The Contemporary World

Unit 2 : The
Structures of
Globalization
Unit 2 : The Structures of
Globalization
According to WHO globalization can be defined as
” the increased interconnectedness and
interdependence of peoples and countries. It is
generally understood to include two inter-related
elements: the opening of international borders to
increasingly fast flows of goods, services, finance,
people and ideas; and the changes in institutions
and policies at national and international levels
that facilitate or promote such flows.”
Economic Political
Structure Structure
According to the Committee for Development Policy (a
subsidiary body of the United Nations), from an economic
point of view, globalization can be defined as:
“(…) the increasing interdependence of world economies
as a result of the growing scale of cross-border trade of
commodities and services, the flow of international capital
and the wide and rapid spread of technologies. It reflects
the continuing expansion and mutual integration of
market frontiers (…) and the rapid growing significance of
information in all types of productive activities and
marketization are the two major driving forces for
economic globalization.”
 Economic globalization, broadly
understood, is the growing global
integration not only of markets but also of
systems of finance, commerce,
communication, technology, and law that
bypass traditional national, cultural, ethnic,
and social boundaries.
https://www.uua.org/action/statements/economic-globalization
[e]conomic globalization is a historical process, the
result of human innovation and technological
progress. It refers to the increasing integration of
economies around the world, particularly through
the movement of goods, services, and capital
across borders. The term sometimes also refers to
the movement of people (labor) and knowledge
(technology) across international borders. (IMF,
2008)
Several interconnected dimensions

a. Globalization of trade of goods and services

b. Globalization of financial and capital markets
c. Globalization of technology and
communication
d. Globalization of production
‘In economic terms globalisation is nothing but a
process making the world economy an “organic
system” by extending transnational economic
processes and economic relations to more and
more countries and by deepening the economic
interdependencies among them.’ (Szentes, 2003)
Proponents:
Efficient division of labor
Greater division of labor
Increased productivity
Higher standards of
living and wealth
End of poverty
Opponents:
Detaches markets from
essential regulations
meant to protect national
sovereignty, democratic
process, human rights,
labor rights and the
environment.
• G20 – represents “political
backbone of the global
financial architecture that
secures open markets, orderly
capital flows, and a safety net
for countries in difficulty”,
 • International
trading system
FACTORS THAT GAVE • Global
RISE TO THE corporations
CONTEMPORARY
ECONOMIC • Multilateral
GLOBALIZATION financial
institutions

• Neoliberalism
Global Corporations

 International companies are importers and exporters, typically without investment

outside of their home country;
 Multinational companies have investment in other countries, but do not have
coordinated product offerings in each country. They are more focused on
adapting their products and services to each individual local market.
 Global companies have invested in and are present in many countries. They
typically market their products and services to each individual local market.
 Transnational companies are more complex organizations which have invested in
foreign operations, have a central corporate facility but give decision-making,
research and develop (R&D) and marketing powers to each individual foreign
market.
• ideology and policy model that emphasizes the value of free market competition.
• often characterized in terms of its belief in sustained economic growth as the
means to achieve human progress, its confidence in free markets as the most-
efficient allocation of resources, its emphasis on minimal state intervention in
economic and social affairs, and its commitment to the freedom of trade and
capital.
• By the 1970s, however, economic stagnation and increasing public
debt prompted some economists to advocate a return to classical liberalism,
which in its revived form came to be known as neoliberalism.
• The intellectual foundations of that revival were
primarily the work of the Austrian-born British
economist Friedrich von Hayek, who argued that
interventionist measures aimed at the redistribution
of wealth lead inevitably to totalitarianism, and of
the American economist Milton Friedman, who
rejected government fiscal policy as a means of
influencing the business cycle.

• As national economies became more

interdependent in the new era of
economic globalization, neoliberals also
promoted free-trade policies and the free movement
of international capital.
Political Structure
• Global Interstate System
• Internationalism
• International Organizations
The Attributes of Today’s Global System

1. Countries and states are independent and govern themselves;

2. These countries interact with each other through diplomacy;
3. International organizations facilitates these interactions; and
4. International organizations also take lives on their own.
What is a state?
• The state is a form of human
association distinguished from
other social groups by its purpose,
the establishment of order and
security; its methods, the laws and
their enforcement; its territory,
the area of jurisdiction or
geographic boundaries; and finally
by its sovereignty.
Interstate
This is a system of recognizing the
interdependence and sovereignty
of countries
The idea of a ‘system’ requires the
existence of units, among which
interactions take place. In the
interstate system, the units are the
states, and the interactions include
war, diplomacy and cooperation
 Results:
It ended the 30 Years War (1618-1648) in
the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty
Years’ War (1568 – 1648) between Spain
and the Dutch Republic, with the Spain
formally recognizing the independence of
the Dutch Republic.
Under the terms of peace settlement, a
number of countries received territories or
were confirmed in their sovereignty over
Treaty of Westphalia territories
Results: Five Principle in Politics

1. The principle of state sovereignty

2. The principle of legal (equality) of states
3. The principle of non-intervention of one
states in international affairs of another
4. International law and diplomacy
5. Reason of state replaced religion
Concert of Europe: Also known as the Congress System or the Vienna System after the Congress of
Vienna, a system of dispute resolution adopted by the major conservative powers of Europe to
maintain their power, oppose revolutionary movements, weaken the forces of nationalism, and uphold
the balance of power. • As the four major European powers (Britain,
Prussia, Russia, and Austria) opposing the French
Empire in the Napoleonic Wars saw Napoleon’s
power collapsing in 1814, they started planning for
the postwar world.
• The Congress of Vienna was the first of a
series of international meetings that came to
be known as the Concert of Europe, an
attempt to forge a peaceful balance of
power in Europe.
• It served as a model for later organizations
such as the League of Nations in 1919 and
the United Nations in 1945.
• This refers to the desire of countries for greater cooperation
• Maybe defined as the ideal of an organic, supernational society which would
include within itself constituent national societies controlled from above but
endowed with independent functions and vitality (Brailsford,1932 cited by Kuehl 1986)
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-
worldhistory/chapter/the-congress-of-vienna/
• https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/cdp/cdp_backgrou
nd_papers/bp2000_1.pdf

https://youmatter.world/en/definition/definitions-
globalization-definition-benefits-effects-examples/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-
https://www.uua.org/action/statements/economic-
0130.1986.tb00536.x
globalization

https://www.britannica.com/topic/neoliberalism

https://www.britannica.com/topic/state-sovereign-political-
entity