Lecture 11

Globalization & Global Politics

Nation- States States:

Political apparatus of government Legal system Military

Sovereignty: authority and power over a nation-states territory Political Economic Social

Food sovereignty: ability to produce food within national borders to feed the citizenry Film “Life and Debt” demonstrates how food sovereignty can be

lost through political policies imposed by actors outside the nation-state

Citizenship

Citizenship: rights and duties of individuals within a nation-states

Civil rights: rights under the law

Political rights: right to participate in elections and run for office

Social rights: right to a minimum level of economic welfare and security

Nation-State Building

From 1945 to 1981 over 105 NEW Nation-states became members of the UN Most of these “new” states were former colonies of nation-

states like Britain, France, and USA

UN declared citizens’ rights to the social contract as critical to nation-state building:

Everyone “is entitled to realization through national effort, and international co-operation…to the economic, social, and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and free development of his personality.”

Development Project

The effort to build these new nation-states can be referred to as the Development Project, whereby these countries borrowed large sums of money from other countries, private banks, and global political institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to industrialize using the West as a model During the 1970’s countries took on a large amount of debt

for development programs

Third World Debt While many developing countries took on

large debt, their position in the global economy meant that they were encouraged to focus on areas of their economy that did not contribute to economic development, like “cheap labor”

1980’s called the “Lost Decade” for developing countries Many countries sunk into debt due to failure of

development projects as well as corruption

The Debt Solution

As countries sunk into debt the IMF and the World Bank provided short term loans, but countries had to agree to follow their banks rules about how to reorganize their economy These are called structural adjustment programs

(SAPs)

Structural Adjustment Programs: economic policies that countries must follow in order to qualify for new World Bank and IMF loans Reduce public spending Decrease wages and focus on “cheap labor” Breakdown global trade barriers

The Debt Crisis Today

The world's poorest countries pay over $100 million every day to the richest countries, private banks, and the IMF/WB The poorest 152 countries owe over $ 2.5 trillion.

"I encourage … total debt cancellation for poor countries because, frankly, it is a scandal that we are forced to choose between basic health and education for our people and repaying historical debt." -- President Mkapa of Tanzania, 2005

The Global Economy: Who Rules? As global organizations such as the IMF and

World Bank gain more control over how the economies of developing countries are organized we can ask several questions: Whose rules are being followed? Whose interests are being served? Who benefits?

Power Elite

Power Elite: individuals who occupy positions of power in leading social institutions and make decisions that have the greatest impact on people nationally Business interests come first

Are we seeing the emergence of a global power elite? Representatives from countries occupy positions

power in leading global institutions

A Global Power Elite?

Transnational Political Organizations: politics w/out borders World Trade Organization (WTO) International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank

Transnational Corporations: business w/out borders Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are

corporations; only 49 are countries

International business interests take priority in shaping the policy of the IMF, WB, and WTO

Global Politics and Development “Sovereign” nation-states are now being

regulated by extra-state political organizations such as the IMF, World Bank, and WTO Challenges citizenship rights

Civil Political Social

Deterioration of foundation of democracy in nation-states – the state-citizen relationship

Does Globalization = Decline in Democracy? The decisions that affect our daily lives and

those of people all over the globe are increasing being made by institutions such as the WTO, IMF, and WB which are not subject to the democratic process

As you watch the film “Life and Debt,” consider whether the global organizations that support a power elite affect the rights of democratic citizenship that we hold dear