Midterm

• The focal concern in this is the political structures involved in globalization. However, these structures, like all structures, are often better seen as flows or as encompassing sets of flows.
• A nation-state or a bureaucracy is often thought of as a structure, but in the main it is sum of the processes that take place within. Structures can be seen as "congealed flows."
• The bulk of this lesson also deals with political processes.
• Political Globalization


  The global flow of people, especially refugees and illegal immigrants, poses a direct threat to the nation-state and its ability to control its borders.
• Political Globalization


  The looming crises associated with dwindling oil and water supplies threaten to lead to riots and perhaps insurrections that could lead to the downfall of extant governments.
• Political Globalization


  The inability of the nation-state to control economic flows dominated by MNCs, as well as the current economic and financial crisis that is sweeping the world, also poses a profound threat to the nation-state.
• Political Globalization


  Environmental problems of all sorts, especially those related to global warming, are very likely to be destabilizing politically.
• Political Globalization


  Borderless diseases in Africa, pose a danger to political structures.
• Political Globalization


  War is the most obvious global flow threatening the nation-states involved, especially those on the losing side.
• Political Globalization


  Global inequalities threaten to pit poor nations against rich nations.
• Political Globalization


  Terrorism is clearly regarded as a threat by those nations against which it is waged.
• Nation


  A social group that is linked through common descent, culture, language or territorial contiguity
• National identity


  A fluid and dynamic form of collective identity, founded upon the community's subjective belief that the members of the community share a set of characteristics that make them different from the other groups
• State


  A new institutional form that emerged in the wake of the demise of the feudal system, offering a more centralized form of control and evolving an organizational structure with relatively autonomous office-holders outside other socioeconomic hierarchies, with its own rules and resources increasingly coming from taxes rather than from feudal, personal, or religious obligations
• Nation-state


  An integration of the subgroups that define themselves as a nation with the organizational structure that constitutes the state
• Civil society


  The process through which individuals negotiate, argue, struggle against or agree with each other and with the centers of political and economic authority
• Global civil society


  Dynamic nongovernmental systems of interconnected socio-economic institutions that straddle the whole earth and that have complex effects that are felt in its four corners
• Global civil society


  An unfinished project that consists of sometimes thick, sometimes thinly stretched networks, pyramids and hub-and-spoke clusters of socio-economic institutions and actors who organize themselves across borders, with the deliberate aim of drawing the world together in new ways
• Global civil society


  Nongovernmental institutions and actors that tend to pluralize power and to problematize violence; consequently, their peaceful or 'civil' effects are felt everywhere, here and there, far and wide, to and from local areas, through wide regions, to the planetary level itself
• International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGOs)


  International not-for-profit organizations that perform public functions but are not established or run by nation-states
• INGOs


  Advocates for any number of things, but they also routinely influence the domestic policies of states, participate in multilateral forums and institutions, promote interstate cooperation and facilitate political participation on the part governments and the public
• INGOs have several characteristics that make them invaluable in the global arena: they are often grassroots organizations and therefore are much more in touch with the needs and interests of their membership than larger, more formal, and more bureaucratized organizations associated with nation-states or the international community; they are often more effective in their goals than other types of organizations; and they are very good at garnering media attention in efforts to force more formal organizations into action.
• A turning point in the history of INGOs occurred in 1992 when a treaty to control the emission of greenhouse gases was signed as a result of the actions of a variety of groups that not only exerted external pressure, but were actually involved in the decision-making process.
• One of the notable successes of INGOs was an international treaty spearheaded by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). The treaty was signed in 1997 by 122 nations.
• INGOs are special interest groups and therefore they may not take into consideration wider sets of concerns and issues.
• INGOs are not democratic, often keep their agendas secret and are not accountable to anyone other than their members.
• INGOs are elitist-undemocratic-organizations that seek to impose inappropriate universal plans on local organizations and settings.
• INGOs are seen as annoying busybodies that are forever putting their noses in the business of others.
• INGOs often pander to public opinion and posture for the media both to attract attention to their issues and to raise funds.
• The treaty was signed in 1997 by 122 nations
• INGOs are special interest groups and therefore they may not take into consideration wider sets of concerns and issues
• INGOs are not democratic, often keep their agendas secret and are not accountable to anyone other than their members
• INGOs are elitist-undemocratic-organizations that seek to impose inappropriate universal plans on local organizations and settings
• INGOs have potential to be "loose cannons" on the global stage
• INGOs are seen as annoying busybodies that are forever putting their noses in the business of others
• INGOs often pander to public opinion and posture for the media both to attract attention to their issues and to maintain or expand their power and membership
• INGOs may distort the magnitude of certain problems in order to advance their cause and interests
• The focus of INGOs on one issue may adversely affect the interest in, and ability to deal with, many other important issues
• The nature of focus, and indeed the very creation, of an INGO may be a function of its ability to attract attention and to raise funds, as a result, other worthy, if not more worthy issues may fail to attract much, attention and interest
• Well-meaning INGOs can conflict with one another, such as those wishing to end certain practices versus those that see those practices as solutions