Globalization
Theme: Impact of
globalization and related
responses (2)
7 Political dimension of
globalization
Theme Mind Map
Different
perceptions of
globalization
The mainland and
Hong Kong under
globalization
Different
reactions to
globalization
11
1
2
10
Factors which
influence the
spread and
evenness of the
impact of
globalization
Impact of
political
globalization
9
Impact of
globalization and
related responses
8
Political
dimension of
globalization
3
4
7
6
Impact of cultural
globalization
5
Different
discourses on
globalization
Economic
dimension of
globalization
Impact of
economic
globalization
Cultural
dimension of
globalization
Exploration Journey 1:
How
do
political
affairs spread across
the world?
To learn the meaning of political
globalization
To understand how the different aspects o
globalization are interconnected
To understand the relationship between
global issues and political globalization
7 Political
dimension of
globalization
Exploration Journey 2:
Does
political
globalization help to reorganize the world order?
To reflect the impact of political
globalization on our life
To learn the meaning and
development of ‘global governance’
To learn the participants of global
governance
To explore whether the international
arena is a level playing field
To appreciate the ideologies of
‘cosmopolitanism’ and ‘global citizenship’
1
How do political affairs spread across the world?
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
Why do domestic
affairs
of
an
individual
country
arouse
global
concern?
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
What is ‘political globalization’?
The definition of political globalization
• It refers to the strengthening and expansion of political ties between
all countries or regions.
• Specifically, political globalization can be interpreted in two aspects:
─ One one hand, it refers to the process in which
individual countries’ acts are increasingly subject
to the constraints of global norms.
─ On the other hand, it refers to the process in
which all governments have more opportunities to
participate and exert their influence in the
decision-making of international affairs.
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
What is ‘political globalization’?
The background to the development of political
globalization
• After the European countries signed the Treaty of
Westphalia in 1648, sovereign states became the only legal
actors at the international level.
Signatories:
• Kingdom of Spain
• Holy Roman
Empire and the
constituent states
• House of Bourbon
of the French
Empire
• Kingdom of
Sweden
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
What is ‘political globalization’?
The background to the development of political
globalization
• However, as all kinds of global issues arise, it is difficult for
individual countries to deal with the issues on their own.
• International organizations
and
transnational
corporations
play
an
increasingly important role
in some global issues and
even gradually transcend the
leading
status
of
the
sovereign states.
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
Is political globalization interacting with economic and
cultural globalization?
Political
globalization
Cultural
globalization
Economic
globalization
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
Is political globalization interacting with economic and
cultural globalization?
The relationship between political globalization and
economic globalization
• Under economic globalization, all economies are more
closely integrated.
• A
force
which
encourages
free
trade and prohibits
national
trade
barriers
and
protectionism
was
formed.
Free trade enhances the flow of goods
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
Is political globalization interacting with economic and
cultural globalization?
The relationship between political globalization and
economic globalization
• To ensure the smooth progress of
free trade between members, some
international organizations require
their members to sign treaties.
• If an individual country adopts
protectionism, it will be regarded
as a breach of the international
norm. The country will be
criticized or even boycotted.
Free trade
Protectionism
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
Is political globalization interacting with economic and
cultural globalization?
The relationship between political globalization and
economic globalization
• To attract investments, non-Western countries
(especially the developing countries) adopt
Western laws, regulations and systems.
• This reflects that national policies are affected by
economic activities.
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
Is political globalization interacting with economic and
cultural globalization?
The relationship between political globalization and
economic globalization
• Under cultural globalization, the spread of some universal
values (such as democracy, liberty and human rights) influences
human values.
• Besides, a leader’s personal values and those commonly existing
among the people of a nation all affect diplomatic policy-making.
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
How do global issues foster political globalization?
Global issues foster political globalization
Conventionally, political activities are confined to a state;
all countries adopt their own policies to deal with local
issues.
Policies→Local issues
Policies→Local issues
Policies→Local issues
Policies→Local issues
Policies→Local issues
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
How do global issues foster political globalization?
Global issues foster political globalization
With closer ties between all countries, the issues faced no longer
have geographical constraints. People all over the world gradually
face the same global issues and all countries need to join hands to
solve them, resulting in globalization of political acts.
Policies→Global issues
Policies→Global issues
Policies→Global issues
Policies→Global issues Policies→Global issues
Exploration Journey 1: How do political affairs
spread across the world?
How do global issues foster political globalization?
Global issues foster political globalization
• Global issues have a cross-boundary impact. Even though
different countries or regions are affected differently by
global issues, international cooperation is needed for
solving the issues. This has prompted the globalization of
political activities.
Climate change and
• Examples of global issues:
environmental pollution
Disease and its
Poverty and uneven
prevention
distribution of wealth
Wars and
transnational crimes
Protection of human rights
2
Does political globalization help to re-organize
the world order?
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
Under
political
globalization,
is
the role of a state
still important?
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
What is ‘global governance’?
The definition of global governance
• It refers to the governance mode
which aims at handling global
issues through political interaction
at different levels.
• It includes the cooperation
between countries and
participation of
international organizations.
International
Regional
Between countries
Between localities
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
What is ‘global governance’?
The emergence of global governance
• Global issues arise under globalization:
Widespread
epidemics
Transnational crimes
Climate change
• Global governance has become an essential mode of governance
for handling the above issues.
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
What is ‘global governance’?
The emergence of global governance
Today, global governing bodies have offices covering all
over the world. Examples are:
The United Nations
The World Trade
Organization
The Organization for
Economic Co-operation
and Development
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
The interaction between the participants of
global governance
The participants of global governance include:
•International
organizations
(IGOs and INGOs)
• State governments
• Transnational
corporations
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
The interaction between the participants of
global governance
International organizations
International
governmental organization
•
A body formed by a number of
sovereign states for a specific
purpose
•
IGOs have gradually gained
importance, and they always lead
the direction of the international
community’s public policies
International
non-governmental organization
•
A transnational
institution
formed by non-governmental
groups
•
INGOs handle transnational
and ethnic issues so they receive
attention from all governments
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
The interaction between the participants of
global governance
State governments
•
IGOs are formed with sovereign states as the legal members.
Member states send their delegates to discuss and vote in the
process of decision-making.
•
Individual countries can
exert different levels of
influence
in
the
international organizations.
The delegate from China (who raises his hand)
engages in discussion in the UN. The one sitting
next to him is the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
The interaction between the participants of
global governance
Transnational corporations
•
Under economic globalization, there are free flows of
capital, labour and technologies.
•
To attract investments from
transnational
corporations
which come from the West, the
developing countries tend to
modify their economic systems
based on the Western model.
Shanghai-based factory of Coca-cola
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
The interaction between the participants
of global governance
Transnational corporations
•
Apart from shaping government
policies, transnational corporations
pursue
corporate
social
responsibility and adopt certain
extent of self-supervision so as to
promote environmental protection
and social responsibility.
Starbucks shows concern for the needs of
farmers in its promotional advertisement.
Participants of global governance: Public health
IGOs
INGOs
World Health Organization
UNITAID
Médecins Sans Frontières
International Committee of
Red Cross
Sovereign state governments
State
governments
Transnational Transnational pharmaceutical companies,
corporations such as Pfizer and GSK
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
What are ‘transnational rules’?
•
•
The definition of transnational rules
‘Transnational rules’ can be interpreted as the general
name for agreed international legal instruments signed
between two or more countries or international
organizations or between countries and international
organizations.
They include:
Treaty
Charter
Convention
Protocol
Agreement
Covenant
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
Why are transnational rules signed?
The reasons for signing transnational rules
• In the face of widely influential global issues, countries
must work together more closely in order to reach their
common goals.
• Signing the
transnational rules
makes the attainment
of goals more binding.
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
Why are transnational rules signed?
The reasons for signing transnational rules
Transnational rules:
• Can be formed with the help from
international organizations or they may
be reached upon the consensus of the
participating countries.
• Can be legally binding or purely serve as
guidelines.
• May involve most countries or regions in
the world or only a few.
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
Is there a level playing field
in the international arena
under global governance?
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
Fairness of the playing field in the international
arena under global governance
To study objectively whether there is a level playing
field in the international arena, we can analyze the issue
from three perspectives:
Fair?
System of
international
organizations
Global
economy
and trade
National
political
influence
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
Fairness of the playing field in the international
arena under global governance
System of international organizations
•
On becoming a member of an international
governmental organization, a country enjoys the
endowed rights and must discharge the due obligations.
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
Fairness of the playing field in the international
arena under global governance
Global economy and trade:
• The developed countries can create favorable conditions for
themselves in international trade through their political and
economic strength. They force the weak developing
countries to sign treaties which contain clauses that bring
profits to the developed countries.
• Many developing countries have no alternative but accept
passively the rules set by the developed countries.
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
Fairness of the playing field in the international
arena under global governance
• The developed countries put up trade barriers to the main
export industries of the developing countries. For agricultural:
Free trade!
Developed
countries
•Abolishing tariffs
•Cutting policy subsidies
Developing
countries
•Opening up markets
•Heavy subsidization
•Substantial dumping of
agricultural products
Exploration Journey 2: Does political globalization
help to re-organize the world order?
Fairness of the playing field in the international
arena under global governance
National political influence
Developing countries
•
Relatively backward
•
Economically poorer
•
Depend on the
developed
countries’commodity
markets
Global issues
Draw
back
Accept the
proposals made
by the developed
countries