Chapter 4:

GLOBAL
INTERSTATE
SYSTEM
 State

A compulsory political organization with a

centralized government that maintains the legitimate
use of force within a certain territory (Weber, 1997).
 Nation
This concept emphasizes the organic
ties that hold groups of people together
and inspire a sense of loyalty and
belonging – i.e., ethnicity, language,
religion, and others (Schattle,2014)
 Nation-State
A political community that emanates
from civic society to legitimately execute
peace.

Thus, the civic society is the basis of the people’s oneness.

Though some scholars like Appadurai and Ohmae claim that globalization has superseded
the individual function and jurisdiction of nation-states, this is still arguable. In fact, they
still play vital roles in the way globalization establishes a borderless world.
 Nation-State
Nation-states can manipulate competitive advantages with international and political
issues, transnational civil society organizations, and multinational companies.

On the other hand, they are also accountable for a host of international norms
and standards, finds themselves in subordinate positions to protect their
economy, and face new kind of pressures.
 Q: If nation-states no longer have power in
today’s globalized world, then why does United
Nations (UN), with its increasing number of
states, remain relevant in global decision making?
 The Effect of Globalization in Reshaping the Role
and Functions of Nation-States
1 2
Globalization is seen to The establishment of
impose a forced choice economic and political
upon nation-states. integrations.

3 4
The establishment of The rise of transnational
international laws and activism (TNA)
principles.
 1
Globalization is seen to impose a
forced choice upon nation-states.
Choices:
• Either they conform to the neo-liberal ideas
and free-market principles of deregulation ,
privatization, and free trade; OR
• Run the risk of being left behind in terms of
development

Of course, the nation-states, in this contemporary age,

are forced to submit themselves to the demands of
globally accepted free-market principles.

Neo-Liberal Ideas - mainly refers to economic freedom

Nation-states are in danger of losing
important elements of economic
sovereignty because of the notion
that neo-liberalism is beyond
contestation as an aspect of
globalization.
In other words, nation-states still exist but lose a part integral
to their economic development and let global corporations
control their economic movement.
Nation-states are forced to realign
their policies to be congruent with the
principles of fee trade because of the
pressures from the global
corporations.

Ex: The establishment of ASEAN Free

Trade Area (AFTA)
The member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN),
including the Philippines, established the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in
1991. Its goal is to encourage the member-states t o deepen t heir
commitments in investments, trade, and industrial collaboration to brace them
for the increase in the region’s economic activity.
 2
The establishment of economic
and political integrations.

Examples:
1. EU
2. NAFTA
Examples: EUROPEAN UNION (EU)
EU has become a supranational body with 28 members. It has a single
currency and monetary system among 17 states, parliament with legislative
powers, with common citizens’ rights to live, work, vote, and run for office, with
developed collective mechanism to resolve crisis and assist those in need, and with
intercontinental jurisprudence in the case of the European court of Justice and the
European Court of Human Rights. The statehood of the members is not
dissolved, what has changed is only how the nation-states function, in
terms of economy and politics, as part of a whole (Schattle, 2014).

North America Free Trade Agreement

(NAFTA)
 3
The establishment of international
laws and principles.
This is observable in the establishment of the UN that operates as a forum for
nation-states to air their differences and try to resolve them.

• UN Security Council
- It has powers that include the creation of peacekeeping operations and
international sanctions and the authorization of military action.
• International Criminal Court (ICC)
- It prosecutes individuals accused of crimes against humanity such as
genocide. The founding of ICC is based on the adoption of the Rome Statute of
International Criminal Court in 1998, with the vote of 120 to 7, with 21
abstentions. IT began functioning in 2002 when the statute officially came into
force. However, the United States, China, and India are not signatories. Thus,
the treaty is not binding to these economic powers.
Established in 2002, seeks to hold to account those guilty of some of the world’s worst
crimes.

In the aftermath of World War II, the Allied powers launched the first international war
crimes tribunal, known as the Nuremberg Trials, to prosecute top Nazi officials. It wasn’t
until the 1990s, however, that many governments coalesced around the idea of a
permanent court to hold perpetrators to account for the world’s most serious crimes.
• International Criminal Court (ICC)
The court has jurisdiction over four categories of crimes under international law:

1) genocide, or the intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial, or

religious group;
2) war crimes, or grave breaches of the laws of war, which include the Geneva
Conventions’ prohibitions on torture, the use of child soldiers, and attacks on civilian targets,
such as hospitals or schools;
3) crimes against humanity, or violations committed as part of large-scale attacks
against civilian populations, including murder, rape, imprisonment, slavery, and torture; and
4) crimes of aggression, or the use or threat of armed force by a state against the
territorial integrity, sovereignty, or political independence of another state, or violations of
the UN Charter.

There are 123 countries party to the Rome Statute. Some forty countries never signed
the treaty, including China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia,
and Turkey. Several dozen others signed the statute, but their legislatures never ratified
it. These include Egypt, Iran, Israel, Russia, Sudan, Syria, and the United States.

Two countries have withdrawn from the ICC. Burundi left in 2017, following the court’s
decision to investigate the government’s crackdown on opposition protests. Philippine
President Rodrigo Duterte pulled out in 2019, after the court launched an inquiry into his
government’s war on drugs, saying domestic courts are sufficient to enforce the rule of
law.
Universal principles that are adopted by nation-states:
Examples:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)- affirms an
individual’s rights; the Declaration consists of 30 articles detailing an
individual's "basic rights and fundamental freedoms" and
affirming their universal character as inherent, inalienable, and
applicable to all human beings.

United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) -

defines the rights of nation-states on the use of the world’s oceans
4 The rise of Transnational Activism (TNA)
Activist groups of nation-states connect with their counterparts in other states.
Example: An advocacy-based organization in the Philippines may connect
itself with and get support from other human rights groups in Europe to
pressure the Philippine government to realign its stance and actions in
upholding human rights.

When a nation-state recognizes international interventions and

changes its behavior in response to international pressure, it
reconstitutes the relationship among the nation-state, its citizens, and
international actors (Keck&Sikkink,1998).
5 The creation of new
communications network.

Globalization binds
communities
through digital
media.
 With new technologies in communication, political interaction can happen in a virtual sphere. People can exchange political
perspectives through the internet, therefore stirring political discourse on an online platform. Because of the so-called network
society (Castells,2009), nation-states must reshape themselves to become part of global networks in the arena of finance, education,
science, technology, arts, and sports.

This can be seen in the proliferation of online education from universities outside the Philippines. Conversely, Philippine
universities offer online course to non-Filipinos. Thus, digital media has become the platform for strategic communications
at home and abroad wherein the nation-states can utilize the internet to gather feedback from the citizens.

ü Social media gives people the power to air their sentiments, and, serves as
an avenue to discuss issues.
ü Government websites can also be avenues to formally forward concerns to
government offices.
ü Many nation-states also establish their own state-funded television
networks for information dissemination as alternative to the well-
established privately funded news networks.
Philippines
TV: PTV 4 or the People’s Television Network Incorporated (PTNI), the semi-privatized
Radio Philippines Network or RPN 9 ( now CNN Philippines) where the government
still has 20-percent share, and the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) or
IBC 13.
Radio: Radyo ng Bayan.
In the case of authoritarian and repressive states like China, Russia, and North Korea, the governments that makes use of media
technologies to filter content that can be viewed by their citizens. On the other hand, digital media can be used by governments
to gain public support in their campaigns. Thus, social media can become an alternative to mainstream media that advances
its biased perspective.
 Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)

Established to Their aim is to foster

facilitate connections strong, political,
among nation-states. cultural, educational,
and technical
intergovernmental
relationships.
Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)

Association of Southeast
European Asian Nations (ASEAN) World Trade
Union (EU) Organization (WTO)
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Indonesia Singapore

Malaysia
Thailand
Philppines
Vietnam
Myanmar
Laos
Cambodia
 Aim of the ASEAN
Established in 1967, the association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) now has 10 member states. Its
aims are:

1. to accelerate economic growth, social progress, and cultural development in the region;
2. promote regional progression;
3. advance peace and sustainability;
4. promote active and beneficial cooperation and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the
economic, technical, cultural, administrative, and scientific fields;
5.provide assistance to each other in the framework of training and research installations in
the educational, professional, technical, and administrative, spheres:
6.work hand in hand for more effective and greater use of agriculture and industries;
7.advance Southeast Asian research; and
8.preserve close and beneficial collaboration with current international and regional
institutions with similar aims and purposes (asean.org).
European Union (EU)
 Goal of the EU
An IGO with 28-state members, was established in November 1993. Its goals are:

1. to promote peace, its values, and the well-being of its citizens;

2. offer freedom, security, and justice without internal borders;
3. uphold sustainable development based on balanced economic growth and price stability;
4. combat social exclusion and discrimination;
5. promote scientific and technological progress
6. enhance economic, social, and territorial cohesion and solidarity among member countries;
7. respect cultural and linguistic diversity; and 8.) establish an economic and monetary union
(Europa.eu).
World Trade Organization (WTO)
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has 164 member-states. It is the sole IGO that caters to rules of trade
on a global scale.

Objective: To ensure that trade runs as smoothly, predictably, and freely as possible.
It also encourages trade by lowering trade barriers that may hinder how products
and services flow from nation to nation.
 Other IGOs
• International Criminal Court (ICC)
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
• Organization of petroleum Exporting Counties (OPEC)

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 28 European countries
and 2 North American countries.Created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the
Soviet Union.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) refers to a group of 13 of the world’s major oil-exporting nations. OPEC was founded in
1960 to coordinate the petroleum policies of its members and to provide member states with technical and economic aid.1 OPEC is a cartel that aims to manage
the supply of oil in an effort to set the price of oil on the world market, in order to avoid fluctuations that might affect the economies of both producing and
purchasing countries.
 Internationalism
Basically anchored on the opinion that nationalism should
be outrun because links that bind people of different
countries are more powerful than those that disconnected
them (Anora, 2014).
It is a political principle that advocates greater political or economic cooperation among states and
nations.
Political Philosophers
Immanuel Kant (1795) stated that
agreements among nations must be reached.
He conceptualized the idea of liberal
internationalism which proposes that nations
must give up their freedom and submit to a
larger system of laws that is embodied by
common international principles. He believed
that a form of global government is needed to
create and enforce these laws.
 Political Philosophers
Guiseppe Mazzini (1805-1972) assumed
that nationalism and international cooperation
complemented each other. He believed that
cooperation among nation-states is essential.
Political Philosophers
US President Woodrow Wilson (1856-
1924) thought that nations were subject to the
universal laws of God that could be discovered
through reason. He adopted the principles of
self-determination, democratic government,
collective security, international law, and a
league of nations in his concept of
internationalism.
Socialist Internationalism
Contradicts liberal internationalism. This form of internationalism is
based on the view that capitalism is a global system and that the
working class must unite as a global class to forward struggle
against capitalism. The notion of socialist internationalism is linked to the
goal of a world revolution—to end class struggle globally.

The Second International (1889–1916) - the original socialist

international, was an organization of labor and social parties established
in Paris in 1889. It is best known for declaring the International Worker’s
Day (May 1) and International Women’s Day (March 8) and for initiating
the campaign for the eight-hour workday.
 Globalism
Emerged as an attitude that seeks to understand all the interconnections of
the modern world and to highlight patterns that underline them.

It pursues to describe and explain a world that is characterized by a

network of connections that span multi-continental distances.
 Global Interstate System

It is rooted on the
idea of
internationalism.

A facet of contemporary political globalization that seeks to form collaboration among nation-states
through the establishment of intergovernmental organizations.