Reading assignment 3 : What is the relation between politics and globalization?

Summary

Political globalization is about the post-national state process and the approach to the social world emphasizing transnational process. Political globalization shows the multidimensional aspect of globalization. The political globalization we claim can be understood as the tension between the three processes of interacting to produce the complex fields of global politics: global geopolitics, global normative culture and polycentric networks. The three dynamics of political globalization are reviewed in this paper around the examples of four social transformations: the transformation of nationality and citizenship, the public sphere and political communication, civil society, and space and borders.

1. The transformation of nationality and citizenship

In the post-statist world, in other words, the notion of a nation's declining state in the ‘new medievalism’ of the local economy should be replaced by the notion of a continuing transformation of the nation state. According to Robinson (2001) a transnational state has come into existence. The nation-state is transformed by becoming a functional component of transnational organization and a major agent of global capitalism. In this analysis, globalization reconstructs the nation around global capitalism, making it impossible for the nation-states to become independent. Thus, the separation of nationality and citizenship can be attributed to the blurring of the boundaries between national and international laws due to the influence of the global normative culture. Especially in countries of the European Union (EU), it is now more difficult for countries to gradually resist international law incorporated into national law. In other words, the terms of globalization have caused the loss of national sovereignty.

2. The public sphere and political communication

According to Habermas (1989), national media such as TV and newspapers are political and public. But the public sphere is now dominated by what can be called the global public. This means the global context of communication, not of a particular public. In particular, the aforementioned global normative culture plays a leading role in shaping political communication. The global normative culture spreads in many ways within the public sphere and is spread by many different kinds of social actors, including the state. Political globalization is most noticeable in terms of changes in political communication and wider changes in the public sphere.

3. Civil society

Political globalization is leading a new form of politics through transnational communities and networks. This is the ‘civil societalization’. Civil society is not based on a single principle of organization, but is organized globally through horizontal alliances and networks, so it tells us that the three dimensions of globalization are interrelated. The global civil society has resulted from the weakening of national and social divisions and increased global connectivity. 

4. Space and borders

The image of the ‘borderless world’ has long been associated with the idea of globalization.  The perception of the transformative potential of globalization has encouraged ‘spatial turn’ in the field of social and political science (Castells 2000a, 2000b; saving 1996). The concept of ‘spatial turn’ means a growing interest in the process in which social space is constructed and social and political relations are formed, as well as in a given environment. Boundaries between existing territories have become blurred and political forms have also arisen, such as global civic awareness that is not based on territory. As we focus on new spaces and new forms of connectivity, we can realize that space is not just a "given" coming with territory, but a composition of social and political relations.

In conclusion, the world created by political globalization exists in complex and sometimes contradictory relationships. Thus we can point out the implications of the dilemma these relationships cause and the tension between autonomy and global fragmentation.

Interesting point

The world civil society was most impressive in this paper. With the development of SNS diminishing the influence of traditional media such as TV, radio and newspapers, the state is growing on the basis of individual autonomy, not the rule of the central organization. In addition, the ever-increasing global connectivity connects citizens of each country and creates common activities. For example, like the "Black Lives Matter" campaign, which was hit by the recent death of George Perry Floyd, the current era is a global community without borders and a civil society with a growing influence on citizens, not the state. It was interesting that this reality was related to political globalization.

Discussion

Central organizations with continental systems, such as the European Union(EU), are said to incorporate national laws into international ones. Is this really the right thing to do?
Of course, it may have been drawn through many discussions with each country in advance, but such sensitive issues inevitably have the influence of powerful nations. No matter how much the current era is of globalization, interests must be considered in the international situation. Also, laws that apply to multiple countries will not be fair to all countries due to geopolitical and diplomatic factors. This curiosity may have arisen because I do not know in detail about the international law of the European Union(EU).