globalisation Flashcards
what is meant by national sovereignty?
absolute and ultimate authority over their citizens and decisions.
what is meant by a nation -state?
A nation-state – a sovereign state where the citizens are united by common identity.
what are the 4 characteristics of a nation-state?
1) A functioning and effective government
You need a functioning government in order to impose the law onto your citizens. If you cannot control your country, you are called a “failed state”. For example, Syria is regarded as a a failed state – as the president Bashar lost control to groups like ISIS.
2) A permanent population
For a state to exert influence over people, there must be a permanent population who can bide by their ruling. For example, Antarctica does not have a permanent population. Thus, no single country owns Antarctica, instead many countries group together to look after the land, from an environmental perspective. The Antarctica treaty in 1959 was signed to say Antarctica should be preserved for scientific research, and no one should deploy their troops there. This was signed by countries like the UK, USA, USSR, China, Japan, etc.
3) A defined territory
Defined territory is important, so the state knows where it has power over. There is much disagreements between states for this reason, on who owns which land. For example, China claiming that Taiwan is still Chinese land. Iver the years both China and Japan have swapped ownership over Taiwan, however since the modern Chinese state was formed in 50s, Taiwan has operated on its own. Taiwan now feels uniquely different from China – with their own constitution, president, and democracy, yet China still claims it is their own territory, deploying warships and fighter jets arounds its borders.
4) Recognition from other nation states
A state must be considered one by other states in order to engage in international affairs and trade in the international system. Being a member of the United Nations has proven an effective way of securing your status as a state – for example, South Sudan joined the UN in 2011.
what is meant by globalisation?
Globalisation – a complex web of interconnectedness between countries across the world. Countries are now more reliant on one another than what they were before. The factors driving globalisation: people, economics, culture, technology, etc.
what are the 3 different types of globalisation?
- political
- economic
- cultural
in what sense has political globalisation taken place and been successful?
Political globalisation is the growing importance of international organisations like IGOs. Institutions like the United Nations, World Bank etc have been set up to make coordinating a joint response to global issues much easier. This establishes international norms and common standards.
For example, The United Nations has been successful at some of its aims. The UN was able to give 6 billion to be shared between 14 countries who was involved in the 2004 tsunami. The earthquake mostly effect Indonesia – who received the most aid.
The UN launched a peace keeping mission in the ivory coast (west Africa). The ivory coast was facing a civil war – the Christian government against Muslim rebels who felt they were being discriminated against. The UN managed to facilitate a peace agreement between the two sides, and in 2007 both sides agreed to hold a fresh election. Gbagbo (the previous president) lost the election, yet claimed that he didn’t, and when the UN claimed he must step down, he ordered all UN peacekeepers to leave the country. However, UN peacekeepers refused to leave, and extended their stay until 2011.
what is the evaluation to the extent and success of political globalisation?
The more powerful states still preserve their own interest, regardless of an IGOs ruling. For example, article 15 of the HRA says that states can opt-out of specific articles in limited circumstances. The Uk derogated from article 5 (the right to liberty and security) during the troubles in Northern Ireland – so they could use preventative detention on terrorist suspects without trial. This shows a tolerance from IGOs that sometimes you have got to act in your own interest.
Equally, as IGOs do not have sovereignty, it is up to the state as to whether they abide their ruling. For example, the ICJ (international court of justice) has been ignored by many countries. In the 1980s, the US ignored the ICJ ruling that the backing the rebel group “contras” financially in the country Nicaragua was illegal, as they acted in their own self-interest – as the rebels wanted to mine in the country’s harbours. The ICJ ruled that the US should pay reparations to the Nicaraguan Government. The USA responded by saying they wouldn’t pay compensation, and that in the future they will ignore ICJ rulings unless they specifically ask for one. There was also a ruling against Japan in 2014, stating their whale hunting is not for scientific purposes and therefore illegal. A year later, Japan announced it would resume its whale hunting in the Antarctic Ocean.
in what sense has economic globalisation taken place and been successfull?
Economic globalisation integration of national economies to create a single global economy, which crosses borders.
All members in the World Trade Organisation (164) must move away from protectionism and be open to free trade globally. The WTO has facilitated rapid economic growth since its creation. Average tariffs have almost half since 1995 (when it was created) and the dollar value of world trade has quadrupled.
The G20 London Summit in 2009, saw all leaders pledge to inject fiscal stimulus into their economies to boost demand in response to the 2008 financial crisis.
what is the evaluation to the extent and success of economic globalisation?
economic globalisation has led to a more unequal distribution of wealth across the globe. The richer countries exploit the poorer countries of their natural resources, a practice known as neo-colonialism. TNCs (transnational cooperation’s) operate in poorer countries in the southern hemisphere yet have their headquarters in the northern hemisphere. Although they provided jobs for those in that country, they are subject to poor working conditions, poor pay and long hours. For example, Nikes largest manufacturing factories are in Vietnam – they get paid by Nike 20 cents per hour, and typically work 70-80 hours per week. To be in absolute poverty, the UN states you have to be on 2.15 dollars a day. Nike pays their workers 2.30 dollars a day. Therefore, even though they’re deemed “better off” - it is still only a 15-cent increase. In this sense, TNCs justify paying ridiculously low wages by curving the absolute poverty statistic, marginally.
Equally, economic globalisation has led to many states fearing the stability of their own domestic markets, and therefore started to implement protectionist economic policies to protect themselves – this goes against the WTO aims of economic liberalisation. For example, Canada specified that all jam imported needed to be in a certain size container. Many countries do not usually use to specific sized jar stated, and therefore this protected Canadas domestic jam industry as they do use that size of jar.
in what sense has cultural globalisation taken place and been successful?
Cultural globalisation is the increasing transmission of ideas, values, etc around the world. These transmissions of values have led to many improvements across the world, like a spread of democracy and interest in human rights. There is now more tolerance to differences as there was before, and consequently promotion of peace. We are more exposed to diverse culture than we have ever been before, with Bollywood films being popular in the West, Japanese food being eaten across the global – representing a wider interest in these differences. For example, chicken tika masala has been the UKs national dish since 2001 – despite it being of Indian descent. Meditation and yoga are Asia practices that have become popular in the west in recent years – and have Buddhist ties.
what is the evaluation to the extent and success of cultural globalisation?
many countries are becoming fearful of losing their heritage to the growth of monoculture.
- France has now stated that all radios and television programmes must play a certain amount of shows in the French language, to slow the growth of English in France.
-England has introduced new laws to protect historic monuments, statues, buildings, etc
Similar is also happening in developing countries:
-the film barbie has been banned from Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia for promoting values contrary to their own, and promoting “sexual confusion”.
Such westernisation has caused problems with countries with different ideologies in the past, with the ban of Levis jeans in the USSR leading to mass protest against the government and people smuggling them into the country instead.
what are the 3 different theories on globalisation?
-hyper globalisers
-sceptics
-transformationalists
what is the view of a hyper globaliser?
believe globalisation is a positive thing at it is characterised by economic prosperity and global efficiency. They believe the spread of democracy and capitalism is a good thing as it has created an international consensus and expectation. They believe soon the world will become borderless due to these two factors spreading so drastically. They’d look for evidence in the “Westminster model” and the collapse of communism - the idea that more and more countries are adopting the Westminster ideal of democracy and governance.
what is the view of a global sceptic?
countries acting together is not a new thing – for example, the silk road (the first global trade route) founded in the 2nd century. they believe borders still matter and are sceptical about the claim that globalisation is anything new. Due to their analysis of the past, they believe instead of globalisation occurring it is actually regionalism – countries are organised and influenced on a reginal basis. They believe there is no direct effect on a state’s sovereignty as the state will always keep their best interest at heart.
what is the view of a transformationalist?
do not have a positive nor negative view on globalisation, instead they argue the flow of culture is not one way (from the west to developing) instead it is a two-way exchange in which the western world is also influenced. They do not have a negative nor positive view on globalisation – sceptics and hyper globalisers have exaggerated the effect of globalisation, and its effects can be controlled or even reversed. Instead, they may argue for “glocalization” - the idea that different cultures cherry pick aspects from other cultures that they’d now like to adopt themselves.
