The State And Globalisation Flashcards
Definition of the state according to Max Weber?
A human community that successfully claims the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory
Definition of a state according to the Montevideo Convention?
A state is a political entity with the following qualities:
1. A permanent population
2. Clearly defined borders and territory
3. A functioning sovereign government
4. Majority recognition from other states
What is the current model of international politics based on?
Peace of Westphalia (1648)
What does the Westphalian state system assert about nation states?
Each nation state has the right to be free from other states’ interference in its internal affairs
What is controversial about the Westphalian state system?
It implies that states have the absolute authority to carry out any policies it wants to within its own borders, even including genocide, suppression of civil liberties etc… (liberals would disagree with this precedent by favouring international agreements like the genocide convention)
Why is the model of the nation state problematic?
- Nations without a state (e.g. Palestinians are effectively under Israeli sovereignty, national groups such as the Kurds and the Basques have no defined state)
- States not recognising other self defined nation states (e.g. China not recognising Taiwan despite Taiwan asserting its own sovereignty - however, it is possible that over time a self defined nation state will gradually come to be recognised, e.g Communist china was not initially recognised as a state by the west)
- Nation states with competing claims to the same territory (e.g. recent disputes about the South China Sea)
Examples of developments in global politics which show that the strict definition of sovereignty is being challenged
Economic interdependence (e.g. economic issues in one stage have a far higher chance of spreading - Asian Financial Crisis, Global Financial Crisis)
Climate change - the climate policies of one state affect other states (e.g. US, UK, China, India etc are big polluters, yet it is developing countries with limited emissions who are impacted by droughts and floods)
How is globalisation defined by Held?
The widening, intensifying, speeding up and growing impact of worldwide interconnectedness
What are the ‘engines’ of modern globalisation?
Communication
Transport
Migration
IGOs
Explain communication as an ‘engine’ of globalisation
Technology has made virtually instantaneous communication available to billions of people (even in developing countries like India, where apps like Whatsapp allow for the rapid dissemination of information)
In 1990, only 2.6 million people had internet access - this number has risen to over 5 billion today
Greater availability of news, aiding in the democratisation of states (e.g. global pressure was put on dictators during the Arab Spring protests due to viral clips of army brutality on Twitter)
Explain transport as an ‘engine’ of globalisation
Speed of transport hugely increased in recent times, allowing for goods to be shipped around the world far more quickly
e.g in 1956, the largest cargo ships could carry approx 80 containers - the largest ‘Post-Panamax’ ships today can carry approx 18,000
Goods can be shipped across the world in a matter of days
e.g. most flowers in UK supermarkets were grown in East African countries like Kenya and Tanzania
Explain migration as an ‘engine’ of globalisation
Economic booms encourage workers to move to countries with higher economic development or big infrastructure programmes
e.g. at least 30% of the Gulf population are Indian migrants, who work in places like Qatar and the UAE on huge oil projects
e.g. the NHS has tens of thousands of staff with Indian, Filipino, Irish, Polish and Portuguese nationality
This movement of ideas drives innovation - 49% of the UK’s largest companies were founded by immigrants
Define cultural globalisation
The process whereby information, commodities and images produced in one part of the world enter into a global flow, ‘flattening out’ cultural differences between nation-states
Which article of the UN Charter recognises state sovereignty?
Article 2 of Chapter 1 of the UN Charter
Examples to show the attraction of the nation state model?
Scotland (1.1% of population speaks Gaelic, 55.3% no in indyref)
Catalonia (73% speak Catalan, 81% yes in self-determination ref)
Shows strong correlation between cultural identity and desire to be a nation state
Threats to the existence of nation states?
Globalisation, which fundamentally undermines both aspects of what constitutes a nation state (exercising sovereignty over a clearly defined region and a shared cultural identity). e.g. the weakening of state borders has led to national identity becoming more fluid
Government power - the rise of new nation states threatens government power as more cultural groups push for their own state (e.g. in Catalonia)
Cultural globalisation: how has the spread of consumerism impacted world politics?
Advance of consumer capitalism, culminating in a process coined ‘Coca-Colonisation’ (referring to the emergence of global good and brands that have come to dominate economic markets, creating an image of bland uniformity).
Critics of this portray consumerism as a tool used by TNCs to expand their influence and profitability (e.g. journalist Naomi Klein called this the ‘tyranny of brand culture’)
Also an assault on local, regional and national distinctiveness (‘flattening out’)
Cultural globalisation: how has the advance of individualism impacted world politics?
Cultural globalisation is dominated by Western concepts of individualism (the belief in the supreme importance of the individual over any social group or collective body)
However, this is at odds with the values of other societies, in which they have held on to traditional notions of the collective (e.g. anti-individualist societies exist in Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore)
Cultural globalisation: how has ‘cultural imperialism’ impacted world politics?
Cultural globalisation tends to have a markedly Western, or more specifically American, character. There is a disproportionate extent to which the goods and images that dominate modern commerce and global media derive from the USA.
Explain the cultural backlash against cultural globalisation
Radical backlash against imposed values and practices is emerging. This is a response to what Benjamin Barber coined the ‘McWorld’ (a world culture shaped by symbiotic links) which has created cultural homogenisation. In certain parts of the Muslim world, there has been a strong reaction against the ‘morally bankrupt’ West, contributing to the rise of militant Islamism/ Pres Museveni of Uganda said ‘Respect African societies and their values. If you don’t agree, just keep quiet’
Rise of nationalism - e.g. race for the Covid vaccine, Brexit, Trump’s ‘America first’, Geert Wilders said Islam has no place in Dutch culture
What is a global monoculture?
A product of cultural globalisation in which diverse cultures have been flattened out to create a more uniform pattern of global culture
What is coca-colonisation?
Coined by Brendan Barber, ‘coca-colonisation’ refers to the materialism encouraged by cultural globalisation
What is interconnectedness?
The way in which states become more linked through their shared membership of intergovernmental and regional organisations.
What is economic globalisation?
The process by which states across the world become more closely connected and interdependent according to the principles of free trade, which leads to the greater flow transnational flow of goods, services and capital.