Political Globalization/Stefan Schwabl/Blog Assignment III

Political Globalization/Stefan Schwabl/Blog Assignment III

On the whole world we have a lot of different concept of globalization, regarding the political globalization. In general, the political globalization is a process, that can be understood as a tension between three processes which interact to produce the complex field of global politics: global geopolitics, global normative culture and polycentric networks.

Global geopolitics: After the year 1991 was the time for new kinds of global geopolitics and were the democracy has become the universally acceptable form of government, because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the communist regimes in Europe. The result of this was that the world has got a lot of democracy states. Over the time this democratic nation-state under the impact of global forces in many parts of the world has given rise to very different kinds of political cultures, relaying to the development of transnational networks and flows, and on the other, the processes of de- and reterritorialization. This political globalization gives some states more possibilities for example in increasing the economy, while for others globalization leads to a loss of autonomy and the fragmentation of the social world. Thus, the political globalization is not for everyone really an advantage, but there is not possibility to stop this process. That means that the states should better work with the process and not against the process. We should recognise that there are still some states without democracy like China, but there is a considerable demand for it by democratic movements.

Global normative culture: The second dimension of political globalization refers to the rise of a global normative culture, with the main expressions on the human rights. Which normally lies at the centre of a global cosmopolitanism, but of the fact that it has gotten global it also includes the environmental concerns, like sustainable development.

Polycentric networks: This may be termed polycentric networks forms of nonterritorial politics which emanate from a multiplicity of sites and which cannot be reduced to a single centre. These processes of political globalization are associated with networks and flows, new sources of mobility and communication, and denote new relationships between the individual, state and society. Really important is the global civil society, because for example, it is not separate from geopolitics, but occupies a separate space beyond the state and global market. It exists alongside the state and has been consequential in influencing global geopolitics in the direction of multilateralism and global solidarity.

By observing our time period, we can say that the biggest problem of today is that the states have been usurped by global markets. With the transition from a world economy dominated by national economies to a global economy new economic forces come into play challenging the power of the nation-state. The main question that is arising because of that problem is if a state can become weaker or stronger by regarding this point. Mostly of the states are getting weaker, only according to Alan Milward, European integration, as a movement that has led to the progressive erosion of national sovereignty, has paradoxically rescued the nation-state rather than undermined it. The movement towards transnational authority allows a more functional state system to operate since it is only those functions, for example instance, regulation of finance markets and cross-border trade, that the solitary state is less well equipped to perform that are transferred upwards to the transnational level. But the result is an unavoidable loss of sovereignty, which does not necessarily translate into a loss of autonomy. In this system states have still regulatory functions, but the difference is that these functions are being performed at a transnational level through cooperation with other states. As a result, we have a transformation of the nation-state rather than its demise. But regarding the list which nation-state are the most powerful we can say that USA and China are the most powerful nation states. Europe and the movement towards the transnationalization of the nation-state, is undoubtedly an exception.
But not only states are changing, also the society of the states are transforming. The public today, so-called a 'new public' is based on the open site of communication. The public sphere does not mean a mere spatial location but a discursive contestation process. It was originally conceived as a national public sphere, but with the rise of the commercial mass media, the new social theory arose. It viewed the public sphere wider as cosmopolitan and caused the emergence of the global public discourse in which the global public plays a key role. In this transformation of the public sphere and communication, global normative culture shapes political communication and makes it easier to see it in the public sphere. 

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT POLITICAL GLOBALIZATION

When I first thought of political globalization, the topic seemed to be so far away from my interests and assumed that it would be really difficult for me to understand it. But in the end it was really interesting, especially it was interesting to know that the states and society are changing that much. Also interesting was the European system with his advantages.   

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT POLITICAL GLOBALIZATION

As we have seen from this article, many governments are heavily influenced by big companies. Unfortunately, this often leads to the fact that not the interests of the people are pursued, but those of the companies. As an example, we can take the African states, which are influenced by big companies. But how exactly are these states affected and what are the consequences for the citizens?