Kaldor: Cosmopolitanism and Organized Violence Flashcards
What argument does Kaldor propose in this paper?
Kaldor calls for a cosmopolitan political project as a way of responding to the spread of “New Wars”
How does Kaldor define civil society?
the medium through which the social contract between the governing institutions and the governed is negotiated and reproduced, this includes defining moments (constitutional conventions or round tables) as well as everyday public pressure through the media, political parties, churches
-it is inextricably linked to individual rights
What does Kaldor mean by monopolization and the social contract?
a. Weapons or taxes can be completely controlled by the government with no say by the people in a more private monopoly, but if is a more public monopoly, the ruler is restricted and more power goes to the people in the states
b. Civil and political taxes were given in exchange for fighting in wars, the civil rights citizens received in the peace time were thrown out during times of war and people had to be ready to go to war and possibly die for the state
Kaldor explains the changes to the state system with regards to two phenomena. What are
they?
a. The social contract of the Cold War period was called into question, b/c after Vietnam the readiness to risk life in war was not automatic and people were also forging mass movements against nuclear weapons
b. Under the impact of globalization, the distinction between Western and non-Western societies was collapsing, starting to become more interconnected through sharing of traditions and culture
How does Kaldor describe globalization and what are its consequences for the state?
a. Wild process involving interconnectedness and exclusion, integration and fragmentation, homogeneity and diversity consequences for the state are “New Wars” b/c of the crisis of state authority
b. Also a balance between public and private, external and internal has shifted along with the interconnectedness at a political, economic, and social levels
What does Kaldor see as the consequences of the combination of privatization and
globalization?
a. Could be a growing informal economy associated with increased inequalities, unemployment, and rural-urban migration
b. Combined with loss of legitimacy, weakens the rule of law, and may lead to the re-emergence of privatized forms of violence - organized forms of crime, outsourcing to private companies and out of country dealings
What positive impacts can globalization have?
a. Democratization
b. Support from international powers and NGOs for civil society has helped to strengthen domestic pressures for democratization
What are the characteristics of ‘new wars’?
a. Lack of authority of the state
b. Weakness of representation
c. Loss of confidence that the state is able or willing to respond to public concerns
d. The inability of unwillingness to regulate the privatization and informalization of violence
Why are ‘new wars’ still counted as wars?
a. B/c they are massive violations of human rights and organized crime
b. Violent struggles to gain access to or control of the state
What part does identity play in ‘new wars’?
a. It is a claim to power on the basis of labels
b. Political- can be defined in term of ethnic, linguistic or religious ways
What does Kaldor mean by violence itself being a form of mobilization?
a. violence is mainly directed towards civilians and not another army
b. aim is to capture territory through political control rather than military success
c. deliberate strategies include expulsion and elimination of those who challenge power and maintaining control through terror
What makes ‘new wars’ globalized?
a. in the sense that privatized violence and unregulated social relations feed on each other
b. physical destruction is very high, tax revenues plummet even further, and unemployment is very high
c. political parties rely on support from other states and forms of looting and illegal trading
What relation do ‘new wars’ have to time and space?
a. no longer discrete in time and space
b. cease fires and agreements are truces or breathing spaces which do not address the underlying relations (almost like waiting for the next problem to occur and go to into war b/c you never fixed it to begin with)
What is the cosmopolitan approach to ‘new wars’ and what are its requirements?
a. restore legitimate authority by changing the strategy of ‘fear and hate’ to ‘hearts and minds’
b. Change the cosmopolitan politics (democratic) with civil society and independent media
c. Respect for cosmopolitan law which includes: Human Rights Law and Laws of War
d. Requires Global justice, respect for economic and social rights even in conflict zones
What does Kaldor mean by a new global social contract?
a. beginnings of a global civilizing process
b. individual has to be ready to risk their life for humanity but not in an unlimited way b/c he/she is a part of humanity
c. there is some higher good beyond secular notions of nation and state
