Globalization Old and New

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Globalization Old and New

• PS 314, Spring 2006
• January 17th

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Globalization and the Return of History

• Rothschild reminds us that many previous moments
  in history have been accompanied by reflections
  about the nature of relations between nations and
  states
• According to her, there are some common themes in
  these episodes
• They have all come more or less abruptly to an
  end
• They have often been accompanied by a profound
  intellectual debate (relationship between science
  and society, economics and politics, identity and
  culture, etc.).
• They implied rethinking the political order
• The big debate that emerges from the
  Enlightenment is, how shall different peoples
  relate to each other?

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Keohane and Nye

• Who are they?
• Robert Keohane one of the most prominent
  theorists of international relations since WWII.
  Now teaches at Princeton University. Is
  identified with the development of the concept of
  neoliberalism in international relations.
• Joseph Nye Former Dean of the Kennedy School at
  Harvard University, served as Deputy Under
  Secretary in the Carter Administration (1977 to
  1979) and Assistant Secretary of Defense under
  Clinton (1994 to 1995). Also chaired the
  National Intelligence Council from 1993 to 1994.

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The Definitional Question

• Keohane and Nye have earlier popularized the
  concept of interdependence, which they define as
  situations characterized by reciprocal effects
  among countries or among actors in different
  countries
• Globalization, in their view, is the increase
  of globalism (and logically, the opposite of
  deglobalization)
• Globalism is a state of the world involving
  networks of interdependence at multicontinental
  distances

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The Relationship Between Interdependence and
Globalism

• Globalism (the state of being) and globalization
  (the increase of globalism) are related to
  interdependence in two ways
• Globalism is more extensive, and involves
  networks of reciprocal relations (thus excluding
  bilateralism)
• Globalism takes place of a greater scale, and is
  multi-continental in character (thus
  distinguishing it from regionalism, which we will
  discuss later in the semester)

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The Usefulness of the Definition

• As far as Keohane and Nye are concerned, one of
  the utilities of the definition is that it helps
  us distinguish previous periods and phenomena
• Secondly, it helps us understand that globalism
  (globalization) is not universalism (a confusion
  sometimes made in the literature)
• Thirdly, globalization can take many forms and is
  not simply economic in nature. They identify
• Economic globalization
• Military globalization
• Environmental globalization
• Social and cultural globlization
• Note that they say nothing about political
  globalization. Why?

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Applying the Definition

• Keohane and Nye add the notion of the depth
  (thinness or thickness) of globalization.
• Putting it all together, they suggest that
  globalism is nothing new at all.
• So, for example, they argue that the
  establishment of the great Silk Road was a good
  example of thin globalization

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Characterizing Contemporary Globalization

• The thickness of globalization is increasing,
  according to Keohane and Nye (take the example of
  the Internet).
• The principle of interconnectedness implies
  spillover effects, from one domain to another.
  Thus, an economic phenomenon may have social and
  political consequences.
• The thickness of modern globalization make it
  very hard to understand as a system.
• Thus, one of the distinguishing features is that
  it is accompanied by demands for changes in
  governance.

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Complex Interdependence

• The thickness of contemporary globalization is
  accompanied by a change in institutional velocity
  (that is, the capacity of institutions and
  networks to act and respond).
• This has given rise to what Keohane and Nye want
  to label complex interdependence (a term they
  used in the 1970s). Complex interdependence
  implies
• Multiple actors and channels
• Multiple issues
• The irrelevance of the unilateral threat or use
  of force among states linked by CI

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CI and Globalization

• CI is a state, according to them, of high social
  and economic globalism and low military globalism
  (although they never really spell out the
  relationship between the two. What causes
  what?).
• The thickness of contemporary globalization
  affords more nations access to CI
• This does not mean that states are irrelevant,
  nor does it mean that globalism cannot be
  reversed. But it is both qualitatively and
  quantitatively distinct from other periods in
  history.

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