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The State and Globalisation
- Module
- Comparative Politics
- Institution
- PEARSON (PEARSON)
Detailed, thorough notes on The State and Globalisation based on the suggested Edexcel A-Level textbook
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The State and GlobalisationDefinitions:
Globalisation: emergence of a complex web of interconnectedness in many forms
Sovereignty: absolute and unlimited power and authority
Nation state: autonomous political community held together by citizenship and nationality
Political globalisation: the growing importance of international organisations
Economic globalisation: the increasing integration of national economies to create a single global
economy of cross-bored movement and trade in goods, services, capital and technology
Cultural globalisation: the increasing transmission of ideas, meaning and values around the world
Non-state actors: participants in international relations with significant power and influence that are
not states
Homogenisation (monoculture): the coming together of global cultures and development of a
single, homogeneous culture without diversity and dissension
Interconnectedness: mutual reliance of two or more groups
Global governance: a broad and complex process of decision-making at a global level
Soft power: the ability to attract and co=opt and to shape the preferences of others through appeal
and attraction
Humanitarian intervention: military intervention carried out in pursuit of humanitarian rather than
other objectives
States and state sovereignty are hugely affected by globalisation; globalisation can make states seem
redundant as they will have less control. The more the world becomes globalised, and the more a state is
affected by actions in another part of the world, the less sovereignty a state can have and the less significant
states are.
The state: nation states and national sovereignty
Nation State
self-identifying community that does not political entity with sovereignty
necessarily have sovereignty recognised by the international community
not necessarily recognised by the international could contain more than one nation or
community community (e.g. the UK)
not necessarily possessing a state (e.g. the Kurds) defined territory needed
defined territory not needed states cannot cross the boundaries into other
nations can live in more than one state states
A nation is a group of people who self-identify as belonging to the same group or community, with a strong
sense of unity; the individual can share territory, political ideas, customs, ethnicity, language, religion and
culture (none is absolutely essential except attachment to a territory). Nationalism has been the force
behind some of the greatest changes and conflicts; it can unite people and lead them to freedom, or lead
countries and people to war and conflict.
, A state is a specific from of political entity that must meet four criteria:
A defined territory: A state can only have sovereignty or absolute and unlimited power over
somewhere. There is much political conflict between states as to who owns which territory (e.g. the
Falkland Islands, Kashmir).
A permanent population: If there are no people, there is not state (e.g. Antarctica).
A functioning and effective government: Some territories that meet the other criteria for a state are
not in a position to enforce the law, or exercise their sovereignty over the territory and its
population. (Syria is an example of a failed state.)
Recognition by other nation states: This is perhaps the most significant as without it the state cannot
effectively enter into relations with other states or exercise its sovereignty in the international
system (e.g. Kosovo or Palestine).
The nation state is the prime political entity of the modern era and in the Westphalian* 1 system; it is a self
governing state that represents the political wishes of a nation (thus gaining authority and legitimacy) and is
based on the principle of self-determination.
There are ongoing claims for nations that do not have states, for example, Scotland or the Basque people
and the Catalonians of Spain. However, unlike the UK government that had given its blessing to a Scottish
independence referendum, the Spanish government have not recognised the right of the Basque or
Catalonian people to determine their own future outside Spain. The secessionist movements of these parts
of Spain play on the nationalist sentiment of their people; however, these movements have at times turned
to violence.
A further difficulty is that the territorial claims of a nation do not always coincide with the borders of states;
many states are in dispute with their neighbours over the sovereignty or ownership of territory. Examples
include Nationalists and Unionists over Northern Ireland, Israelis and Palestinian, and ethnic Russians and
Ukrainians over east Ukraine.
There are several examples of state-like entities that are not recognised by other states, so find it difficult to
operate in the international system. Micro-nations are tiny parcels of land that claim are independent and
sovereign states, but are not recognised as such (e.g. Sealand, off the coast of Essex in England). Other
examples of states not recognised by other states are Kosovo, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Within a state, the state has absolute power (sovereignty) over its citizens and everyone who resides within
its jurisdiction; the law applies to everyone. Max Weber defined the state as having a monopoly on the
legitimate use of force within a given territory.
Sovereignty is the absolute and ultimate authority, however it has become a widely debated concept. As
each states are affected by other states and events in the world, it is argued that states lose the capacity to
control events in their own country.
*1 The Peace of Westphalia defined the theory of the soverign equality of states as follows: no state has the
legal right to intervene in the soverign affairs of another and all states possess the same legal right to
independence.
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