CHAPTER 3

MARKET INTEGRATION

Introduction

The social institution that has one of the biggest impacts on society is the economy. You might think of the economy
in terms of number-number of unemployed, gross domestic product (GDP), or whatever the stock market is doing
today. While we often talk about it in numerical terms, the economy is composed of people. It is the social institution
that organizes all production, consumption, and trade of goods in the society. There are many ways in which products
can be made, exchanged, and used. Think about capitalism or socialism. These economic systems-and the
economic revolutions that created them- shape the way people live their lives.

Economic systems vary from one society to another. But in any given economy, production typically splits into three
sectors. The primary sector extracts raw materials from natural environments. Workers like farmers or miners fit well
in the primary sector. The secondary sector gains the raw materials and transforms them into manufactured goods.
This means, for example, that someone from the primary sector extracts oil from the earth then someone from the
secondary sector refines the petroleum to gasoline. Whereas, the tertiary sector involves services rather than goods.
It offers services by doing things rather than making things. Thus, economic system is more complicated or at least,
more sophisticated than the way things used to be for much of human history.

This chapter will show the contributions of the different financial and economic institutions that facilitated the growth
of the global economy. The history of the global market will be discussed by looking at the different economic
revolutions. The growth and dynamics of multinational corporations that are emerging in today's world economy will
also be examined.

International Financial Institutions

World economies have been brought closer together by globalization. It is reflected in the phrase "When the
American economy sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold." But it is important to remember that it is not only
the economy of the United States but also other economies in the world that have a significant impact on the global
market and finance. For instance, the financial crises experienced by Russia and Asia affected the world economy.
The strength of a more powerful economy brings greater effect on other countries. In the same manner, crises on
weaker economies have less effect on other countries. For example, Argentina's serious financial crisis in the late
1990s and early 2000s had a comparatively small impact on the global economy.

Although countries are heavily affected by the gains and crises in the world economy, the organizations that they
consist also contribute to these events. The following are the financial institutions and economic organizations that
made countries even closer together, at least, when it comes to trade.

The Bretton Woods System

The major economies in the world had suffered because of World War I, the Great Depression in the 1930s, and
World War II. Because of the fear of the recurrence of lack of cooperation among nation-states, political instability,
and economic turmoil (especially after the Second World War), reduction of barriers to trade and free flow of money
among nations became the focus to restructure the world economy and ensure global financial stability (Ritzer, 2015).
These consist the background for the establishment of the Bretton Woods system.

In general, the Bretton Woods system has five key elements. First element is the expression of currency in terms of
gold or gold value to establish a par value (Boughton, 2007). For instance, a 35 U.S. dollar pegged by the United
States per ounce of gold is the same as 175 Nicaraguan cordobas per ounce of gold. The exchange rate therefore
would be 5 cordobas for 1, dollar. Another element is that "the official monetary authority in each country (a central
bank or its equivalent) would agree to exchange its own currency for those of other countries at the established
exchange rates, plus or minus a one-percent margin" (Boughton, 2007, pp. 106-107). The third element of the Bretton
Woods system is the establishment of an overseer for these exchange rates; thus, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) was founded. Eliminating restrictions on the currencies of member states in the international trade is the fourth
key element. The final element is that the U.S. dollar became the global currency.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO)

According to Peet (2003), global trade and finance was greatly affected by the Bretton Woods system. One of the
systems born out of Bretton Woods was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that was established in
1947 (Goldstein et al., 2007). GATT was a forum for the meeting of representatives from 23 member countries. It
focused on trade goods through multinational trade agreements conducted in many "rounds" of negotiation. However,
"it was out of the Uruguay Round (1986-1993) that an agreement was reached to create the World Trade
Organization (WTO)" (Ritzer, 2015, p. 60).

The WTO headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland with 152 member states as of 2008 (Trachtman, 2007).
Unlike GATT, WTO is an independent multilateral organization that became responsible for trade in services, non-
tarriff-related barriers to trade, and other broader areas of trade liberalization. An example cited by Ritzer (2015) was
that of the "differences between nations in relation to regulations on items as manufactured goods or food. A given
nation can be taken to task for such regulations if they are deemed to be an unfair restraint on the trade in such
items" (p. 61). The general idea where the WTO is based was that of neoliberalism. This means that by reducing or
eliminating barriers, all nations will benefit.

There are, however, significant criticisms to WTO. One is that trade barriers created by developed countries cannot
be countered enough by WTO, especially in agriculture. A concrete case was that the emerging markets in the Global
South made the majority in the WTO, but they 'suffered under the industrial nations which supported the agriculture
with subsidies. Grain prices increased and food riots occurred in many member states of WTO, like Mexico, Egypt,
and Indonesia in 2008. Aside from issues in agricultural sector, the decision-making processes were heavily
influenced by larger trading powers, in the so-called Green Room, while excluding smaller powers in meetings. Lastly,
Ritzer (2015) also pointed out that International Non-Government Organizations (INGOs) are not involved, leading to
the staging of "regular protests and demonstrations against the WTO" (p. 61).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank

IMF and the World Bank were founded after the World War II. Their establishment was mainly because of peace
advocacy after the war. These institutions aimed to help the economic stability of the world. Both of them are basically
banks, but instead of being started by individuals like regular banks, they were started by countries. Most of the
world's countries were members of the two institutions. But, of course, the richest countries were those who handled
most of the financing and ultimately, those who had the greatest influence.

IMF and the World Bank were designed to complement each other. The IMF's main goal was to help countries which
were in trouble at that time and who could not obtain money by any means. Perhaps, their economy collapsed or their
currency was threatened. IMF, in this case, served as a lender or a last resort for countries which needed financial
assistance. For instance, Yemen loaned 93 million dollars from IMF on April 5, 2012 to address its struggle with
terrorism. The World Bank, in comparison, had a more long-term approach. Its main goals revolved around the
eradication of poverty and it funded specific projects that helped them reach their goals, especially in poor countries.
An example of such is their investment in education since 1962 in developing nations like Bangladesh, Chad, and
Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, the reputation of these institutions has been dwindling, mainly due to practices such as lending the
corrupt governments or even dictators and imposing ineffective austerity measures to get their money back.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC), and the European Union (EU)

The most encompassing club of the richest countries in the world is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) with 35 member states as of 2016, with Latvia as its latest member. It is highly influential,
despite the group having little formal power. This emanates from the member countries' resources and economic
power.

In 1960, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was originally comprised of Saudi Arabia, Iraq,
Kuwait, Iran, and Venezuela. They are still part of the major exporters of oil in the world today. OPEC was formed
because member countries wanted to increase the price of oil, which in the past had a relatively low price and had
failed in keeping up with inflation. Today, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Libya, Qatar, Nigeria, and Indonesia are
also included as members.

The European Union (EU) is made up of 28 member states. Most members in the Eurozone adopted the euro as
basic currency but some Western European nations like the Great Britain, Sweden, and Denmark did not. Critics
argue that the euro increased the prices in Eurozones and resulted in depressed economic growth rates, like in
Greece, Spain, and Portugal. The policies of the European Central Bank are considered to be a significant contributor
in these situations.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a trade pact between the United States, Mexico, and Canada
created on January 1, 1994 when Mexico joined the two other nations. It was first created in 1989 with only Canada
and the United States as trading partners. NAFTA helps in developing and expanding world trade by broadening
international cooperation. It also aims to increase cooperation for improving working conditions in North America by
reducing barriers to trade as it expands the markets of the three countries.

The creation of NAFTA has caused manufacturing jobs from developed nations (Canada or the United States) to
transfer to less developed nations (Mexico) in order to reduce the cost of their products. In Mexico, producer prices
dropped and some two million farmers were forced to leave their farms. During this time, consumer food prices rose,
causing 20 million Mexicans, about 25% of their population, to live in "food poverty."

The free trade, however, gave a modest impact on US GDP. It has become $127 billion richer each year due to trade
growth. One can argue that NAFTA was to blame for job losses and wage stagnation in the United States because
competition from Mexican firms had forced many U.S. firms to relocate to Mexico. This is because developing nations
have less government regulations and cheaper labor. This is called outsourcing. As an example, the United States
outsourced approximately 791,000 jobs to Mexico in 2010.

As for Canada, 76% of Canadian exports go to the United States and about a quarter of the jobs in Canada are
dependent in some way on the trade with the United States. This means that if NAFTA changes or is eradicated, it
would be devastating for Canada's economy.

Generally, NAFTA has its positive and negative consequences. It lowered prices by removing tariffs, opened up new
opportunities for small- and medium- sized businesses to establish a name for itself, quadrupled trade between the
three countries, and created five million U.S. jobs. Some of the negative effects, however, include excessive pollution,
loss of more than 682,000 manufacturing jobs, exploitation of workers in Mexico, and moving Mexican farmers out of
business.

History of Global Market Integration

Before the rise of today's modern economy, people only produced for their family. Nowadays, economy demands the
different sectors to work together in order to produce, distribute, and exchange products and services. What caused
this shift in the way people produce for their needs? In order to understand this, we will be going back in time, 12,000
years ago.

The Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution

The first big economic change was the Agricultural Revolution (Pomeranz 2000). When people learned how to
domesticate plants and animals, they realized that it was much more productive than hunter-gatherer societies. This
became the new agricultural economy. Farming helped societies build surpluses, meaning, not everyone had to
spend their time producing food. This, in turn, led to major developments like permanent settlements, trade networks,
and population growth.

The second major economic revolution is the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s. With the rise of industry came new
economic tools, like steam engines, manufacturing, and mass production. Factories popped up and changed how
work functioned. Instead of working at home where people worked for their family by making things from start to
finish, they began working as wage laborers and then becoming more specialized in their skills. Overall, productivity
went up, standards of living rose, and people had access to a wider variety of goods due to mass production.
However, every economic revolution comes with economic casualties. The workers in the factories-who were mainly
poor women and children-worked in dangerous conditions for low wages. As a result, nineteenth-century industrialists
were known as robber barons with more productivity came greater wealth, but also greater economic inequality. In
the late nineteenth century, labor unions began to form. These organizations of workers sought to improve wages and
working conditions through collective action, strikes, and negotiations. Inspired by Marxist principles, labor unions
gave way for minimum wage laws, reasonable working hours, and regulations to protect the safety of workers.

Capitalism and Socialism

There were two competing economic models that sprung up around the time of the Industrial Revolution, as
economic capital became more and more important to the production of goods. These were capitalism and socialism.
Capitalism is a system in which all natural resources and means of production are privately owned. It emphasizes
profit maximization and competition as the main drivers of efficiency. This means that when one owns a business, he
needs to outperform his competitors if he is going to succeed. He is incentivized to be more efficient by improving the
quality of one's product and reducing its prices. This is what economist Adam Smith in the 1770s called the "invisible
hand" of the market. The idea is that if one leaves a capitalist economy alone, consumers will regulate things
themselves by selecting goods and services that provide the best value. A

In practice, however, an economy does not work very well if it is left completely on autopilot. There are many sectors
where a hands-off approach can lead to what economists call market failures, where an unregulated market ends up
allocating goods and services inefficiently. A monopoly, for example, is a kind of market failure. When a company has
no competition for customers, it can charge higher prices without worrying about losing customers. As allocations go,
monopoly becomes inefficient at least on the consumer end. In situations like these, a government might step in and
force the company to break up into smaller companies to increase competition. Market failures like this are the
reasons most countries are not purely capitalist societies. For example, the United States' federal and state
governments own and operate a number of businesses, like schools, the postal service, and the military.
Governments also set minimum wages, create workplace safety laws, and provide social support programs like
unemployment benefits and food stamps.

Whereas, government plays an even larger role in socialism. In a socialist system, the means of production are under
collective ownership. It rejects capitalism's private property and hands-off approaches. Instead, in socialism, property
is owned by the government and allocated to all citizens, not only those with the money to afford it. Socialism
emphasizes collective goals, expecting everyone to work for the common good and placing a higher value on
meeting everyone's basic needs than on individual profit. When Karl Marx first wrote about socialism, he viewed it as
a stepping stone toward communism, a political and economic system in which all members of a society are socially
equal. In practice, this has not played out in the countries that have modeled their economies on socialism, like Cuba,
North Korea, China, and the USSR. Why? Marx hoped that as economic differences vanished in communist society,
the government would simply wither away and disappear, but that never happened. If anything, the opposite did.
Rather than freeing the workers-in Marxist terms, the proletariat-from inequality, the massive power of the
government in these states gave enormous wealth power and privilege to political elites. The result is the
retrenchment of inequalities along political-rather than strictly economic- lines.

At the same time, capitalist countries economically outperformed their socialist counterparts contributing to the unrest
that eventually led to the downfall of the USSR. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, the average output in capitalist
countries was about $13,500 dollars per person, which was almost three times than in the Soviet countries. But there
are downsides to capitalism, too, namely, greater income inequality. A study of European capitalist countries and
socialist countries in the 1970s found that the income ratio between the top 5% and the bottom 5% in capitalist
countries was about 10 to 1; whereas, in socialist countries, it was 5 to 1. Those two models are not the end of the
story because we are living in the middle of the economic revolution that followed the Industrial Revolution.

The Information Revolution

Ours is the time of the information revolution. Technology has reduced the role of human labor and shifted it from a
manufacturing-based economy to one that is based on service work and the production of ideas rather than goods.
This has had a lot of residual effects on our economy. Computers and other technologies are beginning to replace
many jobs because of autormation or outsourcing jobs offshore. We also see the decline in union membership.
Nowadays, most unions are for public sector jobs, like teachers.

What do jobs in a post-industrial society look like? Agricultural jobs, which once were a massive part of the Philippine
labor force, have fallen drastically over the last century. In other countries such as the United States, manufacturing
jobs, which were the lifeblood of their economy for much of the twentieth century, have declined in the last 30 years.
The U.S. economy began with their many workers serving in either the primary or secondary economic sectors. But
today, much of their economy is centered on the tertiary sector or the service industry.

The service industry includes every job such as administrative assistants, nurses, teachers, and lawyers. This is a big
and diverse group because the tertiary sector, like all the economic sectors we have been discussing, is defined
mainly by what it produces rather than what kinds of jobs it includes. Sociologists have a way of distinguishing
between types of jobs, which is based more on the social status and compensation that come with them. These are
the primary labor market and the secondary labor market. The primary labor market includes jobs that provide many
benefits to workers, like high incomes, job security, health insurance, and retirement packages. These are white-
collar professions, like doctors, accountants, and engineers. Secondary labor market jobs provide fewer benefits and
include lower-skilled jobs and lower-level service sector jobs. They tend to pay less, have more unpredictable
schedules, and typically do not offer benefits like health insurance. They also tend to have less job security.

What is next for capitalism and socialism? No one knows what the next economic revolution is going to look like.
Nowadays, a key part of both our economic and political landscape is corporations. Corporations are defined as
organizations that exist as legal entities and have liabilities that are separate from its members. They are their own
thing. More and more these days, corporations are operating across national boundaries which means that the future
of the Philippine economy and most countries' economies will play out on a global scale.

Global Corporations

The increase in international trade has both created and been supported by international regulatory groups, like
WTO, and transnational trade agreements, like NAFTA. There is not a singie country that is completely independent.
All are dependent to some degree on international trade for their own prosperity. Without international trade, there
would be no need for international regulatory groups. Without the international regulatory groups, international trade
at the current massive scale would be impractical. The trade regulatory groups and agreements regulate the flow of
goods and services between countries. They reduce tariffs, which are taxes on imports, and make customs
procedures easier. This makes trading across national borders much more feasible.

These international trade agreements often benefit private industries the most. Companies can produce their goods
and services across many different countries. For instance, you can have a backpack that was designed in the United
States but the materials came from China, and it was put together in Mexico before it was shipped back to the United
States to be sold.

These companies that extend beyond the borders of one country are called multinational or transnational
corporations (MNCs or TNCs). They are also referred to as global corporations. They intentionally surpass national
borders and take advantage of opportunities in different countries to manufacture, distribute, market, and sell their
products. Some global corporations are ubiquitous, like McDonald's or Coca-Cola, and yet, they still market
themselves as American companies. Others can be surprising like General Electric, which is based in the United
States but has more than half of its business and employees working in other countries. Another example is Ford
Motor Company, the classic American car company, headquartered in Michigan that manufactures cars worldwide
Transnational corporations have a significant role in the global economy, Some have greater production advantages
than an entire nation. They influence the economy and politics by donating money to specific political campaigns or
lobbyists. They can even influence the global trade laws of the international regulatory groups.

Global corporations often locate their factories in countries which can provide the cheapest labor in order to save up
for expenses in the making of a product. As a result, developing nations will provide incentives, like tax-free trade
zones or cheap labor. The companies will set up shop in their country in hopes of bringing jobs and industry to
beleaguered agricultural areas. This promotes more rapid advances in the developing nation because of the ideas
and innovations brought over from the industrialized nations. It also makes nations around the world more
interdependent, which minimizes the potential for conflict.
In the end, however, these incentives often hurt the working population of the developing nation. The upper classes
may benefit from the business of these corporations but the people working in the factories are exploited as their
wages are cut. In addition, they are often prohibited from unionizing. It can even result in sweatshop conditions with
long working hours, substandard wages, and poor working conditions. If the labor laws in one country become too
restrictive to the TNCs, they can just move their factory to a new country, leaving widespread unemployment in their
wake. Setting up factories in these developing nations may also hurt the core country where the TNC is based
because many potential jobs are being sent abroad. The same thing happens when companies outsource their labor
to other countries. Outsourcing has been enabled by technological advances, allowing immediate communication
across the world and the ease of transporting people, goods, and information. When companies find people in other
countries willing to work for a lower wage, they will often employ them, which is good for the company because they
save money, and it is good for the people in other countries because they now have a job. But it also means that the
people in the core country are losing jobs and having difficulty finding new ones.

There seems to be a lot of negative effects of globalization from transnational corporations. Trade does promote the
self-interested agendas of corporations and give them autonomy. The global corporations also influence politics and
allow workers to be exploited. There are, however, positive effects. These include better allocation of resources, lower
prices for products, more employment worldwide, and higher product output.

The changes a country experiences from international trade are not only economic. Many of the cultural changes are
as important and sometimes, even more obvious than the economic changes the nation can experience. As
international trade becomes easier and more widespread, more than just goods and services are exchanged. Cultural
practices and expressions are also passed between nations, spreading from group to group. This is called diffusion.
Ideas and practices spread from where they are well known and frequently apparent to places where they are new
and not often observed. In the past, exploration, military conquests, missionary work, and tourism provided the
means for the trading of ideas. But technology has exponentially increased the speed of diffusion. Nowadays, mass
media and the Internet allow the transfer of ideas almost instantaneously. This is most commonly seen in the
transmission of scientific knowledge and the spreading of the North American culture, which dominates the Internet.

International trade and global corporations, along with the Internet and more global processes, contribute to
globalization because people and corporations bring their own beliefs, their traditions, and their money with them
when they interact with other countries. These ideas and capital can then be incorporated in other countries, and
thus, change the cultures and economies of these foreign nations.

THE GLOBAL INTERSTATE SYSTEM

Introduction

The state has traditionally been the subject of most interest to scholars of global politics because it is viewed as "the
institution that creates warfare and sets economic policies for a country." Furthermore, the state is a political unit that
has authority over its own affairs. In other words, its borders are recognized by other countries. It is assumed that
whoever is in charge of those borders has the right to determine exactly what is going to happen in their country. The
Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 established the notion of the nation-state and the idea of state sovereignty. Today, the
globalization of politics created an atmosphere where the ideas of the nation-state, state sovereignty, government
control, and state policies are challenged from all sides.

With globalization, some scholars suggest a decrease in the power of the state and that other actors are actually
becoming more powerful. These actors include multinational corporations and global civil society organizations, like
the Red Cross, that cross national boundaries.

Is the idea of the nation-state outdated in the contemporary world? If so, what is it that we need to think about as
"replacements"? In this chapter, we will look at regional alliances and worldwide organizations of states. This
manifests the efforts of countries and governments in the world to cooperate and collaborate together. Next,
international and regional economic bond bodies, such as IMF and the World Bank, must also be considered as they
often push for neoliberal reforms in the world. The third kind of replacement to the traditional nation-state and the idea
of national autonomy comes from the non-state actors. One of these is the private capital groups, including banks
and groups of people, with money that can determine the well-being of people in a particular area. Multinational
corporations and non-governmental organizations, such as the Amnesty International, are significant organizations
that put into question the strength of national autonomy and global politics. The emergence of non-state
organizations, like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and terrorist organizations, which seek power try to depose a government and
replace the system with their own ideological belief.

Global Governance in the Twenty-First Century

There is a series of specific factors behind the emergence of global governance. The first on the list must be the
declining power of nation-states. If states themselves were "highly contingent and in flux" (Cerny, 2007, p. 854), it
would open the possibility of the emergence of some form of global governance to fill the void.

A second factor is the vast flows of all sorts of things that run into and often right through the borders of nation-states.
This could involve the flow of digital information of all sorts through the Internet. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a
nation-state to stop such flow and in any case, it is likely that such action would be politically unpopular and bring
much negative reaction to the nation-state involved in such an effort. For example, China's periodic efforts to interfere
with the Internet have brought great condemnation both internally and externally.

Then, there is mass migration of people and their entry, often illegally, into various nation-states. If states are unable
to control this flow, then there is a need for some sort of global governance to help deal with the problem. The flow of
criminal elements, as well as their products (drugs, laundered money, those bought and sold in sex trafficking, etc.),
is a strong factor in the call for global governance (Levy and Sznaider, 2006). In these cases and others, there is a
need for some degree of order, some sort of effective authority, and at least some potential for the improvement of
human life. These are but a few of the things that can be delivered by some form of global governance.

Another set of issues that has led to calls for global governance involves horrendous events within nation-states that
the states themselves either foment and carry out, or are unable to control (Nordstrom, 2004). For example, in Darfur,
Sudan, perhaps hundreds of thousands have been killed, millions of people displaced, and the lives of many
disrupted in a conflict that date back to early 2003. The government of Sudan and its military have been implicated in
the conflict between ethnic and tribal groups and the Sudanese government has been resistant to outside
interference in its internal affairs. One could even go back to WWII and argue that the Holocaust could have been
prevented, or at least mitigated, had there been a viable form of global governance to put pressure on Nazi Germany
and ultimately, to intervene in a more material way, perhaps militarily (Bauman, 1998).

Then, there are global problems that single nation-state cannot hope to tackle on their own. One is the global
financial crises and panic that sweep the world periodically, which nations are often unable to deal with on their own
Transnational corporations have a significant role in the global economy, Some have greater production advantages
than an entire nation. They influence the economy and politics by donating money to specific political campaigns or
lobbyists. They can even influence the global trade laws of the international regulatory groups.

Global corporations often locate their factories in countries which can provide the cheapest labor in order to save up
for expenses in the making of a product. As a result, developing nations will provide incentives, like tax-free trade
zones or cheap labor. The companies will set up shop in their country in hopes of bringing jobs and industry to
beleaguered agricultural areas. This promotes more rapid advances in the developing nation because of the ideas
and innovations brought over from the industrialized nations. It also makes nations around the world more
interdependent, which minimizes the potential for conflict.

In the end, however, these incentives often hurt the working population of the developing nation. The upper classes
may benefit from the business of these corporations but the people working in the factories are exploited as their
wages are cut. In addition, they are often prohibited from unionizing. It can even result in sweatshop conditions with
long working hours, substandard wages, and poor working conditions. If the labor laws in one country become too
restrictive to the TNCs, they can just move their factory to a new country, leaving widespread unemployment in their
wake. Setting up factories in these developing nations may also hurt the core country where the TNC is based
because many potential jobs are being sent abroad. The same thing happens when companies outsource their labor
to other countries. Outsourcing has been enabled by technological advances, allowing immediate communication
across the world and the ease of transporting people, goods, and information. When companies find people in other
countries willing to work for a lower wage, they will often employ them, which is good for the company because they
save money, and it is good for the people in other countries because they now have a job. But it also means that the
people in the core country are losing jobs and having difficulty finding new ones.
There seems to be a lot of negative effects of globalization from transnational corporations. Trade does promote the
self-interested agendas of corporations and give them autonomy. The global corporations also influence politics and
allow workers to be exploited. There are, however, positive effects. These include better allocation of resources, lower
prices for products, more employment worldwide, and higher product output.

The changes a country experiences from international trade are not only economic. Many of the cultural changes are
as important and sometimes, even more obvious than the economic changes the nation can experience. As
international trade becomes easier and more widespread, more than just goods and services are exchanged. Cultural
practices and expressions are also passed between nations, spreading from group to group. This is called diffusion.
Ideas and practices spread from where they are well known and frequently apparent to places where they are new
and not often observed. In the past, exploration, military conquests, missionary work, and tourism provided the
means for the trading of ideas. But technology has exponentially increased the speed of diffusion. Nowadays, mass
media and the Internet allow the transfer of ideas almost instantaneously. This is most commonly seen in the
transmission of scientific knowledge and the spreading of the North American culture, which dominates the Internet.

International trade and global corporations, along with the Internet and more global processes, contribute to
globalization because people and corporations bring their own beliefs, their traditions, and their money with them
when they interact with other countries. These ideas and capital can then be incorporated in other countries, and
thus, change the cultures and economies of these foreign nations.

CHAPTER 4

THE GLOBAL INTERSTATE SYSTEM

Introduction

The state has traditionally been the subject of most interest to scholars of global politics because it is viewed as "the
institution that creates warfare and sets economic policies for a country." Furthermore, the state is a political unit that
has authority over its own affairs. In other words, its borders are recognized by other countries. It is assumed that
whoever is in charge of those borders has the right to determine exactly what is going to happen in their country. The
Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 established the notion of the nation-state and the idea of state sovereignty. Today, the
globalization of politics created an atmosphere where the ideas of the nation-state, state sovereignty, government
control, and state policies are challenged from all sides.

With globalization, some scholars suggest a decrease in the power of the state and that other actors are actually
becoming more powerful. These actors include multinational corporations and global civil society organizations, like
the Red Cross, that cross national boundaries.

Is the idea of the nation-state outdated in the contemporary world? If so, what is it that we need to think about as
"replacements"? In this chapter, we will look at regional alliances and worldwide organizations of states. This
manifests the efforts of countries and governments in the world to cooperate and collaborate together. Next,
international and regional economic bond bodies, such as IMF and the World Bank, must also be considered as they
often push for neoliberal reforms in the world. The third kind of replacement to the traditional nation-state and the idea
of national autonomy comes from the non-state actors. One of these is the private capital groups, including banks
and groups of people, with money that can determine the well-being of people in a particular area. Multinational
corporations and non-governmental organizations, such as the Amnesty International, are significant organizations
that put into question the strength of national autonomy and global politics. The emergence of non-state
organizations, like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and terrorist organizations, which seek power try to depose a government and
replace the system with their own ideological belief.

Global Governance in the Twenty-First Century

There is a series of specific factors behind the emergence of global governance. The first on the list must be the
declining power of nation-states. If states themselves were "highly contingent and in flux" (Cerny, 2007, p. 854), it
would open the possibility of the emergence of some form of global governance to fill the void.

A second factor is the vast flows of all sorts of things that run into and often right through the borders of nation-states.
This could involve the flow of digital information of all sorts through the Internet. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a
nation-state to stop such flow and in any case, it is likely that such action would be politically unpopular and bring
much negative reaction to the nation-state involved in such an effort. For example, China's periodic efforts to interfere
with the Internet have brought great condemnation both internally and externally.

Then, there is mass migration of people and their entry, often illegally, into various nation-states. If states are unable
to control this flow, then there is a need for some sort of global governance to help deal with the problem. The flow of
criminal elements, as well as their products (drugs, laundered money, those bought and sold in sex trafficking, etc.),
is a strong factor in the call for global governance (Levy and Sznaider, 2006). In these cases and others, there is a
need for some degree of order, some sort of effective authority, and at least some potential for the improvement of
human life. These are but a few of the things that can be delivered by some form of global governance.

Another set of issues that has led to calls for global governance involves horrendous events within nation-states that
the states themselves either foment and carry out, or are unable to control (Nordstrom, 2004). For example, in Darfur,
Sudan, perhaps hundreds of thousands have been killed, millions of people displaced, and the lives of many
disrupted in a conflict that date back to early 2003. The government of Sudan and its military have been implicated in
the conflict between ethnic and tribal groups and the Sudanese government has been resistant to outside
interference in its internal affairs. One could even go back to WWII and argue that the Holocaust could have been
prevented, or at least mitigated, had there been a viable form of global governance to put pressure on Nazi Germany
and ultimately, to intervene in a more material way, perhaps militarily (Bauman, 1998).

Then, there are global problems that single nation-state cannot hope to tackle on their own. One is the global
financial crises and panic that sweep the world periodically, which nations are often unable to deal with on their own
(Strange, 1996). 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.

Nation-states have long struggled to deal with problems like these through various interstate systems (e.g., alliances
such as NATO), but the more recent trend is toward the development of more truly global structures and methods of
dealing with various sorts of issues and problems.

Effects of Globalization to Governments

One of the key aspects of state sovereignty is the government. It is a group of people who have the ultimate authority
to act on behalf of a state. Each state has its own right to self-determination and that other country should not
intervene in the affairs of that state unless there are extraordinary reasons to do so. Other countries must recognize
sovereignty or the right to govern one's own territorial borders. Each state is autonomous unto itself and responsible
within its own system of government to those who are governed. The decisions, the conflict, and the resolution of that
conflict are done through the institutions of government established and codified in that particular state, whether or
not through elections. Elections, especially in democratic society, provide the leadership of the state. In addition, the
policy is developed and implemented in the interest of the people of a state by a specific government. A civil society
within a state can also act as a counterweight or as a supplement to government. Civil society includes the private
economy, educational institutions, churches, hospitals, fraternal organizations, and other non-profit organizations.

There have been several challenges to the government and ultimately, to state autonomy. We can divide these
challenges into four: traditional challenges, challenges from national or identity movements, global economics, and
global social movements.

Traditional Challenges

External intervention can generally be described as invasion by other countries. For example, when Saddam Hussein
was the ruler of Iraq in 1990, he decided he was going to take over the oil fields of Kuwait. He invaded Kuwait and
took it over. As a result, he was dislodged by an international coalition led by the United States.

These days, we can see external intervention in other forms. Russia's external intervention into the affairs of Ukraine,
a sovereign state in the post-Soviet era, is another instance of intervention in the autonomy of the state. Russia
intervenes in the affairs of people in Crimea who want to become part of Russia again even though they are part of
Ukraine. Crimea declared its independence from Ukraine and re-affiliated with Russia. This is a case of how there
might be a national identity within a country that is assisted by a neighboring country. Ukraine argues to have
autonomy to determine the case for Crimea. As a result, there is current conflict between Ukraine, not recognizing
Crimea's sovereignty, and Russia, not recognizing Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea.

Internal political challenges can also happen. For example, after the Arab Spring in Egypt, a new constitution was
created and a government was elected. That government was more fundamentalist and rejected the notion of a plural
society that included religious diversity. The military staged a coup that deposed the government in order to restore
stability. Other examples include the Taliban's efforts to control the government of Afghanistan. In Syria, the original
rebellion against Assad came from the country's own internal dissenters who wanted to replace the government even
though they were also Syrian nationals.

There are also regional organizations challenging state autonomy. The United Nations intervened in Sudan because
of the several years of civil war. More recently in Europe, specifically in Greece, it also interfered in the Greek debt
crisis.

Challenges from National/Identity Movements

The next challenges are part of a national identity or movement. It is important to know that a nation has cultural
identity that people attached to, while a state is a definite entity due to its specific boundaries. However, different
people with different identities can live in different states. For example, the Kurds reside in several different countries
including Iraq, Iran, and Turkey, The Catalans live primarily in Spain but we can also find some of them in France.
Scottish nationalism is another example that challenges the traditional notions of state sovereignty. In 2014, Great
Britain had a vote in Scotland to decide whether Scotland was going to become its own autonomous state apart from
Great Britain. They voted against it but Scotland has a significant degree of autonomy now as compared to more than
two decades years ago.

Global movements, such as the Al-Qaeda and ISIS, are another example of national or identity movements. In this
case, they are structured around the fundamentalist version of Islam.

Global Economics

The third major source of challenge comes from global economics. Global economy demands the states to conform
to the rules of free-market capitalism. Government austerity comes from developments of organizations that
cooperate across countries, such as WTO and regional agreements, such as NAFTA, the European Union (EU), and
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Neoliberal economics or neoliberal capitalism started in the 1980s. It focuses on free trade and dismantling trade
barriers. It made sure that governments did not impose restrictive regulations on corporate presence, as well as on
the free flow of capital and jobs. Free trade was seen as the ideal or the normative belief, that is, the best economy is
one where there is free trade everywhere. Laws and standards that would interfere with the flow of capital in a
particular country, including environmental regulations, were deemed to discourage economic growth. Neoliberal
economics requires a state to cooperate in the global market through the free flow of capital, the privatization of
services, and fiscal austerity or constraint. In turn, the government's role is diminished as it relates to the market.
Neoliberal economics is seen as a threat, in general, because a state cannot protect its own economic interest as a
sovereign state.

A specific example to expand global economic influence is the use of IMF and the World Bank in forcing government
reforms in poorer country. Furthermore, the regional economic development efforts focused on expanding free trade
and market liberalization. Businesses from developed countries put their factories and pay people to build factories
and produce goods in developing countries worldwide. These corporations will sell the products in developing
countries. This exacerbates rising inequality in the world. Greece is one example that explains how neoliberal
economics can threaten the sovereignty of a state. It began in 1981 when Greece joined the EU. As a larger alliance,
the EU broke down all kinds of barriers among its member states, including Greece, like passports, visas, and license
plates. It allowed people to travel across European borders and encouraged economic cooperation and collaboration
of member states. Twenty years later, Greece adopted the euro as its own currency and got rid of the drachma. The
government of Greece borrowed money for infrastructure improvements, largely linked to their hosting of the 2004
Olympics. This put Greece in a large debt. In 2007 and 2008, the worldwide financial crisis made Greece's economy
to collapse.

Aside from high debt that burdened the government, Greece had several of its employees struggling with pensions.
Tax revenues were lower, and as a result, they could not pay their debts back. In 2009, their credit rating dropped
which made it harder for them to pay back their debt. This led to a series of austerity packages in Greece which
meant that there was less government spending. IMF bailed them out from the crisis in exchange for more austerity.
In conclusion, economic crises can force government to subscribe to the terms and conditions of the global financial
market and of other nations that can help them regain economic stability.

Global Social Movements

Finally, we have global social movements. Most of the time, they are not seen as a threat but they definitely challenge
state sovereignty. Social movements are movements of people that are spontaneous or that emerge through
enormous grassroots organization. These social movements are transnational movements which means they occur
across countries and across borders. Therefore, states have less control over them.

For example, human rights movements create a public sentiment, value, and agenda. The idea is that there are
certain rights that states cannot neglect or generally, what we call human rights. If a country decides that they are
going to have a particular policy and if that policy violates the international standard of human rights, there is a
challenge to the ability of states to fully implement it. An example is the United States' position on the death penalty.
There is an international consensus, with a few dissenting countries like China, South Africa, and Russia, against the
death penalty. This means that if somebody is sentenced by death penalty and somehow he is in a country around
the world, there are rules against that state extraditing into the United States.

The environmental movement is another example of global social movements related to public policy. A specific case
is the so-called Blockadia or the state where social movements emerging in local areas fight back as a response to
the controlling efforts by the apparatus of government to protect the interest of neoliberal capitalists. Consensus on
women's rights is another example in many countries. Arguably, the biggest conflict between the West and the
fundamentalist Islam is over the role of women in society, as well as women's autonomy. Rights of personal
autonomy are another example and this includes issues on homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and gender equality.

There is also an increased role in international organizations like the United Nations and the International Criminal
Court in Hague, the role of non-governmental organizations like Doctors Without Borders or Amnesty International,
and the role of global media.

The Relevance of the State amid Globalization

The state is a distinctive political community with its own set of rules and practices and that is more or less separate
from other communities. It has four elements: people, territory, government, and sovereignty. The first element of a
state is a permanent population. This population does not refer to a nomadic people that move from one place to
another in an indefinite time. This permanent presence in one location is strengthened by the second element of a
state, a defined territory. A territory has clear boundaries. A territory is effectively controlled by the third element,
government. The government regulates relations among its own people and with other states. This mearis that the
state is a formally constituted sovereign political structure encompassing people, territory, and its institutions on the
one hand, and maintaining its autonomy from other states on the other hand.

It is important to differentiate the idea of nation from state. Nation refers to a people rather than any kind of formal
territorial boundaries or institutions. It is a collective identity grounded on a notion of shared history and culture. If we
talk about the Philippines as a state, we may refer to the Philippine government, the Philippine territory, and its
internal and external sovereignty. If we talk about the Philippines as a nation, we refer to our shared collective notion
of democracy, our history, and our collective identity. In other words, the state is a political concept, while a nation is a
cultural concept. States, through its formalized institutions, more or less reflect nations. This would allow states to
have a certain people with their own collective identity. In turn, they should be allowed to form their own political state.
This is the principle of national self-determination.
This brings us to the concept of the nation-state. It is a territorially bounded sovereign institution that governs
individuals sharing a collective history, identity, and culture. In reality, it is difficult to think of any nation as having any
shared national identity. The Philippines, although formally a state, has a variety of ethnic traditions.

A variety of arguments are made including that nation-states continue to be the major players on the global stage
(Gilpin, 2001), that they "retain at least some power in the face of globalization" (Conley, 2002, pp. 378-399), that
they vary greatly in "their efficacy in the face of globalization" (Mann, 2007, p. 472), and that the rumors of the demise
of the nation-state are greatly exaggerated.

Beland (2008) argued that "the role of the state is enduring-and even increasing-in advanced industrial societies" (p.
48). He saw greater demands being placed on the state because of four major sources of collective insecurity:
terrorism; economic globalization, leading to problems such as outsourcing and pressures toward downsizing, as well
as the current economic crisis; threats to national identity due to immigration; and the spread of global diseases such
as AIDs. Further, the state does not only respond to these threats, but may also exaggerate or create dangers,
thereby making its citizens more insecure (Glassner, 2000). A good example is the U.S. and British governments'
arguments prior to the 2003 war with Iraq that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that
posed a direct threat to the United States and United Kingdom. The United States even claimed that Iraq could kill
millions by using offshore ships to lob canisters containing lethal chemical or biological material into American cities
(Isikoff and Corn, 2006). The collective insecurity created by such outrageous claims helped foster public opinion in
favor of invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam Hussein.

The other side of this argument in support of the nation-state is that global processes of various kinds are not as
powerful as many believe. For example, global business pales in comparison to business within many countries. In
addition, some question the porosity of the nation-state by pointing, for example, to the fact that migration to other
countries has declined substantially since its heights in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Gilpin,
2001).

A related point is that it would be a mistake simply "to see globalization as a threat to, a constraint on, the nation-
state; it can also be an opportunity for the nation-state" (Conley, 2002, pp. 378-399). For example, the demands of
globalization were used as bases to make the needed changes in Australian society, specifically allowing it to move
away from protectionism and in the direction of neoliberalization, to transform state enterprises into private
enterprises, and to streamline social welfare. With this, the rhetoric of globalization, especially an exaggeration of it
and its effects, was useful to those politicians who were hopeful of such changes.

Institutions That Govern International Relations

There are several international organizations that governments of countries around the world and individuals
participate in. These include the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, NAFTA, and NATO. There are also
non- governmental organizations promoting social and economic growth. Let us look at them one by one.

Peace Treaties and Military Alliances: The UN and NATO

Global politics entails relationship of countries and different governments and non-governmental organizations. The
United Nations (UN) is one of the leading political organizations in the world where nation-states meet and deliberate.
However, it remains as an independent actor in global politics. The premise for its establishment was the restructuring
of the world devastated after the Second World War. The term "United Nations" was coined by former U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942 (United Nations, 2011). Its operations began on October 24, 1945. It started with 50
representatives from different countries. Generally, it functions in four areas: military issues, economic issues,
environmental issues, and human protection. It is made up of close to 200 countries from around the world, 193
member states to be exact, with the Republic of South Sudan as its latest member (United Nations, 2011). The UN,
with its headquarters in New York City, was designed to be a place where countries could come to discuss their
issues without resorting to violence and war, which had plagued our planet for several years in the past. Maintaining
peace and building friendships is the number one goal of the UN, as well as providing a forum where countries could
gather to discuss global issues. The General Assembly is the gathering of all of these countries. It is held in an
auditorium where speeches are given. Representatives from different member states can vote on issues.
Maintaining international peace and security became the central mission of the UN after the war. Up to this day, the
UN is the major force in governing interstate relations (Ritzer, 2015). According to the UN (2011), peace and security
are maintained "by working to prevent conflict; helping parties in conflict make peace; peacekeeping; and creating the
conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish." The UN also has what is known as the Security Council. This group of
countries decides what to do when two or more countries are waging war or are on the verge of fighting. There are
five permanent members of the UN Security Council-the United States, Britain, Russia, China, and France. In
addition to the five members, 10 additional countries join the permanent members for two-year terms, making a total
of 15 countries. The Security Council tries to be the arbiter in ceasefires between two sides. They can pass sanctions
like block trade with another country as a punishment. They can send troops or observers and, if worst comes to
worst, they can use military force. In the past, UN peacekeepers have been sent to Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
The "big five" permanent members have a veto power, which means that one member can stop the entire council
from taking action against a country. This has come up recently during the Syrian Civil War in which Russia and
China, who are allies with Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad, have been able to stop the other members from stepping in
to deal with the Syrian leader who was accused of using biological weapons against his own people.

The main deliberative body, the General Assembly, provides a forum for

member states to express their views and reach a consensus. In 1991, the UN's

military role was put into question during its intervention in Iraq's invasion of

Kuwait wherein the Security Council authorized the use of force (Ritzer, 2015).

Aside from this, the UN intervened in the civil wars of less developed countries,

such as Cambodia and East Timor, through "election and human rights monitoring, disarmament, and even the
assumption of state functions" (Weiss and Zach, 2007, p. 1219).

The UN is not all about fights. It has a program called UNICEF or the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund. Its
primary goal is to help children around the world. They collect funds to distribute emergency relief from famine and
poverty and disease. It also provides education programs in areas where there are no schools. While UNICEF is part
of the United Nations, they operate semi- independently and rely on fundraising.

In terms of economic issues, the main focus of the UN is the reduction of global inequality. The Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) cover a range of concerns for the improvement of all aspects of life. According to the UN
(2017), sustainable development encompasses economic prosperity, social well-being, and environmental protection.
Since the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) did not end poverty for all people, the UN's post-2015 sustainable
development agenda showcases the vision of the organization when it comes to broader issues such as climate
change, disaster risk reduction, and gender equality.

Environmental issues, such as pollution and hazardous wastes, are

addressed through United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The

increasing rate of greenhouse gas emissions, rising sea level, and occurrence of

extreme weather patterns are the effects of climate change. As a response, the

UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) took efforts that can

mitigate climate change like assessment of climate science, facilitation of climate

agreements, and giving assistance to countries to reduce emissions (UN, 2011).

The UN also has the International Court of Justice (ICJ), usually referred to as the World Court. It is located in the
Netherlands in a town called The Hague. This is where countries can settle disputes in a court of law, as well as a
place where war criminals and rulers who have done terrible things to their people can be put to trial for their crimes.
Aside from this, there are also a variety of international courts and tribunals created by the UN such as the
International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). The problem is,
sometimes, getting the violators all the way to Europe to face trial because there is no actual police force to go out
and get them. As more and more countries interact with one another, people are looking for the ICJ to play a bigger
role in the future of our global world.

Finally, the UN promotes and protects human rights through different organizations and mechanisms. Since 1948,
human rights have been brought into the realm of international law. This is reflected in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. A variety of UN-sponsored human rights treaties and agreements have been done for human
protection. Other mechanisms include the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the
Human Rights Council, human rights treaty bodies, the UN Development Group's Human Rights Mainstreaming
Mechanism (UNDG-HRM), and the Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect
(UN, 2011). There are also legal instruments that help the organization like the International Bill of Human Rights
which consists of three legal documents: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The
UN also believes in democracy and that it is interdependent with development and respect for all human rights.

The UN is being criticized as being weak and is unable to stop wars. Because of this, the next institution that we are
going to discuss continues to play a big role in foreign conflicts. This is NATO. It is a defensive treaty or a military
alliance between the United States, Canada, and 25 European countries. This treaty and international organization is
based on the idea of collective security. The countries in this organization basically agreed to combine their militaries
and announce to the world that if a country messes with one of its members, the other countries will come to their
defense. NATO was created after the Second World War, mostly during the beginning of the Cold War. With the
collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, former Soviet states, like Poland and Croatia, had joined NATO,
making the present-day Russia feel more threatened. NATO has sent troops and undertaken military operations in
Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, and Africa. The United States with, by far, the most advanced military in the world makes
up the bulk of NATO forces and operations. Many of these wars or conflicts are considered to be strictly U.S. wars.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

Another example of an international organization that was developed out of war is the Red Cross (Red Crescent in
Muslim countries). It is considered as a non-governmental organization (NGO). NGOs are not tied to any country.
This allows them to operate freely throughout the world. They provide emergency relief such as food, water, and
medical supplies for those whose homes or towns have been destroyed by disaster or war. They also monitor the
treatment of prisoner of wars and go to conflicts to make sure that no war crimes are taking place. In fact, the Red
Cross began as an organization to help those who were wounded during wars. The big Red Cross worn by NGOs is
the identification that they are not soldiers. Part of why it is important for the Red Cross to be an NGO is that they
remain neutral and would help the wounded from both sides of war. Since they are neutral, governments are more
likely to let them come into their countries to help. While the headquarters of the International Red Cross is in
Geneva, Switzerland, they have branches all around the world.

In addition to the Red Cross, there are many NGOs dedicated to helping people around the world. Doctors Without
Borders provides free emergency healthcare in disaster areas; Oxfam fights famine and disease; Amnesty
International speaks out for human rights and political prisoners; and Save the Children helps kids get health care
and education.

Global Economic Associations: The WTO and NAFTA

The next group is an economic association-WTO. It is made up of 162 countries around the world and was created
with the goal of increasing free trade. Countries, therefore, can buy and sell goods from one another without placing
taxes on imports or tariffs. In addition, tariffs are used to protect businesses and companies inside their country.
Though good in nature, WTO is not without criticism. In fact, a protest in Seattle at a 1999 WTO Conference led to a
major riot as some said that WTO was more about helping large companies and corporations than it was about
helping people.

Another famous economic organization is NAFTA. This is an economic treaty between the United States, Canada,
and Mexico in which the three countries trade freely without taxing each other. NAFTA is not without critics either.
Some American autoworkers protested against NAFTA as several car companies moved their factories to Mexico in
search for cheaper labor. NAFTA, like WTO, represents the challenge in America of keeping manufacturing factories.
Globalization and Globalism

You probably think about links, connections, and interrelatedness of things, people, and countries when you
encounter the word "globalization." However, when compared to the term "globalism," globalization would be better
described as the "increase or decline in the degree of globalism" (Nye, 2002, p. 1). What then is globalism?
Globalism refers to the network of connections that transcends distances of different countries in the world. In other
words, the links among countries and people are better associated with globalism while the speed in which they
become linked with one another is globalization.

If we are to make a stark contrast between globalism and globalization by saying that globalization means
connectedness while globalism is not, it will lead to a confusion that the present is the only time in which people got
connected while in the past they were not. But even before the Industrial Revolution, the world was already
connected. Through the conquests of different empires, such as those of the Romans, many parts of the world
became under, one rule. Today, however, the contemporary world is characterized by being connected through the
Internet, modern transportation, and advanced communication technologies. This is to say, therefore, that societies in
the world have always been connected; what makes the contemporary world different from the past is the type and
speed of connection that people and societies experience.

We can also differentiate globalism and globalization in terms of its "thickness" (Nye, 2002). Globalism is thin. As it
becomes thicker, globalization happens. This means that being able to connect countries in the world through a more
dynamic and faster way is globalization. Let us take global trade as an example. In the past, the Silk Road served as
the trade routes among countries in Europe and in Asia. Aside from the trade of silk between the continents, other
products, even illegal ones, were exchanged among traders and consumers. In addition, cultural interactions among
people were made through their trades. However, they were felt by a relatively small group of people, most especially
those who were actually on the road and did the trades. The connections were not intense nor "thick." In contrast to
the contemporary world, "globalism becomes increasingly thick" (Nye, 2002, p. 1).

This is where globalization comes in. If we look at the global trade today, it has reached a greater number of people
around the world. For example, the selling products are not solely done through physical transactions but can be
done online as well. This allows one, who has access to computers and the World Wide Web, to be connected with
millions of people around the world. Aside from the number of people, the speed was also affected by the transition
from thin globalism to thick globalization. In the past, if you were a European trader taking the Silk Road going to
China, it would take you days or weeks to sell your products. But today, it would only take a few seconds or minutes
to sell, buy, and exchange products and services with other people even if they are a thousand miles away from you.
A concrete example of this is the change in the price of oil which can happen overnight depending on its price in the
world market.

Although globalism and globalization are often understood in terms of the economy, Nye (2002) gave "four distinct
dimensions of globalism: economic, military, environmental, and social" (p. 2). Like economic globalism, the three
other dimensions also become thicker and faster as globalization intensifies. The enormous speed of potential conflict
and threat of nuclear war is an example of military globalism. In terms of environmental globalism, global warming
continues to accelerate. The last dimension, social and cultural globalism, "involves movements of ideas, information,
images, and of people who carry ideas and information with them" (Nye, 2002, p. 2). For instance, religious ideas
have spread throughout the world at greater scope and speed. Religious teachings are delivered today though the
mass media, such as televisions, radio, and the Internet. Unlike before, religious leaders had to walk by foot and had
to deliver their messages in a face-to-face manner.

With the advent of modern mass communication, computers, and social networking sites, it seems that the
connections made through the exchange of information creates a new kind of network in this contemporary world. It is
at this point that the concept of informationalism will be helpful for us to discuss.

Informationalism

Globalism is tied to the notion of networks. For Castells (2000), "networks constitute the fundamental pattern of life, of
all kinds of life" (p. 3). It was previously mentioned that in the present and even in the past, the world is connected.
The difference between globalism and globalization is the speed and thickness or intensity of connections.
Nevertheless, people are connected with one another whether as a small community or as a large country.
The question now is about the type of connection that exists and begins to increase in the contemporary world. The
answer lies on the growth of information as the binding force among people, things, and places around the globe.
This technological paradigm, associated with computer science and modern telecommunication, that replaces
industrialism is called informationalism (Castells, 2004). These are technology, the media, and the Internet. This is not
to say that we do not need to produce material goods such as factories, clothes, and food; rather, exchanging
information and knowledge, which is clearly immaterial goods, becomes central in the contemporary world (Hardt &
Negri, 2000). This is due to the "three of the most cutting-edge aspects of the social world in general and
globalization in particular" (Ritzer, 2015, p. 134), technology, media, and the Internet.

The creation of the world's first container ship in 1956 and the expansion of airfreight greatly hastened the transport
of goods all around the world. But a notable example of technological advancement is the founding of Federal
Express (FedEx) in the 1970s. It makes use of computer technology in its deliveries. Computer technology is used to
check our health through the invention of magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs), ultrasound, and CT or CAT scans.
Space-based technologies were also made possible through the use of computers (Ritzer, 2015). The launching of
satellites for military surveillance, the use of global positioning systems (GPS), and the operation of global navigation
systems (GNS) are some remarkable examples.

McLuhan and Fiore (2005) argued that in the New Media Age, the importance lies in the medium, the way in which
the message is transmitted, not necessarily in the content presented through the medium. This means that
televisions, radios, and newspapers have been shaping "individual subjectivity and culture, not only locally but
globally" (Ritzer, 2015, p. 143). In addition, the French social theorist Guy DeBord (1994) emphasized in his idea of
media spectacle the sophistication and ubiquity of spectacular visual in televisions. This made TV news a form of
entertainment. Although content matters in television broadcasts, visual spectacle or significance is an important
element and perhaps the primary key to catch the attention of the audience.

When one mentions online social networking, spam, and computer viruses, it is the Internet that binds them all. The
Internet is a mark of the contemporary world. According to Ritzer (2015), "The Internet has prompted a flat world
thesis; anyone can be involved in it, at least theoretically" (p. 150). Having a computer today in our homes, our
schools, our workplaces, and accessing the Internet through our personal cellphones allow us to be connected with
the rest of the world. We can gain information by accessing different websites, such as Facebook and Wikipedia,
through the Internet. In the same manner, the information about ourselves that we share is also exposed. In order to
control Internet access and use, there are mechanisms such as personal passwords or in the case of Chinese
government, the "Great Firewall."

While globalization allowed the expansion of information, access to modern technologies is not a universal matter
that is available to every person around the world. The Internet and other technologies are limited by certain barriers.
These barriers include lack of electricity, illiteracy, weak financial systems, and government regulations.

Global Citizenship

Citizenship is associated with rights and obligations, for instance, the right to vote and the obligation to pay taxes.
Both rights and obligations link the individual to the state. It also has to do with our attitudes. We need to be willing to
engage and to spend time and effort to the community of which we feel part of. Community has traditionally been
regarded as something very local. How, then, can the idea of citizenship be transferred to the global level?

Caecilia Johanna van Peski (as cited in Baraldi, 2012) defined global citizenship "as a moral and ethical disposition
that can guide the understanding of individuals or groups of local and global contexts, and remind them of their
relative responsibilities within various communities." Global citizens are the glue which binds local communities
together in an increasingly globalized world. In van Peski's words, "global citizens might be a new type of people that
can travel within these various boundaries and somehow still make sense of the world" (Baraldi, 2012).

Global citizenship does not automatically entail a single attitude and a particular value with globalization. We must
remember that globalization is not a single phenomenon; rather, there are many globalizations. While some need to
be resisted, others are welcomed and should be encouraged. They are bound to be multiple futures for multiple
globalizations. These globalizations created enemies because according to one broad view, globalization failed to
deliver its promises (Cohen, 2006). The so-called bottom billion lacks infrastructures and has been disenfranchised.
The opponents of globalization blame either Westernization or global capitalism. Thus, the enemies resist
globalization, especially when it comes to global economy and global governance.

There are three approaches to global economic resistance. Trade protectionism involves the systematic government
intervention in foreign trade through tariffs and non-tariff barriers in order to encourage domestic producers and deter
their foreign competitors (McAleese, 2007). Although there exists a widespread consensus regarding its inefficiency,
trade protectionism is still popular since it shields the domestic economy from systemic shocks. Fair trade is a
different approach to economic globalization, which emerged as a counter to neoliberal "free trade" principles
(Nicholls and Opal, 2005). Fair trade aims at a more moral and equitable global economic system in which, for
instance, price is not set by the market; instead, it is negotiated transparently by both producers and consumers.
While it is popular among consumers in the North, it has met only limited acceptance among producers (Ritzer,
2015). Its ability to supply a mass market and its applicability to manufacture products are also doubted. The third

form of resistance to economic globalization relates to helping the bottom billion

based on Collier (2007). Increasing aid is only one of the many measures that are

required. International norms and standards can be adapted to the needs of the

bottom billion. The reduction of trade barriers would also reduce the economic

marginalization of these people and their nations.

When it comes to dealing with political globalization, increased accountability (Germain, 2004) and transparency are
the key issues. All political organizations, at different levels, should be more accountable for their actions because
they are now surrounded by an "ocean of opacity" (Holzner and Holzner, 2006, p. 336). Increased transparency has
been aided by various mechanisms such as transnational justice systems, international tribunals, civil society, and
particularly the Transparency International.

Like globalization, resistance to globalization is multiple, complex, contradictory, and ambiguous. This movement also
has the potential to emerge as the new public sphere, which may uphold progressive values such as autonomy,
democracy, peace, ecological sustainability, and social justice. These forces of resistance are themselves products of
globalization and can be seen as globalization from below (Smith, 2008). According to della Porta et al. (2006), the
impetus for such a movement comes from individuals, groups, and organizations which are oppressed (i.e., self-
perception) by globalization from above (neoliberal economic systems or aggressively expanding nations and
corporations). They seek a more democratic process of globalization. However, globalization from below also
involves less visible, more right-wing elements, such as the America First Party and the Taliban.

The World Social Forum (WSF) is centered on addressing the lack of democracy in economic and political affairs
(Fisher and Ponniah, 2003). However, the diversity of elements involved in WSF hinders the development of concrete
political proposals. A significant influence on WSF has been that of cyberactivism, which is based on the "cultural
logic of networking" (Juris, 2005) and "virtual movements," such as Global Huaren. This cyberpublic was formed as a
protest against the violence, discrimination, and hatred experienced by Chinese residents in Indonesia after the 1997
Asian financial crisis. In 1998, worldwide rallies condemning the violence were made possible through the Global
Huaren which according to Ritzer (2015) "became an interesting global watchdog for Chinese interests" (p. 307).

Since there is no single globalization, the future is also multi-dimensional. Some foresee the continuing expansion of
globalization both in general as well as in more specific globalization. Others have a far more pessimistic vision of
"Mad Max" scenarios that could end the current era of globalization (Turner, 2007).

In any case, given that there is no world government, the idea of global citizenship demands the creation of rights and
obligations. Moreover, fulfilling the promises of globalization and the solution to the problems of the contemporary
world does not lie on single entity or individual, but on citizens, the community, and the different organizations in
societies. The dynamics of globalization demands the efforts of the whole array of inter-governmental organizations
such as the United Nations and the World Bank; international NGOs like Greenpeace and Amnesty International; and
the citizen initiatives and community action groups that reach above the nation-state level like the World Social Forum
and Occupy Movement. Ultimately, reforms in global governance are required to allow world citizens to take more
part directly in all aspects of human life at the global level.