W10. Political Globalization / KIM TAE YOON

Political Globalization

 2013051495 KIM TAE YOON

<Summary>

As it was mentioned in the text, “Political globalization has resulted in a new set of tensions around which politics is now structured.” Globalization has multifaced natures and has brought many different changes to the global society.

The nature of the nation state, nationality, and citizenship has transformed due to the globalization. States always played powerful roles in a global scale. However, ever since the global economic market gets interconnected by globalization, one state does not have full control over their own state. In a result, the shift of global force may cause one state to fall or rise. Europeanization has impacted many European states. It caused some of the European states to lose sovereignty, but enhanced the power of nation state through regulation of financial market and cross-border state. Nationality and citizenship became vague factors ever since the European Union started to act as a state. Immigrants could make a direct appeal to international law. Globalization slowly brings down the distinction between nationality and citizenship.

Communication is essential in the world of politics. Mass media played a major role of spreading ideas. Recently, however, public sphere has been expanded to the world-wide level. Anyone who could have access to the internet and express one’s opinion. Since individuals could easily acknowledge the problems around the world, it creates global normative culture. Expansion of public sphere brings the world together more closely.

Globalization also created ‘global civil society.’ Since every issue on earth closed linked, socially, economically, geographically, and etc., public can now be a check-and-balance system. All sorts of NGOs, transborder social movements, and transnational advocacy networks are commonly referred as a part of global civil society, which its purpose is to challenge global capitalism and oversee governmental activities. These non-governmental activities help many states to improve human rights and solve environmental problems and create social norms. However, downside of the system is that these activities weaken territorial organizational government form and lead to polycentric governance. Consequently, individuals cannot distinguish the difference between domestic problems from international problems.

Nowadays every individual on this planet experiences some level of ‘borderless world.’ However, geographical factor still plays a major role. It brings us to rethink about space and border. If the world were able to tear down all the physical matters and centralize all problems, then the world will meet a new era. It will have a single political space which will cause nation-states to lose their dominance over the spatial imagination. Every political issues and activities will be discussed without a border and the value of territory will be lost.

<Interesting Point>

I was very interested by the fact that mass media played a major role of spreading political ideas. The most interesting point was that individuals cannot distinguish the difference between domestic problems from international problems. Is a nuclear crisis in North Korea considered as a domestic problem or an international problem? Globalization made hard to define the nature of the problem. After reading this paper, I have a better understanding of social phenomenon.

<Discussion Point>

The world moves fast towards globalization. Some argues that globalization will undermine the traditional values of nation-state and some argues that it will unifies the world as a group. Globalization is happening, and it will cause dramatic changes in the field on economy, politics and etc. After the removal of the iron curtain, many states feared the concept of democracy at first. However, most states have successfully adapted the system and moved on. People adapt to the system that they are living in. If globalization impacts our lives and we have to adapt to the system, how fast can we adjust ourselves to the ‘brand new world?