Political globalization

Political globalization refers to the expansion and increasing complexity of the worldwide political system. This system includes national governments, their associated governmental and intergovernmental bodies, as well as independent elements of global civil society—such as international non-governmental organizations and social movement organizations. A central feature of this process is the diminishing role of the nation-state and the growing prominence of other political actors. The establishment and continued operation of the United Nations is often cited as a classic example of political globalization. Alongside economic globalization and cultural globalization, it is considered one of the three main dimensions of globalization in academic literature.

**Definitions**

Various scholars have defined political globalization in different ways. William R. Thompson describes it as the growth of a global political system and its institutions, which manage inter-regional transactions—including, but not limited to, trade. Valentine M. Moghadam sees it as a trend toward multilateralism, where the United Nations plays a key role, along with the emergence of a transnational state apparatus and the rise of national and international non-governmental organizations that monitor governments and have expanded their influence. Manfred B. Steger defines it as the intensification and spread of political connections across the globe. Colin Crouch offers a longer definition, noting that political globalization refers to the increasing power of global governance institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization, as well as the spread and influence of international non-governmental organizations, social movements, and transnational advocacy networks that operate across borders and form a kind of global civil society. Gerard Delanty and Chris Rumford define it as a tension among three interacting processes: global geopolitics, global normative culture, and polycentric networks. The book *World Federalist Manifesto, Guide to Political Globalization* defines it as the creation of a global governance system that regulates relations between nations and guarantees rights arising from social and economic globalization.

**Methodology**

Salvatore Babones, discussing sources used by scholars to study political globalization, noted the usefulness of the *Europa World Year Book* for data on diplomatic relations between countries, publications from the International Institute for Strategic Studies such as *The Military Balance* for military matters, and the U.S. government publication *Patterns of Global Terrorism* for terrorism-related topics. Political globalization is measured by aggregating and weighting data on the number of embassies and high commissioners in a country, its membership in international organizations, its participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions, and the number of international treaties it has signed. This measurement approach has been used by Axel Dreher, Noel Gaston, Pim Martens, and Jeffrey Haynes, and is available from the KOF Institute at ETH Zurich.

**Aspects**

Like globalization itself, political globalization has multiple dimensions and can be interpreted in various ways. It has been discussed both in terms of new opportunities for emancipation and in terms of a loss of autonomy and fragmentation of the social world. Political globalization can be seen in changes such as the democratization of the world, the creation of a global civil society, and a move beyond the centrality of the nation-state—especially as the sole actor in politics. Key questions in the discussion of political globalization include the future of the nation-state, whether its importance is declining and why, and understanding the emergence of the concept of global governance. The creation and existence of the United Nations is often cited as a classic example. Political actions by non-governmental organizations and social movements concerned with issues like environmental protection provide another example. David Held has suggested that ongoing political globalization might lead to a form of cosmopolitan democracy resembling a world government, though this vision has been criticized as too idealistic.

**Political Globalization and the Nation-State**

There is a vigorous debate about the relationship between political globalization and nation-states, particularly whether political globalization signals the decline of the nation-state, especially regarding sovereignty and political cultures. Hyper-globalists argue that globalization has so thoroughly reshaped the world that state boundaries are losing their significance. Skeptics, however, dismiss this view as naive, maintaining that the nation-state remains the supreme actor in international relations.

**Cyclical Theories of Globalization**

George Modelski defines global order as a management network centered on a lead unit and its contenders for leadership, pursuing collective action at the global level. This system is thought to be cyclical, with each cycle lasting about one hundred years and featuring a new hegemonic power. The cycles he identifies are: Portugal from 1492 to 1580 (the Age of Discovery); the Netherlands from 1580 to 1689 (beginning with the Eighty Years' War); the United Kingdom from 1688 to 1792 (beginning with the wars of Louis XVI); the United Kingdom again from 1792 to 2000 (beginning with the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars); and the United States from 1914 to a predicted 2030 (beginning with World War I and World War II). Each cycle has four phases, starting with a global war.