Dr. Tabakian’s Political Science 7 Modern World Governments – Spring 2013

Supplemental Power Point Material #9

LECTURE HIGHLIGHTS • Globalization • Withering Away Of The State: Yes Or No? • Technology Allowing Globalization • Technology Benefits America • Internet Versus The State • Liberalism As Primary Motivator • Transition • Stability & Instability

WITHERING AWAY OF THE STATE? (1) NO HIGHER AUTHORITY : There is no higher authority than the nation-state. They cannot willingly cede either in part or in full their authority to international riles and agreements. Every state retains the right to withdraw from any agreement regardless of any consequence. This results in an international system consisting of both law and power politics that continuously mix. Economic activity has extended from within national territories to the global and transnational economic system. National governments are becoming “glorified local territories” whose task if to provide those public services that businesses desire.

WITHERING AWAY OF THE STATE? (2) The agenda is twofold for national governments seek to promote the competitiveness of local firms while at the same time attract foreign investment. One way governments achieve this is through infrastructure investments in those areas that support business, including transportation, communication, etc. Globalization has so far only encompassed western countries, Israel and certain Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and China. Most of the world has been left out, including Africa, Latin America, Russia, Middle East and swaths of Asia. Globalization benefits “northern latitude” countries most.

WITHERING AWAY OF THE STATE? (3) Money markets may be the only truly global sector that touches most countries, with finance capital allowed to move freely between OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries and most other countries. Modern capitalism’s development and survival in advanced countries was advanced solely because it catered to its middle class by maintaining its voracity of consumption. This required ever-expanding levels of output to maintain increased access to goods and services.

WITHERING AWAY OF THE STATE? (4) Globalization in the sense that increased competition has required increased efficiency has forced countries to reduce or in some cases severely curtail its social welfare programs and even encourage the reduction of wages, all in the effort for its labor markets to remain competitive in the face of foreign competition. This in turn presents prosperous countries with the danger of damaging the prosperity of its middle class if it continues to undermine needed social foundations.

GLOBALIZATION REMAINS CONSTANT Globalization will remain constant for two reasons: 1. First, there is no other alternative to

globalization for it has shown to be the best model even when confronted with its primary competitor, the “Asian development model”.

2. Technology has allowed communication to spread across the entire globe, which empower individuals to function more independent of government controls over communication.

TECHNOLOGY & GLOBALIZATION (1) Science is on the cusp of new technological innovations in the life sciences and biotechnology. Technology has allowed mankind to realize globalization. Liberalism and its market-based order continue to be the primary motivator for technological innovation that in turn has rendered previous norms obsolete. One can argue that this constant drive may in time render international strife, conflict and other assorted calamities obsolete.

TECHNOLOGY & GLOBALIZATION (2) Within a few generations, advancements in biotechnology will succeed in abolishing human limitations, thus accomplishing what social engineers have so far failed to do. Life expectancy and issues pertaining to quality of life will have been solved, thus ushering a new post-human history. Interdependence is not a new development. What are new are the ever decreasing costs associated with communicating over long distances.

TECHNOLOGY & GLOBALIZATION (3) The highest data transmission rate possible in 1980 was one page of information sent over copper wire. In 2004, it was possible to transmit over 90,000 volumes per second over a single thin strand of optical fiber. It takes time for societies to become accustomed to technological innovations as they adapt to new ways of becoming ever more productive. When the cost for transnational flows of information including funds was expensive and tedious, only large bureaucracies like multinational corporations could participate.

TECHNOLOGY & GLOBALIZATION (4) As data transmission costs decreased, allowing individuals to participate, it has brought about the advancement of Non Governmental Institutions (NGOs) and loose networks of domestic constituents to direct the agendas of political leaders in most countries. The information revolution has not dramatically weakened military force and security, the two other conditions of complex interdependence. Military relations outflank most other issues that states face, while security remains the fundamental concern in comparison to other foreign policy issues.

TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS AMERICA (1) There are several reasons why the information revolution helps not only small actors, but also those that already command power. First, information aspects of power retain barriers for its creation. There may be significant economic costs as well as legitimacy issues pertaining to information-related aspects of power like those produced by American entertainment industries.

TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS AMERICA (2) Second, it may be cheap to broadcast information, but there may be costs associated with its collection and production. Intelligence information is a good example, as is commercial information that may pertain to new technologies or production techniques.

TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS AMERICA (3) Third, norms are likely to be established by those who are the first to create information, thereby becoming the standard bearers. Two good examples is the use of the English language and how top-level domains on the Internet have been accorded to pioneering actors. Fourth, military power remains prevalent, as does the information available to states as some military analysts have referred to as the “revolution in military affairs”.

TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS AMERICA (4) In terms of access to intelligence that nation-states like the United States has readily available through space based sensors, direct broadcasting, high-speed computers, etc., allows it to process hordes of information so rapidly that it can dominate cyberspace so it can easily dominate battlespace. It allows the US to have access to information that no other potential enemy would be privy to.

INTERNET VERSUS THE STATE Will the Internet overcome state power? Even if a billion people have access to the Internet, a majority of the world’s people will not. Three-quarters of the world’s population does not even own a telephone. Most of the world’s population does not have access to computers, let alone the means of accessing the data network.

LIBERALISM TRIUMPHS ALL Liberal democracy is preferred for its competition represented worse alternatives. This also led to the acceptance of liberalism as the best choice available at the time, thus delaying a needed debate regarding whether a better regime is possible. Postmodernist assumptions about the legitimacy of liberal democracy are pessimistic. Postmodernists would not be able to bring forth any adequate arguments regarding better alternatives to liberal democracy, as they are unwilling to acknowledge its overall success. To validate the future success of liberal democracy does require a debate about potential successors.

GLOBALIZATION (1)

Globalization is a process that seems to create a more unified world united in a single economic system. Globalization continues to be cited as a cause for the withering away of the state. Technology has allowed mankind to realize globalization. Liberalism and its market-based order continue to be the primary motivator for technological innovation that in turn has rendered previous norms obsolete. One can argue that this constant drive may in time render international strife, conflict and other assorted calamities obsolete. Liberals would argue that globalization is a trend toward the transformation of world politics with states no longer remaining sealed units.

GLOBALIZATION (2) Globalization may be seen as a homogenization process that equalizes prices, products, wages, wealth, rates of interest and profit margins. It is a movement that can spark resistance both within the United States as well as around the world. This can come from religious fundamentalists, labor unions and other types of special interest groups. Globalization has so far only encompassed western countries, Israel and certain Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and China. Most of the world has been left out, including Africa, Latin America, Russia, Middle East and swaths of Asia.

This political piece explores the effects of globalization. One can argue that globalization has extended people’s buying power. Dollars can be stretched must further thanks to lower labor costs found in distant lands. “Big Box-Mart” argues that cheap goods does present a serious side effect. Does the message relate to your personal belief about our present global economy?

GLOBALIZATION (3)

WORLD ECONOMIC SYSTEM (1) Capitalism is a dynamic system containing entrepreneurial classes that pursue their own interests with such vigor that a crises of overproduction occurs, thus causing downturns in the world economy. The system is contradictory on many fronts: •It requires constant expansion – but this has reached its limits. •Its dynamic nature requires outsourcing of costs – but this too is reaching its limits. •Further slow proletarianization of the working poor. Capitalists are against this for it increases labor costs as well as political risks.

WORLD ECONOMIC SYSTEM (2) Liberalism has therefore accrued so much debt on states in order to maintain loyalty to the system that the money owing public may overturn the entire system. This disintegration of sovereignty has siphoned state power as they are facing increased difficulty in performing traditional functions. Global factors are increasingly impinging on all state made decisions.

TRIAD STATES MOST POWERFUL (1) States remain a powerful player in contrast to those who argue that the global economy is void of order or influence by nation-states. The global economy is not one that is ungovernable or controlled solely by “footloose transnational companies”. Few companies are transnational for nearly all companies maintain home roots in at least one country. Most of these corporations are actually multinational that operate from a base of operations that is located in one of the three blocs of the Triad.

TRIAD STATES MOST POWERFUL (2) Multinational corporations benefit from having their home base in a major industrialized country of the Triad. These companies are provided a wide barrage of public assistance that include research and development assistance, standards set by public agencies, protections from commercial law that include patents and trademarks, and being located in key districts related to their business.

TRIAD STATES MOST POWERFUL (3) Multinational corporations benefit from being located in a major industrialized country, while benefiting from trade and producing products and/or services through subsidiaries and affiliates located outside their base of operation. Multinational corporations produced an average of 40% of world output in 1990, but the share of their respective subsidiaries and affiliates averaged around 7%.

TRIAD STATES MOST POWERFUL (4)

It is highly unlikely that economic globalization would result in the formation of one large state. The problem with this is that economic markets and interests cannot perform those functions of government that are depended upon. Interdependent economies are a better description of today’s international political economy.

TRIAD STATES MOST POWERFUL (5) Three major blocs of wealth and power dominate the world economy: the Triad of Europe, Japan and North America. The concentration of world capital remains concentrated in the three main blocs. Two of these three blocs are centered on nation-states, Japan and the United States, while the third is the European Union, an association of wealthy nation-states pooling their sovereignty in common economic institutions. There is a misconception that capital from the Triad is fleeing into Third World investments.

TRANSITIONAL EFFECTS (1) Competition among spheres of interest produces great returns for humanity. The constant strive for marketplace acceptance has resulted in America progressing from a predominantly agricultural society to an industrial, nuclear, and information based society. The United States is unique in that it excels in more than one particular capitalist endeavor. Innovation has led to advancements that have greatly influenced every aspect of society.

TRANSITIONAL EFFECTS (2)

Society has benefited from advancements in:

•Energy harvesting

•Computers

•Communication

•Water purification

• Medicine

• And all other areas not listed for the list would be enormous.

TRANSITIONAL EFFECTS (3) Every significant discovery has in turn greatly influenced societal norms of behavior. Masses today view internet communications as a vital necessity. It is nearly impossible to operate in a complex society without easy access to the web. The majority of masses did not have this belief fifteen years ago. Only society determining that the internet allowed for greater efficiency was it adopted as a societal norm. Those not willing to adapt became obsolete.

STABILIZATION Sudden instability is the greatest threat to humanity for it threatens to cause irreparable harm to the individual. One may never consider harming another person in a state of nature. Elimination of one’s sustenance throws the individual into a state of war, because their survival is now threatened. Nation-states consist of multiple spheres of interest in turn consisting of individual units consisting of people. As survival is the primary goal of man, so it is the ultimate pursuit of nation-states. The primary concern is that of stability. This philosophy has prevented a major war from taking place over the last sixty years. Instability is the primary cause of all conflict both within and between nation-states.

STATE INTERDEPENDENCY (1) Societal interdependence addresses situations in which events within one society affect events in another. Government involvement in instigating these events does not have to take place for this to occur. Transnational relations helped to encourage interdependency between states. States interdependent on one another presented each with economic and political trade-offs whereas gains in one may lead to the weakening of another existing in the political sciences.

STATE INTERDEPENDENCY (2) Economic gains that may be derived from external sources that are able to produce them more efficiently while only retaining those industries that are efficient may allow a state to achieve higher overall productivity. This comes at a price when a state becomes so dependent on foreign sources of goods that it affects how its foreign policy. As a state becomes increasingly interdependent, it also serves to prevent it from acting overly aggressive against those states that it has become dependent.