Spring 2012
Dr Daniel Pierre-Antoine

Today
• Introduction to politics & globalization
• Course organization & requirements

Who/what is “global politics” about?
• A complex world
• Many actors & issues
• Conflict & cooperation
• The need to define politics…
Actors
• Corporations
• Indigenous peoples
• Intergovernmenta l organizations
• Individuals
• Nations
• Nongovernmental organizations*
• Organized crime syndicates
• States
• Workers
• Tourists
Issues
• Arms & arms control
• Cooperation
• Culture
• Democracy
• Diplomacy
• Environment
• Finance
• Human rights
• International law
• Migration
• Terrorism
• Trade
• War

Defining politics
• Life in a polis, hence politics
• “Who gets what, when, and how” (H.
Lasswell)
• Any discussion about the “good life”
• Conflicts of worldview, values & interests
• Power relations

State-centrism: A bad habit
• Treating the state as the main actor
• Looking at the state
– its government
– what it says
– what it does
• Assuming that the state is the only voice in international affairs
• Focusing on “high politics” (diplomacy & defence) & downplaying the rest

Characteristics of the state
• An idealized view
1. Government
2. Defined territory
3. Permanent population
4. Monopoly of legitimate use of force internally & externally
5. Recognition by other states
• A gross oversimplification

The need to clarify some oftenmisused terms
• Country, state, nation-state: moral persons (as opposed to natural persons) ex.: Burkina Faso, Canada, China, Tuvalu
• Nation, people: population that inhabits a country/state/nation-state ex.: the Burkinabè, Canadians, the Chinese, Tuvaluans
• Government: group of people & institutions that rule a country/state/nation-state* and its population

Explaining the obsession with the state

The Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648
• Result of the Protestant
Reformation
• A 3-way conflict
Protestant states
War War
Catholics states
Dispute
Holy See
(Vatican)
• Most European states involved

The Peace of Westphalia (1648) & sovereignty
( document , text , signing ceremony)
• Holy See & Catholic states recognize Protestant states
• Catholic states recognize Holy
See’s spiritual power…
• But get political independence
• The obvious result:
– governments get choose the official religion
– and make other decisions independently of the Holy See

State sovereignty
& the international system
• Ideal conditions
– ability to manage its internal affairs
– ability to represent itself independently externally
– a principle of non-interference by other states
• States are basic political & legal units of the system
– Hence the expressions “international system”, “interstate system”, “Westphalian system”

• Often used, seldom defined
• Invoked as a
–
– source of peace, wealth, freedom, democracy
& apple pie cause of social, economic, environmental problems & bad-hair days
• In reality
– not necessarily good or bad
– multidimensional

Defining globalization
• Steger’s definition:
“The term globalization applies to a set of social
processes that appear to transform our present social condition of weakening nationality into one of globality. At its core, then, globalization is about shifting forms of human contact.” Manfred
Steger, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction, p.
9

Defining globalization
David Held and Anthony McGrew’s definition:
“…the term globalization captures elements of a widespread perception that there is a broadening, deepening and speeding up of world-wide interconnectedness in all aspects of life, from the cultural to the criminal, the financial to the environmental. At issue appears to be 'a global shift'; that is, a world being moulded by economic and technological forces into a shared economic and political arena”, David Held and Anthony
McGrew, “What is Globalization” http://www.polity.co.uk/global/whatisglobalization.
asp

Multiple dimensions of globalization
Security
War, civil war, arms races/arms control, terrorism, organized crime
Politics, ideology, culture
International law and organizations, democratization, human rights, religion, migration
• Countless actors involved
• Opportunities for conflict & fragmentation
• Opportunities for cooperation
Environment
Pollution, global warming, ozone depletion, deforestation, water scarcity, farmland scarcity
Economy
Trade, finance, development, employment

• Relations across the world are not new
• But growing consciousness of them
–
– invention of the word “globalization” (c. 1989) frequency of use of the word “globalization”
• Globalization affects…
–
– people’s thinking people’s actions

Muslim commercial routes, c. 800-1200

Major European trade routes, 1400-1800

European empires, 1850-1914

In sum…
• A very complex world
• Many issues
• Many different actors
• Many different problems

• Last name: Pierre-Antoine
• First name: Daniel
• Availability: Tuesday 12:30-13:30,
DMS 9113
• Web: Virtual Campus

• Material
– “political” * issues, lectures 2-6
– “economic” * issues, lectures 7-12
• Lectures
– 2 related topics (usually)
– break
– discussion
* These are artificial differences

• Compulsory & equally important
• Complement the lectures
• One textbook bundle at The Agora bookstore
(145 Besserer St.)
– Steven Spiegel et al., World Politics in a New Era 5 th Ed.
(Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009)
– Manfred Steger, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction
2 nd Ed. (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press,
2009)
• Other readings
– Online: as indicated on the syllabus

• 8 discussion groups (15%)
• starting 8 May
• attendance is compulsory
• days without discussion are indicated on the syllabus
• Midterm exam (35%)
• 22 May, usual room, usual time
• covers material from lectures 1-5
• duration: 2 hours
• Final exam (50%)
• 12 June, 9:00-12:00, ART 026
• cumulative
• duration: 3 hours

T
• Grades & scholarships
• Email & office consultations etiquette
• University lectures can’t compete with entertainment & leisure

• For info, always check
– the syllabus
– the website
– 95% of answers are there
• Do the readings regularly
• Attend classes

Questions?
Next class: War & security