What is Globalization?

Defining Globalization

• Globalization: the process of expanding and intensifying linkages between states, societies, and economies

• Long history of a globalized world

• What makes this era different from previous globalized relations?

  • Entire societies are directly connected.

  • Relations in the past were “thinner” than they are now.

Globalization’s Implications for Comparative Politics

• Breaks down the distinction between international relations and domestic politics

• Two directions:

  • Global forces increasingly impact domestic politics.

  • Domestic issues and events become “internationalized.”

The International Becomes Domestic, and Vice Versa

• Food security and food culture

  • Globalized supply chains increase availability of food and reduce poverty.

  • New food options change tastes and create new business.

• Environmental impacts

  • Coal-fired factories in China produce acid rainfall in U.S. Pacific Northwest.

  • Australia’s 2020 wildfires caused air quality problems in Chile.

• Conflict and refugees

  • Syrian Civil War was triggered by pro-democracy protests in Tunisia.

  • Syrian civil war created a dramatic increase in refugees through the Middle East and Europe.

Institutions and Globalization

Globalization’s Actors and Ideas

• Major actors

  • Multinational corporations (MNCs)

  • Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)

  • Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)

• Other institutions

  • International regimes

  • The Internet

Multinational Corporations

• Multinational corporations (MNCs): firms that produce, distribute, and market goods or services in more than one country

  • Examples: Google, McDonald’s, Apple, Toyota, Walmart

Nongovernmental Organizations

• Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs): a national or international group, independent of any state, that pursues policy objectives and fosters public participation

• Form of a global civil society

  • Members are individuals, not states.

• Examples

  • Greenpeace, Red Cross/Crescent, Catholic Church, Amnesty International

Intergovernmental Organizations

• Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs): groups created by states to serve certain policy ends

• Political institutions

  • Composed of member states, not private citizens

• Examples

  • United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization of American States (OAS)

Wrapping It Up: Globalization’s Nonstate Actors

In Focus: Nonstate Organizations and Globalization

International Regimes

• International regime: fundamental rules and norms that link states together and shape their relationships

• Focus on specific issue areas

• Regime examples

  • Free trade

  • Nuclear nonproliferation

Is the Internet an Institution of Globalization?

• Originally created by the U.S. government

• Now a global means to exchange goods and information

  • Much of this exchange beyond the control of any one state or regulatory authority.

• However, the Internet has no single location or common voice.

  • May be comparable to international regimes, though it lacks norms on how to address specific issues or meet goals.

Political Globalization

What is Political Globalization?

• Political globalization: trend whereby political institutions, decision-making, and political identity shift to the international level

• Patterns in political globalization

  • International organizations and agreements can create laws that override national governments.

  • NGOs, MNCs, and other global actors operate in areas outside of traditional state government control.

Some Examples of Political Globalization

• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty limits the spread of nuclear weapons.

• The EU sets economic regulations that override rules set by member states.

• Climate change agreements request countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Debate: Will Globalization Impact State Autonomy and Capacity?

• Pooling resources through international actors may increase state capacity.

  • Example: World Health Organization and Doctors without Borders may improve state response to health crises.

• IGOs, treaties, and international law may constrain state actions and weaken autonomy/sovereignty.

  • Example: International Monetary Fund and EU (partially) controlled Greece’s budget decisions following the euro crisis.

The Debate: Is There a “Democratic Deficit” in Global Governance?

• Yes:

  • IGOs make critical decisions on many issues but most are not directly elected by voters.

  • Governments may use IGOs to avoid accountability, blaming on unpopular policies on outside pressure.

  • Political globalization empowers violent international actors and movements.

• No:

  • IGOs are accountable to governments; governments are accountable to voters.

  • IGOs and NGOs can act as “watchdogs” and increase the transparency of state action.

Economic Globalization

What is Economic Globalization?

• Economic globalization: Markets, businesses, and services increasingly cross borders and merge into one large (global) market.

• Emerging trends

  • Increased trade in goods and services

  • Economic migration

  • Foreign direct investment (FDI)

  • Offshore outsourcing

The Origins of the Modern Free Trade Regime

• Following WWII, Western allies sought to create a system that would prevent the economic problems that fueled this crisis.

  • 1944: Meeting in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

• The Bretton Woods system: an economic regime that manages international economic relations; this includes the:

  • International Monetary Fund (IMF)

  • World Bank group

  • World Trade Organization (WTO)

The Consequences of Bretton Woods

• The United States used Bretton Woods institutions to promote market integration.

  • Gave rise to Washington Consensus.

• Since 1945:

  • Trade expansion; many national economies deeply integrated in global networks and supply chains.

  • Firms trade services, not just goods.

  • Investors more free to invest globally.

  • Deeper connections between workers, goods, and wealth

The (Potential) Advantages of Economic Globalization

• More and cheaper products

  • Access to world markets means people can sell their services to more consumers.

  • People can purchase from whomever they want.

  • Businesses can produce products more efficiently.

• Reduced global poverty

  • Cheaper products improve spending power for the poor.

  • Investors increasingly invest in places where their assets will produce the largest net gains—poor countries.

  • Offshoring gives more people chances to work at jobs previously reserved for First World citizens.

The (Potential) Disadvantages of Economic Globalization

• Increasing inequality

  • Offshore outsourcing: a process by which a firm moves some of its work to a secondary business outside the home country that can do the work more efficiently or cheaply.

  • The “race to the bottom” drives down wages and decreases regulations.

  • Harms labor rights and environment

• Increased economic uncertainty and risk

  • Increased trade risks dependence, which can expose businesses to greater shocks.

  • The free movement of capital can trigger busts and booms.

• Undermined state capacity and democratic accountability

  • Businesses are able to avoid taxation, oversight, and public accountability.

Societal Globalization

What is Societal Globalization?

• Societal globalization: Individual and collective identities are increasingly shaped by international influences.

• Peer groups and civil society membership increasingly cross borders.

  • Human migration at highest level this century

• Fueled by technological innovations

  • Internet and cell phones

How Will Social Globalization Shape Institutions and Identities?

• Optimists: rising global multiculturalism and globalized democracy

  • Multiple and diverse values bind populations together.

  • NGOs and global civil society create new forms of public participation.

• Pessimists: political alienation, backlash, and the “globalization of nothing”

  • Overwhelming choices

  • Promotion of crass consumerism

Taking Stock of Globalization

Is Globalization New?

• Long history of a globalized world

• Previous periods of interconnection

  • Silk road: trade between ancient empires

  • Medieval Europe highly interconnected

  • Rising integration under imperialism

  • Late nineteenth through early twentieth centuries see the rise of NGOs and IGOs.

Is Globalization Exaggerated?

• Overall, the evidence is mixed.

• Political globalization

  • Increasing involvement of nonstate actors

  • State sovereignty remains a central focus of international politics.

• Economic globalization

  • Trade and international investment is increasing.

  • “Home bias”: Most economics is still domestic.

• Societal globalization (from World Values Survey)

  • Younger people are increasingly seeing themselves as world citizens.

  • But distrust of other nationalities remains high.

Globalization and the Future of Iran

• 2019 Index of Globalization from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ranks Iran 131 of 197 countries.

• Iran’s authoritarian and theocratic regime built on values critical of globalization.

  • Western imperialism led regime to limit contact with the outside world with censorship and restrictions on foreign investment.

• Internet, smartphones, and satellite television allow Iranians to consume international information, despite the regime’s censorship.

  • 2019 Green Wave demonstrations relied on videos, cell phones, and Twitter to mobilize the public and attract international attention.

    • However, the regime used violence to suppress this opposition, and the protests made little impact.

Is Globalization Inevitable?

• History says no.

• Factors that may weaken globalization

  • Economic crises

  • National policies limiting immigration

  • Declining support for capitalism and free trade

Signs of Globalization in Decline

• Rise of antiglobalization groups and attitudes

• The United States is stepping back from encouraging trade liberalism.

  • Abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): an agreement that sought to liberalize trade across a number of Asian and Latin American countries

  • Tensions surround the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): a free trade agreement liberalizing the economies of Canada, Mexico, and the United States

In Sum: The Future of Freedom and Equality

• Globalization intensifies linkages between states and people.

• Globalization has given rise to new actors and institutions who are increasingly playing a role in politics.

• Political globalization has important consequences for state sovereignty, capacity, and global democracy.

• Economic globalization has promoted both rising prosperity and rising inequality.

• Societal globalization may, in the future, promote greater identity linkages or greater divides.

• Scholars debate whether globalization is new or exaggerated, though most would stress that it is not inevitable. Recent years have seen a reverse in globalization trends.

Key Terms

1. Bretton Woods System - an economic regime that manages international economic relations; includes IMF, World Bank, and WTO

2. Economic globalization - increased trade between countries, ties between markets, producers, and labor

3. Foreign direct investment - the purchase of assets in a country by a foreign firm

4. Globalization - the process of expanding and intensifying linkages between states, societies, and economies

5. Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) - groups like the UN and EU; created by states to focus on certain policies

6. International regime - the fundamental rules and norms of politics - a set of institutions that empower and constrain states and governments; the link states and shape their relationships with each other, usually with relation to some specific issue

7. Multinational corporations (MNCs) - firms that produce market goods in more than one country

8. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) - national and international groups, apart from any state, that focus on specific policy goals

9. Offshore outsourcing - a process by which a firm moves some of its work to a secondary business outside of the home country that can do the work more efficiently or cheaply

10. Political globalization - formation of international organizations like intergovernmental organizations, ties between different countries

11. Social globalization - globalization can connect people through common interests