Towards a Worldwide Constitution Flashcards
Define globalization
– It is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.
Is globalization new?
Globalization is not new, though. For thousands of years, people—and, later, corporations—have been buying from and selling to each other in lands at great distances, such as through the famed Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China and Europe during the Middle Ages. Likewise, for centuries, people and corporations have invested in enterprises in other countries. In fact, many of the features of the current wave of globalization are similar to those prevailing before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. But policy and technological developments of the past few decades have spurred increases in cross-border trade, investment, and migration so large that many observers believe the world has entered a qualitatively new phase in its economic development.
How are the policies of the current wage of globalization?
This current wave of globalization has been driven by policies that have opened economies domestically and internationally.
Explain the technological globalization
Technology has been the other principal driver of globalization. Advances in information technology, in particular, have dramatically transformed economic life. Information technologies have given all sorts of individual economic actors—consumers, investors, businesses—valuable new tools for identifying and pursuing economic opportunities, including faster and more informed analyses of economic trends around the world, easy transfers of assets, and collaboration with far-flung partners.
Define multilateralism
It is a process of organizing relations between groups of three or more states. Beyond that basic quantitative aspect, multilateralism is generally considered to comprise certain qualitative elements or principles that shape the character of the arrangement or institution. Those principles are an indivisibility of interests among participants, a commitment to diffuse reciprocity, and a system of dispute settlement intended to enforce a particular mode of behaviour.
Define the term indivisibility in relation to multilateralism
In security arrangements, peace is treated as being indivisible, such that no participating member can be at war while others are at peace. In commercial policy, the norm of Most Favored Nation (MFN) makes the trade system an indivisible whole. Bilateralism, by contrast, necessarily fragments relations between states.
Define the term diffuse reciprocity in terms of multilateralism
Multilateralism is considered to give rise to expectations of diffuse reciprocity among participants. In situations characterized by diffuse reciprocity, there is an expectation that there will not be an equivalence of obligations or concessions in any one exchange, but, rather, a balance is expected over an ongoing, potentially indefinite, series of exchanges with a group of partners.
Define the term dispute settlement in terms of multilateralism
For the states to feel assured of the returns of treating their interests as indivisible, multilateral arrangements tend to incorporate some mechanism for ensuring that countries act in accordance with the expected norms.
Explain multilateralism in the European Union
Without global norms and the means to enforce them, peace and security, prosperity and democracy – our vital interests – are at risk. Guided by the values on which it is founded, the EU is committed to a global order based on international law, including the principles of the UN Charter, which ensure peace, human rights, sustainable development and lasting access to the global commons. This commitment translates into an aspiration to transform rather than simply preserve the existing system. The EU will strive for a strong UN as the bedrock of the multilateral rules-based order, and develop globally coordinated responses with international and regional organisations, states and non-state actors.
Explain multilateralism in the USA
American foreign policy appears to have taken a sharp unilateral turn. A half century of U.S. leadership in constructing an international order organized around multilateral institutions, rule-based agreements, and alliance partnerships seems to be giving way to an assertive unilateralism.
Although Barack Obama policy appeared to be more multilateralist than his predecessor Bush, the new President’s (Trump) policy is all but multilateral. His main slogan, America First, is the perfect example of his unilateral desires.
Explain the situation of a reform in the UN
A worldwide constitution seems like a utopia, or at least something that cannot be done nowadays, as the global governance is.
However, a reform of the United Nations Organization is not only desirable, but above all necessary in view of the current global situation.
What is the Mongherini Strategy
« A commitment to global governance must translate in the determination to reform the UN, including the Security Council, and the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). Resisting change risks triggering the erosion of such institutions and the emergence of alternative groupings to the detriment of all EU Member States. The EU will stand up for the principles of accountability, representativeness, responsibility, effectiveness and transparency. »
