Political Science 7 – International Relations - Spring 2013 - Power Point Presentation #9 - © 2013 Tabakian, Inc.

1. Dr. Tabakian’s Political Science 7
Modern World Governments – Spring 2013
Supplemental Power Point Material #9

2. LECTURE HIGHLIGHTS
• Globalization
• Withering Away Of The State: Yes Or No?
• Technology Allowing Globalization
• Technology Benefits America
• Internet Versus The State
• Liberalism As Primary Motivator
• Transition
• Stability & Instability

3. WITHERING AWAY OF THE STATE? (1)
NO HIGHER AUTHORITY : There is no higher authority
than the nation-state. They cannot willingly cede either in
part or in full their authority to international riles and
agreements. Every state retains the right to withdraw from
any agreement regardless of any consequence. This results
in an international system consisting of both law and power
politics that continuously mix. Economic activity has
extended from within national territories to the global and
transnational economic system. National governments are
becoming “glorified local territories” whose task if to provide
those public services that businesses desire.

4. WITHERING AWAY OF THE STATE? (2)
The agenda is twofold for national governments seek to
promote the competitiveness of local firms while at the
same time attract foreign investment. One way
governments achieve this is through infrastructure
investments in those areas that support business,
including transportation, communication, etc.
Globalization has so far only encompassed western
countries, Israel and certain Asian countries like Japan,
South Korea and China. Most of the world has been left
out, including Africa, Latin America, Russia, Middle East
and swaths of Asia. Globalization benefits “northern
latitude” countries most.

5. WITHERING AWAY OF THE STATE? (3)
Money markets may be the only truly global sector
that touches most countries, with finance capital
allowed to move freely between OECD
(Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development) countries and most other countries.
Modern capitalism’s development and survival in
advanced countries was advanced solely because
it catered to its middle class by maintaining its
voracity of consumption. This required ever-
expanding levels of output to maintain increased
access to goods and services.

6. WITHERING AWAY OF THE STATE? (4)
Globalization in the sense that increased
competition has required increased efficiency has
forced countries to reduce or in some cases
severely curtail its social welfare programs and
even encourage the reduction of wages, all in the
effort for its labor markets to remain competitive in
the face of foreign competition. This in turn presents
prosperous countries with the danger of damaging
the prosperity of its middle class if it continues to
undermine needed social foundations.

7. GLOBALIZATION REMAINS CONSTANT
Globalization will remain constant for two
reasons:
1. First, there is no other alternative to
globalization for it has shown to be the best
model even when confronted with its primary
competitor, the “Asian development model”.
2. Technology has allowed communication to
spread across the entire globe, which
empower individuals to function more
independent of government controls over
communication.

8. TECHNOLOGY & GLOBALIZATION (1)
Science is on the cusp of new technological
innovations in the life sciences and biotechnology.
Technology has allowed mankind to realize
globalization. Liberalism and its market-based
order continue to be the primary motivator for
technological innovation that in turn has rendered
previous norms obsolete. One can argue that this
constant drive may in time render international
strife, conflict and other assorted calamities
obsolete.

9. TECHNOLOGY & GLOBALIZATION (2)
Within a few generations, advancements in
biotechnology will succeed in abolishing human
limitations, thus accomplishing what social
engineers have so far failed to do. Life
expectancy and issues pertaining to quality of life
will have been solved, thus ushering a new post-
human history. Interdependence is not a new
development. What are new are the ever
decreasing costs associated with communicating
over long distances.

10. TECHNOLOGY & GLOBALIZATION (3)
The highest data transmission rate possible in
1980 was one page of information sent over
copper wire. In 2004, it was possible to transmit
over 90,000 volumes per second over a single
thin strand of optical fiber. It takes time for
societies to become accustomed to technological
innovations as they adapt to new ways of
becoming ever more productive. When the cost
for transnational flows of information including
funds was expensive and tedious, only large
bureaucracies like multinational corporations
could participate.

11. TECHNOLOGY & GLOBALIZATION (4)
As data transmission costs decreased, allowing
individuals to participate, it has brought about the
advancement of Non Governmental Institutions
(NGOs) and loose networks of domestic
constituents to direct the agendas of political
leaders in most countries. The information
revolution has not dramatically weakened military
force and security, the two other conditions of
complex interdependence. Military relations
outflank most other issues that states face, while
security remains the fundamental concern in
comparison to other foreign policy issues.

12. TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS AMERICA (1)
There are several reasons why the information
revolution helps not only small actors, but also
those that already command power.
First, information aspects of power retain barriers
for its creation. There may be significant
economic costs as well as legitimacy issues
pertaining to information-related aspects of power
like those produced by American entertainment
industries.

13. TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS AMERICA (2)
Second, it may be cheap to broadcast information,
but there may be costs associated with its
collection and production. Intelligence information
is a good example, as is commercial information
that may pertain to new technologies or
production techniques.

14. TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS AMERICA (3)
Third, norms are likely to be established by those
who are the first to create information, thereby
becoming the standard bearers. Two good
examples is the use of the English language and
how top-level domains on the Internet have been
accorded to pioneering actors. Fourth, military
power remains prevalent, as does the information
available to states as some military analysts have
referred to as the “revolution in military affairs”.

15. TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS AMERICA (4)
In terms of access to intelligence that nation-states like
the United States has readily available through space
based sensors, direct broadcasting, high-speed
computers, etc., allows it to process hordes of
information so rapidly that it can dominate cyberspace
so it can easily dominate battlespace. It allows the US to
have access to information that no other potential
enemy would be privy to.

16. INTERNET VERSUS THE STATE
Will the Internet overcome state power? Even if a
billion people have access to the Internet, a
majority of the world’s people will not. Three-
quarters of the world’s population does not even
own a telephone. Most of the world’s population
does not have access to computers, let alone the
means of accessing the data network.

17. LIBERALISM TRIUMPHS ALL
Liberal democracy is preferred for its competition
represented worse alternatives. This also led to the
acceptance of liberalism as the best choice available at
the time, thus delaying a needed debate regarding
whether a better regime is possible. Postmodernist
assumptions about the legitimacy of liberal democracy
are pessimistic. Postmodernists would not be able to
bring forth any adequate arguments regarding better
alternatives to liberal democracy, as they are unwilling
to acknowledge its overall success. To validate the
future success of liberal democracy does require a
debate about potential successors.

18. GLOBALIZATION (1)
Globalization is a process that seems to create a more
unified world united in a single economic system.
Globalization continues to be cited as a cause for the
withering away of the state. Technology has allowed
mankind to realize globalization. Liberalism and its
market-based order continue to be the primary motivator
for technological innovation that in turn has rendered
previous norms obsolete. One can argue that this
constant drive may in time render international strife,
conflict and other assorted calamities obsolete. Liberals
would argue that globalization is a trend toward the
transformation of world politics with states no longer
remaining sealed units.

19. GLOBALIZATION (2)
Globalization may be seen as a homogenization
process that equalizes prices, products, wages, wealth,
rates of interest and profit margins. It is a movement
that can spark resistance both within the United States
as well as around the world. This can come from
religious fundamentalists, labor unions and other types
of special interest groups. Globalization has so far only
encompassed western countries, Israel and certain
Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and China.
Most of the world has been left out, including Africa,
Latin America, Russia, Middle East and swaths of Asia.

20. GLOBALIZATION (3)
This political piece explores
the effects of globalization.
One can argue that
globalization has extended
people’s buying power.
Dollars can be stretched must
further thanks to lower labor
costs found in distant lands.
“Big Box-Mart” argues that
cheap goods does present a
serious side effect. Does the
message relate to your
personal belief about our
present global economy?

21. WORLD ECONOMIC SYSTEM (1)
Capitalism is a dynamic system containing entrepreneurial
classes that pursue their own interests with such vigor that a
crises of overproduction occurs, thus causing downturns in
the world economy. The system is contradictory on many
fronts:
•It requires constant expansion – but this has reached its
limits.
•Its dynamic nature requires outsourcing of costs – but this
too is reaching its limits.
•Further slow proletarianization of the working poor.
Capitalists are against this for it increases labor costs as
well as political risks.

22. WORLD ECONOMIC SYSTEM (2)
Liberalism has therefore accrued so much debt on
states in order to maintain loyalty to the system that
the money owing public may overturn the entire
system. This disintegration of sovereignty has
siphoned state power as they are facing increased
difficulty in performing traditional functions. Global
factors are increasingly impinging on all state made
decisions.

23. TRIAD STATES MOST POWERFUL (1)
States remain a powerful player in contrast to those
who argue that the global economy is void of order
or influence by nation-states. The global economy
is not one that is ungovernable or controlled solely
by “footloose transnational companies”. Few
companies are transnational for nearly all
companies maintain home roots in at least one
country. Most of these corporations are actually
multinational that operate from a base of operations
that is located in one of the three blocs of the Triad.

24. TRIAD STATES MOST POWERFUL (2)
Multinational corporations benefit from having their
home base in a major industrialized country of the
Triad. These companies are provided a wide
barrage of public assistance that include research
and development assistance, standards set by
public agencies, protections from commercial law
that include patents and trademarks, and being
located in key districts related to their business.

25. TRIAD STATES MOST POWERFUL (3)
Multinational corporations benefit from being
located in a major industrialized country, while
benefiting from trade and producing products
and/or services through subsidiaries and affiliates
located outside their base of operation.
Multinational corporations produced an average of
40% of world output in 1990, but the share of their
respective subsidiaries and affiliates averaged
around 7%.

26. TRIAD STATES MOST POWERFUL (4)
It is highly unlikely that economic
globalization would result in the formation of
one large state. The problem with this is that
economic markets and interests cannot
perform those functions of government that
are depended upon. Interdependent
economies are a better description of today’s
international political economy.

27. TRIAD STATES MOST POWERFUL (5)
Three major blocs of wealth and power dominate
the world economy: the Triad of Europe, Japan and
North America. The concentration of world capital
remains concentrated in the three main blocs. Two
of these three blocs are centered on nation-states,
Japan and the United States, while the third is the
European Union, an association of wealthy nation-
states pooling their sovereignty in common
economic institutions. There is a misconception that
capital from the Triad is fleeing into Third World
investments.

28. TRANSITIONAL EFFECTS (1)
Competition among spheres of interest produces
great returns for humanity. The constant strive for
marketplace acceptance has resulted in America
progressing from a predominantly agricultural
society to an industrial, nuclear, and information
based society. The United States is unique in that it
excels in more than one particular capitalist
endeavor. Innovation has led to advancements that
have greatly influenced every aspect of society.

29. TRANSITIONAL EFFECTS (2)
Society has benefited from advancements in:
•Energy harvesting
•Computers
•Communication
•Water purification
• Medicine
• And all other areas not listed for the list would be
enormous.

30. TRANSITIONAL EFFECTS (3)
Every significant discovery has in turn greatly
influenced societal norms of behavior. Masses today
view internet communications as a vital necessity. It
is nearly impossible to operate in a complex society
without easy access to the web. The majority of
masses did not have this belief fifteen years ago.
Only society determining that the internet allowed for
greater efficiency was it adopted as a societal norm.
Those not willing to adapt became obsolete.

31. STABILIZATION
Sudden instability is the greatest threat to humanity for it
threatens to cause irreparable harm to the individual. One
may never consider harming another person in a state of
nature. Elimination of one’s sustenance throws the individual
into a state of war, because their survival is now threatened.
Nation-states consist of multiple spheres of interest in turn
consisting of individual units consisting of people. As survival
is the primary goal of man, so it is the ultimate pursuit of
nation-states. The primary concern is that of stability. This
philosophy has prevented a major war from taking place
over the last sixty years. Instability is the primary cause of all
conflict both within and between nation-states.

32. STATE INTERDEPENDENCY (1)
Societal interdependence addresses situations in
which events within one society affect events in
another. Government involvement in instigating
these events does not have to take place for this to
occur. Transnational relations helped to encourage
interdependency between states. States
interdependent on one another presented each with
economic and political trade-offs whereas gains in
one may lead to the weakening of another existing
in the political sciences.

33. STATE INTERDEPENDENCY (2)
Economic gains that may be derived from external
sources that are able to produce them more
efficiently while only retaining those industries that
are efficient may allow a state to achieve higher
overall productivity. This comes at a price when a
state becomes so dependent on foreign sources of
goods that it affects how its foreign policy. As a
state becomes increasingly interdependent, it also
serves to prevent it from acting overly aggressive
against those states that it has become dependent.