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Introduction
Introduction
World politics = globalization. There are various terms used to explain global politics. The
central point is: the main theoretical accounts of the world politics all see globalization in
different ways because some treat it as a temporary phase in human history and others
see it as the latest manifestation of the growth of global capitalism.
The word 'world politics' has been chosen because it is more inclusive as the interest of the
authors is the political patterns of the world and not only those between nation-sates (as
international relations, which is more exclusive). Actually, relations between cities and the
governments or international organizations are as important as states and other political
actors.
A theory is a king of simplifying device that allows you to decide which facts matter and
which not. There are many theories of world politics. By studying international politics
scientifically students can find the causes of the world's political problems and put forward
solutions. This is known as a normative position and its opponents are idealism and
realism, which has been the dominant way of explaining world politics. Despite of this fact
realism has some rivals such as liberalism, Marxism, constructivism, poststructualism and
postcolonialism.
Realism
The main actors on the world stage are states, which are sovereign (=no actors
above the state).
Human nature is important: nature is fixed and selfish so that world politics
represent a struggle for power between states trying to maximize their national
interest.
It sees diplomacy as the key mechanism for balancing various national interests.
World politics is a self-help system in which states must rely on their own military
resources to achieve their ends.
Long tradition
Human beings are perfectible.
Democracy is necessary for that perfectibility to develop.
Belief in progress
It rejects the realist notion that war is the natural condition of world politics.
1
Introduction
It sees national interests in more than military terms and stresses the importance of
economic issues.
Order emerges from the interactions between agreed norms and international
regimes.
Social constructivism
New theory developed in the late 1980s.
It says that we make and re-make the social world and so there is much more of a
role for human agency.
Those who see the world as fixed underestimate the possibilities for human
progress and for the betterment of people's life.
World open to change.
It is a mistake to think of world politics as something that we cannot change.
Poststructuralism
Influential in the last thirty years.
Definition by Lyotard: "simplifying to the extreme, I define post-modern as
incredulity towards metanarratives." Metanarratives: theory that asserts it has clear
foundations for making knowledge claims and involves a foundational
epistemology.
It is concerned with distrusting and exposing any account of human life that claims
to have direct access to truth.
It exams the conditions under which we are able to theorize about world politics.
Postcolonialism
Ignored in the field of international politics.
2
Introduction
Dominant theories such as realism, liberalism are not neutral in terms of race and
class but have helped the domination of the western world over the global South.
It claims that global hierarchies of subordination are made possible through the
social construction of racial and class differences.
Introduction
system. They focus on the questions of global government that today are central to much
work going under the name of globalization. Liberal peace theory: the idea is that liberal
democracies do not fight one another. The reason is that public accountability is so central
in democratic systems.
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Some people argue that the globalization is bringing about the demise of the sovereign
nation-state as global forces undermine the ability of the governments to control their
own economies and societies. The sceptics reject this idea and argue that the states and
geopolitics remain the principal agents and forces shaping the world order. Both are
exaggerating because globalization is associated with the emergence of global politics.
Conceptualizing globalization
It's a process that characterized by:
A stretching of social, political and economic activities across political frontiers so
that events that come to have significance for individuals and communities in
distant regions of the world.
A growing magnitude of interconnectedness in almost every sphere of social
existence.
The accelerating pace of global interactions and the processes as the evolution of
worldwide systems increases the rapidity or velocity with which ideas move around
the world.
The growing extensity, intensity and velocity of global interactions is associated with
a deepening enmeshment of the local and global creating a growing collective
awareness or consciousness of the world. (Globalism)
The concept of globalization carries with it the implication of an unfolding process of
structural change in the scale of human organisation. Central to this structural change are
informatics, technologies and infrastructures of communication and transportation. These
have facilitated coordination. Globalization embodies a process of deterritorialization.
Territories and borders under globalization: their relative significance as constraints upon
social action and exercise of power is declining. Territorial borders no longer demarcate
the boundaries of national economic space. In this respect globalization denotes the idea
that power is increasingly organised that and exercised at a distance.
Globalisation is a process that involves a great deal more than simply growing connections
or interdependence between states. It can be defined as a historical process involving a
fundamental shift in the spatial scale of human social organisation.
Contemporary globalization
Contemporary globalization is not a singular process, but it manifests in all aspects of social
life. To understand it, requires a mapping of the distinctive patterns of worldwide
interconnectedness in all the sectors of social activity. What is distinctive about the
6
Chapter 1
contemporary globalization is the confluence of globalizing tendencies across all the key
domains of social interaction. it's a common misconception that globalization implies that
all the regions must be similarly enmeshed in worldwide processes; globalization is not
uniformly experienced across all regions. Contemporary globalization is described as
asymmetrical globalization. It combines a confluence of dense pattern of global
interconnectedness from the World Trade Organisation. That is to say that contemporary
globalization marks a new epoch in the human affairs and can be described as a thick form
of globalization.
Chapter 1
Global politics is a term that acknowledges that the scale of political life has altered politics
understood as the set of activities concerned primarily with the achievement of order and
justice is not confined within territorial boundaries. Inequality and exclusion are features
of contemporary global politics. There are two crucial factors: 1) enormous inequalities of
power between states; 2) global governance is shaped by unwritten constitution that
privileges global capitalism.
To conclude, we can say that:
-
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
There are different ways of characterizing the overall structure and pattern of relations
among political communities:
Ancient words
Contemporary international society comprises the norms, establishes practices and
institutions governing the relations among sovereign states. No early international society
resembles this model mainly because none puts unambiguous emphasis on sovereign
equality. In some cases one powerful state would deal with others only on the basis of an
acknowledgement of its own superior standing. In others different forms of supranational
religious authority coexisted in uneasy relationship with their counterparts. The terms
international society may be still used in all of these cases, since they all engaged in regular
interaction that was non-violent and characterized by rules and shared values.
In the ancient Middle East treaties concerned matters such as borders, trade... they were
accompanied by ceremonies and rituals and were negotiated by diplomatic envoys.
However, like ancient treaties, the institution of diplomacy was invested with religious
solemnity. China, India and Greece were divided into separate polities but they also
retained a sense of their cultural unity. In Greece the city-states had a common language
and religion and all the city-states placed high value on their independence. There was a
rudimentary institutional basis of international society in the form of the Amphyctionic
Council: a religious institution that provides some protection for shrines. Arbitration
helped settled city disputes. Greek international society was underpinned by shared moral
understandings about rightful international conduct. Also India had numerous religion
forms that applied to international relations. India had a more complex set of norms.
These ranged from conceptions of what constitutes just war through various rituals to be
observed. In the case of China, international relations took place in a context of cultural
9
Chapter 2
and intellectual richness and dynamism. Great improvements in the technique of warfare
produced a fierce struggle for dominance that was won by the China state. Its civilization
was superior to all the others that relations with foreigners were possible on the basis of
an acknowledgement by the foreigners of China's higher status. Rome was obliged to deal
with rival powers. Such relationships were based on principle relating to treaties and
diplomacy similar to those found in Greece and India, but Rome developed a more
extensive legal terminology than any other ancient society and acknowledged norms
known as ius gentium.
10
Chapter 2
relations, but as a fundamental institution and even as part of international law. The key
development was the emergence of the modern state, but 3 elements were also
important: a professional diplomatic service; an ability to manipulate balance of power;
the evolution of treaties, from interpersonal contracts between monarchs sanctioned by
religion, to agreements between states that had the status of law. Other 3 key
developments played a crucial role in shaping the post-medieval European international
society.
The larger more powerful states were increasingly dominating some of the smaller
states.
The Protestant Reformation dealt a devastating blow to the Catholic Church's claim
to supreme authority.
Columbus's voyage in 1492 had consequences for European international relations.
(new spatial awareness in cartography)
The first 16th century writings on international law came from Spanish jurists (Francisco de
Vitoria). Later writers on international law attempted to define the rights and duties owed
by sovereign states towards each other and the nature of the international society. The
Thirty Years War is often seen as Europe's last religious war. The Peace of Westphalia,
which ended the conflict, is regarded by many as the key event in the contemporary
international system. The peace established the right of German states that constituted
the Holy Roman Empire to conduct their own diplomatic relations. The peace may be seen
as the very idea of a society of states. The American and French revolutions were to have
profound consequences for international society. In the case of the USA, these stemmed
from its emergence as a global superpower in the 20th century. With the French revolution,
the revolutionary insistence, that sovereignty was vested in the nation, gave a crucial
impetus to the idea of national self-determination. After the defeat of Napoleon, the
leading states set themselves apart from the smaller ones as kind of great power clubs.
This system lasted until the First World War.
1919 - League of Nations (=universal international organization); based on a new
principle of collective security rather than a balance of power. It represented an attempt
to construct a more organized international society.
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Chapter 2
two were able to agree to further development of international law. The collapse of Soviet
Union in 1989 completed the globalization of international society. The Soviets stood for
an alternative conception of international society: one based on the notion that the
working classes of all countries enjoyed solidarity that cut across state boundaries.
12
Chapter 2
assertive Westernism including the imposition of Western values. A third claims the need
to develop globally an institutionalized political process, by which norms can be negotiated
on the basis of dialogue. In this, sovereignty remains the cornerstone of international
society, but with more inclusive decision-making processes. In the 20th century the term
came to be linked to the concept of national self-determination, bringing an end to the
European powers' ability to insist on respect for all their sovereign rights.
13
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
First World War: first modern, industrialized total war as belligerents mobilized their
populations.
Second World War: brought Soviets and Americans politically deep into Europe.
Cold War: originated in Europe, but then spread around the world.
Since 1990 world politics transformed in different ways, reflecting 3 major developments:
Transition from European crises to modern, industrialized total war
End of empire ad withdrawal of European countries from their imperial acquisitions
Cold War as the confrontation between Soviets and Americans.
End of empire
Demise of imperialism in the 20th century: fundamental change and contributed to
decreasing importance of Europe as the arbiter of world affairs.
Self-determination: guiding principle in international politics.
Decolonization: due to the attitude of the colonial power, the ideology and strategy of the
anti-imperialist forces, the role of external forces.
BRITAIN:
FRANCE:
Chapter 3
Nationalism or Communism?
The principles of self-determination were slow to be implemented.
In Asia, the relationship between nationalism and Marxism was a potent force. The global
trend towards decolonization was a key development in the 20th century. Other forms of
domination took shape. Hegemony used as criticism of the behaviour of the superpower
with Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe and American hegemony in Central America.
Cold War
The onset of the Cold War in Europe reflected failure to implement the principles agreed at
the wartime conferences of Yalta and Potsdam. Soviet policy towards Europe was guided
by ideological expansion. While the origins of the Cold War were in Europe, events and
conflicts in Asia were crucial. Chinese civil war and the North Korean attack on South Korea
was interpreted as part of a general communist strategy.
The impact of Cold War in Middle East was more difficult. The founding of the state of
Israel in 1948 reflected the legacy of the Nazi genocide and the failure of British colonial
policy. Both the USA and the Soviet Union helped the creation of a Jewish state.
The idea that communism was a monolithic political entity controlled from Moscow
became an enduring American fixation. As the Soviet Union developed its ability to strike
the USA with nuclear weapons, the credibility of extended deterrence was questioned.
Death of Stalin in 1953: Khrushchev modernized soviet society, but helped reformist forces
in Eastern Europe (revolt in Hungary that condemned Moscow. It was seen as the spasm of
European Imperialism).
Crises over Berlin (1961) and in Cuba (1962): the most dangerous moments of Cold War.
Chapter 3
Gorbachev's aim in foreign policy: transform international relations with the USA. He
paved the way for agreements on nuclear and conventional forces that helped ease the
tensions that had characterized 1980s. He used agreements on nuclear weapons as a
means of building trust and demonstrated the serious and radical nature of his purpose.
Conclusion
Enormous changes in the 20th century politics.
The transformation of warfare into industrialized total war reflected a combination of
technological and social forces.
Nazi idea of racial supremacy brought mass murder across Europe and culminated in
genocide against Jews. Consequence: the creation of Israel (1948).
The period since 1945: witnessed of European empires.
Both Cold War and Age of Empire are over now, but the age of other weapons of mass
destruction continues.
16
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
The end of Cold War
When major war end, they pose great problems. The Cold War was the product of the
Second World War that left the international order divided between two superpowers:
USA and URSS. This rivalry began in Europe when URSS refused to withdraw from countries
originally liberated from Nazism. The Cold War created a degree of unit and cohesion and
should be regarded less as war in the conventional sense and more as managed rivalry. In
other words, the Cold War was a complex relationship that assumed competition, but
remained cold in large part because of nuclear weapons. Its end weakened the intellectual
hold of realism in the international relations and helped popularize constructivism as a
methodology.
Chapter 4
vision for Russia including nationalism at home, a recognition that the interests of Russia
and the West would not always be the same, ensuring that Russian economy served the
purposes of the state and not the rich West. He also provided a new definition of
democracy, leaving intact the outward of democracy, while its inner content in terms of an
independent parliament and equal access to a free media was hollowed out. Americans
and Europeans understood that it was important to work closely with Russia for economic
reasons, for its geographical proximity to Europe and because Russia was a permanent
member of the UN Security Council and a nuclear weapon state.
However, the impact of Putin's policies damaged Russia's relationship with the West and in
this sense Russia hardly represented a global rival because Russia itself should be worried
about the machinations of the West and USA.
Chapter 4
to change the terms of the debate about the USA's role in the world; the other was linked
to meltdown of the world's financial system in 2007 and 2008.
Financial crisis
Conclusion
USA
19
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
The timeless wisdom of realism
Idealist approach was substituted by a new approach based on timeless insights of realism
in order to define the idealist position. Realism taught to focus on interests rather than on
ideology and to recognize that great powers can coexist even if they have antithetical
values. The theory of realism is often claimed to rest on an older tradition of thought, but
the insights that contemporary realists offer are grouped under the doctrine of raison
d'tat.
This concept is the fundamental principle of international conduct. The state is identified
as the key actor in international politics and for realists the survival of the state can never
be guaranteed, because the use of force culminating in war is a legitimate instrument of
statecraft. There is one issue that realist associated with raison d'tat which is the role that
morals and ethics occupy in international politics. Realists are skeptical of the idea
universal moral principles exist and warn state leaders against sacrificing their own selfinterests in order to adhere to the notion of ethical conduct and furthermore they claim
that leaders have to distance from traditional morality.
Proponents of raison d'tat:
often speak as a dual moral standard: one moral standard for individual citizens
living inside the state and a different standard of the state in its external relations
with other states;
argue that the sate represents a moral force because it's its existence that creates
the possibility for an ethical community.
Statism, survival, self-help: present in the work of a classical realist. (Thucydides)
STATISM: term given to the idea of the state as the legitimate representative of the
collective will of the people. Outside the boundaries = anarchy (it emphasizes the
point that international realm is distinguished by the lack of central authority).
SURVIVAL: under the anarchy the survival of the state cannot be guaranteed. States
with more power stand a better chance of surviving than states with less power,
which is crucial to realist lexicon.
SELF-HELP: is the principle of action in an anarchical system where there is no global
government. Realists think that if a state feels threatened it should seek to
argument its own power capabilities by engaging in a military arms. The balance of
power is the most common definition when the survival of a state is threatened.
Critics claimed that realism was unable to provide a persuasive account of a new
development such as regional integration and the emergence of security community in
20
Chapter 5
Western Europe. Proponents of globalization stated that realism's privileged actor (the
state) was in decline to non-state actors such as transnational corporations.
21
Chapter 5
that different types of state possess different capacities to translate the various
elements of national power into state power.
22
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Liberalism: has a strong claim to being the historic alternative. In 1990s it appeared
resurgent as Western state leaders proclaimed a new world order and intellectuals
provided theoretical justifications for the inherent supremacy of their liberal ideas over all
other competing ideologies. The essence of liberalism is self-restraint, moderation,
compromise and peace. All citizens are juridically equal and possess certain basic rights to
education and religious toleration. The legislative assembly of the state possesses only the
authority invested in it by people. Besides, a key dimension of the liberty of the individual
is the right to own property. Liberalism contends that the most effective system of
economic exchange is one that is largely market driven. However, there is a contrast
between liberal values of individualism and conservatism, which places a higher value on
order and authority and sacrifices the liberty on the individual for the stability of the
community.
Liberals have agreed with realists that war is a recurring feature of the anarchic system
but, unlike realists, they do not identify anarchy as the cause of the war. Liberalists see the
causes of war in imperialism, in the failure of the balance of power, in the problem of
undemocratic regimes.
The idea of natural harmony of interests in international relations came under challenge in
the 20th century. The First World War shifted liberal thinking towards a recognition that
peace is not a natural condition, but is one that must be constructed. This is the reason
why the League of Nations was created. It called for collective security and for the selfdetermination of all nations. However, this experience was a very disaster because states
remained imprisoned by self-interest. Another important phenomenon was that of
transnationalism, but it remained a theoretical concept.
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Chapter 6
Conclusion
The pattern of conflict and insecurity of the war on terror suggests that liberal
democracy remains an incomplete project. One response to this argument is to call for
more liberalism; a deeper reason for the crisis in liberalism is that it's bound up with an
increasingly discredited Enlightenment view of the world.
24
Chapter 7
Chapter 7
The debate between neo-liberals and neo-realists has dominated international relations
scholarship in the USA since 1980s. Neo-realism and neo-liberalism are the progeny of
realism and liberalism. They're paradigms that define a field and define an agenda for
research and policy making.
Neo-realism refers to Waltz's theory of international politics, which emphasizes the
importance of the structure of the international system and its role as the primary
determinant of state behaviour. Neo-realist theory focuses on issues of military security
and war and for neo-realists the core research question is how to survive in an anarchic
system.
Neo-liberalism refers to neo-liberal institutionalism. In the policy world, neo-liberalism
means something different, that is to promote free trade and Western democratic values
and institutions. But in reality, neo-liberal foreign policies are not wedded to the ideals of
democratic peace, as national interests take precedence. Neo-liberal theorists focus on
issues of cooperation and environment. For them, the core question for research is how to
promote and support cooperation in an anarchic international system.
Both theories represent status quo perspectives, are problem-solving theories and both
address the issues of security.
25
Chapter 7
Neo-liberalism
There are 4 varieties of liberalism:
COMMERCIAL LIBERALISM: Advocates free trade and a market or capitalist
economy as the way towards peace and prosperity.
REPUBLICAN LIBERALISM: States that democratic states are more inclined to respect
the rights of their citizens and are less likely to go to war with their democratic
neighbours
26
Chapter 7
Chapter 7
28
Chapter 8
Chapter 8
With the end of the cold war and the triumph of capitalism it became commonplace to
assume that the ideas of Marx could be safely consigned to the dustbin of history. While
Communist Parties retained power in China and Cuba they did not constitute a threat to
the hegemony of the global capitalist system. These parties were forced to submit to the
unassailable logic of the market. The lack of a credible alternative to capitalism may have
led to a crisis in Marxism, but two decades later there appears to be a renaissance, due to
2 reasons.
The first was that for many theorists the communist experiment in the Soviet Union
had become a major embarrassment and some Marxists were openly critical of the
Soviet Union.
The second was that Marx's social theory retains formidable analytical purchase on
the world we inhabit.
A particular strength of Marx's work is his analysis of crisis. Liberal accounts of capitalism
suggest that free markets will move towards equilibrium and will be inherently stable. Our
day-to-day lived experience suggest otherwise. Compared to realism and liberalism
Marxist thought presents an unfamiliar view of international relations. Marxist theories
aim to expose a deeper, underlying truth: all occur within structures that have an
enormous influence on those events. Marxist theories are also discomfiting, for the they
argue that the effects of global capitalism are to ensure that the powerful and wealthy
continue to prosper at the expense of the powerless and the poor.
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Chapter 8
Marx internationalized
Although Marx was clearly aware of the international and expansive character of
capitalism, his focus is on the development and characteristics of 19 th century British
capitalism. In the 20th century writers started to develop analyses that incorporated the
implications of capitalism's trans-border characteristics, in particular that of imperialism.
The best-known work is that of Lenin "imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism". Lenin
accepted much of Marx's thesis but argued that the character of capitalism had changed.
Lenin's views are developed by the Latin American Dependency School, adherents of which
developed the notion of core and periphery in greater depth. Feminist Marxists have also
played a significant role in theorizing the development of an international capitalist
system. The role of women is necessary for the reproduction of capitalism. Mies argued
that women play a central role in the maintenance of capitalist relations as there is a
sexual division of labour.
Gramscianism
Marxist theory that emerged from the work of the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. He was
one of the members of the Italian Communist Party. The key question that animated
Gramsci's the founding al work was: why had it proven to be so difficult to promote
revolution in Western Europe? Gramsci's answer revolves around his use of the concept of
hegemony. he used the term "historic bi .0c to describe the mutually reinforcing and
reciprocal relationships between the socio-economic relations that together underpin a
given order. If the hegemony of the ruling class is a key element in the perpetuation of its
dominance, this society can only be transformed if that hegemonic position is successfully
challenged.
Robert Cox
The person who has done most to introduce Gramsci to the study of world politics is Cox.
He has developed a Gramscian approach that involves both a critique of prevailing theories
of International Relations and International Political Economy, and the development of an
alternative framework for the analysis of world politics. He said "theory is always for
someone and for some purpose". This suggests that all knowledge must reflect a certain
context, a certain time and a certain space. Cox suggest that we need to look closely at
each of those theories that claim to be objective or value-free. He subjects realism and
neo-realism. According to Cox, these theories are for those who prosper under the
prevailing order and their purpose is to reinforce and legitimate the status quo. Cox
contrasts problem-solving theory, that is theory that accepts the parameters of the
present order and thus helps legitimate an unjust and deeply iniquitous system with
critical theory. According to Cox, successive dominant powers in the International system
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Chapter 8
have shaped a world order that suits their interests and have done so not only as a result
of their coercive capabilities.
Critical theory
there are many overlaps between critical theory and Gramscian approaches to the study of
world politics. Both Gramscianism and critical theory have their roots in Western Europe.
However, there are differences between them. Contemporary critical theory and
Gramscian thoughts about international relations draw upon the ideas of different
thinkers. In addition there is a clear difference in focus between the two stands with those
influenced by Gramsci tending to be much more concerned with issues to the subfield of
international political economy than critical theorists. Critical theorists have involved
themselves with questions concerning international society and security. Critical theory
developed out of the work of the Frankfurt School. This was an extraordinarily talented
group of thinkers. Intellectual concerns are rather different from those of most other
Marxists in that they have not been much interested in the further development of
analysis of the economic base of society. They have concentrated on questions relating to
culture, the social basis and nature of authoritarianism and on exploring in concepts such
as rationality. Frankfurt School theorists have been innovative in terms of their analysis of
the role of the media. In other words, in classical Marxist terms the focus of critical theory
is superstructural. Critical theorists have been highly dubious as to whether the proletariat
in contemporary society does in fact embody the potential for emancipator transformation
in the way that Marx had believed. Frankfurt School thinkers have argued that the working
class has simply been absorbed by the system. Critical theorists have made some of their
most important contributions through their explorations of the meaning of emancipation.
Marxists have equated emancipation with the process of humanity gaining ever greater
mastery over nature through the development of ever-more sophisticated technology.
New Marxism
New Marxists are those writers who derive their ideas from Marx's own writings. They
have returned to the fundamental tenets of Marxist thought and sought to reappropriate
ideas that they regard as having been neglected by subsequent generations.
Justin Rosenberg
The focus of Rosenberg's analysis is the character of the international system and its
relationship to the changing character of social relations. Rosenberg challenges realism's
claim to provide an ahistorical timeless account of international relations by analyses of
the differences in the character of international relations between the Greek and Italian
City-states. Rosenberg argues for the development of a theory of International relations
that is sensitive to the changing character of world politics. He finally argues that
31
Chapter 8
Benno teschke
He provides not only a critique of existing International Relations theory but also a means
of analysing changes in the constitution and practice of actors in the international system.
His work can be seen as building on Rosenberg's observation that social relations provide
the indispensable starting point for an analysis of international relations.
According to Marxist theorists, the globe has long been dominated by a single integrated
economic and political entity that has gradually incorporated all of humanity within its
gasp. They insist that the only way to discover how significant contemporary developments
really are is to view them in the contexts of the deeper structural processes at work.
Globalization is now cited as a reason to promote measures to reduce workers' rights and
lessen other constraints on business.
32
Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Constructivism: one of the leading schools in International Relations. Today constructivism
is recognized for its ability to capture important features of global politics and viewed as an
important theory of international relations.
In the beginning
Its origins are to be traced to the 1980s when neo-realism and neo-liberal institutionalism
dominated American international relations theory. The 1980s were characterized not only
by the dominance of neo-realism and neo-liberal institutionalism, but also by a growing
interest in social theory and the relationship between the structure and the actors. In the
1980s there were many contributions but 4 were influential for the establishing
constructivism's theoretical orientation and conceptual vocabulary. Ruggie attacked
structure and argued that we should pay more attention to differentiation and that the
states-system has been organized according to alternative principle. Ashley published an
influential critique of neo-realism. He levelled a variety of charges. In his view, neo-realism
is so fixated on a state that it cannot see a world populated by non-state actors. His
critique revealed neo-realism's limitations and the power of poststructural and critical
theory. In 1987 Wendt introduced the agent-structure problem saying that the problem is
that structures do more than constrains agents. He also argued that an international
normative structure shapes the identities and interests of states and through their
interactions states recreate that structure.
Kratochwil introduced international relations scholars to the distinction between
regulative and constitutive rules. Regulative rules regulate already existing activities while
constitutive rules create the very possibility for these activities. The rules of sovereignty
not only regulate state practices but also make possible the idea of a sovereign state.
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Chapter 9
Constructivism
It's a social theory and not a substantive theory of International politics. Social theory is
concerned with how to conceptualize the relationship between agents and structures.
Constructivism is best compared with rational choice which is a social theory that offers a
framework for understanding how actors operate with fixed preferences that they attempt
to maximize under a set of constraints.
There are many different kinds of constructivists. Some prioritize agents and others
structures. Some focus on inter-state politics and others on transnationalism and human
consciousness. The focus on human consciousness suggests a commitment to idealism and
holism. Idealism demands that we take seriously the role of ideas in world politics.
Idealism does not reject material reality but instead observes that the meaning and
construction of that material reality is dependent on ideas and interpretation.
Constructivism also accepts some form of holism or structuralism. The emphasis on holism
does not deny agency but recognizes that agents have some autonomy and their
interactions help to construct and transform those structures. The social construction of
reality also shapes what is viewed as legitimate action. Distinction between the logic of
consequences and the logic of appropriateness. The logic of consequences attributes
action to the anticipated costs and benefits. The logic of appropriateness highlights how
actors are rule-following, worrying about whether their actions are legitimate.
Constructivists also examine how actors make their activities meaningful. They attempt to
recover the meanings that actors give to their practices and the objects that they
construct. Constructivists have offered two important additions to the view of power. the
forces of power go beyond material and they also can be ideational. Considering the issue
of legitimacy, states crave legitimacy and there is a direct relationship between their
legitimacy and the costs of a course of action. Moreover, the effects of power go beyond
the ability to change behaviour. Power also includes how knowledge and the construction
of identities allocate differential rewards and capacities. Constructivists add that structures
can have a casual impact because they make possible certain kinds of behaviour and
generate certain tendencies in the international system. Sovereignty produces them and
invests them with capacities that make possible certain kinds of behaviours. Constructivists
reject the idea that explanation requires the discovery of timeless laws. It's impossible to
find such laws in international politics. Constructivists adopt ethnographic and interpretive
techniques in order to recreate the meanings that actors bring to their practices relate to
social worlds. They use genealogical methods to identify the contingent factors that
produced the categories of world politics that are subsequently taken for granted. They
even use computer simulations to model the emergent properties of world politics. Some
use constructivism to identify how identify shapes the state's interests and then turn to
rational choice for understanding strategic behaviour.
34
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Poststructuralism part of the International Relations in 1980s. influenced by social and
philosophical theory that had played a major role in the humanities since the 1970s.
poststructuralists held that the key to the cold war lay in the enemy constructions that
both East and West promoted.
Poststructuralists bring a critical perspective to the study of world politics in two important
respects. Theyre critical of the way that most states conduct their foreign policies and
they are critical of how most IR theories tell us to study what states do. Postructuralists
disagree with realism and say that the state is a particular way of understanding political
community and tell us to take the state and power very seriously.
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Chapter 10
Discourse
Poststructuralism holds that language is essential to how we make sense of the world.
Language is social because we cannot make our thoughts understandable to others
without a set of shared codes. This is captured by the concept of discourse.
Poststructuralism understands language not as a neutral transmitter but as producing
meaning. Using the concept of discourse we can say that each discourse provides different
views of the body. Poststructuralists stress that discourses are not the same as ideas and
that materiality or the real world is not abandoned.
Deconstruction
to see language as a set of codes means that words make sense only in relation to other
words. The theory of deconstruction adds that language is made up by dichotomies
between the developed and the underdeveloped, the modern and the pre-modern, the
civilized and the barbaric. Deconstruction shows how such dichotomies make something.
Poststructuralists agree that a central goal is to problematize dichotomies, show how they
work and open up alternative ways to understand world politics.
Genealogy
Its another of Foucaults concepts, defined as a history of the present. It starts from
something contemporary.
Chapter 10
Intertextuality
The theory on intertextuality is developed by the semiotic theorist Julia Kristeva. It argues
that we can understand the social world as comprised of texts. But intertextual relations
are also made in more abstract ways. Intertextuality also implies that certain things are
taken for granted because previous texts have made the point so many times that there is
no need to state it again. At the same time as intertextuality points to the way in which
texts quote past texts, it is also holds that individual texts are unique.
Popular culture
Poststructuralists hold that there are several reasons why we should pay attention to
popular culture. One of the reasons is that film, television, music and video are watched
and listened to by many people across the world and so popular culture has spread from
one place to another.
Finally, popular culture might foreshadow events in the real world and provide us with
complex, critical and thought-provoking visions of world politics.
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Chapter 10
world inside states is not only different from the international realm outside; the two are
constituted as each others opposition. Poststructuralists have shown how the insideoutside dichotomy is held in place by being reproduced again. States reproduce state
sovereignty but so do academic texts.
The Harmony and justice that are possible within states cannot be extended to the
international sphere as this fraught with anarchy and power politics.
Universal alternatives
Poststructuralists hold that claims to global and universal solutions always imply that
something else is different. And that which is different is almost always in danger of being
forced to change to become like the universal. The good universal categories were aimed
at those who were not part of that universal project and the universal discourse reinforced
the West as the one that could define real universalism. Poststructuralisms critique of
universalism shows that although poststructuralists are critical of realism, they agree with
realists that we should take power and the state seriously.
Identity as performative
Poststructuralism conceptualizes identity as relational and performative. The concept of
performativity comes from Butler and holds that identities have no objective existence but
that they depend on discursive practices. The most important development of a
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Chapter 10
performative theory of identity and foreign policy is David Campbells book. He takes a
broad view of what foreign policy is and distinguishes between Foreign Policy (policies
undertaken by states in the international arena) and foreign policy (discursive practices ).
It might involve gender and sexual relations. By looking at both Foreign Policy and
foreign policy, postructuralism casts light on the symbolic boundaries that are constituted
within and across states.
Subjects position
When poststructuralists write about identities they usually use the term subjectivities or
subject positions to underscore that identity is not something that someone has but that it
is a position that one is constructed as having.
40
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Post-colonialism: new approach to the study of IR. It entered the fields in the 1990s.
The new entrances stretched the field by refusing the idea that nation-states are always
the key actors in IR and emphasizing the many locations and relations that could be
considered as IR. The main contributions of post-colonial analysis have been threefold: to
bring historical relations of colonial powers with colonies into the study of IR; to provide
views and theories of those relations from the perspectives of colonized peoples: to
encourage the use of novels, poetry, diaries as sources of valuable information on the
nature of colonialism and post colonialism. The use of term postcolonial means lingering
colonial hierarchies of race, class and gender despite the winding down of the formal
colonial period and the tendency of IR to pay more attention to the foreign policies. Postcolonial is used throughout to refer to the analysis of colonialism. Postcolonial is used to
indicate a turn since the 1990s towards analyzing the current era of IR as the postcolonial
era.
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Chapter 11
Becoming post-colonial
Post-colonial theorizing was taking several directions by the 1990s. one steady path was
literary analysis and a second one takes up robust theorizing of the present moment in
history. Its a time of the present and that extends into the future; yet it is a time when
colonial patterns of trade, governance and social relations persist. Bhabha's work straddles
concerns with the post-colonial and the postcolonial. Bhabha has addressed how colonial
discourses constructed the colonized, which we recognize as a central question of power in
42
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post-colonialism. Bhabha argues that colonialism was never successful in defining and
restricting the lives of colonial and post-colonial subjects. Bhabha maintains that colonial
discourse was always ambivalent about the people it colonized. Bhabhas theory of
identity formation in colonial contexts contest Bhabhas theory of identity formation in
colonial contexts contests genealogies of origin that lead to claims for culture supremacy
and historical priority. He also has ideas that relate to the world-travelling methodology
of politics described earlier. He talks of disseminations that become diasporic, travelling
physically from South to North to live. By focusing on the contemporary period, a shift
occurs that is bigger than the minor change in spelling from post-colonial to postcolonial. A
Global South exists in various forms within and across former colonial powers as well as in
former colonies associated with the southern hemisphere. People of the South migrate in
great numbers to northern countries now because information flows more easily to the
South and cultures interpenetrate. Postcolonial thinking expands the spatial reach of te
post-colonial to regions of the world that have vastly differing temporal relationships with
colonialism. Some colonized countries were politically independent by the early 1800s and
other countries experienced colonialism from the 1800s on. Postcolonial perspectives also
consider within-country conflicts with indigenous groups over land and rights and lingering
colonial situations that do not entirely make sense within a post-colonial tradition.
Contemporary theorists remove the hyphen from the term post-colonial to indicate that
the current era is postcolonial and has continuities with colonialism.
Conclusion
Post-colonialism/postcolonialism did not start as a branch of IR or even as a companion to
it. The neglect of topics now identified as postcolonial reveals a fields shallow interest
historically in politics outside Great Power states. Postcolonialism highlights the
international relations of colonial actions in the Third World, the continuities of that past
and the present. And it does so with a mission that still includes the liberation of subaltern
statutes in todays world-time, a phenomenon that would surely be the ultimate answer to
discourses and deeds that uphold global relations of dominance and subordination.
43
Chapter 13
Chapter 13
War has not disappeared as a form of social behaviour and shows no signs of doing so.
Since the end of the cold war the annual number of wars have all declined sharply
compared with the cold war period.
Definitions
Some have seen war as any form of armed and organized physical conflict. General
descriptions of this sort are not particularly helpful for understanding contemporary war,
the first because it is insufficiently specific and could equally describe gang warfare, the
latter because it makes an unreasonable assumption. War is simply any form of armed
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Chapter 13
violence between groups of people, but it valid to ask what sorts of goals are involved and
how much violence is required for an armed clash to be called a war.
45
Chapter 13
modernity was characterized by the rise of nationalism and increasingly centralized and
bureaucratic states with rapidly rising populations, by the scientific and industrial
revolutions. The warfare that was characteristic of the period reflected the forces of
modernity. They armed and equipped them with the products of industrialization and
expected their populations to sacrifice themselves for the state. At the same time, another
feature of warfare during the modern period was that, at least in the conflicts between the
developed states it was governed by rules. An entire body of international law was
developed to constrain and regulate the use of violence in wartime.
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Chapter 13
Postmodern war
Global society is moving from the modern to the postmodern age. This is a process that
has been under way for several decades and is the result of a wide range of economic,
cultural, social changes that are altering the meaning of the state and the nation. In some
parts of the world the state is transferring functions to private authorities and businesses.
The media have become far more important in terms of shaping or even constructing
understandings of particular wars. Another postmodern development has been the
increasing outsourcing of war. More and more states have contracted out key military
services to private corporations. The 20th century saw the advent of total war which
involved the complete mobilization of the human and military resources of the state in the
pursuit of victory and which recognized few if any moral restraints in terms of who could
be the targeted if their destruction would bring victory closer.
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New wars
The new wars occur in situations where the economy of the state is performing extremely
poorly or collapsing so that the tax revenues and power of the state decline dramatically
producing an increase in corruption and criminality. As the state loses control access to
weapons and the ability to resort to violence are increasingly privatized. One of the effects
of these developments is that traditional distinction between the soldier and the civilian
becomes blurred or disappeared. The relationship between identity and war is also shifting
in terms of the gender and age of the combatants. The feminization of war has grown as
women have come to play increasingly visible and important roles. The majority of the
violence of the new wars is directed against women. Children have also become more
visible as participants in war.
Post-Westphalian warfare
The assumption that war is something that takes place between states is based on an
acceptance of the Westphalian state system as the norm, war wars an armed conflict
between opposing states. They were regulated by formal acts including declarations of
war. Many of the features of the new wars are not new in the sense that they have been
common in earlier periods of history. It can be argued that the initiators of the new wars
have been empowered by the new conditions produced by globalization that have
weakened states and created parallel economies and privatized protection. Such conflicts
occur in failed states, countries where the government has lost control of significant parts
of the national territory.
Conclusion
The end of the cold war has not altered the dominant patterns of war that have been in
place for the past fifty years. The new forms of conflict are for the most part not new as
such, but have received more Western attention since the end of the cold war.
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Chapter 14
Chapter 14
International global security: is it possible to achieve it in the kind of world in which we
live?
There has been a difference between realists and idealist thinkers who have been
pessimistic and optimistic in their response to this central question in the international
political fields. War and violent crime were seen as perennial features of inter-state
relations stretching back through human history.
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50
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Alternative approaches
CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY: The fundamental structures of international politics are social
rather than strictly material. This leads social constructivists to argue that changes in the
nature of social interaction between states can bring a fundamental shift towards greater
international security. Many constructivists share realist assumptions about international
politics. Some accept that states are the key referent in the study of international politics
and international security, that states cannot be certain of the intentions of other states
and that states attempt to behave rationally. Constructivists think about international
politics in a very different way from neo-realists. The latter tend to view structure as made
up only of a distribution of material capabilities. Constructivists view structures as the
product of social relationships. The emphasis on the structure of shared knowledge is
important in constructivist thinking. The idea of power politics has meaning to the extent
that states accept the idea as a basic rule of international politics. According to social
constructivist writers power politics is an idea that affects the way states behave but it
does not describe all inter-state behaviour. For some the fact that structures are socially
constructed does not mean that they can be changed. Many constructivists are more
optimistic. They point to the changes in ideas introduced by Gorbachev which led to a
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Chapter 14
shared knowledge about the end of the cold war. According to this view understanding the
crucial role of social structure is important in developing policies and processes of
interaction that will lead to cooperation rather than conflict.
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Chapter 14
The end of the cold war has been characterized by the fragmentation of nation-states. The
result of this fracture statehood has been a movement away from conflicts between the
Great Powers to new forms of insecurity. Such conflicts pose a critical problem for the
international community of whether to intervene in the domestic affairs of sovereign
states to safeguard minority rights and individual human rights. Man global theorists argue
that its now increasingly necessary to think of the security of individuals of groups within
the emergent global society. Some argue that while the state is being transformed by
globalization, it remains a key referent in the contemporary debate about security.
According to this view of globalization, states are being transformed as they struggle to
deal with the range of new challenges that face them.
No doubt that national security is being challenged by the forces of globalization.
Globalization appears to be having a negative effects on international security because it is
associated with fragmentation, inequality and terrorism.
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Chapter 15
Chapter 15
International political economy (IPE) is about the interplay of economics and politics in
world affairs. The markets of the world economy are not like local street bazaars in which
all items can be traded and exchanged. The relationship between states and markets was
highlighted by the fact that some states failed to restrain their financial markets. They let
their banks make massive profits at the expense of societies which ended up paying the
costs when the banks failed. Globalization and who benefits most from it was revisited in
the wake of the crisis, particularly by countries that benefited little from financial
liberalization but were affected by the crisis. Relations between the North and the South
were transformed as emerging economies carved out a new position for themselves in
international institutions.
Chapter 15
game was further bolstered by the success of oil-production developing countries in raising
oil prices. Developing countries sought better representation in international economic
institutions, a fairer trading system, the regulation of foreign investment, the protection of
economic sovereignty and reforms to ensure a monetary system. A kind of summit
diplomacy was that between North and South. These negotiations were underpinned by a
different kind of thinking and scholarship about IPE. The developing countries push for
reform of the international economic system reflected dependency theory and
structuralist theories of international economic relations that highlighted negative aspects
of interdependence.
Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Chapter 15
institutions and organizations will always reflect the interests of dominant states within
the system. Once created these institutions will not transform the way states define and
pursue their interests. The institutionalists argue that policy-makers will consider the
absolute gains to be made from the agreement. If other states stand to gain more, then
the advantages of signing up are outweighed by the fact that the power of the state will be
diminished. Constructivist reject the idea that institutions reflect the rational calculations
of states either within inter-state competition or as a part of a calculation of longer-term
economic advantage and benefits from cooperation. They argue that any one states
interests are affected by its identity as a state and that both its interests and identity are
influenced by a social structure of interactions and ideas. The realists are wrong to assume
that institutions can only be reflections of power politics. Constructivism and the neoGramscian approach highlight actors and processes involved in globalization that are
neglected in realist and institutionalist accounts and have important ramifications for
institutions.
Conclusion
Globalization increases the challenges faced by all actors in the world economy: states,
firms, transnational actors and international organizations. Strong states are trying to
shape institutions to manage financial crises. Weak states are trying to survive increasingly
precarious and changeable economic circumstances.
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Chapter 17
Chapter 17
International law best understood as a core International institution, a set of norms, rules
and practices created by states and other actors to facilitate diverse social goals. It is an
institution with distinctive historical roots.
Chapter 17
international law was understood as a set of divinely ordained principles of state conduct,
accessible to all endowed with right reason.
Multilateral legislation
The legislation of international law takes place formally and informally. Customary norms
are a special category of international law that have a high normative standing in the
community of states that they are considered binding upon all states irrespective of
whether they have consented. In addition to these informal modes of law-making, states
have also developed more formal methods of legislation, the most distinctive being the
practice of multilateralism.
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gradually transforming into a system of supranational law. While these changes have not
yet prompted the rewriting of international legal texts, scholars are responding cautiously,
current developments have injected new excitement and energy into the field of
international law.
Chapter 17
law because sanctionists exist to punish illegal behaviour. To speak of states having
strong international legal obligations is nonsensical for realists.
NEO-LIBERAL INSTITUTIONALISM
Neo-liberals shied away from directly discussing international law, even though their
concept of regimes bore a close affinity, since the end of the cold war neo-liberals
have been at the forefront of calls for a more productive dialogue between
international relations and international law. States are treated as rational egoists,
law is seen as an intervening variable between the goals of states and political
outcomes.
CONSTRUCTIVISM
Constructivists argue that normative and ideational structures are as important as
material structures. They hold that understanding how actors identities shape their
interests and strategies is essential to understanding their behavior. These ideas
provide clear openings for the study of international law, and it is not surprising that
constructivists have found considerable common ground with legal theorists.
THE NEW LIBERALISM
The new liberalism in international relations seeks to reformulate liberalism as a
positive social scientific paradigm. The theory rests on 3 assumptions. The first holds
that the fundamental actors in international politics are individuals and private
groups, who are on average rational and risk-averse. The second proposes that
states represent some subset of domestic society on the basis of whose interests
state officials define state preferences and act purposively in world politics. The
third assumption is that the configuration of interdependent state preferences
determines state behavior. The new liberalism is a second image theory that gives
analytical priority to the domestic sources of international relations.
CRITICAL LEGAL STUDIES
During the 1980s a body of critical international legal theory emerged to challenge
the inherent liberalism of modern international legal thought and practice. They
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argue that the underlying logic of liberalism in international law is incoherent. Such
liberalism denies that there can be any objective values beyond the values of
individual states and it imagines that international conflicts can e resolved on the
basis of objective and neutral rules. Critical legal scholars claim that international
legal thought operates within a confined intellectual structure. Critical legal scholars
challenge the determinacy of international legal rules. Legal positivism holds that a
rule has a singular and objective meaning. Critical legal scholars also argue that the
authority of international law can only be self-validating. Its only through its own
internal rituals that it can attain the legitimacy needed to attract state compliance
and engagement.
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Chapter 18
Chapter 18
An important dimension of globalization has been the establishment of worldwide regimes
within the International system. It was during the 20th century that regimes became a
global phenomenon: It may seems unremarkable that states have established regimes to
ensure that mail gets delivered anywhere in the world and that aircraft can fly safely from
one country to another. The existence of these regimes becomes rather more surprising
when it is acknowledged how much controversy can surround the formation of regimes
and how frequently attempts to form regimes can fail. Regime theorists are located within
two broad schools of thought: realism and liberalism. Realists are often skeptical of or
uninterested in international law. At the same time regime theorists in the liberal camp
identified as liberal institutionalists, have accepted key assumptions made by neo-realists.
But despite the shared theoretical assumptions, liberal institutionalists and realists adhere
to very different assessments of regimes. Realists are interested in the way that states use
their power capabilities in situations requiring coordination to influence the nature of
regimes and the way that the costs and benefits derived from regime formation are
divided up.
Both consider regimes to be the product of rational self-interested actors. They approach
the establishment of rules from a very different perspective to social constructivists, who
assume that the existence of rules can help to shape how actors define their identity and
interests and demonstrate that they share a common view of the world. During this era,
the USA, because of its hegemonic position, had been able to establish and maintain a
complex array of economic regimes in the West. Liberal institutionalists and realists
reacted to this development in very different ways. Liberal institutionalists were concerned
because while the need for regimes was becoming increasingly urgent, they believed that
the loss of hegemonic status by the USA made it difficult to establish these regimes. After
the cold war, the USA became more hegemonic than in the past but concern also began to
grow that USA was losing interests in the formation of new international regimes. Realists
focus on the growing conflict of interest that exist between the developed and developing
world. The developing world argues that the problem has been precipitated by the
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Chapter 18
developed world and that the developed world must shoulder most of the costs for
resolving the problem.
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strategies, there is no incentive to defect from the mutually collaborative strategies and
return to the sub-optimal outcome. It is argued that if the Prisoners Dilemma is played only
once then the game exaggerates the difficulty of generating collaboration.
Realists contest the liberal institutional approach. They attack the comparison drawn
between a hegemony providing public goods in the international system and the state
dealing with domestic cases of market failure. Realists deny that regimes emerge as the
result of states endeavouring to overcome the pressure to compete under conditions of
anarchy. The realists account of regimes must explain why states adhere to the principles
and norms underlying a regime that they oppose. They argue that states wishing to form a
regime confront the problem of coordination as illustrated by the Battle of the Sexes, not
collaboration as illustrated by the Prisoners Dilemma. States observe the regime because
they are operating in a coordination situation and a failure to coordinate will move them
into a less advantageous situation. The situation is somewhat different in the area of
communication regimes. All forms of electronic communication use electromagnetic waves
that are emitted along an electromagnetic spectrum. Coordination is essential because
interference occurs in more than one user adopts the same frequency of the spectrum at
the same time over the same area.
Conclusion
Although liberal institutionalists and realists acknowledge that regimes are an important
feature of the international system they reach very different conclusion about the
circumstances in which regimes emerge. Realists link the emergence of regimes to
situations where there is a mutual desire to cooperate but where anarchy generates a
problem of coordination. For liberal institutionalists power may be used by a hegemony to
pressure other states to collaborate and conform to a regime. For realists power is seen to
play a crucial role to determine the shape of a regime around which all states will
coordinate their actions. The Prisoners Dilemma game help to understand the kind of
problems they have to overcome. These problems revolved around the uncertainty about
what the other states were going to do.
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Chapter 19
Chapter 19
The United Nation made up of a group of international institutions: World Health
Organization WHO, International Labour Organization ILO + UNICEF +UNDP (un
development programme). UN reflected the hope for a just and peaceful global
community. The only global institution with legitimacy that derives from universal
membership, and a mandate that encompass security economic and social development,
human right and environment's protection. Nonetheless remain key issues the meaning of
sovereignty and the limits of UN action , however UN keep a moral status in International
society.
Institutions and mechanisms of UN reflect the needs and interest of people and of states,
the tension between these various needs are a key features of UN development.
Brief history of UN
UN established (derives from the league of nation born after the I WW to stop wars in the
world * ) 24 October 1945 by 51 winners states after the German-Japan conflict (II WW).
When joining member states agree the United Nation Charter
an international treaty
that sets the bases for international relations. The four purposes are:
maintain the international peace;
develop friendly relations among nations;
cooperate in solving internal problems and promoting respects for human rights;
be a centre of harmonizing the action of nations ;
In UN every states has voice and are able to vote in this process.
*The major problem of the League of nations was the lack of effective power: both the L.
Assembly and the L. Council could only make recommendations, not binding resolutions,
and this recommendation has to be unanimous, but any government was free to reject any
recommendation.
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The structure of the UN was intended to avoid some of these problems. It's composed by
six organs: the security council, general assembly, the secretariat, the economic and social
council, the trusteeship council and international council of justice.
SECURITY COUNCIL: main responsibility of maintaining international peace and
security, made up of 15 states (5 permanent: US, UK, China, Russia , France with veto
power).
When the Security Council consider a threat to international peace it first explores
ways to settle the dispute peacefully under the terms of chapter VI of UN charter. Can
impose economic sanctions or orders an arms embargo. On rare occasion security
council has authorized member states to use all necessary means including collective
military action.
(schema a pagina 314
UN system)
permanent members.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY: all UN member are represented in general assembly, It is a
''parliament of nations" which meets to consider the world's most pressing problems,
each member state has one vote, required to decision a two-third majority. The
decisions taken by general assembly has the status of recommendation. Since general
assembly resolutions are non-binding, they cannot force action by any states, but its
recommendations are important indications of world opinion and represent the moral
authority in the community of nations.
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led
ECOSOC was not given the necessary management power. It can only issue
recommendations and receive Reports from the specialized agencies.
THE TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL: established to provide international supervision for 11
trust territories ( ex colonized territories administered by seven members states an
ensure that steps were taken to prepare the territories for self-government or
independence acquired in 1994.
THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE: the main judicial organ of UN. With 15 judges
elected by general assembly and security council, the court decides disputes between
countries.
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security council. From 1945 to 1990 invoked 193 vetoes in the security council, only 23
between 1990-2010.
Nation could not agree about the arrangements of chapter VII of the charter, especially
about the idea of setting a UN army
Chapter 19
This idea is reflected in state's creation (ex: a colony that become state) in fact, in this
situations, there's the need to pay attention on the interest of citizens and their rights
before statehood.* Cold war proved that international stability isn't threatened only by
aggressions between states but especially by civil conflict, humanitarian emergencies,
violation of global standards of human rights , and problem such as poverty. More recently
other types of non-state-based threats (terrorism and arms and weapons of mass
destruction) have an increasingly prominent place on the UN security agenda.
*the cold war and the decolonization process had discouraged more active involvement by
the UN within states.
Peacebuilding commission established in 2005 and provides target support to countries in
the volatile port-conflict phase to help prevent the recurrence of conflict.
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development is a goal on UN itself The number of institutions within the UN system that
address economic and social issues has significantly increased. Several programmes and
funds were created in response to global conferences.
Despite a shortage of funds and coordination problems, the UN has dine important work in
key economic and social areas.
The millennium development goals( millennium summit 2000) have focused attention on
measurable socioeconomic targets and have further integrated the work of the UN at the
country level, but progress towards reaching the goals has been uneven.
UN climate change cooperation in Copenhagen (2009) COP15: the most recent global
conference focusing on environmental issues (the first on humanitarian environment was
in Stockholm in 1972). The conference made clear the environmental issues remained
prominent in UN agenda. [vedi cap 21]
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REFORM PROCESS IN THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ARRANGEMENTS OF THE UN during the
years this process develop in two levels:
COUNTRY LEVEL: key feature of the reforms at the country field level was the
adaptation of country strategy notes: statements about development process to the
specific need of each country, they clearly set out target roles and priorities.
Moreover another reform was the strengthening of the role of resident coordinator,
an UN's employee that became the responsible officer at country level. +
improvement communication facilities and information sharing
the activities of
UN organisation brought together in "UN houses". New country level approach was
called: Integrated Programmes Approach.
HEADQUARTERS LEVEL: UN family of economic and social organizations has always
been a polycentric system
capable of managing the wide range of economic and social activities under the UN
umbrella. Reform of 1990s : reorganisations and rationalisation of economic and
social council (ECOSOC), before it could only issue recommendations and receive
reports
of the UN system.
ECOSOC was given the power to take final decisions on the activities of its subsidiary
bodies and other mattering relating to system-wide coordination in economic.
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Chapter 20
Transnational actors and international organizations in global policy
In diplomacy, global law international relations consist of the relations between states but
the better understanding of political change is the analysis of relations between
governments and other actors. Global politics, in facts, includes companies and nongovernmental organizations (NGO). The main categories of political actors:
Nearly 200 governments, 192 of them are also members of the UN 82100
transnational companies ex. Shell, Mitsubishi, Vodafone
9500 single-country non-governmental organizations as Sierra Club (USA)
240 intergovernmental organizations such as UN, NATO, EU and other 2500
regular autonomous conferences and treaty review bodies
7600 international intergovernmental organizations such as Amnesty
International and a similar number of less well-established international
caucuses and networks of NGOs.
These actors play a regular part in global politics and each governments interacts with nonstate actors. It is evident that the proliferation of these organizations is wide, as the range
of their activities.
REALISM: international relations are only those between states, then non-state actors are
of secondary importance.
PLURALISM: all types of actors can act in political relations.
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Less control over the currency (valuta) and the foreign trade. Even G20 cannot
control global financial system.
Ability to change transfer prices (to evade taxes).
Individual governments their countrys trade (especially indirect trade).
Many countries usually involved in the exchanges. Difficult to impose taxes and laws
because of extraterritoriality and sovereignty.
In the past regulation and sovereignty were possessed by individual governments
but now these are exercised in a global level.
Chapter 20
professions, scientists,...
consequences: governments cannot control the flow of information across their borders.
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Chapter 21
Ecological footprints of individual states vary to an extraordinary extent - example is the
different carbon emission of each state: if everyone enjoy the current lifestyle of the
developed countries, more than three planets would be required. There are vast
inequalities between rich and poor in their use of the earth s resources and the ecological
shadow or footprint that they impose on it.
(yet local and regional action have great importance to response to many problems but a
defining characteristic of environmental politics is the need of "think globally-act locally"
NGO's very active in this aspect).
In addressing shared environmental problems, global environmental governance bringing
to bear inter-state relation , international law and international organization.
Use of the Term "governance" "government"
have to be exercised in the absent of a central government. (regime analysis chap. 18)
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became in 1972 UNCHE (UN conference of the human environment) to focus government
attention and public opinion on the importance and urgency of the question. Yet it was
clear for the states of the south that environmental questions could not be separated from
their demands for development. 1992 conference on environmental and development
(UNCED) was the largest international conference held so far
Chapter 21
reflected struggles for national and organizational advantages. Because of this some
suspect that much of the activity at the international environmental meetings is simply to
issue declarations convincing domestic publics that something is being done, even if
environment conditions continue to deteriorate.
penalties and restrictions by MEAs has been a vexed issue when the objective of
environmental protection has come into conflict with the rules of the GATT/ WTO
trade regime. The background to such arguments is wider debate about the
relationship between trade and the environment.
Norm creation
The development of international environmental LAW
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs) in the developing world 1991 UNEP , UNDP and the world
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information needs funding from governments because the private sector has no
incentive to do the work
ocean
floor, high seas, outer space another highly important common and atmosphere.
Commons all have an environmental dimension
polluted by land-bases effluent and oil and other discharges from ships. Also the
global atmosphere has been degraded in a number of highly threatening ways,
trough damage to the stratospheric ozone layer ("tragedy of the commons"). Within
the jurisdiction of governments it may be possible to solve the problem by turning
the common into private property or nationalizing it.
Therefore the function of international cooperation in this context is the very
necessary one of providing a substitute for world government to ensure that global
commons are not misused and subject to tragic collapse.
through creating regimes for the governance of the global commons (central
contribution of global commons regimes are rules to ensure mutual agreement
between users about acceptable standards of behaviour and levels of exploitation).
It is very difficult to enforce compliance with an agreement on the part of sovereign
states even when they have undertaken to comply a fundamental difficulty for
international law and hardly unique to environmental regimes (Antarctic example :
1959 treaty. The Antarctic regime is a rather exclusive club and the members have
to demonstrate their involvement in scientific research on the frozen continent).
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1987
conflict between individual and collective interest, to Harding the solution to the
dilemma - enclosure of the commons through privatisation or nationalisation - has
only limited applicability in the case of the global commons, for two main reasons it
is physically impossible to enclose them and there is no central world government
to regulate their use.
- International environmental meetings serve several political objectives near
environmental aims.
- A key function of international cooperation is trans-boundary regulation but
attempts at environmental action may conflict with the rules of the world trade
regime.
- International action is needed to promote environmental norms developed
scientific understanding and assist the participation of developing countries.
- International cooperation, is necessary to provide governance regimes for the
global commons.
Climate change
Argument long time debated within the greenhouse effect between scientist but only in
late 1980 emerge to stimulate action. The greenhouse effect is essential to life on earth.
If nothing is done to curb intensive fossil fuel emissions there will be a rise in temperatures
that will cause: sea-level rises and turbulent weather are generally expected.
Fist decade 21st century: unusual weather patterns, storm events, melting of polar ice
added a public interest to the fears of the scientific community
climate change is
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different from anything the international system has met, is already become the subject of
"high politics" at G8. There are some similarities with the problem of stratospheric ozone.
UN framework convention on climate change(UNFCCC), Rio 1992 establish a continuing
series of annual conferences - the CoPs.
1997 second CoP in Kyoto the parties agreed a control measure with the Kyoto protocol
involving emission reductions to developed countries facilitated by flexibility mechanism.
The problems faced by the Kyoto protocol was vastly complex and demanding than those
of Montreal in 1987, reducing greenhouse gas emissions would involve energy, transport
and agriculture : the fundamentals of life in modern societies. Other significance difference
from the ozone regime experience was that there was no scientific consensus and efforts
of the IPCC (intergovernmental panel on climate change) (the effect of climate change is
not fully understood, there is enough evidence for some nations to calculate that there
might be benefits to them for climate alteration!!
temperate and suitable for agricultural production). Most vulnerable zones and nations are
those who are developing , with limited infrastructure, located at sea level. The
international attention has begun to shift towards the problem of adaptation to the
inevitable effect of climate change, one of the most important principles set out by
UNFCCC was that of commons but different responsibilities, that means: climate change is
a "common interest" of all but it had been produced as a consequence of the development
of the old industrialized nations (it's their responsibility to cut the emissions).
3 working groups :climate science, impacts, economic and social dimensions. They
produce assessment reports. (in the fourth assessment report february2007 : warming
of the climate system is unequivocal and temperature increases because of the human
activity that is more than 90 per cent.)
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Marxist and Gramscian would reject this formulation, for them the state system is part of
the problem rather than the solution : global capitalism is damaging for environment, the
global spread of neo-liberalism accelerated the typical features of globalization:
consumerism relocation of production to the south, thoughtless squandering of
resources. Proponents of this view also says that state are incapable to anything other
than assist such processes. The climate changes can contributes in internal conflicts and
inter-states war: for example, desertification can be seen also as consequence of poverty
and war in Africa. Link between environmental changes and armed conflict is an extension
of thinking about security because from climate change and lack of resources can born a
collective violence. We have to modify the security idea to understand environmental
threat? Securitization of the environment is something to be welcomed ( environment as a
security problem).
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Chapter 22
Terrorism and globalization
The relationship between globalization and terrorism is difficult to describe accurately, but
it is inaccurate to suggest that the first one is responsible for the increasing spread of the
second. We need to focus on the technologies, which helped and improved the ability of
terroristic organization to work and share information together. Technology, however,
cannot change the messages and the intention of the terrorism: this one is a weapon, used
by a minority of individuals who promote an extremist ideology in order to create political
change.
Definitions
Terrorism and globalization are complex phenomena open to subjective interpretation.
Terrorism is characterized by use of violence in many forms and often against
indiscriminately targets non-combatants. It differs from criminal violence because it's the
use of violence by a small group to achieve political changes, because it's the last
remaining option to obtain attention and power. The causes for the rise of a terroristic
group are many, from ideological to ethnic and religion ideas or exclusion and persecution.
The aim of the violence of terroristic attacks is to spread fear by killing and maiming
citizens. Even though the terrible evidences of their attacks there's not a widely opinion on
what terrorism constitutes and about the legitimacy of their action.
Some view terrorist acts as legitimate only if they meet the criteria associated with the
"just war" tradition, which include a just cause and the use of violence as a last resort. By
the way, the violence used by terrorist cannot be include in this definition because the
state is the only power with the legitimacy to use the force. Following this view emerges
another disagreement which regards the legitimate application of armed force by states.
The example, during the 1980s, Libya sponsored terroristic acts as an indirect method of
attacking the USA, France and the UK.
Violating international norms in the pursuit of terrorists (like USA in Iraq, 2003) or acting
like Libya runs the risk of playing into perceptions that the state itself is a terrorist threat.
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As said before, terrorism in designed to achieve political change for the purpose of
obtaining power in order to right a perceived wrong but rarely they possess the broader
support of the population that characterizes insurgency and revolution because their goals
for change are based on radical ideas and are not shared. Their champagne often take
years or decades to achieve meaningful results and they need to provoke horrific attacks
to reinforce the fear in the population.
Definition: Terrorism = the use of violence by a sub state groups to inspire fear, by
attacking civilians and/or symbolic targets, for purposes such as drawing widespread
attention to a grievance, provoking a severe response, or wearing down their opponent's
moral resolve, to effect political change.
Agreements on what constitutes terrorism continues to be difficult, given the range of
potential acts involving violence^ disagreements influence discussion of the extent to
which organization globalization has contributed to the rise of modern terrorism. There's
little doubt that the technologies associated with globalization have been used to improve
the effectiveness and reach of terrorist groups.
Chapter 22
that horrific, mass casualty attacks might cross a threshold of violence, so they attempt to
acquire or use weapons of mass destruction, nuclear chemical and biological.
Decade of terrorism 1980-90 includes incident such as suicide bombings and hijacking.
Some terrorist group (ETA and IRA) discovered that transnational attacks were counterproductive in achieving local aims.
Cultural explanations
Violence is the only method to preserve traditions and values against a cultural tsunami of
western products and so why militant Islam's call for armed struggle has been successful in
underdeveloped countries. The social changes associated with globalization and the spread
of free market capitalism appear to overwhelm the identity or values of groups who
perceive themselves as the losers in the new international system. And so in order to
preserve their identity these groups distinguee themselves from the "others". Distinct
civilizations, under Huntington's view, in the world are: Western, Confucians, Islamises,
Japanese, Hindu, Slavic-orthodoxies and Latin-Americans. Where individuals perceive their
own civilizations insecure, conflicts may be inevitable.
Economic explanation
Not everyone agrees that culture is the primary motivation for globalized terrorist
violence. Economic motivations are the crucial factor in the use of violence to effect
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political change. USA and post-industrial states of western Europe form the global North
that dominates the international economic institution (setting of exchange rates and
determination of fiscal policies
south.)
Wealth is linked to personal security and violence, rising standards of living and access to
educational opportunity may lead to increased expectations for individual's wealth-locally
ambitions. If those expectations are unrealized, individuals can turn to extreme political
views and action against "the system" that denies them the opportunity to realize their
ambitions.
Other view: Franz Fanon in the 60s suggested that the end of colonialism would not end
conflict between the west and oppressed. This struggle would be replaced by another until
the economic and power imbalances were removed.
Terrorist violence is motivated by inequalities of the global economy, terroristic attack
against WTO in 1993 and 2001 was not against USA but against the an icon of global
capitalism.
The idea that the motivation of recent terrorism is the reaction to economic globalization
is weak for some reason for example the personal wealth of members of global terroristic
groups who sometimes come from respectable families.
the
international struggle for purity spiritually, it has also been interpreted as a method to
establish the basis for just war.
Extremists who espouse the militant Islam as Osama bin laden understand jihad in a
different way, for the jihad terrorist there is no compromise with either infidels or
apostates.
Difference in values structure between secular and religious terrorism: religious will kill
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themselves and others to secure rewards in the afterlife. Secular terrorism wanted to
correct mistakes anfid flaws within society but maintain the general system, in contrast,
religious terrorist wanted to replace not modify the normative structure of society (more
dangerous!), the current wave of terrorist violence uses religion also as a motivator and to
provide the justification to kill non-combatants. The ultimate purpose of modern militant
Islamic violence is obtaining political power in order to conduct political, social, economic
and religious reform according to Sharia law.
Chapter 22
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Combating terrorism
States plagued by terrorism responded individually and collectively to combat the
phenomenon and have political, military, legal, economic and technological advantages in
this struggle
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Chapter 23
Nuclear proliferations
Russia, UK, USA) acknowledged by the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
(NPT) as Nuclear Weapons States (NWS) others have capability to produce nuclear devices.
Civil nuclear market has also changed: more nuclear suppliers around, including
transnational supply networks outside established export control.
First nuclear age (1945-90) and a potentially more dangerous second age, started in
the 90'.
Diffusion of ballistic missile and space-launch technology since 1945.
Control problems generated by end of cold war and dissolution of former USSR.
Effects of nuclear weapons are considerable: blast, heat, nuclear radiation.
Global controls
Global efforts to prevent such a proliferation began soon after 1945:
January 1946 UN establish the UNAEC, Atomic Energy Commission the first.
Nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and disarmament 189 parties.
Extended indefinitely in 1995.
Review conferences every five years since 1970.
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Chapter 24
Nationalism
Mid-17th century in Europe territorial state, an order of sovereign.
Late 18th century the rise of nationalism nationalized this order in nation-states,
extending from EU to the whole world.
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strengthening, civic and elite. Both were asked to remove privilege and to make
government more similar to a nation. (civic nation-middle class)
revolution,
stronger in France. Nationalism became significant in France and Britain but in the
rest of the UE remained just an ideology.
1815-1914
Other states in Europe and America occupied in regional affairs. Era of
industrialization: transformation in communication (telegraph) and transportation
(steam power). Britain attributed its success to Christianity, parliamentary
institutions and free trade but wanted to control of overseas resources , this caused
violence and imperialist conflicts. British led globalization grew and this generated
new forms of nationalism historical nation, folk culture, popular region and spoken
language. Nationalism became central in the new nation-states and penetrated into
society through mass education and media, tariff protection and subsidies.
1914-1945
The war became more global, state intervention more extensive, war more total.
Victory for the Allies meant victory for the liberal democratic principle of national
self-determination. Each state ruled in the name of the dominant nation and
regarded minorities with suspicion. Nationalists represented minorities looked to
their own state for support and invoked minority rights provisions in the peace
treaties. This nationalism was inward-looking. Nationalists alone could form states
only with the destruction or weakening of multinational states through law. Since
1918 within EU application of the doctrine of national self-determination. IR were
transformed with the League of Nations.
1945-90
The major shapers of the post-wars were USA and USSR. In UE focus was on
stabilizing nation-states within a supranational framework. UN made no provision
for minor rights which were seen as threatening state sovereignty and encouraging
ethno-nationalism.
The ability of state-subverting nationalism to form nation-states is based on a
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combination of its own social base and political organization, the power and policy
of the state it confronts and a favourable international situation.
Today
The end of USSR led to a new wave of nation-state formations. Beyond EU the
removal of the cold war freeze permitted the emergence of state subverting
nationalism. Capital, goods, info could circulate freely while workers had more
difficulties.
Increased resort to external intervention into state affairs, involving UN, regional
political-military organizations like NATO, individual states and non-governmental
organizations. The rapid emergence of new kinds of nationalism, the formation of
new nation-states and the violence conflicts altered the global order and stimulated
the intervention of non-state actors that have been justified in universalist terms:
human rights, democracy...
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Chapter 25
Culture in human affairs
Whenever human beings form communities a culture come to exist, (village , city, clan,
family, ethnic, nation, religion...) communities produce linguistic, literary and artistic
genres that characterize social life and indicate how society should be run. Religious
doctrines give worshippers a moral core, a community spirit and a guide to social stability.
Christianity and Islam offer universal values to community of humankind. The rational and
scientific foundations of western modernity have challenged all religious faiths since the
18th century. Enlightenment gradually allowed individual to question the existence of God.
The broadest construction of cultural identity is the civilization
was linked with the idea of social and intellectual accomplishment. Civilization was
redefined as descriptive term to categorize the broadest group of people that were able to
identify with a sufficiently coherent set of aesthetic, religious, philosophic, historic and
social traditions. Civilization represents coherent radiations nut are dynamic over time and
place. For example, the liberal ideal of western civilization has emerged from a long
process of meshing with quite contradictory ideas and practices. Liberalism ran alongside
the contradictions of imperial conquest, racial enslavement and colonial rule. Today exists
a distinct civilization: Western, Islamic, Indian and Chinese but no civilization is completely
distinct from the influence of others, in particular from the Western one.
Problem with cultural analysis: it fails to show how culture works, how cultural identity
really affects particular human behaviour.
Key points: all communities produce culture, a culture is compose of customs, norms, and
practices that inform social life.
Religion remains a core influence in many cultures. Individuals typically participate in more
than one level of community, and so humans must often reconcile competing cultural
inclinations.
Civilization is still the broadest form of cultural identity, representing a level of identity
that may spread across nations and states.
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west had been the most significant phenomenon of the 20th century.
Multiculturalism of globalization
Western culture: the most important influence in the world but the culture of the
emerging global community is increasingly multicultural. Western-originated images and
aspirations were absorbed by Indian's Bollywood film industry, globalization fostered a
cosmopolitan culture in which consumerism was a key totem but local ethnic and religious
cultures survived alongside the cosmopolitan culture. The arena of cultural mixing are the
world's great cities - London, Sidney, Paris, Los Angeles... - requires embracing tolerance
and multiculturalism or it means risking inter-communal suspicious and conflicts.
religious
elements reflected this fact. Religion helped humans deal with uncertainty and fear,
clarifying the purpose of human life and regulating the behaviour of individuals, families
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and groups. Religious revivalism sometimes took the form of extreme literalism
fundamentalism: is more than a political protest against the west it also reflects deepseated fear of modern institutions with paranoid demonic vision. There is so many people
pessimistic about the world that can only find hope in fantastic visions or apocalyptic
catastrophe.
Popular culture was at the forefront of the cultural counter-revolution.
macro:
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The case of Islam: parts of the Muslim world had long struggled with modernity and
represents an example of the experience of almost non-western societies in the modern
age.
After the collapse of ottoman empire , Muslim modernizers argued that what was required
was the imitation of western culture and organization
(Muslims were divided by Turkish, Iranian and Arab nationalisms). But Islam remains a
powerful influence in many Muslim societies. When secular states wavered Islam was
there to fill the vacuum of political and social leadership.
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic revival
From 1966 to 1989 there were Islamic revolts in Egypt, Pakistan and Iran in which militants
advocated a return to the basic texts of Islam in opposition to western-style modernity.
Liberalism and Islam represent two different systems for understanding, appreciating and
behaving in the world.
Liberalism: a vision of economic freedom, individual choice.
Islam: a vision of submission to God, the believer community and a certain kind of social
order.
In the post-enlightened west, the idea of a better future has been a central one . In
militant Islam , Muslim should look forward to a better past.
The Koran represented the perfect constitution in which sovereignty ultimately resided in
God. The idea of sovereign popular democracy was alien.
The Muslims brotherhood: a movement originated in Egypt in 1928 and spread in Syria,
Palestine, Jordan, and north Africa was behind much of the Islamic revival, is both a
political organization and benevolent social foundation but some members turned to
violent revolution.
Iranian revolution itself provided great impetus to the Islamic revival. It was an example to
emulate. During the 1970s and 1980s a crescendo of Islamic protest shook the middle east
(the most militant wanted violent revolution but the majority of islamists was reluctant).
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11 September 2001
(nearer to a Fukuyama's vision than to Huntington) described as the civilized and the
uncivilized (axis of evil: Iraq, Iran and north Korea) the west had no fundamental quarrel
with Islam itself but only with the uncivilized stragglers of modernity (Islamo-fascists). In
the west itself, 9/11 produced a wave of alarm that fed an angst about an Islamic fifth
column within the western societies. Was questioned the nature of multicultural societies
and started to argue that a stable multicultural societies required a bit less tolerance of
differences and a bit more integration by both the main body of the community and by
minority.
not be sustained in the global age. Young, women and middle class wanted more freedom,
although there was a powerful conservative establishment determined to stop them
having it.
The struggle to redefine the future of Iran would be prolonged but the Islamic republic
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held the potential for becoming a model of Islamic adaptation : a new model of Islamic
democracy.
Muslims people have met liberalizing globalization with various combinations of imitation
resistance and synthesis. Islam's influence on international relations remain diffuse. The
grandiose dreams of Islamic militants of a transnational Islamic revolution seemed to be
disappointed. Islam is more influential as a social ideology among Muslims and is a brake
on the capacity of liberalizing globalization to transform Muslim societies and their culture.
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Chapter 26
Regionalism
One of the most important features of international affairs. By 2005 the only member of
the WTO (World Trade Organization) that wasn't party to any regional trade agreement is
Mongolia.
Integration: processes to remove barriers between states, promote interactions and create
a regional area with some distinct common rules such a free trade area, economic and
monetary union.
The countries have also to act as a single voice internationally and this must lead to a new
level of governance above the nation-states.
Cooperation are not excluding each other but regional system are usually a mixture of
them.
Why do states decide to pursue regional integration? = what are the dynamics of
regionalism?
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IN ASIA
It has followed quite different patterns because of different historical identity. 1967
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 1967 was driven by political and
security concerns, respect, non-interference, peaceful settlement of differences. Now
it still reflects rivalries between the major leaders (china prefers the plus 3 format
while Japan the plus 6, including India, Australia, New Zealand).
EURASIA
A complex and shifting pattern of regional agreements has resulted from the efforts of
the former components of the Soviet union to settle down in a zone of cooperation
and competition between Russian, Chinese and European influence. These patterns
reflect the relations between the newly independent states and Russia, the former
dominant power and also the rivalries between China and Russia.
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remit. The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current name in
1993. The latest major amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU, the Treaty of
Lisbon, came into force in 2009.
The EU has developed a single market through a standardized system of laws that apply in
all member states. Within the Schengen Area (which includes 22 EU and 4 non-EU states)
passport controls have been abolished. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of
people, goods, services, and capital, enact legislation injustice and home affairs, and
maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development.
The Euro-zone, a monetary union, was established in 1999 and came into full force in
2002. It is currently composed of 17 member states. Through the Common Foreign and
Security Policy the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. Permanent
diplomatic missions have been established around the world. The EU is represented at the
United Nations, the WTO, the G8, and the G-20.
The process of integration in post-war Europe was launched in the context of long debates
about the creation of a federal system but the choice was made in favour of a gradual path
towards an ever closer union.
Integration by conferring competence for many economic sectors to supranational
institutions that can take decisions that are binding on the member states.
Conclusion
Different types of regionalism in different parts of the world. This is not a contradiction to
globalization but the expression of local attempts to accommodate and respond to its
challenges.
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Chapter 27
What is international trade?
International trade occur when a citizen of one country produce a good that subsequently
consumed by a citizen of another country so the good has to travel across one national
border to connect the producer with the consumer. The country producing the good:
exporter, the country in which the good is sold: the importer.
The body that today is formally charged with overseeing the regulation of all export
activity is WTO (World Trade Organization). A relatively new institution (1995), it replaced
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which have regulated global trade
since 1947, by the 1990 it had become increasingly Inappropriate to the purpose for which
it was designed. The WTO prides itself in being a member-based organization and it had
153 members. The majority of these members are developing countries, 32 of which have
the United Nation-approved designation of Least Developed Country. The principal export
goods for many developing countries are in agriculture and textiles.
If developing countries are to benefit from inward capital flows, they need to secure a
positive assessment of their economic outlook in the regular country reports written by
the International Monetary Fund (IMF). To obtain this they also have to assure global
investor that the role of law in those countries in strong enough to prevent the state from
appropriating overseas financial investments and guarantee that those investments will be
determined solely by market mechanism. For many developing countries joining WTO
become a signal to offer assurance to global investors that any money committed to their
country remain safe. The WTO is much more important to them then their membership is
to WTO (that's not the same if we look instead at the situation of the countries of G7 in
general, and USA and EU in particular).
The credibility of USA and EU within the global trading system arise from the power that
follows their dominant position with respect to smaller trading partners, not from their
membership at the WTO; the credibility of the WTO by contrast is wholly dependent on
keeping the USA and the EU on board and engaged as active participants.
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Chapter 27
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Chapter 27
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really quite closely the perceived needs of the worlds most powerful economies at any
particular moment of time.
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Chapter 28
Poverty, development and hunger
Economic gap between richest and poorest states with the advent of globalization the
situation became even worse
social unrest in many parts of the world and the fear of terrorism lead to a greater
diplomatic activity.
Poverty
Situation where people have no money to buy food or satisfy other basic needs and
often are un- or underemployed. This monetary-based conception has been widely
regarded as characterizing the Third World and most of all, women. The solution
advocated to overcome global poverty is the further integration of the global
economy but with the intensification of globalization always more people also in the
North of the world suffer because of the poverty. Some global institutions
promoted a conception of poverty that goes over the barely material meaning (ex.
Income poverty is a material condition t human poverty means encompassing
human dignity,...) in 2000s some progresses (for example, credit crunch).
Development
Two alternative points of view:
1. As economic growth vs. poverty
orthodox approach
alternative approach
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Chapter 29
Chapter 29
Human security
redefine and broaden the meaning of security. Human security is about security for the
people rather than for state or governments.
Security
military treats.
In the 1970s-80s began to think of security in broader non-military terms. Yet the state
remained the object of security, or the entity that is to be protected. The concept of
human security challenges the state-centric notion of security by focusing on the individual
as the main referent object of security.
Human security includes seven areas:
economic security
Chapter 29
to people's security has grown, one reason is the rising incidence of civil wars and intrastates conflicts involving huge loss of life. Traditional national security approaches have not
been sufficiently sensitive towards conflicts that arise over cultural, ethnic and religious
differences as happened in Eastern Europe. Another reason is the spread of
democratization and the post-cold war emphasis on human rights and humanitarian
intervention (this one involves the principle that the international community is justified in
intervening in the internal affairs of states accused of gross violation of human rights).
Human security is distinguished by three elements:
its focus on the individual as the referent object of security,
its multidimensional nature,
its universal or global scope, applying to states and societies of the north as well as
the south.
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threatened by their own governments. But states cannot be regarded as the sole
source of protection for individuals.
There have been debates over the scope of the concept:
The scope of the concept: "freedom from fear" or "freedom from want/need".
The former view focused on reducing the human costs of violent conflicts, the
latter view stressed the ability of individuals and societies to be free from a broad
range of non-military threats (poverty, disease and environmental degradation).
The two conceptions can be overstated since both regard the individual as the
referent object of security, and both acknowledge the role of globalization and the
changing nature of armed conflict in creating new threats to human security. Both
perspectives stressed safety from violence as a key objective of human security and
both call for a rethinking of states sovereignty as a necessary part of promoting
human security. Development is a necessary condition for security, just as security is
a necessary condition for development.
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from major powers and the international community. Remain serious possible threats to
international peace and security that can cause widespread casualties.
Wars are a major source of economic disruption , disease and ecological destruction ,
which undermine human development and thus create a vicious cycle of conflict and
underdevelopment. Conflicts undermine nutrition and public health, destroy education
system, devastates livelihoods and retards prospects for economic growth. (52 countries
that are reversing or stagnating in their attempts to reduce child mortality, 30 have
experienced conflict since 1990).
White paper on international development notes: "violent conflicts reverses economic
growth, causes hunger, destroys roads, schools ..and forces people to flee across borders.
Women and girls are vulnerable because they suffer sexual violence and exploitation. And
violent conflict and insecurity can spill over into neighbouring countries and provide cover
for terrorists or organized criminal groups."
Wars and violent conflicts have indirect consequences in causing economic disruption,
ecological damage and disease, level of poverty and environmental degradation. Terrorism
often exploits poverty and exclusion in order to tap into popular discontent- taking
advantage of fragile states.
Environmental degradation which is often linked to poverty and climate change are
another source of conflict. Analysts have identified competition for scarce resources as a
source of possible conflicts. The potential for political agitation and war as a consequence
of environmental problems is evident in host of poor regions around the world.
The issue of climate change has emerged as a security concern for western countries,
although most tend to view it as a national security challenge.
But climate change can be linked to people's human security issue, such as increased
poverty, state failure, water crisis which are authentic human security issues.
[Key elements about disease:
Those who take a broad definition of human security look not only at threats from violent
conflicts but also from non-violent factor as disease.
new infectious disease: HIV/AIDS, avian flu, hepatitis C, west Nile virus...
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AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa and the fourth leading cause of death
worldwide.
Malaria causes about 350-500 million infection in humans
Tuberculosis is the world greatest infectious killer of women of reproductive age.]
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The International
Criminal Court (ICC - July 2002), the Anti-Personnel Land Mines Treaty.
The ICC is a permanent institution with the power to exercise its jurisdiction over persons
for the most serious crimes of international concern. These crimes include genocide,
crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression.
It can exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to
investigate or persecute such crimes. The court can only prosecute crimes that were
committed on or after 1 July 2002 , the date its founding treaty entered into force.
In 2006 was inaugurated a UN peace-building commission whom goal is to assist in postconflict recovery and reconstruction, including institution-building and sustainable
development, in countries emerging from conflicts. The UN has also been centre stage in
promoting the idea of humanitarian intervention, a central policy element of human
security. There are also UN specialized agencies that play a crucial role in promoting
human security. For example : UN Development Programme and the World Health
Organization (WHO) have been at the forefront of fighting poverty and disease.
UN agencies such as the UNHCR, UNICEF, UNIFEM have been crucial in addressing human
security issues such as refugees and the rights of children.
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In the developed as well as developing world, one of the most powerful challenges to
human security has come from the war on terror led by the USA in response to the 9/11
attacks.
The 9/11 attacks on USA and the war on terror have revived the traditional state-centric
approach to national security at the expense of civil liberties and human security, although
Obama has modified important elements of its predecessor's strategic approach to
terrorism and promised greater respect for civil liberties.
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Human rights
Seventy years ago states throughout the world agreed that human rights were not a
legitimate international concern. How a state treated its own nationals on its own territory
was a protected exercise of a sovereign rights (however morally repugnant those practice
might be). The end of the 2nd World War and growing awareness of the horrors of the
holocaust loosed a flood of governmental and civil society reflection and activity that
culminated in the United Nation General Assembly adopting the Universal Declaration of
Human rights on 10 December 1948. From this point, human rights had a permanent place
on international agendas.
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Human rights are also interdependent (each set strengthens the other and makes it more
valuable, one without the other is weaker), and universal, applying equally to all people
everywhere.
The international bill of human rights provides an authoritative list of
interdependent, invisible, and universal human rights, covering a wide range of both
civil and political rights and, economic, social and cultural rights. "Human rights", for
the purposes of international relations, means roughly this set of equal and
inalienable universal rights.
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Facilitating compliance
Reports, reviews, complaints and investigations aim principally to encourage and
help to facilitate compliance with international norms. States that are set on gross
and systematic violations of human rights can, and regularly do, flout the global
human rights regime. States that are willing to improve their practices, however,
can be pushed in that direction, especially if the changes are relatively narrow and
incremental. And such changes can provide modest but real benefits to thousands
and sometimes even millions of people.
The impact of norms
International norms also have an independent impact.
Governments cannot legitimately deny obligations that they voluntarily incurred by
becoming parties to international human rights treaties. Authoritative international
human right advocates to focus on how to protect and implement human rights
rather than debate whether the rights in question really are rights. Authoritative
norms facilitate bilateral and transnational action.
Chapter 30
1989 and the continuation of significant sanctions against china over several more years. In
the 1990 began a topic the aggressive international action against genocide. The events of
11 September 2001 and the start of the "war on terror"' marked another turning point, but
war is never good for human rights and the war on terror has been no exception. Human
rights diplomacy thus enters the second decade of the twenty-first century in a relatively
strong position. Human rights is almost universally embraced as not merely a legitimate
but important element of national foreign policy, in most western and growing number
non-western countries.
US policy in Central and South America in the 1970s and 1980s : Nixon and ford
administrations supported brutal military dictatorship in Chile, Argentina and
Uruguay. These governments violated the full range of international recognized
human rights, perfected the practice of disappearance (desaparecidos). Carted tried
to put some distance between USA and this dictatorships. Only with the end of the
cold war USA become an active and consistent supporter of democracy in the region.
In the mid-1980s, the USA provided massive military and political support to brutal
governments in El Salvador and Guatemala. These examples provide particularly
striking evidence of the pattern of subordinating human rights to anti-communism
during the cold war. Where a significant price had to be paid to follow international
human rights interest. And although American hypocrisy was extreme, other western
states as well rarely made more than symbolic gestures in benefit of human rights
before the end of the cold war.
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Deeply
problematic political description for human rights. The national interest is whatever
the nation is interested in. Just forty or fifty years ago, human rights was indeed
typically considered to be a "merely moral" concern, now have become no more or
less real national interests in the foreign policy of a growing number of states.
Realism does usefully draw our attention to the fact that states in their foreign
policies are principally concerned with the national interest. Human rights is but one
of many foreign policy interests. Realism also usefully reminds us of the strong
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tendency of states to define their interests in narrowly egoistic and material terms,
but, once a state had decided to include human rights among its foreign policy
objectives, the real work of balancing interests begin.
Social constructivism and human rights
International society has been significantly reshaped: sovereignty and human rights
have come to co-constitute one another. Sovereignty has been a central practice of
modern international society for more than three hundred years. The particular
rights of sovereigns, however, have varied significantly, even dramatically (20 th
century states had an unlimited "right of war", after the 2nd WW aggressive wars
came to be effectively outlawed). Over the past half-century international human
rights has imposed restrictions on how states may treat their own nationals,
reformulating the terms in which states and individuals interact. No less significantly
human rights have been shaped by state sovereignty. Human rights are not just
abstractive values but particular social practices to realize those values. Human
rights entitle individuals to certain goods, services, opportunities and protections
and authorize right-holders to those rights against society and the state. Human
rights empower Individuals to act in favour of their rights
MAKES ACTIVE
CITIZENS.
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Chapter 31
Humanitarian intervention in world politics
After Holocaust society of states decided the prohibition to commit genocide and
misrecognized basic human rights. Sovereign states regarded as guardians of their citizens'
security.
But what happens when states act illegally against their citizens? An what responsibilities
have states towards them? Armed humanitarian intervention was not accepted during
Cold War because states put more importance on sovereignty and order rather than on
human rights.
Humanitarian intervention
non-use of force.
Change in the 1990s among liberal and democratic states and NGOs: states' primary
responsibility is to protects their citizens but, if they can't do that or they don't want to,
the responsibility is transferred to the international community
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Risk of abuse;
Selectivity of response;
Disagreement about moral principles;
Intervention does not work.
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Chapter 32
Globalization and the transformation of political community
Different types of community:
Local communities (neighbourhood groups);
Associations (sovereign states);
Transnational movements (INGOs);
Virtual communities.
Each community has its own rules and interacts with the others and cooperates with them.
Most people belong to several communities at same time: religious, professional, politics
and were part of nation-states. These subjects had to obey international law and promote
respect for human rights.
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Territorial states
Chapter 32
nation-states
Many territorial states that established the first overseas empires turned into nationstates. Slowly appeared emotional ties throughout the population of the
same state
national identities
nationalism.
The "end of ideology" thought to be arrived in 1950s and 1960s in USA hasn't yet come.
Chapter 32
the population without support, (for example Afghanistan). Do liberal democracies have
duties towards people of failed state? This problem also in Europe (Yugoslavia).
Although there were major public disagreements, NATO enjoyed substantial popular
support for its military intervention in Kosovo in 1999.
Ethnic struggles to achieve a level of autonomy exist in almost every modern state.
Claims for group rights (for example minorities in Canada, Australia and New Zealand).
How political communities deal with differences of class, gender, sexual identity, religion,
race? Does a humanity created by globalization exist or not? Various global problems that
states can't solve on their own (ex climate change) encouraged the proliferation of NGOs.
Many think that a global civil society marks the dawn of a new era of human cooperation.
This idea is also used to promote a stronger sense of responsibility for global environment
and for the future of the species. Lack the ability to make global institutions and
associations accountable to citizens.
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Globalization and the post-Cold War order
During the cold war:
bipolar competition;
rival ideology;
Discontinuity's elements:
unipolare peacemaking;
Continuity's elements:
multiple identities;
environmental agendas;
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A typology of order
A number of differing, and potentially competing, conceptions of order are at work.
We have to judge the effectiveness of order solely as an aspect of the inter-state system
and thus speak of inter, order? Or we have to consider order in terms of its impact on
individual human lives and aspirations and thus talk of a world order? (Does globalized
order signify the same as world order?) the source for the definitive elements of the
contemporary order proceeds within separate theoretical frameworks:
REALIST
It defines order largely in terms of the security structure. Generate debate in early
1990s about the polarity of the post-cold-war system and the worry that a return to
a multi-polarity could herald erosion of the stability generated by the cold war's
bipolarity .
LIBERAL
It focuses upon regimes and institutions, and their associated norms and values.
Central claim is that in the cold war period patterns of integration and
interdependence had become so deeply embedded.
ESTIMATE ORDER IN TERM OF ITS ACHIEVEMENT OF INDIVIDUAL HUMAN
EMANCIPATION
The fact of stability among major powers, or the institutionalization of relations
among the dominant groups of states, tells us a little about quality of life for most
inhabitants of the globe.
Chapter 33
certain standards of human rights: this has permitted a dilution and delegation of the
states' exclusively jurisdiction over its own domestic affairs.
Identity and the nation-state
Second feature is the multiplicity of issues about identity ( prevalent since 1990s). Some
are about contemporary forms of nationalism, and we have to understand if it represent a
new nationalism or a primordialism. The state is at the same time challenged and
reinforced by a lot of crisis of identity: ethnic separatism, regional identities transnational
project, new social movements, the return to culture/religion... At the beginning of the
millennium the question of identity raises explicit question about citizenship (who is to
count as a citizen and what is the contract between state and citizen?), not all such issues
of identity have emerged only in the aftermath of cold war, it could be said that there has
been a widespread reaction throughout much of the developing world against what has
been seen as the imposition of a modernizing, westernizing, and secular form of state. (For
example: revolution in Iran in 1979, case point. Resurgence of religion as a factor in
international relations).
Polarity and the collectivization of security
Key area : traditional security order, this addresses the present distribution of power and if
this distribution should be described as unipolarity, or as bipolar, multi-polar. (debate
shifted since the early 1990s). There were a general expectation of a return to a
multipolarity but a US predominance has become much more clearly established, so that
analysts now routinely refer to American hegemony ( the result of US economic successes
during the 1990s). In consequence of other nation's stagnant situations a key determinant
of the present security order remains the role of the USA.
The organization of product and exchange
Another prominent dimension is the political economy of the present order. Central to it is
the degree of stability within the international trading and financial system. This
economic order is partially managed by those elements institutionalized in bodies such as
the international monetary fund(IMF), the world bank and the WTO. Those bodies
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determine the rules for international trade and borrowing and shape exchange rates alone.
The full effects of this internationalization of production include its impact on those many
other things that determine the quality of human lives.
Multilateral management and governance
Remarkable aspect of order is the highly dense network of contemporary forms of
international governance (regimes, international organizations and NGOs). These cover
more aspects of life: development, environmental, economic regimes, peacekeeping
activities of universal organizations as UN.
Regionalism
Another key to understand the emerging order. This take various forms, including
economic , security and cultural activities, the intensification of regionalism is occasionally
viewed as a denial of globalization, but is more plausibly regarded as one aspect of it. The
fact that a number of regions feel the need to develop regional institution is itself a
manifestation of globalization. With the loss of cold war constraints, regions now appear to
have greater autonomy , at the same time, interpenetration and globalization indicate
diminished possibilities for regional autonomy.
The liberal rights order
The feature with most striking continuity with the cold war period. Human rights had
become a conspicuous feature of post 1945 international politics, in reaction to the
catastrophic experience of the period before 1945. A main aspect of the cold war period
itself, again highlighted with the collapse of the soviet bloc. Liberal rights is another
element of continuity between the two periods. However the post cold war order is
paradoxically under pressure because of its promotion of a type of universalism. This refers
directly to wider questions about democratization.
North- south and the two world orders
Any examination of the contemporary order must be analysed deeply .separating the
experience of the industrialized north from the marginalized south. The question point is if
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the globalization is aggravating this inequality or is the best available means of rectifying
them, and if this divide is threatening the durability of the post cold war order, or it's only
a part of it. Other analysts Insist that there are enormous variation and inequalities within
states, and not just between north and south.
1648, an order clearly defined by states and their borders. In contrast, in the global
economy borders no longer mean as they once did. All these arguments to say that
globalization isn't the exclusive feature that we have to use to understand the present
order. We have to understand what globalization is instead of what it does.
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present world condition and the two facets of this issue are representation and
accountability (responsibility). it is useless to set up the election if the elected politicians
are powerless to exercise influence over global corporations, global technologies global
environmental changes or global financial system. On a regional level there has been a
recurrent anxiety about this "legitimacy deficit" that afflict the institution of European
Union. There is a lack of congruence between the geographical organization of our
various political system and the "deterritorialized" nature of our current economy,
social, and political activities. This concerns brought to a debate about the role of an
emerging global civil society.
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Conclusion
We now face a hybrid situation in which states share a host of responsibilities with both
intergovernmental organizations, a multiplicity of non-governmental and transnational
actors. International order needs to be redesigned to take account of the new division of
labour between states, global networks and the rudimentary forma of global governance.
The identity of states is undergoing considerable change, we can describe them as
Globalized states that still coexist with international order.
This order is currently seeking to develop a set of principles to reflect that transformation.
The return to state capitalism during 2008 was almost wholly unexpected. The
globalization state of 20th century is evidently not the only model of likely states
development in the future.
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