I.

Title: THE GLOBAL INTERSTATE SYSTEM

II. Learning Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:
 identify the Institutions that govern International Relations;
 differentiate Internationalism from Globalism; and
 explain the effects of globalization on governments.
III. Introduction:
This module will discuss what it will take for states to uphold a more
comprehensive set of rights: Civil and Political as well as Social and Economic
Rights which are essential for citizens to flourish in the current Political Climate and
work more assiduously to close the “Citizenship Gap” in order to create more
equitable and sustainable conditions for the next generation.

IV. Content:
 Economic and Political Integration: The case of the European Union

Alongside economic interdependence, states formed regional

partnerships. Europe as continent’s political elite made the leap into market
integration after WWII from European Coal and Steel Community to European
Union. It has 28 members today with single currency and monetary system,
supranational European Parliament, and common citizenship.

 The rise of International Law and Universal Principles

The failure of the League of Nations strengthened the collected will of
world leaders to start another international organization to facilitate global dialogue
and promote human rights and fundamental freedom. The United Nations was
formed in 1945 though it has huge limitations: it never transcended the states
system and instead operates mainly as a forum for states to air their differences and
try to resolve them. This is especially apparent within the Security Council and its
outdated composition that awards veto power to each of the five countries that won
the Second World War, as well as the General Assembly’s relative lack of power and
its state-based configuration.

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 The UN has also been unable to prevent many atrocities and genocides
around the world during its history. Concerns about the limitations led to formation of
ad hoc tribunal and the permanent establishment of ICC. As the number of states
has risen steadily, national leaders have turned to the UN and European rights
declarations for inspiration when drafting constitutions and have often signed human
rights conventions quickly as a way of building up global respectability for their new
political legal systems.

 States as Targets: The Rise of Transnational Activism

Transnational activism has deep roots that go back to 19 th century
campaigns against slavery, foot-binding practice in China, and for women’s voting
rights. It is multifaceted as internationalism within which it has emerged. That
although globalization and global neo-liberalism are frames around which many
activists mobilize, the protest and organizations are not the product of a global
imaginary but of domestically rooted activists.

 Communication Networks
Globalization accompanied new forms of digital media that bring to light
the possibility for new kinds of communities to coalesce via networks and create new
arenas for political interaction, identity, and belonging.
States are making a pragmatic transformation by adapting to fit in among
other socially decisive global networks in arenas such as finance, education,
science, technology, arts, cultures, sports and others.
The silver lining is that the new media opens up potential for citizens to
gain leverage and in the last resort, it is only the power of global society acting on
the public mind via the media and communication networks that may eventually
overcome the historical inertia of nation-states.

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