PR 1450 Introduction to Globalization

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PR 1450Introduction to Globalization

• Lecture 13
• Global governance
• Chris Rumford

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Introduction

• What do we mean by governance?
• Governance the exercise of authority without
  formal institutions of the state
• Governance is associated with
• political rule beyond the nation-state (e.g. EU)
• regulation by non-state bodies (e.g. Quangos)
• privatization of state institutions
• responsibilization of individuals
• partnership role for civil society actors

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What are Quangos?

• Read the article Booming Quangos by Paul
  Barltrop, which is about the growth of
  Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organizations,
  or Quangos
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_sh
  ow/4812516.stm
• Why do you think there has been such a growth in
  Quangos in the UK?

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Love chips?

• Are you looking forward to
• National Chip Week 2007?
• This is organized by a Quango called The British
  Potato Council developing and promoting
  Britains potato industry
• According to their website, fish and chips have
  been voted a national icon and chips remain one
  of the nations favourite foods
  www.potato.org.uk
• Remember the Icons of England from last term?
  Fish and Chips is indeed one of the icons
• www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/fish-and-chi
  ps

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Global governance

• Does global governance exist?
• If so, what form does it take?
• There is nothing like a world state in existence,
  and
• globalization will not lead to one but there
  are
• many elements of global governance
• Global governance is far from being a world
  government but it is much more than a crude
  system of limited intergovernmental cooperation
  it comprises a vast array of formal suprastate
  bodies and regional organizations, with the UN at
  its institutional core (Held and McGrew, 2002
  59)

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• global governance is more than transnational
  cooperation it involves greater participation
  coupled with accountability (Kofi Annan, quoted
  in Siochru et al 2002 21)
• While government is thought of as the business
  of the state, governance is not just about the
  state, it is carried out by a wide variety of
  public and private, state and non-state, national
  and international institutions (Hirst and
  Thompson, 1996)

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• According to Scholte (2001), contemporary
  governance is multi-layered. It includes
  important local, substate, regional, and
  transworld operations alongside and intertwined
  with national arrangements
• In other words, governance is inherently
  flexible in its scope and range and does not
  naturally map onto the political form of the
  nation-state

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• While it would be a mistake to look for one
  overarching system of global governance it is
  quite possible to see how many aspects of our
  lives are subject to global governance
• For example, in Week 4 we saw how the
  measurement of time came to be standardized, and
  how blood types and passports, for example, have
  become subject to global regimes

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• Global governance consists of a multiplicity of
  individual governance regimes
• Scholte points out that, several thousand
  multilateral agreements on culture, ecology,
  finance, health, human rights, military affairs
  and trade apply to global spheres (Scholte,
  2005 209)

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National flags

• In week 8 we saw how national flags are
  subjected to international regulation
• Re-read the article Identical flag causes flap
  in Romania
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3626821.s
  tm
• The global governance of national flags falls to
  the World Intellectual Property Organization
  (part of the UN)
• www.wipo.int
• Article 6 of the Paris Convention for the
  Protection of Industrial Property covers flags
  and state emblems

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Global postcodes

• We are all familiar with the idea using a
  postcode when addressing snail mail
• For example, the Colleges post code is TW20 0EX
• But did you know that the designation of
  postcodes is part of global governance?
• The Universal Postal Union (UPU) has been
  responsible for the global governance of postal
  services since 1874, and now has 191 member
  countries
• www.upu.int

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• Read the article, First postcode for remote UK
  isle which tells the story of how citizens
  living on the island of Tristan da Cunha (a UK
  possession in the South Atlantic) were given a
  postcode
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4129636.stm
• The islanders couldnt shop over the internet
  until they were given a postcode

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International Telecommunication Union

• Founded in 1865, the ITU is the world's oldest
  international organization (Siochru et al p.35),
  and since 1947 has been an agency of the UN
• It was established to standardize and regulate
  international radio and telecommunication
  services, and to make interconnection
  arrangements between different countries to allow
  international phone calls
• www.itu.int

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ITU and the internet

• The rise of the internet has challenged the
  ITUs role in global governance
• It has struggled to regulate issues such as
  ownership of the web, cybersecurity, and
  democracy and openness
• Read the article, Controversy blights UN net
  summit by Jo Twist, which discusses these issues
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4450474.stm

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The Icann debate

• ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
  and Numbers) is responsible for assigning domain
  names
• It is the guardian of the underlying
  architecture of the net, overseeing allocation of
  domain names such as .com or .net, and the
  addressing system that links domain names to the
  numbers computers understand (BBC News, 29 Sept.
  2006)
• Why are so many governments and other interested
  parties critical of the US-based ICANN?
• Read Unease over how the net is run
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4871638.stm

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World Trade Organization

• Established 1995 (replacing GATT), the World
  Trade Organization (WTO) works to abolish
  barriers to global trade. It has 150 members.
• When countries join the WTO they agree to limit
  their right to pass laws, tax, and regulate trade
  
• Read the BBCs WTO profile
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_p
  rofiles/2429503.stm
• www.wto.int

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• Main roles of the World Trade Organization
• administering trade agreements
• negotiating and implementing new trade agreements
• handling trade disputes between countries
• monitoring national trade policies
• It has been criticised for
• allowing powerful countries to govern global
  trade
• making poorer countries worse off
• giving MNCs too much influence on trade policy
• Read the article, Trade rules perpetuate
  poverty'
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3800085.stm

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Global development versus free trade?

• It has been argued that the UN system, which
  aims for balanced global development is in
  conflict with the free trade system of governance
  driven by non-UN organizations, such as WTO and
  the powerful capitalist countries (Siochru et al,
  2002 151)
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of this
  argument?

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The role of global civil society

• Civil society actors have an interest in the
  governance of global issues e.g. climate change,
  debt reduction, human rights
• Many governance agencies dealing with global
  issues engage with civil society organizations
• Some civil society actors are directly involved
  in global governance e.g. World Wide Fund for
  Nature works with the UN
• Read the article, Campaigners get into the
  business of business by Seb Belloe, which
  examines such partnerships
• http//business.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,5343019-1
  08725,00.html

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• For a thorough account of the relationship
  between civil society and global governance read,
  Civil society and global governance by Michael
  Edwards
• www.unu.edu/millennium/edwards.pdf

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To conclude

• A system of global governance is still evolving
• Some people see the UN as a sort of global
  governance umbrella organization
• Others see the balance shifting towards a system
  founded on principles of free trade
• Debates on global governance are characterised by
  a high degree of conflict
• The role of global civil society is becoming
  recognised

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References

• Edwards, M. (undated) Civil society and global
  governance www.unu.edu/millennium/edwards.pdf
• Held, D. and McGrew, A. 2002 Globalization/Anti-
  Globalization (Polity Press)
• Hirst, P. and Thompson, G. 1996 Globalization
  in Question (Polity Press)
• Scholte, J. A. 2001 Civil Society and
  Democracy in Global Governance. CSGR Working
  Paper No. 65/01, University of Warwick
• http//www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/csgr/research/w
  orkingpapers/2001/wp6501.pdf
• Scholte, J.A. 2005 Globalization A Critical
  Introduction (Palgrave)
• Siochru, S., Girard, B. and Mahan, A. 2002
  Global Media Governance (Rowman and Littlefield)