Global Politics

?How is the world best understood

?How should we approach the study of world affairs

 World affairs have traditionally been understood on the basis of an international paradigm.

 states (often understood as ‘nations’, hence ‘international’) are taken to be the essential
building blocks of world politics.

 since the 1980s, an alternative globalization paradigm has become fashionable.

 This reflects the belief that world affairs have been transformed in recent decades by the
growth of global interconnectedness and interdependence. In this view, the world no
longer operates as a disaggregated collection of states, or ‘units’, but rather as an
integrated whole, as ‘one world’. Global politics, as understood in this book, attempts to
straddle these rival paradigms.
?What is the balance between continuity and change in global politics 

How has global politics changed in recent years in relation to the issues of power, 
?security and justice

How do mainstream approaches to global politics differ from critical 

?approaches
?’Why ‘global politics
• The term ‘global’ has two meanings :
• 1- global means worldwide, having planetary (not
merely regional or national) significance. The
globe is, in effect, the world. Global politics, in
this sense, refers to politics that is conducted at a
global rather than a national or regional level.

• 2- global means comprehensive; it refers to all

elements within a system, not just to the system
as a whole. Global politics thus takes place not
just at a global level, but at and, crucially, across,
all levels – worldwide, regional, national, sub-
national and so on.
 ‘the global’ and ‘the international’ coexist: they complement one another and should
not be seen as rival or incompatible modes
of understanding.
 The choice of Global Politics as its title reflects the fact both that what
goes on within states and what goes on between states impact on one another to
a greater degree than ever before, and that an increased proportion of politics no
longer takes place simply in and through the state. As such, it moves beyond the
confines of what has traditionally been studied under International Relations
and allows for the adoption of an interdisciplinary approach that takes account
of issues and themes from across the social sciences.
From international politics to global politics

New actors on the world stage 

Increased interdependence and interconnectedness 
The trend towards global governance 
State-centeric view of world politics

international relations’ was not coined until the UK philosopher and legal ‘ 
reformer, Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), used it in his Principles
of Morals and Legislation
However, although most modern states are either nation-states or aspire to be 
nation-states, it is their possession of statehood rather than nationhood that
allows them to act effectively on the world stage. ‘International’ politics should
.thus, more properly, be described as ‘inter-state’ politics
world politics is seen as state-centric, and why the international system is often 
portrayed as a state-system. The origins of this view of international politics are
usually traced back to the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which established
sovereignty as the distinguishing feature of the state. State sovereignty thus
.became the primary organizing principle of international politics
Westphalian system

 ‘Westphalian system’ was based on two key principles:

 States enjoy sovereign jurisdiction, in the sense that they have
independent control over what happens within their territory (all
other institutions and groups, spiritual and temporal, are therefore
subordinate to the state).
 Relations between and among states are structured by the
acceptance of the sovereign independence of all states (thus implying
that states are legally equal).
Impossibility of treating states as the only
significant actors on the world stage

 Transnational corporations (TNCs) , non-governmental organizations

(NGOs) and a host of other non-state bodies have come to exert
influence. In different ways and to different degrees groups and
organizations ranging from al-Qaeda , the anti-capitalist movement
and Greenpeace to Google , General Motors and the Pepsi contribute
to shaping world politics.
 although it is widely accepted that states and national governments
are merely one category of actor amongst many on the world stage,
they may still remain the most important actors.
Increased interdependence and
interconnectedness

 The state-centric approach has often been illustrated through the so-called
‘billiard ball model’ (states as solid, hard spheres, like billiard balls)
 not all billiard balls are the same size. This is why the study of international
politics has conventionally given particular attention to the interests and
behaviour of so-called ‘great powers’.
 the new developments and substantial growth in cross-border, or transnational,
flows and transactions – movements of people, good, money, information and
ideas.
 States, in these circumstances, are forced to work together, relying on collective
efforts and energies. Liberals argue that, with increased global cooperation and
interconnectedness, we can make the world a more stable and peaceful place. ...
Liberalism is often associated with the , cobweb model which suggests that due
to globalisation we are increasingly interconnected and inter-reliant.
international anarchy

 the traditional approach to international politics has been that the

state-system operates in a context of anarchy. This reflects the notion
that there is no higher authority than the state, meaning that
external politics operates as an international ‘state of nature’, a pre-
political society.
 conflict is only constrained by a balance of power, developed either
as a diplomatic strategy by peace-minded leaders or occurring
through a happy coincidence. This image of anarchy has been
modified by the
idea that the international system operates more like an
‘international society’
Globalization and its implications

 Globalization is a complex, elusive and controversial term. It has been used to refer to a
process, a policy, a marketing strategy, a difficult situation or even an ideology.
 Some have tried to bring greater clarity to the debate about the nature of
globalization by distinguishing between globalization as a process or set of
processes (highlighting the dynamics of transformation or change, in common
with other words that end in the suffix ‘-ization’, such as modernization) and
globality as a condition (indicating the set of circumstances that globalization
has brought about, just as modernization has created a condition of modernity).
 Others have used the term globalism to refer to the ideology of globalization, the theories,
values and assumptions that have guided or driven the process.
 ‘[T]he fad of the 1990s, and […] made in America’ (Waltz 1999).
Globalization has been interpreted 
:in three main ways
Economic globalization is the process through which national 
economies have, to a greater or lesser extent, been absorbed into a single
. global economy
Cultural globalization is the process whereby information, 
commodities and images that have been produced in one part of the world
enter into a global flow that tends to ‘flatten out’ cultural differences
.between nations, regions and individuals
Political globalization is the process through which policymaking responsibilities have 
.been passed from national governments to international organizations
Major transformations that have
.taken place in world politics
 The breadth of interconnectedness has not only stretched social, political,
economic and cultural activities across national borders, but also,
potentially, across the globe. Never before has globalization threatened to
develop
into a single worldwide system.
 The intensity of interconnectedness has increased with the growing
magnitude of transborder or even transworld activities, which range from
migration surges and the growth of international trade to the greater
accessibility of Hollywood movies or US television programmes.
 Interconnectedness has speeded up, not least through the huge flows of
electronic money that move around the world at the flick of a computer
switch, ensuring that currency and other financial markets react almost
immediately to economic events elsewhere in the world.
Mainstream perspectives

 Realism and liberalism can be viewed as mainstream perspectives in the

sense that they, in their various incarnations, have dominated conventional
academic approaches to the field of international politics since its inception.
 they are both grounded in positivism. This suggests that it is possible to
develop objective knowledge, through the capacity to distinguish ‘facts’
from ‘values’. In short, it is possible to compare theories with the ‘real
world’, the world ‘out there’.
 realist and liberal theorists share similar concerns and address similar
issues, the core concern of both realism and liberalism is the balance
between conflict and cooperation in state relations.
 Realism is grounded in an emphasis on power politics, based on the following
assumptions:
 Human nature is characterized by selfishness and greed.
 Politics is a domain of human activity structured by power and coercion.
 States are the key global actors.
 States prioritize self-interest and survival, prioritizing security above all else.
 States operate in a context of anarchy, and thus rely on self-help.
 Global order is structured by the distribution of power (capabilities) among
states.
 The balance of power is the principal means of ensuring stability and
avoiding war.
 Ethical considerations are (and should be) irrelevant to the conduct of
foreign policy.
 Liberalism offers a more optimistic vision of global politics, based, ultimately, on a
belief in human rationality and moral goodness (even though liberals also accept that
people are essentially self-interested and competitive). The liberal model of global
politics is based on
the following key assumptions:

 Human beings are rational and moral creatures.

 History is a progressive process, characterized by a growing prospect of
international cooperation and peace.
 Mixed-actor models of global politics are more realistic than state-centric
ones.
 Trade and economic interdependence make war less likely.
 International law helps to promote order and fosters rule-governed behaviour among
states.
 Democracy is inherently peaceful, particularly in reducing the likelihood of
war between democratic states.
Critical perspectives

 What made the Marxist approach distinctive was that it placed its
emphasis not on patterns of conflict and cooperation between states,
but on structures of economic power and the role played in world
affairs by international capital.
 by the end of the Cold War, a wide range of ‘new voices’ started to
influence the study of world politics, notable examples including
social constructivism, critical theory, poststructuralism,
postcolonialism, feminism and green politics.
CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN GLOBAL POLITICS

 Power
 Security
 Justice