State + Globalisation

Question 1

What is the criteria for being a state?

Answer 1

It has 4 criteria;

• A defined territory
• A functioning Government
• A permanent population
• Sovereignty that is recognised by other states

Question 2

Examples of Territory

Answer 2

• States require land
• Need territory
• Many of the conflicts in the world are over disputes over land.
• Falkland Islands + Malvinas
• Chinese claims over islands in the South China Sea

Question 3

Example of A Permanent population

Answer 3

-Antarctica

Question 4

When does a state have a functioning and effective government?

Answer 4

When they aren’t deemed as a failed state.

• places that have civil war a failed states.
• Somalia and Syria

Question 5

What is meant by recognition my other states?

Answer 5

This is about sovereignty.

• Unless a state is recognised by other states, they cant enter into relations with them. And then the state cannot act as a state.
• Kosovo and Palestine are example of states that aren’t recognised.
• The UN is the main way to get recognised

Question 6

What is the Westphalian system?

Answer 6

• Its how the world works in theory; A sovereign state system.
• Sovereignty implies ultimate authority over all matters in a territory
• Prior to the treaty, there was no sovereignty, Spiritual issues were under auspices of the church and not under the rule of a temporary ruler.

Question 7

What are the implications of the Westphalian system?

Answer 7

• State sovereignty
• Anarchic system, no higher authority, this doesn’t mean that there is chaos
• Supranationalism (EU)
• No intervention in the affairs of other states; this undermines their sovereignty.
• Territorial integrity
• No compulsion without force.
• R2P; Responsibility to protect their own citizens
• Nominal equality/ legal equality; everyone is bound by the same rights. (Although, the more power a state has, the more they can get away with if they break rules.)

Question 8

What is the Unilateral Declaration of independence?

Answer 8

• Unilateral (one country)
• A territory that declares itself independent and sovereign from a state without the permission of that state, are unlikely to be recognised.
• E.g., Scotland; this would be seen as intervention of other states affairs if other states where to see them as their own independent state. This idea can be seen fully with Palestine, as not many states see them as their own state.

Question 9

What does the idea of sovereignty have to do with the State?

Answer 9

• Sovereignty is a simple theory, but difficult in practice; such as Political Sovereignty
• Legal (de jure) sovereignty + Political (de facto); parliament has ultimate sovereignty. They cannot bind their successor or pass any laws. The EU can undermine this as they deal with issues, and can act as a higher authority to Parliament.
• E.g., Russia annexed Crimea, but they ‘legally’ belong to Ukraine
• Internal sovereignty + External (national/ state) sovereignty
• Federalism; sovereignty is shared (USA, states pass up sovereignty to the federal government)
• There is this idea that we are stronger in groups. (zero sum sovereignty)
• The EU is supranational + Quasi federal; The amount of sovereignty stays the same, because you can leave organisations like the EU and NATO, its just not in most states interest to do so.

Question 10

What are the main tensions?

Answer 10

• There are competing forces in global politics; We want to keep the Westphalian system, but this might not be possible any more, as global issues require global solutions. (Global warming, immigration, pandemics etc.) We are also becoming increasingly more and more interconnected, which is why its so important to work on these issues collectively as we caused them collectively/ can only solve them together. (E.g., the killing of Whales). This is why we have the EU
• Even with the EU, you cannot fix everything, as there is no compulsion without force. EU countries have a veto, and unanimity needs to be reached.
• The EU is unique; If there was a higher authority, (global government) we could make things world wide illegal, but this undermines the Westphalian system, and sovereignty of each country. We will never have global government. The EU, however, has sovereignty passed up to it, so they all the countries pool their sovereignty into a higher body (as its in their interest to do so- education is better on a regional – county basis – but things like trade is better done on a larger scale). The EU has the power to tell its members what to do, and they can. This is a SUPRANATIONAL approach (quasi-federalism).

Question 11

What are the three types of Globalisation?

Answer 11

• Economic
• Political
• Cultural

Question 12

What is Economic Globalisation?

Answer 12

The increasing integration of national economies to create a single global economy of cross-border movement and trade goods, services, capital and economy.
-E.g., if both and the USA and the EU puts their interest rates up, we would have to do the same.

Question 13

What is Political Globalisation?

Answer 13

There is a growing importance for international organisations.

• E.g., The EU, is the only supranational IGO, so is the only one that can be a threat to sovereignty, although states do have a veto. Once you’ve joined an IGO, you can leave at anytime.
• NATO; States that share a border with Russia are looking to join NATO now they have invaded Ukraine for protection against them.
• Global problems require global solutions

Question 14

What is Cultural Globalisation?

Answer 14

The increasing transmission of ideas, meanings and values around the world.

• E.g., Christmas language, religion and political ideas.
• France has made a law about the amount of TV shows and music that has to be in French, but they cannot enforce it because its what people choose to consume.
• Language and Religion used to be limited to certain areas, now you can find anyone of any religion, or that speaks any language anywhere, showing interconnectedness of the world.
• Examples of being interconnected; Mobile phones (can contact anyone) Transport (we can get to any country within a few hours)

Question 15

What impact does Globalisation have on the state system?

Answer 15

• Challenges to state control over citizens over areas such as laws; IGOs, terrorist groups, TNCs, NGOs, Religious leaders.
• Impact on the development of international law; There isn’t any compulsion without force, if there is international law, who would uphold it? There would an end to the Westphalian system if this happened, which shows that we will never have this global government.
• States are sovereign, so you shouldn’t interfere, but what if we need to because of war? States have intervened illegally before, and it hasn’t always worked. We aren’t intervening in Ukraine because we don’t want to start world war 3, but we probably should intervene on a moral basis. R2P- this only allows it if there are war crimes that need to be protected against.