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ITM Master 1. Sem. |
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Internationalisation
of Political Decision-Making
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Internationalisation of Political Decision-Making
The globalization of world politics • Over the last three decades the sheer scale and scope of global interconnectedness has become increasingly evident in every sphere from the economic to the cultural. Sceptics do not regard this as evidence of globalization if that term means something more than simply international independence, i.e. linkages between countries. The key issue becomes what we understand by the term 'globalization'. • Globalization is evident in the growing extensity, 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 space, the relative de-territorialization of social, economic and political activity, and the relative de-nationalization of power. • Globalization can be conceptualized as 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. • Globalization is to be distinguished from internationalization and regionalization. • The contemporary phase of globalization has proved more robust in the aftermath of September 11th and the 2008/2009 global economic crisis than the sceptics recognize. • Contemporary globalization is a multi-dimensional, uneven, and asymmetrical process. • Contemporary globalization is best described as thick form of globalization or globalism. • Globalization is transforming but not burying the Westphalian ideal of sovereign statehood. • Globalization requires a conceptual shift in our thinking about world politics from a primarily geopolitical perspective to the perspective of globalized or global politics– the politics of worldwide social relations. • Global politics is more accurately described as distorted global politics because it is afflicted by significant power asymmetries. • Globalization creates a double democratic deficit in that it places limits on democracy within states and new mechanisms of global governance which lack democratic credentials. • Global politics has engendered its own global political theory which draws upon cosmopolitan thinking.
Two mainstream approaches of the Bush Decade (2001-2009): • More than just theories, neo-realism and neo-liberalism represent paradigms or conceptual frameworks that shape individuals' images of the world and influence research priorities and policy debates and choices. • Neo-liberalism in the academic world refers most often to neo-liberal Institutionalism. In the policy world, neo-liberalism is identified with the promotion of capitalism and Western democratic values and institutions. • Rational choice approaches and game theory have been integrated into neo-realist and neo-liberal theory to explain policy choices and the behaviour of states in conflict and cooperative situations. • Neo-realist and neo-liberal theories are status-quo oriented problem solving theories. They share many assumptions about actors, values, issues and power arrangements in the international system. Neo-realists and neo-liberals study different worlds. Neo-realists study security issues and are concerned with issues of power and survival. Neo-liberals study political economy and focus on cooperation and institutions. • Structural Realists minimize the importance of national attributes as determinants of a state's foreign policy behaviour. To these neo-realists, all states are functionally similar units, experiencing the same constraints presented by anarchy. • Structural Realists accept many assumptions of traditional realism. They believe that force remains an important and effective tool of statecraft and balance of power is still the central mechanism for order in the system. • Contemporary neo-liberalism has been shaped by the assumptions of commercial, republican, sociological, and institutional Liberalism. • Commercial and republican Liberalism provide the foundation for current neo-liberal thinking in Western governments. These countries promote free trade and democracy in their foreign policy programmes. • Neo-liberal Institutionalism, the other side of the neo-neo debate, is rooted in the functional integration theoretical work of the 1950s and 1960s and the complex interdependence and transnational studies literature of the 1970s and 1980s. • Neo-liberal Institutionalists see institutions as the mediator and the means to achieve cooperation in the international system. Regimes and institutions help govern a competitive and anarchic international system and they encourage, and at times require, multilateralism and co operation as a means of securing national interests. • Neo-liberals believe that states co operate to achieve absolute gains and the greatest obstacle to cooperation is 'cheating' or non compliance by other states. • Neo-realists explain that all states must be concerned with the absolute and relative gains that result from international agreements and cooperative efforts. Neo-liberal institutionalists are less concerned about relative gains and consider that all will benefit from absolute gains. • Globalization has contributed to a shift in political activity away from the state. Transnational social movements have forced states to address critical international issues and in several situations that have supported the establishment of institutions that promote further cooperation and, fundamentally challenge the power of states. • Neo-realists think that states are still the principle actors in international politics. Globalization challenges some areas of state authority and control; but, politics is still inter-national. • Neo-realists are concerned about new security challenges resulting from uneven globalization, namely, inequality and conflict. • Globalization provides opportunities and resources for transnational social movements that challenge the authority of states in various policy areas. Neo-realists are not supportive of any movement that seeks to open critical security issues to public debate. • Free market neo-liberals believe globalization is a positive force. Eventually, all states will benefit from the economic growth promoted by the forces of globalization. They believe that states should not fight globalization or attempt to control it with unwanted political interventions. • Most analysts agree after the end of the Bush Decade: Neo-liberalism and neo-realism brought us into the mess we are in today.
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Contact:
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt FRGS |
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