Globalization

Andrew Sandor

Poli480

Professor Shirk

Globalization Response

Since its inception, the sovereign state has been a creature of evolution. It has adapted and molded itself to the times, its people, technology, and international norms. As with survival of the fittest, states that have lacked savvy pragmatism and endurance, refusing to adapt and grow, have quickly become extinct. Globalization presents the modern state with unprecedented challenges; challenges that could threaten its sovereignty and its very survival. Still, the pragmatic sovereign state that is willing to adapt and grow, leaving behind archaic principles and ideals, will survive indefinitely in an evolved form of its former self.

The foundation of the sovereign state became solidified with the signing of the treaties, called the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648. It defined the sovereign state by regional borders, within which the state and its sovereign exercised: a monopoly over the use of force and the right to self-determination, and could not be interfered with by outside actors as all recognized states were now considered equal. The concept of the sovereign state and its purpose evolved over the following centuries. The idea of freedom and rights for states' citizens gained a strong momentum in places like England and saw state sovereigns give up power to their citizens and redefine their own identity. The forming of the United States took this concept even further through forming the modern democracy, which eventually became the world norm. The biggest force speeding along state evolution was technological innovation.

England's industrial revolution drastically transformed equality and the balance of power among states through its hegemonic control over world trade. It opened up markets all over the world, forced other states to conform to its ideals regarding international trade, and established the stabilizing Gold Standard. Technological innovation made the earth much smaller as it revolutionized transportation and communication through things like steam-powered ships and the telegraph. The international economy flourished from these advances, as well as England's hegemony. The international economy's integration reached its height during this period, and has not seen such a degree of integration since the kick off of WWI's shattering of the Golden Age.

Prior to and after WWI, empires began to die off across the globe, unable to compete with the age of the sovereign state. States too would face their own challenges, as WWI caused disillusionment among non-European peoples around the world. Demands for the right to self-determination abounded, creating civil unrest and disobedience against the European states that exercised their influence of these peoples. Meanwhile, states tried rebuild the economy that disintegrated during WWI. Protectionist practices, unfair peace treaties, a broken Gold Standard, and world disillusionment made this impossible. Again, here, one of the biggest problems came from technological innovation; chief among these innovations was the automobile. Companies like GE and Ford took advantage of tech innovations and began mass production under the umbrella of the corporation. The massive corporate entities allowed unions and workers to gain unprecedented power and influence and allowed workers to keep the cost of labor high. Corporations, technological innovations, and the state of the world economy bankrupted countless farmers and small business owners. Economic theories of the day were not designed to take into account multinational corporations that controlled a multitude of industries and capital, and that were able to manipulate and withstand traditional supply and demand theories. States were slow to adapt to this new world situation and plunged the globe into the Great Depression.

The rise of the worker lead to the Communist Revolution, and in states fearing the revolutions within their own borders, socialists were allowed a large influence in governmental affairs. This exacerbated the right-wing -- who gained numbers from those put out of work – and lead to extreme fascist ideologies such as the Nazis. The states inability to adapt to the new condition of the world economic system, handle new political ideologies, and seek to solutions to these and other problems through cooperation with one another, plunged the world back into war.

The United States suffered from many of these problems but adapted quicker than other states through FDR's New Deal, which sought to relieve the country's economic woes, and which moved to redefine the qualifications of a sovereign state in order to meet the demand for self-determination by non-European peoples via the Atlantic Charter. The United States' current status is the result of a sovereign state that is flexible and pragmatic, conforming itself to the will of people of the times, and resisting tyranny through rule of law and checks and balances. Its flexibility and pragmatism allowed it to emerge from both World Wars stronger and evolved.

In 1945 the U.S. led the world in the forming of the United Nations. This world organization facilitates the flow of information via the avenue of communication on the issues that dragged the world into war and economic depression. The issues include: security concerns, human rights, economic issues and policy, international palaver and discourse, mediation between sovereign states, qualifications for sovereign states, and much more. The United States help teach new states and old states the value and importance of adaptability and pragmatism. If the U.S. was the worlds poster child for a flexible state that can evolve and bend with the winds of change, then the Communist Soviet Union is an example of the strong unbending oak that breaks when the gale's onslaught comes.

The Soviets were innovative in their own way; if they had not been they would not have become the world superpower they were. Despite this, the state viewed capitalist individual freedom and free thinking as the source of Nazi fascism, and replaced the will of the individual with the will of the party. To question the party was heresy and meant death. The party became the religion and identity of the people. Even when faced with the undeniable facts of the party’s short comings and inevitable failure, people still clung hopelessly to its tenants. They were programed to believe that the party could never be flawed, and that any flaws came from themselves or others whom needed to be purged. Their life long struggle to bring party ideals into reality became their identity, as they gave up their own desires and pursuits for the good of the collective. Anything that sought to or would discredit the party or its ideals would not only mean that they were meaningless, but it would also mean that the entirety of ones life spent dedicated to those ideals was also meaningless. Because of this inability to challenge Soviet Communism's theology, there was no way for its acolytes to challenge it and allow it to evolve to meet modern demands. Thus survival of the fittest played out, and the Soviet state fell to the sands of time.

As technology and human innovation destabilized the global order of state sovereignty and economy post WWI, so too have innovations in communication and transaction ability via the World Wide Web and Transportation via the jet engine, threatened to destabilize the current global order of state sovereignty and economy. Technological advances have made trans-global transaction possible with the mere click of a button. Businesses and capital appear, disappear, and are traded at unprecedented speeds. The dissemination of information through things like social media have the ability to spark revolutions that overthrow decades old governments and regimes overnight. The speed at which things occur globally has caused the necessity for governments to adapt to keep up.

States like the U.S. have kept up with these speeds by exploiting the same technologies private industry and everyday citizens use. Government's spying programs, that collect large bundles of internet data and eavesdrop on foreign leaders, are one means states have used to adapt. They continue to find new innovations and technologies to gain an edge over other state rivals, and to keep ahead of the rest of the world. The ability to wage robotic war via drones from across the globe is another means states utilize the speed of networks, and bi-pass sovereignty restrictions. States also utilize electronic trading and free moving capital to increase profits and keep a healthy state economy.

Businesses have set up complex arrays of transnational strategic alliances in order to push past previous monetary limitations and foreign market barriers. Likewise, adaptive states have set up their own array of strategic alliances. These allow them to maintain regional presences across the globe, and provide economic advantages through treaties with other states. They also can put in place policies that bar competitors from those benefits; this includes private companies. States have even more complex strategic alliances than private industry. Furthermore, the contract between the people and its democratic government has seen the people give more power to the faster executive branch, while limiting the slow legislative branch.

Globalization has indeed presented new challenges to state sovereignty, and we have seen many states fall to those challenges. Still, despite the rise of different international organizations, trans-global businesses, and even threats provided by individual non-affiliated persons, states that continue to stay pragmatic and to adapt and grow, will be around indefinitely. This does not mean that it will exist in the exact form it is now. Instead it will evolve with the times, and grow into a superior organism that can keep the basic symmetry that exists between the political and economic organization of the sovereign state and state markets. The balance between states and the private industries will continue into the foreseeable future. The growth of international organizations does not show the weakening of the state, but instead show better communication between states. This communication insures the states survival, by staving off debilitating wars and economic integrity. The sovereign states of the future will not be denigrated to a small piece of some feudal pie, but will instead maintain their important prominent role in the future of the world.