System of League of Nations:
Chatham House in London (1920), Council on Foreign Relations in New York (1921).•
1926- International Diplomatic Academy in Paris – first international research institute on
international relations.
UNESCO > 1948- Conferences in Utrecht and Paris: international studies recognized as
subfield of political science. • Development of departments of international studies at
universities.
Peace of Westphalia (1648) Peace treaty that ended Thirty Years’ War. Demise of
universalism and feudalism. Rulers decide about religion of their states. • Beginning of
the idea of secular government and idea of sovereign nation states.
French and American Revolutions
beginning of democratization of absolute monarchies. The principle of self-determination of
the nation- beginning of national liberation movements and collapse of multinational
empires.
International Relations Actors • States and nations. • International organizations. •
Transnational corporations.
State • Durable association of people who permanently inhabit a given territory and are
subject to their government. • Conditions of state’s existence: territory, population,
government, international recognition.
Determinants of State’s Power • Geographic. • Economic-technological. • Military.
Demographic. • Ideological. • Religious. • Ethical. • Personal.
Economic-Techological Factor • Currency strength. • Share in international trade. •
Access to foreign markets. • Foreign investment volume. • Technological innovations.
Ideological Factor :Political regime. • Economic system. • Culture. • Geopolitical history.
Religious Factor: Universal and national religions. • Religious radicalism. • Significance
particularly in case of developing countries.
Personal Factor
• Role of prominent individuals, dictators, fanatics. Convictions and skills of politicians.
Popularity among the public. Quality of diplomats
UN System• Sovereign equality of member states (but right of veto for permanent
members of the Security Council).• Non-interference in domestic matters of member
states).• Guarding peace and security in the world.
UN Organs
• General Assembly.• Security Council.• Economic and Social Council.• Trusteeship
Council.• International Court of Justice.• Secretariat.
UN Reform • Various proposals from strengthening the
role of the UN to its dissolution.• Need for better reflection of balance of
power in current global politics.• G4 countries – India, Germany, Japan and
Brazil: candidates for permanent membership in Security Council.• Resistance from Uniting
for Consensus.
Transnational Corporations:• Supranational companies.• Relocation of factories abroad
to seek cheap labor force.• Internationalization of production.• Main vehicles of
globalization. • Influence on direction of states’ policy.
First Great Debate( 1930s and 1940s) • Opposition of realism and idealism.• Approach towards
Hitler’s Germany.• Dispute over the nature of international relations.• Debate on the problems that
should be researched by international studies.
Niccolo Machiavelli• Forerunner of realism.• Description of the existing reality.• Human nature
evil.• Suspension of morality.• Primacy of efficiency: you have to be a fox and a lion.
Immanuel Kant • Forerunner of idealism.• Vision of the future.• Republicanism.• Federation of
free states.• The law of world citizenship limited to conditions of universal hospitality.
Machiavelli• Realism.• Reality.• Primacy of efficiency.• Hints how to remain in power.
Kant • Idealism.• Vision of future.• Primacy of morality. • Hints how to attain perpetual peace.
Idealism• Woodrow Wilson.• Possibility of introducing the principles ofpeaceful coexistence to the
anarchic structure of international system. • Role of the League of Nations.
Criticism of Idealism• Eduard Carr.• Harmony of interests as a utopia.• Darwinism in politics, the
fittest will survive.• Adjustment of thought to the target, notvice versa.• Universal good as a
camouflaged national interest.
Classical Realism • Hans Morgenthau: 6 principles of realism:• Politics is governed by objective
laws that have their roots in human nature.• Interest is defined in terms of power.• Interest defined as
power is universallyvalid, but the way of its use depends on historical, political, cultural
circumstances. • Prudence- the weighing of the consequences of alternative political actions- is
superior to moral laws. • There are no universal moral laws.• Intellectually, the political sphere is
independent of the other spheres of human activity.
Idealism • Ambition to change the international reality. • Primacy of morality. • Existence of
universal values.
Realism • Description of the existing internationalreality.• Primacy of efficiency.• Universal values
as instruments of the hegemon.
Criticism of Idealism • Eduard Carr. • Harmony of interests as a utopia. • Darwinism in politics, the
fittest will survive. • Adjustment of thought to the target, not vice versa. • Universal good as a
camouflaged national interest.
\Second Great Debate (1960s) • Traditionalism: historical approach, inability of analyzing the
world’s complexity with statistical methods.
• Behavioralism: ability to discover with the help of the mind the laws governing social
phenomena, search of regularity and causal dependencies, ambition of forecasting.
Neoliberalism • Joseph Nye. • Increasing interdependence. • Blurring of borders between foreign
and domestic policies. • Significance of multilateral diplomacy, international institutions. Soft power
• Leadership perceived by others as legitimate. • Being for others an example to follow. •
Attractiveness of language, economic and political system, values. • Absolute gains. • Role of
international institutions. • Increasing interdependence. Neorealism • Relative gains. • International
institutions as instruments of powers. • Weak effects of interdependence.
Neorealism • Kenneth Waltz. • Theory needs simplification. • Structure of the system and
distribution of power in the structure determinate behavior of states. • Weak effects of
interdependence, limited role of international institutions.
Conclusions • Realism and idealism as the first theories of international relations that survived until
today under changed forms. • Possibility to interpret the same events in different ways depending on
theoretical approach.
Constructivism • Alexander Wendt. • Identity as a foundation of state’s identity. • International
system as an intersubjective identity. • The influence of distribution of power on states’ behavior
depends on intersubjective reasoning and expectences. • The kind of security system dependent on
history of interactions.
Competitive System • Characteristic of realism. • Perceiving other countries as potential enemies. •
Negative identification of our security with the others’ security. • Cooperation only in case of
relative gains.
Individualistic System • Characteristic of neoliberalism. • Perceiving other countries as potential
partners. • Neutral identification of our security with the others’ security. • Cooperation only in case
of absolute, not necessarily relative, gains.
Cooperative System/ • Positive identification of our security with the others’ security. • Perceiving
other countries as friends and allies. • At present rather a utopia, but some traits of cooperative
system visible within regional organizations (EU).
Influence of Identity on Foreign Policy • Ideological aspect of Cold War. • Reappearance of
intercivilizational conflicts after the end of Cold War. • Anti-Japanese sentiments in China and
South Korea – influence on economic cooperation and international position of Japan. • Pacifism in
Japan as a constraint on remilitarization.
Neoclassical Realism • Formulated in the 1990s by Gideon Rose. • International determinants as the
main determinant delineating the limits of a rational foreign policy. • Reaction to external stimuli
filtered by the complex domestic determinants
Independent Variables • International determinants independent of domestic decision makers. •
E.g. rivalry between powers, difference in economic or military potentials, geopolitical location,
economic interdependence increasing due to globalization.
Intervening Variables • Domestic determinants distorting country’s reaction to external stimuli. •
E.g. perception of international situation by decision makers, political culture, public opinion,
relationship between legislative and executive powers, political regime, bureaucratic mechanisms,
pressure from interest groups, strength of state aparatus.
Dependent Variables • Decisions in foreign policy that are a result of the general framework
delineated by international determinants or by specific political situation in a given country. • The
direction of decisions dependent on independent variables, but their intensity and pace dependent on
intervening variables.
Marxism (Radicalism) • Karl Marx. • Alternative, radical vision of international relations. • World
history as history of struggle of classes. • Utopian vision of dictatorship of the proletariat. •
Bankrupcy of Marxism after collapse of the USSR.
Neo-Marxism • Sensitivity to global social inequalities. • Division into states of core and
peripheries, North and South. • Interest in postcolonialism. • Criticism of the policy of transnational
corporations.
Third Great Debate (1980s) •
Positivism: ability to acquire scientific knowledge based on description of the observed phenomena.
• Post-positivism: alternative theories, denying possibility of an objective analysis of international
reality, research on the influence of language, ideals, culture, religion, social class on perception of
the world. E.g. postmodern schools, feminism.
Postmodernism • Inevitable distortion of knowledge by power. • Deconstruction: examination of
‘parasitelike’ relationship between opposite terms. • Subjective character of such terms as
sovereignty, anarchy, borders, identity. • International relations as an arena of struggle between
opposite ‘regimes of truth’.
Feminism • Divergent schools: emphasis on sameness of women and men or differences in
perception of the world by genders. • Genetic and social differences between genders – men’s
tendency for aggressiveness and women’s for peace. • Erroneous perception of national interests
only in category of power. • Matriarchy as a way to achieve new quality in IR?
Feminism (2) • J.A. Tickner: Linking women with pacifism as a stereotype to keep women away
from power. • Moral dimension of IR. • Sensitivity to social problems: poverty, income gap, slavery,
refugees, prostitution. • Distortion of the vision of international reality caused by domination of men
among theorists. Ecologism • Environmentalism: attempt at solving ecological problems within the
framework of the existing political, economic, social, normative structures. •
Ecologism: perceiving these structures as the source of the crisis, criticism of the Earth Summit. •
Abandonement of anthropocentrism.
Ecocentrism: holistic perspective, caring about the interests of future generations. • Limits of
development, necessity to radically change the system. • Contradicting proposals: global ecological
government or global network of small independent communities.
Bretton Woods Conference • July 1944, delegations from 44 countries. • Establishment of a new
monetary system to stabilize world currencies. • A delicate compromise. • 1971: Nixon shock –
cancellation of direct convertibility of US dollar to gold by President Richard Nixon, the end of
Bretton Woods system.
International Economic Institutions • World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development). • International Monetary Fund. • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT),
since 1995 World Trade Organization (WTO).
Milton Friedman (1912-2006) • Partisan of economic liberalism. • Nobel in economic science
(1976). • Economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan. • Concentration of power as a threat to
freedom. • Limitation of the function of the government to defense policy, preservation of law and
order, enforcement of private contracts. • Decentralization of governmental power. • Examples of
mistakes made by governments. • Government cannot duplicate the variety and diversity of
individual action.
Washington Consensus • A term created by John Williamson in 1989. • Neoliberal tips for the
developing countries. • Uniform set of rules. • Fiscal discipline. • Liberalization of trade and
financial market. • Privatization of state industries. • Deregulation of restrictions concerning
businesses.
Joseph Stiglitz • Critic of Washington consensus. • Chairperson of Clinton’s Council of Economic
Advisers (1995-1997). • Senior vice-president and chief economist of World Bank (1997-2000). •
Nobel in economic science (2001).
International Monetary Fund • Stabilization of currency exchange rates. • Loans to the developing
countries on the condition of economic reforms. • Headquarters in Washington. • The post of
managing director traditionally assumed by a European, currently Kristalina Georgieva.
IMF’s Policy • Acting according to one scheme regardless of local conditions. • Insistence on high
GDP growth rate. • Decrease in budget deficit, suppression of inflation. • Minimization of state
interference in the economy.
Criticism of IMF’s Policy • Disregard for social costs of reforms. • Insufficient countermeasures
against famine, poverty, widening income gap. • Disregard for the opinions of local experts. •
Representation of the interests of the developed countries and creditors.
Latin America • 1980s: Acceptance of Washington consensus. • Increase in income gap. •
Economic stagnation in the 1990s.
Africa • Very poor countries, often ravaged by wars. • Liberalization of financial markets as a cause
of bankruptcy of local banks. • IMF’s insistence on limiting expenses on education or subsidies on
food as reasons of social riots and internal instability.
East Asia • Skillful use of globalization. • Influx of high technologies, export to international
markets. • Decrease in unemployment rate, creation of a strong middle class. • Strong state
interventionism: investment in education, infrastructure and high technologies, import restrictions.
Asian Crisis (1997) • Opening up to the inflow of „hot money” – short-term investments. •
Speculative attack on Thailand’s currency? • Drainage of currency reserves by central banks. •
IMF’s aid on the condition of maintaining fiscal discipline. • Series of bankruptcies as a result of an
increase in interest rates.
Russia • Shock therapy. • Premature liberalization of the market and predatory privatization. • Mass
escape of funds. • Decrease in social support for free-trade reforms. • Double standards: IMF turning
a blind eye to corruption in Russia.
China and Poland • Examples of successful transformation of centrally planned economies. •
Slower version of shock therapy in Poland. • Gradual adaptation of free-trade rules despite pressure
from the IMF. • Creation of a strong banking sector. • Well prepared privatization.
World Bank • Initial task: support of reconstruction after the Second World War. • Stimulation of
economic growth. • Long-term loans with preferential rates. • Headquarters in Washington. • Post of
president traditionally assumed by an American.
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) • 1940s: Plans of creating the International
Trade Organization (ITO). • 1947: Signing of GATT. • Liberalization of international trade. •
Decrease in trade tariffs through the succeding rounds of negotiations. • Most favoured nation
principle.
Trade Restrictions under GATT • Still much space for state protectionism. • Possibility to flexibly
shape one’s economic policy. • Import quotas. • 1974: Multi-Fibre Arrangement. • 1980s: Voluntary
export restrictions. • Anti-dumping and safeguard clauses. • Very weak enforcement powers.
Policy of the West • Liberalization of trade in high-tech products, but not agricultural products. •
Subsidies for farmers. • Selective liberalization of services: banking, but not construction or
shipping sectors. • 1980s: abolition of previous distinctions between short-term capital (hot money)
and long-term investments.
Uruguay Round (1986-1994) • Liberalization of trade in agricultural products and textiles. •
Expansion of the sphere of activity to the services. • Strengthening of intellectual rights protection. •
1994: Marrakech Agreement – establishment of WTO.
World Trade Organization (WTO) • Created in 1994. • Started functioning in 1995. •
Headquarters in Geneva. • Director-General: Roberto Azevêdo. • Ministerial conferences of member
states every two years. • Much stronger enforcement powers.
Doha Round (since 2001) • „Development Round”, declared more fair for the developing countries.
• Developed countries – unwillingness to abolish agricultural subsidies. • Stalemate of successive
meetings (2003 – Cancun, 2005 – Hong Kong, 2008 – Geneva). • 2013: Bali Package – limited trade
facilitation agreement
Political Dimension of Globalization • History of globalization processes – different
interpretations. • International political organizations and institutions. • Any chance for global
governance?
Historical Perspective • Deep historical roots of globalization. • When did globalization start? •
Prehistoric period. • Premodern period. • Age of discovery. • Industrial revolution. • Contemporary
period.
Capitalist World System • New values of individualism and unlimited accumulation of capital. •
Crucial role of the governments. • Division of labour on global scale. • Trading companies as
autonomous entities.
Trading Companies • Trade monopolies. • Quasi-governmental powers: private fleets and armies,
right to wage wars and make peace, administration over colonies, separate currencies. • 1600-1858:
English East India Company. • 1602-1800: Dutch East India Company. • Since 1670: Hudson’s Bay
Company.
Mercantilism • Accumulation of monetary reserves through a positive balance of trade. • Promotion
of manufacturing and export by the government. • High tariffs. • Monopolization of trade with
colonies.
Industrial Revolution • 1750-1980. • 1763: Invention of steam engine by James Watt. • Transition
from hand production methods to mechanized manufacturing. • Free market orientation. • Dramatic
increase in volume of trade. • Detrimental impact on natural environment.
Towards International Political System • 1815: Concert of Europe. • 1918: Fourteen points by
Woodrow Wilson. • 1920: League of Nations. • Ideals of world pacifism. • No real enforcement
measures.
Contemporary Period • Since the 1980s. • Information and communication technology revolution.
• Dramatic expansion and acceleration of worldwide interdependencies
Cultural Dimension of Globalization • Intensification and expansion of cultural flows across the
globe. • Americanization and Westernization. • McDonaldization. • Cultural glocalization. • Concept
of soft power.
Americanization • American influence on global culture. • Increasing homogenization of popular
culture underwritten by a Western ‘culture industry’. • Diffusion of Anglo-American values and
consumer goods
McDonaldization • Term coined by George Ritzer. • Fast-food restaurant as representative of the
contemporary culture and society. • Imposition of uniform standards which eclipse human creativity,
undermine expressions of forms of cultural diversity and dehumanize social relations.
Conclusions • Globalization as a process started ages ago. • Inventions as a driving force behind
globalization. • Weak power of global political institutions and domination of nation states. • Two
contradictory forces – cultural homogenization and exploitation of cultural diversity
Globalism according to Immanuel Wallerstein • World-system theory. • Kondratiev waves. • Fate
of capitalism. • Alternatives?
World-System • Shaped since the 16th century. • World-economy: vast geographical region with
division of labor, exchange of goods, movement of capital and labor. • Capitalist system: neverending accumulation of capital as the main goal
Methods of State Domination • World-empire: existence of one single political power for the
world-system. • Hegemony in world-system: capability of imposing rules of game in international
system, domination in world-economy. A form beneficial to private companies, especially those
which are related to the hegemon – stability to develop leading technologies.
Kondratiev Waves • Rhythm of world-economy: gradual collapse of quasi-monopolies. • New
leading sectors of industry. • 50-60 years long cycles. • Phase A – upward and B – downward.
Core Countries • Countries which create new leading products. • Comparative advantage thanks to
patents. • Collapse of quasi-monopolies: necessity to find a new leading product. • Triad: USA,
Western Europe, Japan.
Periphery • Absorption of the most labor-intensive industries, abandoned by the core states. •
Specialization in raw materials and agricultural products. • Organic relationship with the core
countries – unequal trade. • Developing countries.
Semi-Periphery • Competition to take over the industries which have been just abandoned by the
core countries. • Usually strong economic protectionism. • South Korea, Brazil, India.
Taxation.
Real Wage Level • Increase in wage level in the developed countries. • Relocation of various
sectors of production to lower-wage areas of the worldeconomy. • Gradual deruralization of the
world as a limitation to low-wage labor force.
Cost of Material Inputs • Cost of purchasing and treating materials, disposal of toxic waste. • More
and more restrictive standards of protection of natural environment. • Pressure on the private
companies to fully internalize all costs.
Taxation • Universalization of popular demands of educational institutions, health facilities and
social security. • Steady rise of tax rates in virtually every country.
Terminal Crisis • Decreasing ability to accumulate capital by transnational corporations. •
Increasing difficulty of guaranteeing the capitalist quasi-monopolies by the delegitimated states. •
Emergence of a new world-system in the next 25-50 years?
Globalization • Optimistic interpretation of globalization as a gigantic misreading of current reality
– a deception imposed upon us by powerful groups. • Globalization as B-phase (decline) of the
Kondratiev wave. • Globalization as convulsions of the dying capitalism.
Two Spirits • The spirit of Davos: hierarchic and polarized. • The spirit of Porto Alegre: democratic
and egalitarian. • Clash of classes, not regions.
Conclusions • Optimistic vision of globalization imposed by the ruling classes. • Impossibility of
achieving an equal distribution of wealth worldwide. • Globalization as the last stage of capitalism. •
No clear answers about the future of global economy.
Problem of Poverty • Increase in social inequalities. • Highest natural growth rate in the developing
countries. • About 1.6 billion people without access to electricity.
Problem of Famine • Every day 18 thousand people die of starvation. • 11% of land – arable fields,
they keep shrinking due to urbanization and erosion. • Nutrition standards – 0.5 ha per capita,
currently – 0.27 ha. • There are almost twice as many people as food needed to feed them.
Access to Water • Every eighth person – problems with access to potable water. • Diseases caused
by drinking contaminated water – 90% of diseases in poor countries. • High natural growth rate in
Africa and Middle East.
Globalization as an Opportunity • Possibility of struggle with diseases on a global scale. • 1980:
Smallpox recognized as eradicated thanks to a global vaccination campaign. • Global charitable
organizations.
Globalization as a Threat • Possibility of transmitting diseases on a global scale. • SARS, avian
influenza, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Ebola virus. • Imposition of bad nutrition practices by
international fast-food corporations.
UN Millennium Summit • September 2000: meeting of the heads of states and governments at the
55th session of the UN General Assembly. • Ratification of the UN Millennium Declaration with the
Millennium Development Goals. • Goals to be achieved until 2015. Sustainable Development
Summit • September 2015, New York. • 17 sustainable development goals with 169 targets. • End
extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, fix climate change. • Realization until 2030.
Problem of Migration • Tourists – population of the developed countries, travel for leisure or
business trips, free to stay or move at their heart’s desire. • Vagabonds – global travellers refused the
right to become tourists, constraints in getting entry visas to the developed countries.
Forced Migration • Persecution of ethnic and religious minorities, human rights violation, natural
disasters. • Civil wars – Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Libya. • Refugee camps – food
and sanitary problems.
Terrorism • No legally binding definition on global level. • Different opinions how to treat use of
violence in the context of conflicts over national liberation. • Political violence in an asymmetrical
conflict designed to induce terror through the destruction of noncombatant targets.
Failed States • Erosion of legitimate authority. • Loss of control over territory. • Loss of monopoly
on the legitimate use of physical force. • Inability to provide public services or interact with other
states. • Somalia, Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Yemen,
Afghanistan.
Summary • Developing countries as both beneficiaries and victims of globalization. • Increasing
social inequalities. • Increasing awareness of the international community about the problems of the
poor and refugees? • Global terrorism as a phenomenon impossible without globalization. • Antiterrorist measures as a sign of terrorists’ victory?
Conference in Rio de Janeiro • 1992: Summit attended by 100 heads of states. • United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change: framework for negotiating treaties to limit emission of
greenhouse gases.
Kyoto Protocol (1997) • Reduction of greenhouse gases emission in the developed countries until
2012 in comparison with 1990: Europe – by 8%, USA – by 7%, Japan – by 6%. • Mechanism of
emissions trading. • 2005: Entry into force after ratification by Russia. COP21 in Paris (2015) •
Goal: limitation of global temperature growth to 2 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial level. •
Formulation until 2020 of voluntary reduction goals by all countries. • Promise of assistance to
developing countries that are most prone to climate changes. • Lack of sanctions for not meeting the
goals.
COP21 in Paris (2015) • Goal: limitation of global temperature growth to 2 degrees Celsius above
the preindustrial level. • Formulation until 2020 of voluntary reduction goals by all countries. •
Promise of assistance to developing countries that are most prone to climate changes. • Lack of
sanctions for not meeting the goals.
U.S. Policy • Refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. • Request of binding schedules also for the
developing countries. • Pressure from American companies on the government. • Extremely slow
introduction of energyefficient technologies. • Protection of the American lifestyle.
U.S. – China Agreement • Bilateral agreement at the APEC summit in Beijing in November 2014.
• USA: 26-28% reduction in greenhouse gases emissions until 2025 in comparison with 2005. •
China: Commitment that clean energy sources will account for 20% of total energy production by
2030 (peak of emissions).
Alterglobalism • Complete rejection of globalization? • Some similarity to anarchism. • In reality,
anti-corporate or anti-capitalist movement, but characterized by insistent internationalism. •
Incoherent social-political movement protesting against the negative aspects of globalization
processes.
WTO Meeting in Seattle (1999) • Symbolic beginning of the alterglobalist movement. • Protest
against an unfair liberalization in trade. • Clash of interests of the demonstration participants: trade
unions from the developed countries and defenders of the interests of the developing countries.
World Economic Forum • Yearly meetings in Davos since 1971. • Participation of the presidents of
transnational corporations, politicians, scientists, journalists. • Overrepresentation of the developed
countries. • Symbol of globalization
World Economic Forum • Yearly meetings in Davos since 1971. • Participation of the presidents
of transnational corporations, politicians, scientists, journalists. • Overrepresentation of the
developed countries. • Symbol of globalization.
World Social Forum • Yearly meetings since 2001 of NGOs and social movements related to
alterglobalism. • Promotion of civil society. • Alternative for the World Economic Forum in Davos
Porto Alegre • Meeting place for the World Social Forum in 2001-2003, 2005 and 2012. • Center of
the Brazilian left wing, experiments with participatory budgeting
Tobin Tax • Concept of a low tax (about 1%) on currency transactions created in 1972 by James
Tobin. • Constraint to speculation on international currency market, stabilization of currency rates. •
Alterglobalists – proposal to use the income to liquidate social inequalities.
Branding Paradigm • 1980s: new idea that the successful corporations must primarily produce
brands, as opposed to products. • Establishment of emotional ties with the consumers through a
spiritual element. • Selling lifestyles, not products. • Cool hunters.
Decline of Public Institutions • 1980s: Entering of schools, museums and broadcasters in
partnerships with private corporations. • Campuses acting and looking like malls. • Academic
studies looking more and more like market research. • Promotion of consumerism.
Problems of Developed Economies • De-industralization and de-development. • Concentration of
wealth in the hands of the financial sector. • Too big to fail policy leading to underestimation of risk.
• McJob – a throwaway job in service sector with a legal minimum wage.
Indignants Movement • Demonstrations started in Spain in May 2011. • Protests organized mostly
by young people against unfair anti-crisis policy, income inequalities, unemployment and budget
cuts. • Criticism of massive bank bailouts at the cost of taxpayers.
Criticism of Alterglobalism • Noble, but utopian goals. • Unconstructive movement, lack of clear
alternatives for globalization processes. • A movement created in the developed countries, lack of
support in the developing countries.
Conclusions • Increasing income gap in the developed economies. • Paradoxical suppression of free
market by capitalism. • Alterglobalism as an incoherent movement. • Lack of clear ideas how to
achieve the social justice
Regionalization • Process of regional integration in chosen fields of cooperation in a given
geographical space. • Based on common values, history, economic interests, culture.
Stages of Economic Regionalization • Preferential trading area. • Free trade area. • Customs union.
• Common market. • Economic union. • Economic and monetary union. • Complete economic
integration.
Preferential Trading Area (PTA) • Mutual reduction, but not abolition of tariffs. • Usually the first
step towards creating a free trade area. • Examples: Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, Latin American
Integration Association.
Free Trade Area (FTA) • Elimination of tariffs, import quotas, and preferences on all or most
goods and services. • Independent customs policies towards non-member states. • Examples: AFTA,
NAFTA, CEFTA, Mercosur, TPP, Greater Arab Free Trade Area, South Asian Free Trade
Agreement.
Lisbon Treaty (2007/2009) • Watered down version of the European Constitution. • Abolition of
the three pillars, introduction of legal personality of the EU. • Double majority voting system in the
Council of the EU depending on the number of states (55%, at least 15 countries) and their
population (65%). • Establishment of the posts of President of the European Council and High
Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
EU and Globalization • EU as a model for other regionalization initiatives? • Prospects for creating
FTA’s with the USA, Japan, India and China. • EU’s promotion of the Paris Treaty – new Kyoto
Protocol. • Protection of the rights of consumers.
EU’s Weaknesses • Internal frictions, primacy of national interests. • Lack of a coherent foreign
policy. • Slow decision making process. • Excessive bureaucracy? • Cultural, linguistic diversity? •
Financial and migration crises.
Creation of ASEAN • Concerns about Indonesia’s hegemony and spread of communism. • 1967:
Establishment of the ASEAN by Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore. •
Emphasis on mutual respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.
ASEAN’s Regional Initiatives • Successful initiator of wider regional integration platforms. • 1994:
ASEAN Regional Forum. • 1997: ASEAN+3. • 2005: East Asia Summit.
Constraints on Integration in Asia • History problems. • Concerns about the PRC’s domination. •
Policy of the USA. • Problems of North Korea and Taiwan. • Differences in the level of economic
development. • Differences in political regimes.
NAFTA • North American Free Trade Agreement between USA, Canada and Mexico, which
entered into force in 1994. • 480 mln people. • Gradual elimination of tariffs, non-tariff trade
barriers. • Protection of intellectual property rights.
Conclusions • Regionalization as an introduction to globalization or a process contradictory to
globalization? • EU as an ongoing experiment on an unprecedented scale. • Numerous animosities as
an obstacle on the way towards integration in East Asia. • Continental and supracontinental
integration platforms in Americas.
Mercosur • Southern Common Market – Mercado Comun del Sur – established in 1991 by the
Treaty of Asunción. • Full members: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay. • Aimed at creation of
common market. • Plans of FTA with the EU.
Organization of American States • Created in 1948, almost all American countries as members. •
Loose forum for cooperation in the spheres of economy, culture, security policy. • Domination of
the United States. • Failed attempt at creating Free Trade Area of the Americas.
African Union • Created in 2002 as a successor of the Organization of African Unity. • Membership
by all African countries except for Morocco. • Promotion of peace and stability as well as
integration in the spheres of economy, society, democracy and human rights.
BRIC(S) • Acronym used since 2001. • Brazil, Russia, India, China – four largest developing
countries – together with Republic of South Africa since 2010. • Very loose form of cooperation. •
2009: First summit in Yekaterinburg. • Plans of creating a new global financial institution –
alternative for the IMF.
Major Powers towards Globalization • USA: Superpower which imposes global standards. • PRC:
Rising superpower which camouflages its real intentions. • Japan: Sectoral economic power without
a clear vision of its place in the world. Stance of the USA • Promotion of national interests through
universal values. • Containment of regional initiatives without U.S. participation. • Usage of position
of superpower to exert pressure on enemies and allies.
Global Network of US Alliances • NATO, ANZUS, alliances with Japan and South Korea. • Dense
network of military bases abroad – Germany, Japan, South Korea. • Global intervention capabilities.
• Division of the whole world into regional commands. • Controversies related to US military bases.
Containment of China • Pivot to Asia: return of the USA to AsiaPacific region. • Sino-Japanese
dispute over the delimitation of the East China Sea and sovereignty over the Senkaku/Diaoyutai
Islands. • Establishment of military bases in Australia.
Stance of China • Enormous domestic market. • Gradual opening up of the market to foreign
influences. • Attempt at rebuilding Sinosphere in East Asia? Opening of China • 1978: Beginning of
four modernizations policy. • 2001: Accession to the WTO. • Reluctance to liberalize the services
sectors. • 2010: FTA between China and ASEAN. Peaceful Rising • Concept created in 2003. •
Primacy of domestic problems, economic growth and welfare state policy. • Lack of hegemonic
aspirations. • Promotion of multipolar world. • Emphasis on soft power. • “Peaceful development”
since 2004.
Chinese Dream • Slogan of Xi Jinping. • Very vague term. • Renewal of the Chinese nation. •
Opportunity to raise living standard of every Chinese. • Continuation of economic reforms. •
Rebuilding of international position.
G-2 – Group of Two • Special relations between the PRC and the USA. • Concept created in 2005,
supported by Zbigniew Brzezi ński. • Possibility of negotiations on the problems of North Korea and
Iran, financial crises, protection of natural environment. • Treated with suspicion by China.
Pax Sinica? • 2014: Promotion of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) within the
framework of APEC. • 2015/2016: Creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank –
alternative to the IMF and Asian Development Bank, 57 member states.
Stance of Japan • Export-oriented economy, dependent on world demand. • Dependence on import
of energy resources. • Unwillingness to stay behind in regionalization trends in East Asia.
Asia’s Democratic Security Diamond • 2012: Abe’s return to power in Japan. • New concept of
security policy in the Western Pacific. • Diamond shaped by Japan, Hawaii, Australia and India. •
2015: Reinterpretation of Japanese Constitution to allow collective self-defence. • Opposition to
Chinese maritime expansion.
Liberalization of Trade • 2002: FTA with Singapore. • 2008: Economic partnership agreement
with ASEAN gradual creation of the FTA. • FTAs e.g. with India, Mexico, Chile, Switzerland. •
2016: Signature of Trans-Pacific Partnership, Donald Trump’s refusal to ratify the TPP.
Constraints on Foreign Policy in Japan • Protectionism of domestic market. • Domination of the
bureaucrats in decision making process. • Subordination to the USA. • Anti-Japanese feelings in
East Asia related to Japanese expansionism during the Second World War.
Conclusions • Main economic powers as catalysts of regionalization? • Gradual passage of initiative
from the USA to the PRC. • Japan’s ambiguous position – economic power limited by domestic
interest groups.
Francis Fukuyama • Author of The End of History and the Last Man (1992). The End of History?
• Optimistic hyperglobalism. • Western liberal democracy as an endpoint of humanity’s
sociocultural evolution. • Americanization as an expansion of democracy and free markets. •
Hegelian interpretation of history.
Samuel Huntington • 1927-2008. • American political scientist. • Author of The Clash of
Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996). Clash of Civilizations? • Cultural divisions
as the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War period. • Primacy of civilizations over nation
states. • Major civilizations: Western, Latin American, Orthodox, Sinic, Japanese, Buddhist, Hindu,
Muslim, African.