Globalization and the State

There has been an on-going debate whether globalization contributes to the undermining of the state sovereignty especially in the study of contemporary world politics. Well, this is because the word globalization itself is very broad and subjective. Globalization is defined as the eradication of barriers to communication, trade, and even cultural exchange (Strange, 1997). The world presently has been so different from what it used to some several decades ago due to globalization. With developments in the areas of communication and technology, the world has just become deterritorialized, the restraints of geography shrink, and even making the world more unified and singular. A lot of things has been said as well as written regarding globalization and state. The available literature has been dominated by the deep debate of erosion of state versus the continued strength of nation-state. Since the matter is very broad ranging, confines of space edict that this paper shall just focus on the issue that is very pertinent to the question of whether states shall continue to remain or the erosion of states. This essay has the stance that globalization is leading to the erosion of the state.

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One perception of globalization is that it is just deepening, widening, and even speeding the universal interconnectedness. In fact, this process has grown very rapidly, extensively, and intensively thus, creating huge impact globally. The aspect of interconnectedness is very evident in all spheres, right from cultural, political to economics. Therefore, the point of cumulative scope, scale, velocity, and the depth of modern interconnectedness is quickly dissolving the importance of boundaries and borders that separate the world in various states or political spaces(Strange, 1997). What follows is that this emasculates the territorial notion of state, therefore, globalization results in erosion of states.

Another aspect of political globalization is the emphasis on the global structures as well as the process that involve rulemaking, problem-solving, and maintenance of security in world systems. This certainly undermines the real features of the supreme legitimacy of politics in its space(Strange, 1997).

Finally, in the economic aspect, globalization can be explained as the incorporation of the world economy. Universal economic integration has increased because of the development of global commerce, finance, and production bringing together economic fortunes of states and communities all over the world, thanks to the progressing global market economy.

Against the arguments mentioned above about the erosion of state, the counter-arguments examine the contradictory processes encompassed in globalization. Some of the arguments they pose include, there is nothing new that globalization bring. The western and the industrialized economies have continued to dominate the world almost in all aspect. Chief economic powers have the ability, if they harmonize policy, to wield strong governance over the financial markets as well as economic tendencies (Wolf, 2001).

The most significant challenge that globalization shams to the starring role of nation-state currently the economic inequalities among states. Many people repute globalization as a motivating force that upsurges the economic disparities among nations by making the rich always to remain richer and the poor to always stay more miserable. Consequently, the South- North divide is a perfect example of demonstrating the hole between developed that represents the North and under-developed nations, especially in the South. Another characteristic of globalization is usually interconnected with the issue of interdependency. As the boundaries lose their role and as individuals become more connected, nations also continue to become more reliant upon each other (Kurth, 2003).

In conclusion, it is very evident that several states have little controls of many activities that take place even within their territorial borders. With the issue of globalization, boundaries have been more fluid especially with the impact of electronics and even other forms of flows like the satellite communication, and the merchandise trade. On the other hand, globalization has also loosened certain significant psychological and cultural underpinnings of the sovereignty of states (Wolf, 2001).

Bibliographies

Strange, Susan. 1997. The erosion of the state. Current History 96.613:365-369.

Wolf, Martin. 2001. Will the Nation-State Survive Globalization? Foreign Affairs 80.1: 178- 190.

Kurth, Audrey K.2003. Behind the Curve: Globalization and International Terrorism. International Security 27.3: 30-58.