CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL

GOVERNANCE
 POLITICAL FLOWS

1. The global flow of people, especially refugees and illegal

immigrants, poses a direct threat to the nation - state and its
ability to control its borders.
2. The looming crises associated with dwindling oil and water
supplies threaten to lead to riots and perhaps insurrections
that could lead to the downfall of extant governments.
3. The inability of the nation - state to control economic flows
dominated by MNCs, as well as the current economic and
financial crisis that is sweeping the world, is also posing a
profound threat to the nation - state (e.g. in Eastern
Europe).
4. Environmental problems of all sorts, especially those related to
global warming, are very likely to be destabilizing politically.
5. Borderless diseases, especially malaria, TB, and AIDs in Africa,
pose a danger to political structures.
6. War is the most obvious global flow threatening the nation – states
involved, especially those on the losing side.
7. Global inequalities, especially the profound and growing North-
South split, threaten to pit poor nations against rich nations.
8. Terrorism is clearly regarded as a threat by those nations against
which it is waged (hence the so - called “war on terrorism” in the
US).
The Nation State
🞭 Nation: Social group linked through common descent, culture, language, or
territorial contiguity.

🞭 National identity: A fluid and dynamic form of collective identity; members

of the community believe that they are different from other groups.

🞭 Nationalism: is a doctrine and (or) political movement that seek to make the
nation the basis of a political structure, especially a state.

🞭 State: Organizational structure outside other socioeconomic hierarchies with

relatively autonomous office - holders.

🞭 Nation - state: Integrates sub - groups that define themselves as a nation with
the organizational structure of the state.
Threats to the Nation – State

1. The nation - state is especially threatened by the global

economy and global economic flows.

Example

❑ In terms of the global economy, nation - states have become little

more than bit actors”(Ohmae, 1996: 12). It refers to the
borderless global economy that nation – states are unable to
control.
❑ The decline of the nation - state is linked to technological and
financial changes, as well as to “ the accelerated integration of
national economies into one single global market economy ”
(Strange 1996 : 13 – 14). While nation - states once controlled
markets, it is now the markets that often control the nation - states.
2. Other factors threatening the autonomy of the nation – state
A. including flows of information,
B. illegal immigrants,
C. new social movements,
D. terrorists,
E. criminals,
F. drugs,
G. money (including laundered money, and other financial
instruments),
H. sex- trafficking and much else.
UNITED NATIONS

The United Nations (UN), in spite of its myriad problems, is the

premier global organization in the realm of politics.

ROLES AND FUNCTIONS of the UNITED NATIONS

UN stands in opposition, at least in general, to those who argue that

globalization has brought about, or is bringing about, the demise of
the (nation - )state. The UN is a global setting in which nation -
states meet and deliberate. However, the UN is not merely a setting
in which nation - states meet; it is also an independent actor.
The two best - known state - based organs in the UN:

1. The Security Council- UN ’ s main deliberative

body and

2. The General Assembly responsible for the

maintenance of international peace and security
 The UN 4 broad areas.
1.Military issues- The UN was envisioned as a major force in managing
peace and security, especially in inter - state relations. However, it was
marginalized during the Cold War 1 largely because in the Security
Council both the US and the Soviet Union could veto proposed
interventions.

2.Economic issues - promote actions that would lead to reductions in global

inequality.

3.Environmental issues- (e.g. pollution, hazardous wastes) which are dealt

with primarily through the United Nations Environment Programme.

4.Human protection-A variety of UN - sponsored human rights treaties and

agreements have protected human rights around the world.
The Relevance of State amidst globalization

1.With globalization, the nation - state faces innumerable

challenges, leading to a significant loss of control over
economic flows and transnational organizations.

2.Although the role of the nation - state has declined, it is still

an important political structure. However, in the global age,
the “ porosity ” of the nation - state, the increasing global
flows through it, should be a focal concern.
What is a Global Governance?

❑ is a movement towards political integration of

transnational actors
❑ Aim is negotiating responses to problems that affect
more than one state or region
❑ Institutions of global governance are: United Nations,
the International Criminal Court, the World Bank,
etc.
❑ the term "global governance" may also be used to
name the process of designating laws, rules, or
regulations intended for a global scale.
 New Forms of Governance

1. The first is governance without government (Rosenau and

Czempiel 1992), governance without government management.
2. The second is governance through various public policy
networks. At the global level, this involves government by
various international institutions as well as INGOS and private
sector organizations of various sorts.
3. Finally, governance at the global level can be normatively
mediated and moderated. Included here are efforts driven by
values including the Commission on Global Governance as well
as the “Global Compact” created by former UN Secretary -
General, Kofi Annan.
 CHALLENGES OF GLOBAL
GOVERNANCE IN THE
21ST CENTURY
1. The increasing “premigration” of the global order.
2. The declining power of nation -states. If states themselves are less
able to handle various responsibilities, this leaves open the
possibility of the emergence of some form of global governance to
fill the void.
3. The vast flows of all sorts of things that run into and often right
through the borders of nation - states.
4. The mass migration of people and their entry, often illegally, into
various nation - states.
5. Horrendous events within nation - states that the states themselves
either foment and carry out or are unable to control.
6. Then there are global problems that single nation - states cannot
hope to tackle on their own. One, of course, is the global
financial crises and panics (including the current one) that
sweep the world periodically and which nations are often unable
to deal with on their own. Indeed, some nations (e.g. the nations
of Southeast Asia) have often been, and are being, victimized by
such crises. Unable to help themselves, such nations are in need
of assistance from some type of global governance.
CIVIL SOCIETY

Civil society: Process through which individuals negotiate, argue,

struggle against, or agree with each other and with those in
authority.
Global civil society: Global, non -governmental, pluralistic form of
society composed of interlinked social processes oriented to
civility.
 INGOs
🞭 International non – governmental organizations (INGOs): International not - for –
profit organizations performing public functions but not established or run by nation -
states.

A. The first modern INGOs are traceable to the nineteenth century (the International Red
Cross was founded in Switzerland in 1865), but they have boomed in recent years.

B. turning point in the history of INGOs occurred in 1992 when a treaty to control the
emission of greenhouse gases was signed as a result of the actions of a variety of
groups that not only exerted external pressure, but were actually involved in the
decision - making process.

C. international treaty spearheaded by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines

(ICBL). The treaty was signed in 1997 by 122 nations which agreed to stop selling
and using landmines.
 Negative sides to the growth of
INGOS (and civil society)
• Fundamentally, INGOs are special interest groups and therefore they may not take into consideration
wider sets of concerns and issues.

• In addition, they are not democratic, often keep their agendas secret, and are not accountable to anyone
other than their members.

• They are elitist (many involve better - off and well - educated people from the North) – that is,
undemocratic – organizations that seek to impose inappropriate universal plans on local
organizations and settings.

• Thus, they have the potential to be “loose cannons” on the global stage.

• They are seen as annoying busybodies that are forever putting their noses in the business of others
(Thomas 2007: 84 – 102).
• They often pander to public opinion and posture for the media both to attract attention to their issues
and to maintain or expand their power and membership.

• As a result, they may distort the magnitude of certain problems (e.g. overestimating the effects, and
misjudging the causes, of an oil spill) in order to advance their cause and interests.
• Their focus on one issue may adversely affect the interest in, and ability to deal with, many
other important issues.

• The nature of the focus, and indeed the very creation, of an INGO may be a function of its
ability to attract attention and to raise funds. As a result, other worthy, if not moreworthy,
issues (e.g. soil erosion, especially in Africa) may fail to attract much, if any, attention, and
interest.
• In some cases, well - meaning INGOs conflict with one another, such as those wishing to end
certain practices (e.g. logging) versus those that see those practices as solutions (e.g.
logging producing wood as a sustainable resource that is preferable to fossil fuels).

• The North’ s control over INGOs has actually increased, leading to questions about their
relevance to the concerns of the South.

• However, perhaps the strongest criticism of INGOs is that they “seem to have helped
accelerate further state withdrawal from social provision” (Harvey 2006 :52). In that sense
they can be seen as neo - liberalism’ s “Trojan horses, ” furthering its agenda while
seeming to operate against some of its worst abuses.
 IGOs
🞭 Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)
--are organizations such as the UN that are international in scope.
INGOs stand to gain from such formal associations in various
ways.

There are symbolic gains such as:

A. greater legitimacy associated with being involved with such an
internationally visible organization.
B. There are also the more material gains since such an organization
might provide badly needed funding to various INGOs;
C. work may even be sub - contracted to INGOs and they can earn
income for performing the required tasks.
 Dangers to INGOs

A. They can easily become co - opted by the IGO involved.

B. Less extremely, INGOs may need to become more rationalized, bureaucratized,
and professionalized in order to deal with the needs and demands of the IGO.
This, in turn, can lead to a more subtle change of orientation, and a decline in
radicalism, in an INGO.
C. Other possible changes in INGOs include a loss of flexibility (as they must satisfy
the demands of
D. the IGO which, after all, may well be the source of badly needed funds), a decline
in capacity to act quickly, and, perhaps most troubling, a loss of autonomy and
perhaps even identity.
E. For their part, IGOs are affected by the involvement of INGOs. They, too, can
gain symbolically and increase their legitimacy through the involvement of high -
minded INGOs. Further, they can gain in a material sense because of the fact that
less bureaucratized INGOs can perform tasks that would be much more costly, and
done much more slowly and inefficiently, were they performed by IGOs.