Chapter 10

Globalizing Issues

Globalizing Issues

• New concerns at international level• Involves multiple actors -- states, IGOs, NGOs, MNCs,

transnational movements, individuals, etc.• Issues interlinked across local, state, and international

levels• Accelerated by changes in communications and

technology• Health, environment, human rights

Health and Disease

• Ancient international problem: bubonic plague, smallpox, measles, malaria, etc.

• Economic and social globalization has increased vulnerability of individuals and communities to disease through migration, refugees, transport, trade, etc., resulting in spread of AIDS, dengue fever, SARS, Avian flu, etc.

• HIV/AIDS– Multidimensional problem: health/humanitarian;

economic; social; political; security– Response by states, IGOs, NGOs, MNCs, private

foundations, individuals, epistemic communities of experts

Health and Theory

• One of the first areas of international cooperation• Functionalist issue: high levels of agreement on need

to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and to rely on technical experts

• Differences emerge over how best to address issue– Liberals: international responsibility, cooperation

among actors at all levels– Realists: state responsibility, especially significant

when it impacts state security– Radicals: health problems illustrate inequities,

economic differences between rich and poor individuals and states

Environment: Global Commons• Interconnectedness of population, natural resources, energy,

pollution• Collective goods = public goods available to all regardless of

individual contribution (e.g., air, oceans, etc.) but that no one owns or is individually responsible for

– Political challenge: achieving shared benefits by overcoming conflicting interests (Hardin’s tragedy of the commons)

– Collective goods theory explains why there are environmental problems and how to address them

• Sustainability = economic development that reconciles current economic growth and environmental protection with needs of future generations

• Emerging international law/principles/norms: no-significant harm, good-neighbor principle; (soft law) polluter-pays, precautionary principle, preventive-action; (principles) sustainable development, intergenerational equity

Politics of Population• Historic fear of Malthusian dilemma (population increase

outstrips food supply); mitigated by:– Technological changes have led to higher rates of food production– Demographic transition = increasing levels of economic

development lead to falling death rates, followed by falling birth rates

• Nevertheless, population growth rates have increased dramatically (see Figure 10.1, 297), but:

– Population increase not uniformly distributed (developing world higher rates than developed; demographic divide between North and South)

– Greater demand for scarce natural resources– Ethical dilemmas

• What can/should be done? Regulations, coercive measures?

Natural Resources/Pollution• Natural resources

– Increasing demand and declining resources• Oil demand increasing and made more volatile by political

conditions• Water fights for human use and agriculture

• Pollution– Externalities: costly unintended consequences – Can be managed through international cooperation– Example: ozone depletion due to use of CFCs

• Montreal Protocol (1987) and London Agreement (1990); states agree to phase out use of chemicals; developed states agree to pay costs of compliance

– Global climate change• Kyoto Protocol (1997): aimed at reducing greenhouse gas

emissions

Environment and Theory• Realists

– Traditional emphasis on state security; requires strong population, self-sufficient food supply, dependable supply of energy, sovereignty

– Making cost of natural resources or pollution abatement too high diminishes independence; environmental issues understood in light of state, power, sovereignty, balance of power

• Liberals– Broadened view of security and of an interdependent system; many

actors at all levels need to address challenges• Radicals

– Concerned with economic costs of environmental problem; widens gap between rich and poor; costs borne disproportionately by South and poor in North

• Constructivists– Emphasis on how elites define problem and how ideas change over

time

Human Rights• First-generation rights:

– political/civil rights; rights that states cannot take away (free speech, assembly)

• Second-generation rights– economic/social rights; rights that states should provide (health

care, jobs)• Third-generation rights

– rights for specific groups, minorities, women, children (environment, peace, human security, democracy)

• International human rights regime– Regime = agreed-upon rules, norms, procedures that emerge from high

levels of cooperation; states develop principles and procedures as to how certain problems should be addressed; principles become rules (explicit in law; implicit in practices, expectations)

– Web of IGOs and NGOs involved in setting human rights standards (UN), monitoring standards (UN, NGOs), promoting education about human rights, enforcing standards (States, UN through embargos, sanctions, armed force)

Globalizing Issues: Effects, Theory• Bargaining more complex, more policy trade-offs• Conflict may increase• Traditional notion of state sovereignty challenged• Study of IR: core theoretical assumptions questioned; theories

need modification – Realists: more nuanced; state security still key in globalization– Liberals: globalizing issues compatible with liberal views of human

security, multiple actors– Radicals: globalizing issues confirm primacy of economic issues and

international stratification– Constructivists: changing discourse; material factors and ideas

shape debate• Global Governance = in absence of unifying political authority, various

structures and processes through which actors coordinate interests and needs; for Liberals, globalization pushes global civil society toward global governance; for Realists, global governance impossible; for Radicals, not desirable because of hegemonic domination (radical)