Nation-state and globalization

Résumé du document

This essay deals with one of the most controversial questions in today's social science debates: the relationship between the nation-state and globalization. Globalization, is understood quite loosely here as a series of contemporary and unprecedented developments in the economic, social and cultural integration of world market and societies. In other words, a general sense of the shortening of distance between here and there, us and the other, which implies a new definition of the field of social relationships; a definition that is much less centered on the national level and takes more account of the global. Given these conditions, the end of the nation-state may be at hand. According to this view, the nation-state, which has been the only entity of international importance since the Westphalia treaties of 1648, is now the subject of increasing strains. It is doomed to lose more and more of its power in the twenty-first century. How then, may the territorially limited and ideologically outdated nation-state survive in the realm of worldwide action and global participation? One should always be cautious about seemingly-obvious statements, especially on issues of national reach.

Extraits

[...] 2001) 178-190 See Gavin Kitching (“Defining the Term: a Useful Way to Start?” in Seeking Social Justice through Globalization (University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001), 11-20) for an overview of that argument. For a self-critical approach to the Washington Consensus, see John Williamson, “What Should the World Bank Think about the Washington Consensus?”, The World Bank Research Observer, (August 2000) 251- 264 See also Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents (London: Penguin Books, 2002) for a comprehensive criticism of recent IMF actions. Heather McKeen-Edwards, Tony Porter and Ian Roberge (“Politics or Markets? [...]

[...] Democracy and accountability are now keywords for those who are engaged to some extent in activities linked to global decision-making institutions[33]. As the authors remark, the power of trans-national NGOs cannot be denied. Organisations such as Oxfam, Greenpeace, the Red Cross, and many others, proved many times in the past that they were able to influence global decision-making. The number of their victorious campaigns is instructive: treaties against global warming, landmines, and so on, were promoted after successful action on their part. [...]

[...] Indeed, better informed populations are now more aware of global issues such as world poverty, widespread violation of human rights or worldwide environmental problems. As a consequence, they will be less and less capable of tolerating inactive governments on the international cooperation scene, and will search for other means of action through, for example, active participation in international NGOs. I will now develop the ensuing challenges for the traditional nation-state. In a 2001 article[32], Richard Falk and Andrew Strauss stress the necessity to create as urgently as possible some form of global parliament. [...]

[...] 1998) 997-1032 Dani Rodrik, “Bigger Governments?” Martin Wolf, “Nation, State and Globalisation”, VIII Harold James Liberalization Reversible?”, Finance & Development, (Dec. 1999) 11-14) is keen on warning us against the multiple dangers of economic nationalism. D. Groenfeldt future of indigenous values: cultural relativism in the face of economic development”, Futures, (2003), 35: 917-929) maintaining indigenous cultural values in the face of economic development may still be possible, as long as exist a strong self-awareness of cultural distinctiveness and a shared sense that the indigenous community wants to maintain a distinctive way of life. [...]

[...] Finally, a recent comprehensive econometric study conducted by Dani Rodrik[26] suggested with very strong statistical arguments that the size of a nation-state's government is directly linked to the openness of its economy, something that Rodrik explains by noting that “government spending plays a risk-reducing role in economies exposed to a significant amount of external risk”[27]. The aim of this first part was to show that nation-states still have a strong role to play in modern economic structures. Globalisation does not mean the decline of states' power ; it means a transformation in their primary objectives, which now have to be aimed much more at risk-reducing social policies in the context of greater economic insecurity, and providing a stable and secure environment for entrepreneurship. [...]