldwide trade, finance, and pr o duction are cr e ating glo bal markets and , in the process, a single global capitalist e conomy-what Castells (2000) calls 'global informational capitalism'. Multinational corporati ons or g anize production and marketing on a global basis while the oper ation of global financial mar kets determines which countr ies get cr e dit and upon what terms.
Ecological: a shared ecology involves shared envir o nmental pr o blems, from glo bal warming to species pr o tection , alongside the creation of multilateral re s pon ses and regimes of glbal environmental governance.
Military : in the militar y domain the global arm s trade, the p roliferation of wea pons of mass de struction, the growth of transnational ter ror ism, the growing significance of transnational military corpora tions, and the discourse of globa l insecur ity point to the ex istence of a global military order.
ously with the reassertion of nationalism, ethnicity , and difference. But few cultures are hermetically sealed off from cultural interaction.
legal: the expansion of transnational and internationa l law from trade to human rights alongside the creation of new world legal
Cultural: involves a complex mix of homogenization and increased heterogeneity given the global diffusion of popular culture, global media corporations, communications networks, etc., simultane-
Soc ial: shif ting patter n s of migration from South to North and East to West ha\7e t 'urned migration intO a ma jor glo bal issue as movements come close to the record levels of the great nineteenthcentury movements of peo ple .
remar kably r obust in the face of global instability and militar y conf licts. If patterns
Given such asymmetries
it should not be surprising
to learn that globalization does not prefigure the emerof contemporary
globalization
are une-
gence of a global community or an ethic of global coop-
ven, they are also highly asymmetrical. It is a common
eration. On the contrary, as 9111 tragically demonstrated,
misconception
globalization
the more the world becomes a shared social space the
implies universalism: that the 'global' in globalization
greater the sense of division, d ifference, and conflict it
implies that all regions or countries must be similar ly
creates. Asymmetrical
enmeshed in worldwide processes. This is plainly not the
ceived beyond the OECD core as Western globalization,
case for it very markedly involves differential patterns of
provok ing
enmeshment, giving it what Castells calls its'variable geom -
counter -reactions,
etry' (Castells 2000). The rich OECD countries are much
zation movement to the actions of different cultural or
more globalized than many of the poorest sub-Saharan
national
African states. Globalization is not uniformly experienced
enous culture and way of life. Rather than a more coop-
across all regions, countries, or even communities since it
erative world order, contemporary
is inevitably a highly asymmetrical process. Even within
respects, has exacerbated existing tensions and conflicts,
OECD states and sub-Saharan African states many elites
generated new divisions and insecurities, creating a more
are in the vanguard of globalization
unruly world . Globalization is a complex process embod-
of many
sceptics
that
while others find
themselves excluded . As a highly asymmetrical
process
globalization
is principally
per-
fears of a new imperialism and significant from the protests of the anti-globali-
communities
ying contradictory
seeking to protect
their indig-
globalization, in many
tendencies towards global integration
globalization exhibits a distinctive geography of inclu-
and fragmentation,
sion and exclusion, resulting in clear winners and losers
disorder. This has been its history. Violence has always
not just between countries but within and across them.
been central to globalization, whether in the form of the
For the most affluent it may very well entail a shrinking
'New Imperialism' of the 1890s or the current 'war on glo-
world-jet
travel, global television and the Wor ld Wide
bal terror'.
Web-but
for the largest slice of humanity it tends to be
cooperation
and conflict, order and
By comparison with previous per iod s , contem porary
associated with a profound sense of disempowerment.
glo balization
Inequality is inscribed deeply in the ver y processes of
dense patterns of global interconnectedness,
contemporar y
their unpr eced ented
globalization
such that it is more accu-
rately described as asymmetrical globalization.
combines
a remark a ble
institutionalization
global and r egional infrastructures
confluence
contemporary Ex planations of glo balization tend to f ocus on three interrelated factors, name ly: technics (technological change and social or ganization); economics (mar kets and ca pitalism); and politics ( pow er , interests, and institutions). Technics is central to any account of globalization since it is a truism that without modern communications infrastructures, in par ticular . a global system or worldwide economy would not be possib le. Economics-crucial as technology is, so too is its specifically economic logic. Capitalism's insatiable requirement for new mar kets and profits lead inevitably to the globalization of economic activity. Politics-shorthand here for ideas, interests, and power-constitutes the third logic of globalization. If technology provides the physical inf r a structure of globalization, politics provides its normative inf rastructure. Go vernments, such as those of the USA and the UK, have been critical actor s in nurturing the process of globalization.
cor porations. patter ns
alongside
through
new
of control and com-
munication, from the World Trade Organization to transnational
of
(WTO)
In nearly all domains
of globalization
have not only
sur passed those of earlier e pochs, but also dis played unpar alleled
qualitative differences-that
is in terms of
Globalization is not a novel phenomenon. Viewed as a secular historical process by which human civilizations have come to form a single wor l d system, it has occurred in three distinct waves. In the f ir s t wave, the age of discover y (1450-1850), globalization was decisively shaped by Eu ropean ex pansion and conq uest. The second wave (1850-1945) evidenced a majo r expansion in the s pr e ad and ent renchme nt of European empires. By comparison, contemporary globalization (1960 on) marks a new epoch in human aff a irs. Just as the industrial revolution and the expansion of the West in the nineteenth century defined a new age in world history, so today the microchip and the satellite are icons of a globalized world order.
how globalization
is or ganized and managed . The exist-
ence of new real-time structures,
global communications
infra-
in which the world literally is transformed
into a single social s pace, distinguishes tempor ary
globalization
ver y clearly con-
from that of the past. In these
r es pects it is best described as a thick for m of globaliza-
in its conduct
of national economic policy. Thick glo-
balization embod ies a powerful systemic logic in so far as it structures
the context in which states operate and
thereby defines the parameters fore has significant
of state power . It there-
consequences
for how we under -
stand wor ld politics.
tion or globalism (Held, McGrew et al. 1999; Keohane and Nye 2003). As such it delineates the set of constraints and opportunities
which
confront
governments
and
thereby
conditions
their f re edom of action or autonomy, most
es pecially
in the economic
unprecedented
r ealm. For instance,
scale of global financial
the
flows at over
$1.88 trillion a day imposes a significant discipiine on any government,
• The contempor ary phase of glo baliza tion h as pro ved more r o bust in the after m ath of 9/11 than the scept ics recognize . • Contemporar y glo balization is a multidimensiona l, uneven, and asymmetrical process. • Contemporar y globalization is best descr i bed as a thick form of globa lization or globalism .
even the most economically powerful,
A world transformed: globalization and distorted global politics
Consid er a political map of the world: its most striking
normative structure or constitution
featur e is the d ivision of the entire ear th's surface into
order. At the heart of the Westphalian
over 190 neatly defined terr itorial
units, namely states.
agreement among Europe's ruler s to r ecognize each oth-
To a student of politics in the Mid dl e Ages such a rep-
er 's right to rule their own ter ri tor ies fr e e from outside
resentation of the world, which gave primacy to borders
interference. This was codified over time in the doctrine
and boundaries, would make little sense. Historically, bor-
of sovereign statehood. But it was only in the twentieth
der s ar e a relatively recent invention, as is the idea that
centur y, as global empires colla psed , that sovereign state-
states ar e sovereign, self-governing,
hood
ited political communities
territorially
or polities. Although
a convenient fiction, this pr esumption to orthod o x state-centric
conceptions
delimtoday
remains central of world politics
as the pursuit of power and interests between sovereign
and with it national
of the modern world settlement
self-determination
acquired the status of univer sal
organizing
was
finally
principles
of world order. Contrar y to Pope Innocent's desires, the Westphalian Constitution
by then had come to colonize
the entire planet.
states. Glo balization, however, calls this state-centric con-
Constitutions are important because they establish the
ception of wor ld politics into question. Tak ing globaliza-
location of legitimate political authority within a polity
tion seriously therefore requires a conce ptual shift in the way we think about world politics. Box 1.7 The Westphalian Constitution
of world politics
The Peace Tr eaties of Westphalia and Osnabruck
(1648)
established the legal basis of modern statehood
and by
im plication
the fundamental
rules or constitution
of
mod ern world politics. Although Pope Innocent referred to the Westphalian settlement at the time as 'null, repro bate and devoid of meaning for all time: in the course of the su bsequent
four centuries
it has formed
the
Ter ritor iality: h um an kin d is organized principally into e xclusive territorial (political) communities with fixed borders. 2 Sovereignty: within its borders the state or go vernment has an entitlement to supr e me, unqualified, and exclusive political and lega l author ity. 3 Autonomy: the pr i nci ple of self-deter m ination or self-governance constr u cts countries as autonomous containers of political, social, and economic activity in that fixed border s separate the domestic s phere f r o m the wo r ld outside.
and the rules which infor m the exercise and limits of political power . In codif ying and legitimating the principle of sovereign statehood
the Westphalian
Constitution
gave birth to the modern states-system. It welded together the idea of territoriality with the notion of legitimate
Bor ders and territor y still remain important, istrative
purposes. Under conditions
not least f or admin-
of globalization,
however ,
sovereign rule. Westphalian sover eignty located supreme
a new geography of political organization and political power is
legal and political authority within ter ri tor ially d elimited
emerging which transcends territories and borders.
states. Sovereignty
involved
to exclusive, unqualified,
the rightful
and supr eme
entitlement
r ule within a
d elimited territory. It was exclusive in so far as no ruler had the right to inter vene
in the sover eign aff airs of
The sover eign power and author i ty of national gover nment-the entitlement
of states to rule within their own ter ritor ial space-is
being transf ormed
but not necessar ily er oded . Sover eignty tod ay
other nations; unqualified in that within their territories
is incr easingly understood as the shar ed exer c ise of pu blic power
rulers had complete authority
and authority between national, regional. and global author ities.
over their subjects; and
supreme in that there was no legal or political authority beyond the state. Of course for many, es pecially weak states, sover eignty-as
the legitimate claim to rule-has
not always tr anslated into ef fe ctive control within their territories.
As K ra sner
recognizes,
the
Westphalian
In a more interd e pendent
world , simply to achieve domestic
o b jectives national governments
are f orced to engage in extensive
multilateral collaboration and co-operation. embedded
in systems
But in becoming more
of global and r egional gover nance
states
system has f or many states been little mor e than a form
confront a real dilemma: in return f or more ef fective public policy
of 'organized hy pocr isy' (Krasner 1999). Never theless this
and meeting their citizens' demand s, whether in relation to the
never fundamentally
com promised
its influence upon
drugs trade or employment, that is state autonomy-is
their capacity for self -governancecom promised .
the developmental tr a jector y of world politics. Although the UN Charter and the Univer sal Declaration of Human R ights modified as pects of the Westphalian Constitution,
domestic policy, and instead start discussing economic policy, security policy, environmental
policy.
in qualif ying as pects of state sovereignty, it r emains the (quot e d in C usimano 2000: 6)
f ound ing covenant o f wor ld politics. However, many argue that contemporary
glo balization presents a fundamental
As the substantive issues of political lif e consistently ignor e
challenge to the Westphalian ideal of sovereign statehood
the artificial foreign/domestic divide, f r om the worldwide
and in so doing is transf orming
coordination ofanti -globalization protests to national courts
world or de r.
enforcing the rulings of the World Trade Organization, the Westphalian Constitution
From (state-centric) global politics
geopolitics to (geocentric)
nistic. A post-Westphalian
a ppears increasingly anachroworld order is emerging and
with it a dIstinctive form of global politics. To talk of global politics is to recognize that politics
As glo balization has intensif ied over the last f ive decades,
itself h as been glo balized and that as a consequence there is
it has become increasingly difficult to maintain the po pu-
much mor e to the study of world politics than conf lict and
lar fiction of the 'great divid e ': that is, tr eating political lif e
cooperation between states, even if this r emains crucial. In
as having two quite separate spheres of action, the domes-
other words, glo balization challenges the one-dimension-
tic and the international, which oper ate according to dif-
ality of orthod ox accounts of wor ld politics which con-
ferent logics with d if fer ent rules, actors, and agendas.
ceive it pur ely in terms of geopolitics and the struggle for
There is a growing recognition that, as former President
power between states. By contrast, the concept of global
Clinton d escribed it:
politics focuses our attention upon the global structures and processes of rule-making,
the once bright line between domestic and foreign policy is blurring. If I could do anything to change the speech patterns of those of us in public life, I would like almost to stop hearing people talk a bout foreign policy and
maintenance
problem-solving,
and the
of security and or d er in the world system
(Brown 1992). It requires us to acknowledge the im por tance of states and geopolitics but not a priori to gr ant
them a privileged status in understanding ing contemporary
and explain-
allocated and policies conducted
world affairs. For under conditions of
political globalization
in thickening and overlapping worldwide webs of: multiand the World Bank; transnational works, from the International
political processes' (Ougaard 2004: 5).
In other words, to how the global order is, or fails to be,
states are increasingly embedded
lateral institutions and multilateral politics such as
or transnational
through international
governed. Since the UN's creation in 1945 a vast nexus of glo-
NATO
associations and net-
bal and regional institutions
Chamber of Commerce to
by a proliferation
has evolved surrounded
of non-governmental
agencies and
the World Muslim Congress; global policy networks of
networks seeking to influence the governance of global
officials, corporate
affairs. While world government remains a fanciful idea,
and non-governmental
actors, deal-
ing with global issues, such as the Global AIDS Fund and
there does exist an evolving global governance complex-
the Roll Back Malaria Initiative; and those formal and
embracing states, international institutions, transnational
informal
networks and agencies (both public and private)-which
(transgovernmental)
networks of government
officials dealing with shared global problems, including
functions, with variable effect, to promote, regulate, or
the Basle Committee of central bankers and the Financial
intervene in, the common affair s of humanity (Fig. 1.2).
Action Task Force on money-laundering
Over the last five decades, its scope and impact have
Global politics directs our attention
(Fig. 1.1). to the emer-
expanded dramatically with the result that its activities
gence of a fragile global polity within which 'interests are
have become Significantly politicized, as global protests
articulated
against the WTO attest.
and aggregated, decisions are made, values
Government
0 Society
Transnational
civil
society e.g. MSF, ICe. FOE, AI, PMC, IASB, RAN
K E Y : AI
Amnesty
ARE EU
Asean Regional Forum African Union Europenan Union
FATF
Finacial Action Task Force
International
International
Friends of the Earth Group of 8 (US, Italy, UK, France,
RAN UNDP
UN Development
G77 GCA
Germany, Russia, Cannada, J apan & EU) Group of 77 developing countries Global credit agencies, e.g. Moodies,
WB WHO
World Bank World Health Organization
WIPO
World
IASB
Standard and poor International Accounting
ICC
International
IM F
(on money-laundering)
Chamber
This evolving global governance passes the multitude
among
and transnational
private-designed
Standards
complex
Board
encominter-
agencies-public
and or col-
lectively agreed goals through the making or implementing of global or transnational transborder
rules, and the regulation of
problems. A good illustration of this is the
creation of international
labour codes to protect vul-
nerable workers. The International
Convention
Property
Ringhts
World Trade Organization
governments,
to realize common purposes
Intellectual
Programme
Organization
of Commerce
of formal and informal structures
coordination
governmental
on tne
MERCOSUR MSF NATO PMC
AU
of political
Convention
Elimination of Child Labour International Monetary Fund Southem American Common Market Medecin sans Frontieres North Atlantic Treaty Organization Private military companies, e.g. Sandline Rainforest Action Network
on the
Elimination of Child Labour (ICECL), for instance, was
the product of a complex politics involving public and private actors from trade unions, industrial associations, humanitarian
groups, governments,
legal experts, not
forgetting officials and experts within the International Labour Organization (ILO). Within this global governance non-governmental ingly influential tation
of
global
agencies
complex
have
become
in the formulation public
policy.
private or increas-
and implemenThe
International
Accounting Standards Board establishes global accounting rules, while the major credit-rating
agencies, such
as Mood ys
and Standard
credit status of governments
and Poor , d eter mine and corpor ations
the
around
organizing, and exercising political power across national boundaries.
This has been f acilitated by the speed and
the glo be. This is a f orm of pr ivate
glo bal gover n-
ease of modern global communications
ance in which
r egulate,
awareness of common interests between groups in different
private
organizations
in the shad ow of glo bal pu blic authorities, glo bal economic
and social affairs.
In
often
as pects of
countries and regions of the world. At the 2006 Minister ial
those realms in
Meeting of the WTO in Hong Kong, the representatives
which it has become highly significant, mainly the eco-
of environmental,
nomic and the technological,
outnum bered
this pr ivate glo bal gover n-
ance involves a relocation of authority multilateral
from states and
bodies to non-governmental
organizations
and private agencies. Coextensive is an embryonic
with the global governance
the
inter national
com plex
transnational civil society. In recent
International
Chamber
of
organtzations Commerce,
corporate, and other interested parties
the formal re presentatives
Of course, not all the members reactionar y,
of government.
of transnational
society are either civil or representative; further du bious,
d ecades a plethor a ofNGOs, transnational (f ro m
and a growing
some seek to
or e ven criminal
while many lack effective accounta bility.
civil causes
Fur ther mor e,
ther e are considerable inequalities between the agencies of transnational
civil society in terms of resources, influence
and access to key centres of global decision-making.
trade unions, and the Rainforest Network
Multinational
corporations,
to the Catholic Chur ch), ad vocacy network s (from the
International,
have much greater access to centres of
women's movement
power, and capacity to shape the glo bal agenda, than d oes
to Nazis on the net), and citizens'
grou ps have come to playa significant role in mo bilizing,
Paradoxically,the same global infrastructures which make it possi ble to or gan ize pr o duction on a worldwide basis can also be ex ploited to lethal effect. National security incr e asingly begins abroad, not at the border , sin ce borders are as mu ch carrier s as barriers to tr ansnational or gan ized violence. This has become increasingly evide nt in r e lation to 'new wa rs ' - c omp lex irr egular warfare in the global South. Inter -state war has been alm ost entirely supplanted by intrastate and tr ans-state conflict located in the global South, or on the per i meters of the West. These so-called 'new war s' are pr imarily located in weak states and roo ted in identity politics, local conflicts, and rivalries.They involve com plex irregular w arf a re between military, para-military, crim inal , and private forces which rages thr o ugh, but often ar o und and across, state borders with little discrimina-
like Rupert Murdoch's News
the Rainforest Action Network .
tion betwe en civilians and combatants. The United Nations estimates, f or instan ce, that thirty-five people die ever y hour acr oss the globe as a consequence of irr e gular armed conflict. These 'new war s ', whether in Bosnia, Da r f u r , or Venezuela, ar e curiously mo dern since they are sustained largely by the capacity of combatants to exploit glo bal networ k s t o pr ovide finance, arms, emigre support, or aid as well as to facilitate prof i teering, racketeer ing, and shadow economies, such as the diamond or dr u gs trade, which pays f o r ar m s and influence. Desp ite their a ppar e ntly localized quality, 'new wa r s' ar e in fact a manif estation of the contemporar y globalization of organized violence. Disorder in one part of the wor ld (as in Darfur in 2006, or in Kosovo and Somalia in the 1990s) combines with global media cover age and the speed of trav el to f eed insecurity, crea ting overlapping global secur ity com plexes. Thes e comp lexes bind together the security of societies across the No r t h-South divide. They also highlight a ma jor disjunctur e between the distr i bution of formal military power and the distr i bution of eff ective coercive power in the world today.AI Q aeda, the Triads, pri vate militar y com panies, drug cartels, narco-terr or ism, and the illicitglo bal arms trade ar e all examples of the gr ow th of info r ma l orga nized violen ce or post-inter national violence. They pose, as Keohane starkly notes, a pr o f o und challenge since 'States no longer have a monopoly on the means of ma ss destr u ction: mor e people died in the attacks on the Wo rld Trade Center and the Pentagon than in the Japanese attack on Pear l Har bor in 1941'.
If global politics involves a diversity of actors and institutions
it is also mar ked by a d iver sity of political
policy and meeting their citizens' demand s, their capacity for self -governance-that
is, state autonomy-is
com-
concerns. The agenda of glo bal politics is anchored to
promised . Today, a difficult trade-off is posed between
not just traditional
effective governance and self -governance. In this respect,
geopolitical concerns but also t o a
proliferation of economic, social, cultural, and ecological
the Westphalian image of the monolithic, unitary state is
questions. Pollution, drugs, human rights, and terrorism
being displaced by the image of the disaggregated state
are among an increasing number of transnational
in which its constituent
issues which, becauseofglobalization,
transcend territorial
bor d ers and existing political jur isdictions, require
international
policy
cooperation
and thereby
for their
ef fective
resolution. Politics today is mark ed by a prolifer ation of new ty pes of 'boundar y nation-states boundary
pro blem'. In the past, of course,
pr incipally resolved their diff er ences over
matters by pursuing r easons of state backed
by diplomatic
initiatives
and, ultimately ,
means. But this geopolitical
by coercive
logic appear s
singularly
with their counterparts
agencies increasingly interact abroad , international
and NGOs in the management
agencies,
of common and global
af f airs (Slaughter 2004) (Fig. 1.3). Global politics is a term which acknowledges that the scale of political life has f und amentally understood
alter ed : politics
as that set of activities concerned primarily
with the achievement of order and justice does not recognize territorial boundaries. the distinction
It questions the utility of
between the domestic and the foreign,
inadequate and ina ppropriate to resolve the many complex
inside and outside the territorial state, the national and
issues, f rom economic r egulation to resour ce d e pletion
the international
and environmental
to chemical wea pons
region impact upon the welfar e of communities in d istant
seemingly ever greater
parts of the globe, with the result that domestic politics
d egr ad ation
pr oliferation, which engend er-at s peed s-an
intermeshing
of 'national fortunes:
since decisions and actions tak en in one
is internationalized
This is not to argue that the sovereign state is in
and wor ld politics becomes domes-
ticated . It acknowledges that power in the global system
d ecline. The sover eign power and authority of national
is not the sole pr eserve of states but is distr ibuted
government-the
venly) among a diverse array of public and private actors
entitlement
their own territorial
s pace-is
of states to rule within being transfor med
but
and networks (from international
(une-
agencies, through cor-
by no means erod ed. Lock ed into systems of global and
porations
regional gover nance, states now assert their sovereignty
who gets what, how, when, and where. It recognizes that
less in the for m of a legal claim to supreme power than as
political authority
a bargaining tool, in the context of tr ansnational
to supra-state bodies, such as the European Union, but
of r ule-making,
systems
with other agencies and social forces.
to NGOs) with impor tant
also downwards
conseq uences
for
has been diff used not only upward s to sub-state bodies, such as regional
Sovereignty is bartered, shar ed, and divided among the
assemblies, .and beyond the state to private agencies,
agencies of public power at different levels from the local
such as the International
to the global. The Westphalian conception of sovereignty
It accepts that sovereignty remains a principal juridical
as an indivisi ble, ter r itorially
attribute of states but concludes that it is increasingly
exclusive form of public
Accounting Stand ar d s Board .
power is being displaced by a new sover eignty r egime, in
divided and shar ed between
which sovereignty is und e rstood
and global author ities. Finally, it aff ir ms that, in an age
as the shared exercise of
local, national,
regional,
public power and author i ty. In this res pect we are witness-
of glo balization,
ing the emergence of a post-Westphalian
wor ld order.
closed systems. On the contr ar y, it asserts that all poli-
leading to 'the
tics-understood
Fur thermore,
far from glo balization
end of the state', it elicits a more activist state. This is because, in a world of global enmeshment, achieve domestic
objectives national
simply to
governments
are
national polities no longer f u nction as as the pursuit of order and justice-ar e
played out in a global context. However, as with globalization, inequality and exclusion are endemic f eatur es of contemporary
global politics.
for ced to engage in extensive multilateral collaboration
There are many r easons for this but three f actor s in par -
and cooper ation.
ticular ar e crucial: f irst, enormous
But in becoming
mor e embedded
in
inequalities of power
framework s of glo bal and regional governance, states con-
between states; second, global governance is sha ped by an
front a real d ilemma: in return for mor e eff ective public
unwritten constitution that tend s to privilege the inter ests
Finance
Finance
Trade
Trade
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and agend a of global capitalism; third , the technocratic
valued. Whether a more d emocratic
natur e of much glo bal d ecision-making,
imaginable and what it might look lik e is the concern of
f r om health to
global politics is
security, tends to exclude many with a legitimate stake in
normative theorists and is the sub ject of the conclud ing
the outcomes.
section of this chapter .
These thr ee factors produce cumulative inequalities of power
and exclusion-reflecting
the inequalities
of power between
Nor th
and South-with
the result
that contempor ary
global politics is more accurately
d escr ibed as distorted global politics: 'd istorted ' in the sense that inevitably those states and groups with greater power resources and access to k ey sites of global decisionmaking tend to have the gr eatest control or influence over the agenda and outcomes
• Globalization 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 perseective to the perspective of geocentric or global politics-the
politics of
worldwide social relations.
of global politics. In short,
• Global politics is more accurately described as distorted
global politics has few democratic qualities. This sits in
global politics because it is afflicted by significant power
tension with a world in which democracy
asymmetries.
is generally
From distorted global politics to cosmopolition
global politics?
Glo balization, it can be argued, is associated with a double
preferences
democratic deficit. On the one hand, it has compounded
of democracy,
the tension between democracy as a territoriality rooted
compromised. On the other hand, it is associated with the
system of rule and the operation
emergence of a distorted global politics in which power
and transnational
of global markets
networks of corporate power . For if
of their citizens, then namely
the very essenc e
self-governance,
is decid edly
asymmetries and global institutions mor e often than not
d emocratic governments are losing the capacity to manage
enhance the interests of glo bal elites at the expense of the
transnational
wid e r wor ld community. Many of the agencies of global
forces in accordance with the expressed
Guiding ethical principles/core
Global social justice, democracy, universal human rights, human security, rule of law,
values
transnational
Short-term measure
Governance
solidarity
Reform of global governance: representative Human Security Council (to coordinate Society Forum; strengthened
Security Council; establishment
global development
policies); Global Civil
systems of global accountability;
national and regional governance infrastructures
of
enhancement
of
and capacities; enhanced parlia-
mentary scrutiny
Economy Regulating global markets: selective capital controls; regulation centres; voluntary Promoting
codes of conduct for multinational
development:
of offshore financial
corporations
(MNCs)
abolition of debt for highly indebted poor countries
(HIPCs); meeting UN aid targets of 0.7% GNP; fair trade rules; removal of EU and US subsidies of agriculture
and textiles
Security Strengthening
global humanitarian
protection
capacities; implementation
ing global poverty reduction and human development strengthening
commitments
of exist-
and policies;
of arms control and arms trade regulation
Governance Double democratization
(national to supra-state
governance); enhanced global
public goods provision; global citizenship
Economy Taming global markets; World Financial Authority; MNCs; global tax mechanism; global competition Market correcting: investment
mandatory
codes of conduct for
authority
mandatory global labour and environmental
codes and standards; redistributive
standards; foreign
and compensatory
measures; com-
modity price and supply agreements Market promoting:
privileged market access for developing countries; convention
on global labour mobility
Security Global social charter; permanent peacekeeping and humanitarian
emergency forces;
social exclusion and equity impact reviews of all global development
measures
Institutional/political
Activist states, global progressive coalition (involving key Western and developing states
conditions
and civil society forces), strong multilateral society, redistributive
civil society too are highly unrepresentative
Institutions,
open regionalism, global civil
regimes, regulation of global markets, transnational
of the world's
public sphere
Within the normative theory of world politics one
peoples. Distorted global politics, in other words, has weak
particular
approach
speaks directly to the failings of
democratic credentials. Arguably, redressing this double
distorted global politics, namely, cosmopolitanism
democratic deficit, alongside global poverty reduction, is
Ch.ll) (Held 2002; Moellendorf2002).
the greatest ethical and political challenge of the twenty-
presents a radical critique of distorted global politics for
fir st centur y.
the manner in which it perpetuates
(see
Cosmopolitanism global inequalitie s
and therefore global in justices. Realizing a mor e humane
global governance complex. Regulating globalization
and just world order requires
the public and global interest has become a paramount
a reformed and more
in
democratic system of global governance, which can at a
political issue across the wor ld. Witness, for instance, the
minimum
global campaign in 2005 to Make Poverty History. Ther e
r egulate global markets and prevent tr ansna-
tional harm to the most vulnerable. This might be termed
is now increased political pressure on G8 governments
the pr oject of cosmopolitan democracy (Box 1.9).
es pecially to bring good governance
to global govern-
ance by making it more tr ans parent,
accounta ble,
Cosmopolitan for combining
democr acy can be conceived as a basis the democr atization
of global gover n-
legitimate.
A broader
global consensus
and
a ppears to be
ance with the pur suit of global social justice (see Ch.31).
emerging on the need for such reform, d rawing political
It seek s to nurture and institutionalize
suppor t from across the North-South
some of the core
divide and among
values of social d emocracy-the
rule of law, political
d iver s e constituencies
equality, d emocratic
social justice, social
short, d istor ted global politics gives expression to d iverse
governance,
solidarity, and economic efficiency-within systems. Cosmopolitan
democracy
global power
seeks to reinvigor-
democratic
impulses
of tr ansnational
civil society. In
and constituencies.
However , it
would be foolish to assume that such impulses and con-
ate democracy within states by extend ing democracy to
stituencies will tr iumph in the near future since arrayed
r elations between and across states. Only through such a
against them are power fu l
double democratization
the creation of a more cosmo politan
will the double d emocratic defi-
cit created by globalization be addressed . In effect, those global sites and transnational
network s of power , which
at present escape effective national democratic
glo bal forces which resist or humane glo bal
politics. Arguably, d istorted global politics em bodies a historic
control,
struggle between the logic of power politics (statism) and the
will be brought to account, so establishing the conditions
logic of cosmopolitanism, between power and par ad ise. Its
befitting the realization of a more humane and demo-
future trajector y, however, remains wholly speculative. That
cratic global politics. In the context of a deeply divided
it is so is a source of both intellectual d es pair and huge relief :
world , in which violence is endemic and might seeks to
despair since it reaffirms the limits of our current theories of
impose right, the pros pects for its realization might cur-
world politics in so f ar as they offer scant guide to the future,
rently a ppear somewhat remote. Yet its advocates argue
relief because it confirms that the future remains to be made,
that it is rooted in the actually existing conditions of glo-
even if, to paraphrase Marx, it is not within the conditions of
bal politics.
our own choosing. Therefore globalization undoubtedly will
Cosmo politanism
builds upon the argument that glo-
balization is bringing a bout a post -Westphalian order . As
remain a powerful for ce for glo bal change, hopefully for the better but quite possibly for the wor se.
a result, the pr esent world order combines, in an unsta ble mix, elements of both paradise and power: that is, of democratic
principles and realpolitik
(see Ch.S and
Ch.7). Thus the principles of self-determination, of law, popular
sovereignty, d emocr atic
the rule
legitimacy, the
legal equality of states, and even red istr ibution
(through
aid ) are embedded in global politics. So too are the ideas that might is r ight and that the national interest has primacy over all else. Globalization
thereby has provoked
major political reactions which in their more progressive manif estations
have engend e red
debate a bout the d emocr atic
a wider political
cred entials of the existing
• Globalization creates a double democ r atic deficit in th at it place s lim its on democracy within states and new mechanisms of global go vernance which lack democratic credentials . • Global politics has eng endered its own global political theory which draws upon cosmo politan thinking. • Co smo politanism of fer s an accoun t of th e desir a bility and feasi bility of the democratiza tion of global politics. • Distorted global politics can be interpreted as expr e ssing a con test between the forces of statism and cosmopolitanism in the conduct and management of world affairs .
Conclusion
This chapter has sought to elucidate the concept glo balization and id entify its implications
of
tics (or inter-state politics) to global politic s-the
poli-
for the stud y
tics of state and non-state actors within a shared global
of wor ld politics. It has argued that globalization recon-
social space. Global politics is imbued with deep inequal-
structs the world as a shar ed social space. But it does so in
ities of power such that in its current configuration it is
a far fr o m unif orm manner : contempor ary
more accur ately descri bed
is highly uneven-it
globalization
var ies in its intensity and extensity
a politics of domination,
as distorted global politics: contestation
and competition
between d iff erent spheres of activity, and is highly asym-
between powerful states and transnational
metrical-and
Cosmopolitan
it engend er s a highly unequal geography
social forces.
theor y, it was noted , suggests that a more
of glo bal inclusion and exclusion. In doing so it is as much
democratic form of global politics is both desirable and
a source of conflict and violence as of cooperation
feasible. To this extent the trajector y of global politics will
and
harmony in world aff airs.
be shaped Significantly by the struggle between the forces
In focusing upon the consequences for the stud y of international
relations, this chapter has
argued that it engend er s a fundamental stitution
of globalization shift in the con-
of world politics. A post-Westphalian
world
of statism and cosmopolitanism,
or might is right versus
right is might. The outcome of this contest will determine whether twenty-first-centur y
global politics will be a pol-
itics of hope or of fear ; in other word s, whether a more
ord er is in the mak ing as sovereign statehood is trans-
humane and democratic global politics can be fashioned
formed by the d ynamics of globalization. A conceptual
out of tod ay's distorted global politics.
shift in our thinking is therefor e required : from geopoli-
1 Distinguish the concept of globalization from that of r egionalization and internationalization. 2 What do you understand by the Westphalian Constitution of world order ? 3 Why is global politics today more accurately described as distorted global politics? 4 Outline the principal causes of globalization. 5 Reviewthe sceptical argument and critically evaluate it . 6 What are the principal characteristics of the post-Westphalian order? 7 Identify some of the key elements of political globalization. 8 What are the princi pal characteristics of contemporary globalization? 9 Distinguish the concept of global politics from that of geopolitics and inter-state politics . 10 Outline the main elements of cosmopolitan global politics. 11 Is the state being eclipsed by the forces of globalization and global go vernance? 12 Isstate sovereignty being eroded or transformed? Ex plainyour answer .
Castells, M. (2000), (Oxford: Blackwells).This is a now contemporary classic account of the
political economy of globalization which is comprehensive in its analysis of the new global informational capitalism.
(2001), Global Governance and the Ne w Wars (London: Zed). A very r e adable account
f
of how globalization global governance
is leading to the fusion of the develo pm ent
complex.
Gilpin. R. (2001), Global Political Economy
sceptical view of economic globalization expression of Americanization eld
Co
d Mc Gr e
(Princeton, NJ: Pr inceton Univer s ity Press). A more which, although taking it seriously, conceives it as an
or American hegemony.
. A. (2007), Globalization/Anti-Globaliza tion:
edn (Cambridge: Polity Press). A short introduction debate and its implications HI 'st P
and security agendas within the
Be yo n d th e Gr eat Di vide, 2nd
to all aspects of the curr ent globalization
for the study for world politics.
hOl'1pson G (1999), Globalization in Question , 2nd edn (Cambridge:
'I
An excellent and sober critique of the hyperglobalist about the globalization
argument, which is thoroughly
Polity Press). sceptical
thesis, viewing it as a return to the belle epoque and heavily shaped by
states. Holton. R. (2005), Making Globalization
globalization
and its implications
(London: Palgrave). A comprehensive
over v iew of
for the study of the social sciences written from a sociological
per spective. at .
ennedy.
introduction o er s
(2002). Global Trends and Global Governance
to how globalization R
Consciousness
(London: Pluto Press). A good
is reshaping world politics and the nature of global gover nan ce.
(2003), The Three Waves of Globalization : A Histor y of Develo ping G lobal (London: Zed). A very good account of globalization
pro cess dr iven by a combination
histor ical
of economic and political factors.
Scholte. J . A. (2005), Globalization-A
An excellent introduction
as a long-term
critical introduction,
to the globalization
2nd edn (Basingstoke: Macmillan).
debate from its causes to its consequences
global political economy from within a critical political economy
for the
perspective.
Visit the Online ResourceCentre that accompanies this book to access more learning resources on this chapter topic at www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/uk/orc/baylis_smith4e/
