POLS 112 - Globalization and ICT(s), Multi-Level Governance

International Allocation

The allocation of sovereignty from the state to either regional or global institutions

Thought that it is facilitated by new forms of information and communication technologies (ICTs), which in turn promote the growth of supranational relationships and identities

Drivers of International Allocation

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Globalization

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)

Greater access to information increases state and non-state actors' power both domestically and internationally

Governments (state actors) may use the dissemination of information across borders as a means of influencing other states as well as non-state actors

Greater + freer flow of information around the world can undermine the authority and power of governments

Economic benefits can be generated that rely less on government (e.g., mobile money transfers and banking, education, etc.)

Globalization

Refers to the increasing level of human interaction across both national borders and the world, which results in myriad new economic, political, technological, intellectual and cultural developments; an economic process with political consequences

Has both negative (e.g., criminal networks, counterfeit products) and positive (e.g., transnational advocacy networks) impacts on society

Economic Globalization

The reduction of barriers to trade, such as tariffs and quotas, which is entailed by the expansion of free trade blocs and zones, and bilateral and multilateral trade agreements

Enables capital to become increasingly unfettered and unregulated in its movements both within and among domestic markets

Pro-Globalizers

Also known as “deregulators” and “internationalists”

Job creation and economic growth by reducing barriers to capital, increasing consumer choice through competition and innovation, socio-cultural exchanges to decrease xenophobia and promote decidedly “Western” conceptions of democracy and human rights (e.g., economic liberals)

Anti-Globalizers

Also known as “skeptics” and “reversers”

Tend to believe that globalization is eroding democratic governance

Globalization increases inequalities and various forms of injustice

It may lead to a single-world culture, dominated by the US as a form of cultural imperialism

Global Governance

Refers to efforts or initiatives that aim to solve, in a collective manner by state and non-state actors - transnational issue-areas or problems

Not a single institution, but the networks and linkages that bring together different organizations, interest groups, and forms of authority in relation to specific regulatory tasks

Initiatives often seek to provide a global collective good (i.e, something that unfettered markets cannot deliver, such as conflict-free diamonds)

Supranational

The subordination of state authority or national identity to larger institutions and groupings

International Integration

The process by which supranational institutions comes to replace national ones; the gradual shifting upward of sovereignty from the state to regional or global structures

Regionalism

Expression of a common sense of identity and purpose combined with the creation and implementation of institutions that express a particular identity and shape collective action within a geographical region

Integration Theories

Functionalism, Neofunctionalism, Intergovernmentalism

Functionalism

Key theorists - Émile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons

Holds that social and political phenomena can be explained by their function within a larger whole - for regional integration, it seeks to explain why regionalism has functional advantages over state independence

Neofunctionalism

Key theorists - Jean Monnet, Ernst B. Haas

Holds that economic integration (functionalism) generates a “spillover” effect, resulting in increased political integration

Intergovernmentalism

Key theorists - Stanley Hoffman, Andrew Moravcsik

Characterized by state centrism, argues that European integration is driven by the interests and actions of states