In a world that used to contain many sorts of political entities, a unified nation-state mode of government is one of the direct consequences of political globalization. Their power is proved by the fact that they have absorbed all other units over time; just as the whole world relies firmly on institutionalized mass schooling, it relies on nation-states (Baker and LeTendre, 2015, p. 262). On the other hand, the globalization of issues that concern the entire humanity (hate crimes and terrorism, smuggling, and trafficking, etc.) challenge their might (Lechner and Boli, 2015, p. 231). There are several aspects of globalization that call to question the states’ ability to control and manage themselves.
Sources of Tension
Technological advancement and the cheapness of energy can potentially benefit the global business by reducing the price of some operations. But although the costs may be reduced, the governments pay higher prices in other respects: they lose control over their societies, which fall under stronger influences or the impacts from without (Strange, 2015, p. 232). Arab Spring can be a suitable example of how ideas swerve into the nations undermining their order. Other sources of tension include the reduction of trade barriers, which, although they facilitate economic growth, create misbalance between those who can go over transnational borders and the “human pollutants,” and prevent nations from providing insurance to their populations (Rodrik, 2015, p. 247).
Economic Challenges
Just as nation-states can be weakened by the ideational flow from outside the borders, they can be challenged in economic terms. Such organizations as WTO, IMF, and the World Bank seem to have more power over the states’ economies than the states themselves in a process endorsed by OECD flying the U. S. flag (Strange, 2015, p. 234). Although the world can resist the globalization processes (such as the notorious Seattle protest against the WTO in the late 1990s), the global market is designed to account for – presumably – global interests, wherein the nation-states have little to say.
The opinions of the non-industrialized and developing nation-states are the least accounted for, with the countries leading the economic liberalization choosing where to invest and move their businesses. Developing countries, naturally, appear to be an unworthy investment, especially if they are affected by debts or other factors such as population education, disease burdens, etc. (Glenn, 2015, p. 258). The pressures of the globalized economy, therefore, will be most evident and influential in developing states.
Globalized Crime
According to Mittelman, there is a number of tendencies that transform localized crime groups into more organized and widespread entities (2015, p. 240). Chinese smuggling of people, Malian drug trafficking and destructions of the vehicles afterward, Colombian and Nigerian illegal businesses based on diaspora and familial ties – these are few examples among the plethora of other crimes. Organized transnational groups can be structured differently and use varying modes of money pooling but the fact is that their rise was mainly facilitated by globalization with its technology breakthroughs and border thinning.
Works Cited
Baker, David P., and Gerald K. LeTendre. “World Culture and the Future of Schooling.” The Globalization Reader. 5th ed. Ed. Frank J. Lechner and John Boli. New York, NY: Wiley, 2015. 259-262. Print.
Glenn, John. “Welfare Spending in an Era of Globalization: The North-South Divide.” The Globalization Reader. 5th ed. Ed. Frank J. Lechner and John Boli. New York, NY: Wiley, 2015. 252-258. Print.
Lechner, Frank J., and John Boli. The Globalization Reader. 5th ed. New York, NY: Wiley, 2015. Print.
Mittelman, James H. “Global Organized Crime.” The Globalization Reader. 5th ed. Ed. Frank J. Lechner and John Boli. New York, NY: Wiley, 2015. 239-244. Print.
Rodrik, Dani. “Has Globalization Gone Too Far?” The Globalization Reader. 5th ed. Ed. Frank J. Lechner and John Boli. New York, NY: Wiley, 2015. 245-251. Print.
Strange, Susan. “The Declining Authority of States.” The Globalization Reader. 5th ed. Ed. Frank J. Lechner and John Boli. New York, NY: Wiley, 2015. 232-238. Print.