International Relations Essay. ONLY PROTOJE

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The Globalization of World Politics (6e)

1. Globalization and global politics

Baylis, Smith & Owens

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

Globalization: a contested concept

• A “slippery”, overused and controversial concept?

• Its fundamental meaning: increased worldwide interconnectedness and interdependence

• How can it be usefully conceptualized and defined?

• How is it manifest today? • What is the political fallout of globalization?

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

Evidence of globalization

• More than 45,000 international NGOs work across the globe

• Communication now makes it possible to connect like-minded people regardless of distance

• There is a growing recognition of global problems that need global solutions

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

Trade as a major driver

• In any given day, more than $4 trillion flows across the world’s foreign exchange markets

• Transnational corporations account for more than a quarter of world output, and two thirds of world trade

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

Case study 1: Trade as a major driver

Intellectual property Design

Manufacturing Transport

Sales

How global is An iPhone?

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

Conceptualizing globalization

• Globalization is the capture of the shift from a world of discrete but interdependent national states to a world which is a shared social space

• Central aspects of human affairs are increasingly organized on a transnational or global scale

• There is an ongoing process of time-space compression and deterritorialization

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

Globalization – a definition

• “a historical process involving a fundamental shift or transformation in the spatial scale of human social organization that links distant communities and expands the reach of power relations across regions and continents”

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

The sceptical view of globalization

• Geopolitics, regionalization and nationalism are strong counter-forces

• A dominant share of “globalization” is in fact “OECD-ization”, as these countries are linked to a much higher degree than others

• Globalization is in fact the visible face of Western capitalism and US hegemony

• Economic shocks may very well derail globalization processes

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

The globalization process

• The process is asymmetrical/uneven which will engender inequalities

• Many different fields of human activity are simultaneously being globalized

• Globalization is institutionalized, through new infrastructures of control and communication (including IGOs such as the WTO, and transnational corporations)

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

Globalization and global politics

• Long established Westphalian principles (sovereignty, autonomy & territoriality) are challenged as states are embedded in complex webs of multilateral and transnational decision-making

• A global governance complex thus exists and is growing in importance

• In this “post-Westphalian order”, non-state actors have gained relative influence

Baylis, Smith & Owens: The Globalization of World Politics 6e

Globalization and global politics

• Alongside the global governance complex, an embryonic transnational civil society is taking shape

• NGOs, transnational networks, advocacy networks and citizen networks are increasingly able to exercise power across national boundaries

• Lack of formal accountability and resource inequalities are possible risk elements in such a diverse system