International Integration: Economic Integration Between Countries - Research Paper Example

Foreign Policy Analysis Analyse the different meanings that can be given to the notion of “foreign policy”. Give reasons behind your analysis. Defining Foreign Policy Introduction: The relevance of a foreign policy implemented by a country lies in the way it interacts with other countries. Starting with a general definition of the term, a foreign policy is a set of political goals seeking to outline how a particular country will interact with other countries of the world. In other words, foreign policies are generally developed in order to help protect the national interest, national security, socio-political prospects and economic prosperity of a country. This further leads to the issue of international cooperation among various nations. In this context, the success or failure of such cooperation depends on the success or failure of the foreign policies exchanged between nations. Focusing on the current scenario of international politics, foreign policies can occur as a result of mutual international cooperation, or political exploitation leading to even war. For instance, the political mayhem in Iraq can be described by means of analysing its foreign policies depicting a diverse picture of the country along with its various political parties, coalitions and other military disagreements. This section attempts to discuss the notion of foreign policy in general. Current political scenario on the international platform strongly advocates for the rapid rise in the importance of foreign policy. This further highlights the need to analyse the various meanings associated with the notion of foreign policy. This section tries to precisely describe the different connotations of foreign policy along with a number of examples from the foreign policies of various nations. The most important point in this analysis is to understand the basic issues and objectives of foreign policies with regard to its increasing complicated nature across countries. Defining foreign policy: Various connotations Understanding the notion of foreign policy involves its applications in specific case studies. That is to say, the theory of foreign policy can best be described in terms of some empirical examples. While defining the concept of foreign policy, the issue of ethics has a significant role to play. Ethics is further associated with the concepts of human rights and ‘mutual respect’ (Smith and Light, 2001). In this context, ethics is related to ethical behaviour, that is, behaviour in accordance with a set of moral rules incorporated with natural as well as universal laws. Along with these moral rules, the aspect of virtue is also included. That is to say, in the words of Smith and Light (2001), “the focus is not so much on what people ought to do when faced with characteristic moral dilemmas, but rather what sort of lives they ought to live, what sort of people they ought to be, on the principle that the virtuous individual will, by definition, know what to do when presented with a moral dilemma.” (p. 20) Starting with the early efforts of foreign policy change and restructure, one of the most significant works is by James Rosenau in the 1970s. His study of political adaptation argues that our understanding of politics can be deepened and broadened by treating political phenomena as ‘forms of human adaptation’ (Rosati, Hagan and Sampson, 1994). The political organism of a country is constantly experiencing change in response to both internal developments as well as external circumstances. As Rosenau points out, apart from the nation-state being the main actor in foreign policy change, there are a number of other political actors being involved in this adaptation including political parties, legislatures, cabinets, international organizations, revolutionary movements, and so on. In other words, a foreign policy can be considered as a mechanism for the nation to adapt to changes in its environment. Changes in such policies depend on the government’s organisms to balance the internal tensions as well as external demands. In this way, decision making in foreign policy is influenced by the connection between the adaptive behaviour of a society and its consequences on the decision makers. Exploring the history of foreign policies in recent politics, the significance of foreign policy implementation has witnessed crucial change during the last phase of the 1980s. Experts have identified a number of factors, rather political events, influencing this considerable turbulence and change the world experienced during this period: the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev, ‘perestroika’, and ‘glasnost’ in the Soviet Union, the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, the unification of Germany, political integration of the European Community, the development of the Palestinian intifada, the easing of apartheid in South Africa, the growth of democratization in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, rise of Japan in world economy, global politics of oil, the Iranian revolution, to name a few (Rosati, Hagan and Sampson, 1994). All these crucial happenings and changes in world politics have significantly influenced concurrent shifts in the development as well as implementation of foreign policy among nations across the world. This has further highlighted the aspect of foreign policies of different nations such as Indo-US foreign policy, Iraq-US foreign policy, Indo-Pak foreign policy, and so on. In this context, it is important to discuss the various foreign policy changes and international strategic partnerships happened over the past couple of decades on the broader platform of world politics. Coming to the foreign policy analysis of the United Kingdom, Held and Mepham (2007) discuss at length the distinctively progressive perspective of UK foreign policy in the context of changing global trends. Before going into any further details, it is important to understand what progressive foreign policy is actually about. A progressive approach to foreign policy includes a wide range of concepts and ideas such as human rights, democracy, social justice, sustainability, international rule(s) of law, and multilateralism. The basic objective in a progressive foreign policy is to support the idea of the existence of basic universal values. That is to say, experts of the progressive foreign policy argue that the world should be considered as a single moral realm where every individual regardless of his or her nationality, class, race or gender is equally respected and considered. Therefore, an appropriate definition of a progressive approach to foreign policy should be developed on the basis of a strong commitment to universal values as well as to the idea of global justice. Talking about the foreign policy of the UK with regard to committing to the cause of human rights, the UK’s Department for International Development as well as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are actively involved in supporting human rights by means of implementing reform policies in legal systems, prisons, police and security forces against issues like death penalty, human trafficking and bonded labour while supporting freedom of expression, women’s rights and the rights of children. Based on the New Labour’s foreign policy, the United Kingdom has “banned anti-personnel landmines, backed reforms to the United Nations, supported the establishment and operation of the International Criminal Court and pressed for an International Arms Trade Treaty, setting common standards governing the transfer of arms and military equipment internationally.” (Held and Mepham, 2007, p. 8) All of these government-initiated implementations are wholly consistent with a progressive approach to a foreign policy. While analysing the effectiveness of a foreign policy, an extensive political calculation is the much needed requirement for a government. In this context, the flexibility of New Labour’s foreign policy is relevant to mention. As the policy has been fully committed to human rights thus supporting progressive politics, it also has a significant affiliation to the approach adopted by neo-conservatism. The best example is Tony Blair’s ill-judged support for the war in Iraq as well as for the war on terror executed by the Bush government. Evidently, Iraq war has been proved a disaster for Iraq and the wider region. But most importantly, it has been a foreign policy disaster for the UK resulting in its loss of moral credibility on a global ground, more specifically in the Middle East and the wider Islamic world. This has eventually resulted in the UK’s loss for being one of the strongest contenders in advocating human rights, the United Nations and the international rule of law. In this context, it makes appropriate sense to comment that a progressive and effective UK security foreign policy is a tough job for policy-makers as it involves important intellectual and practical challenges for them. This argument is applicable to other nations as well, because the image of world politics is constantly changing. Implementation of a foreign policy particularly in the UK is, to a large extent, influenced by security problems both on national and international grounds. The most prominent issue in this case has been the ongoing globalisation of world politics. This further has included a number of security factors that require serious political analysis before developing a foreign policy. Apparently, these factors are now affiliated to the idea of universal values as they are commonly found in most nations: terrorism, criminality, and the existence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The globalisation of world politics can be characterised by its complex nature while including the following features: floating coalitions, decentralised threats, existence of regional and global insurgent networks, shadow economies, and a wide range of transborder flaws. Therefore, in order to understand the complexity of the various approaches to foreign policy, it is relevant to realise that global security environment in the UK is clearly an amalgamation of various other elements. In terms of discussing the foreign policy of the United States, the most characteristic issue is the number of troubling defects associated with its foreign policies. After the demise of the Soviet Empire and the USSR, America is undoubtedly the most powerful nation in the world. Post 9-11, the rather self-assigned geo-political responsibilities of the US have been expanded, especially the scope of US combat operations in the Middle East and the larger Islamic world. In the name of war on terror and weapons of mass destruction, the US has invaded almost the whole of the Islamic world and other places as diverse as Panama, Somalia and Haiti. US occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq has attracted its own critical share of political opinion diversions from various experts. Ironically, the country does not seem to feature a well-defined security strategy, which is the main reason behind its critical foreign policy effectiveness (Carpenter, 2008). He further argues that “by adopting a more rigorous and judicious security strategy, a nation with America’s geographic and technological advantages should be able to make significant cuts in its military outlays, not increase them.” (p. 7-8) Unfortunately, this is what is happening with the US security foreign policy. The most essential requirement for a country’s foreign policy is to adopt a more sensible and cautious security strategy. This is particularly relevant to the context of America’s strategic step with regard to the Iraq war. The operational search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after dethroning Saddam implemented by the Bush government is a crucial and one of the most criticised security strategy of the USA. The failure of that operation poses a number of uncomfortable questions about the US foreign policy towards Iraq. As Carpenter discusses these issues, he makes some clear points: “If Iraq poses a serious threat to America’s security, why has the Bush administration waited so long to take military action? If Iraq wanted to give chemical and biological weapons to al Qaeda, why hasn’t it done so over the past decade?” (p. 21) Coming back to the aspect of globalisation, changes in world politics also feature a strong impact on the world economy eventually influencing the development and implementation of foreign policy. As critics of globalisation strongly argue, the internationalization of the world economy has resulted in slow economic growth while featuring the following factors: increasing of poverty, inequality and cultural dislocation, degradation of the environment, and so on (Henriksen, 2001). Especially, the policy of free trade has had a significantly negative effect on poorer countries. For instance, China’s permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with the United States have been a little complicated as its flexibility has fundamentally altered Beijing-Washington relations. Experts predict that the rise of China beyond its contemporary status as a capable regional power would pose the greatest foreign policy challenge for policy-makers in Washington. While discussing the elements of a foreign policy, there are a number of factors to be considered for serious speculation including: Geography Natural resources Industrial and military establishments Human elements such as population as well as policy makers, information, and so on. Further, these factors lead to the other characteristic features influencing the foreign policy of a nation. Gupta and Shukla (2001) enlist these features: Size Geography Economic development Culture and history Power structure Treaties and alliances Technology Social structure Public opinion Political accountability Government structure Situational factors Values, talents and experiences Leaders Ideology Diplomacy All these features are required to be included in the analysis of both intra- and international strategic relationships in order to develop a foreign policy. In this context, the foreign policy of India is significant to mention. The basic characteristic of Indian foreign policy is its independence. That is to say, India prefers to keep herself away from the alignments of power while focusing on the primary objectives of freedom and peace. Conclusion: The significance of a foreign policy lies in the fact that it plays a prominent part in the peace and progress of every country and region in the world. Keeping in focus the characteristic relevance of globalisation and universal rules or laws, interdependence can be considered as one of the most essential factors joining nations leading to healthy international relations. There is a wide range of concepts and ideas defining the term ‘foreign policy’ provided by various writers and political analysts. Gupta and Shukla (2009) quote George Modelski, “Foreign policy involves all activities of a nation by which that nation is trying to change the behaviour of other nations and to adjust its own behaviour in the international environment.” (p. 1) While discussing the factors relevant in the development and implementation of a foreign policy, rapid change in contemporary world politics has a crucial role to play in the decision making of both regional as well as international foreign policies. The cases of UK and US foreign policies on Iraq war and war on terror are significant here in the context of developing security strategy. This further affects the cross-country geo-political relations. Moreover, the aspect of globalisation is an active player in world politics today. The internationalisation of world politics also influences the internationalisation of world economy. This eventually plays its significant role in the development as well as implementation of foreign policy of a nation. Provided all the issues discussed above, the foreign policy of a country can be defined as an umbrella term which amalgamates a wide range of issues related to the government, society, power, politics, economy, and geo-cultural anatomy of the country in relation to the one with which the foreign policy is assigned to be implemented. References: 1. Carpenter, T. G. (2008). Smart Power: Toward a Prudent Foreign Policy for America. Washington: Cato Institute. 2. Held, D. and Mepham, D. (Eds.). (2007). Progressive Foreign Policy: New Directions for the UK. Cambridge: Polity Press. 3. Henriksen, T. H. (Ed.). (2001). Foreign Policy for America in the Twenty-first Century: Alternative Perspectives. California: Hoover Press. 4. Gupta, K. R. and Shukla, V. (2009). Foreign Policy of India. Volume 1. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers. 5. Rosati, J. A., Hagan, J. D. and Sampson, M. W. (Eds.). (1994). Foreign Policy Restructuring: How Governments Respond to Global Change. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. 6. Smith, K. E. and Light, M. (Eds.). (2001). Ethics and Foreign Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 7. Smith, S., Hadfield, A. and Dunne, T. (Eds.). (2008). Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. New York: Oxford University Press. 10. Analyse the factors facilitating international integration. Give reasons and examples. Understanding International Integration Introduction: The conception of international integration is fist and foremost associated closely with the issue of globalisation. This directs analysts to get a clear picture of what globalisation precisely is in order to understand the concept of international integration. A general definition of globalisation can be developed on the basis of the fact that it is a process of integration of several factors through a global network of communication, transportation and trade. In other words, globalisation integrates regional economies, societies and cultures of various nations. Another connotation of the term is economic globalisation as it is used to refer specifically. Because, globalisation is also a process of integration of national economies into the international economy by means of trade, capital flows, foreign direct investment, migration and technology. Above all, the term ‘international integration’ broadly refers to the process of globalisation mainly driven by a combination of economic, socio-cultural, technological, political and biological factors. This section attempts to offer a precise description of what international integration actually means. It provides brief discussion on the various spheres of this umbrella term while explaining each of them with regard to understanding the types and sub-types related to it. Moreover, the section also offers a brief literature review on the different actors contributing to the development of the term ‘international integration’. In short, globalisation has its own forms and sub-forms that are discussed in this section with examples. In this context, fields such as economy, society, politics, culture, technology, etc. are analysed in accordance with national as well as international relationships between regions and countries. Besides, the relative research will be conducted here in the primary context of foreign policy analysis, or in common words, cross-national relationships. First of all, it is important to understand the factors facilitating international integration. International integration: Various actors The impact of international integration is commonly evident in most of the countries in the world. If we talk about the fields and sub-fields it is associated with, the best way to describe it would be a simple definition stating that international integration is an umbrella term for globalisation taking place in almost all the aspects of life. Therefore, the players in international integration can be affiliated to as diverse fields as politics, economy, society, culture and technology. But a general conception of international integration is strongly associated with the fact that the term commonly applies to global economy and the international economic relationships shared by different countries. With regard to economic globalisation, international integration has become an unavoidable and powerful element in most national as well as international economic policy decisions. Global economic integration has been prompted by several developments since the mid-1980s including the following (Jovanovich, 2006): Deepening integration between the EU and North America Integration of the EU with developed countries such as the US and Canada, and developing countries like Mexico New addition of central and eastern European countries in the EU in 2004 Liberal approach adopted in economic policies in the developing countries Economic transition with a move towards knowledge-based goods and services One of the most significant developments in international trade is the creation of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). This is considered as a major step in recognising the importance and value of economic integration between countries or in other words, multilateral trade system. However, there are differences in opinion regarding the effectiveness of international trade liberalisation. Opponents of multilateral trade system strongly argue that, Integration does not help third countries Simple multilateral trade rules are being replaced by more complex ones Due to the existence of regional industry-specific lobbies, focus shifts from multilateral to regional issues Overall trade costs tend to increase due to multiple enforcement and operational costs Strong regional trading blocs may clash and provoke trade wars Deeper integration may result in introducing protection in previously unprotected business areas Regional trade arrangements may slow down and postpone progress on the multilateral system All these factors matter seriously in global economic integration. Jovanovich provides a list of reasons explaining why integration is essential among countries (p. 13): To secure access to markets of partner countries To secure domestic market-oriented reforms To strengthen trust among the participating countries To weaken the power of monopolies To use as a bargaining tool with third countries To be a powerful and beneficial strategy for small and medium-sized countries With regard to defining the term ‘international economic integration’, experts tend to differ in opinion. While the main objective of economic integration is to increase welfare of human community, countries can increase the welfare of the integrated group, or of some countries within the group, or of the world as a whole. According to Pelkmans as quoted by Jovanovich, “economic integration is the elimination of economic frontiers between two or more economies” (p. 17) While Balassa defines it both “as a process and as a state of affairs” (p. 17). Swann argues that it involves “the combination of previously separate economies into larger arrangements” (p. 17). Economic integration can be perceived as a process of developing healthy and stable relationships concerning the division of labour between different national economies. It is important to note here that although international economic integration is a highly politicised process, its objectives are more related to the economic systems of various nations rather than the preferential arguments between their political systems. Nonetheless, the existence of a stable political system is an essential requirement for the effectiveness of economic integration between countries. For instance, a stable political system is one of the basic requirements for an applicant country for the full membership in the European Union. In short, international economic integration is a complex notion where a wide range of components matters, and this range varies from country to country. For instance, some nations include factors such as citizens, markets, production, consumption, commodities, services, regions, money, resources, and so on. Whereas others may contain only some of these components. One of the basic principles in international economic integration is equality of prices for comparable goods and services in all integrated countries. This equality has to be maintained and continued in all possible aspects of the integrated nations. The common objective of these countries is to adopt the process of economic integration in order to increase their level of welfare. Economic integration between two countries can be of various types. For instance, Jovanovich (2006) lists seven theoretical types of international economic integration: Preferential tariff agreement Partial customs union Free trade area Customs union Common market Economic union Total economic union Through tariff agreement, signatory countries mutually agree upon low tariffs on trade between them. In case of partial customs union, participating countries retain their initial tariffs on the mutual trade while introducing common external tariffs on trade with third countries. With free trade area, signatory countries mutually agree to eliminate all tariffs on common trades. Customs union is similar to partial customs union except that the participating countries take part in international negotiations on trade and tariff as a single entity. In common market, there is free mobility of factors of production while the participating countries agree on common regulations on the movement of factors with third countries. Economic union between the countries refers to the harmonisation of all other economic policies agreed mutually. Total economic union among countries direct to equality in prices of comparable goods and services. Exploring the history of international integration, trade liberalisation in the European countries in the 1960s was a significant development. Before the integration process, there was tariff disparity on large scale among the European countries. The formation of the European Economic Community was an important step as it was established to create a common market for the European countries. As the community continued to grow bigger and larger, their schedule for reducing internal tariff started to take place. The theoretical types of economic integration mentioned earlier in this paper (see Jovanovich’s list above) have been featured to happen in this community during the period between early 1960s and late 1970s. Bourdet (1988) provides a chronological record of the important events in the formation of EEC (European Economic Community): “The gradual dismantling of internal tariffs began on 1 January 1959 and was completed on 1 July 1968...in order to harmonise their customs systems with third countries, the EEC members agreed on a common external tariff equal to the un-weighted arithmetic average of the pre-union tariffs applied on each of the six member countries on 1 January 1957.” (p. 17-18) In other words, the gradual alignment takes place in different stages. One of the important factors influencing the implications of international economic integration is the issue of socio-cultural diversity and its relationship with economic integration. Guerrieri et al (2005) discuss at length the relationship between cultural diversity and international economic integration with regard to the effectiveness of global governance of the audio-visual sector. Audio-visual products are considered as one of the most significant expressions of cultural activity in any society, industry and nation. These products are the dominant source of information and entertainment for a larger part of the population in the society. The audio-visual sector is producing a broader picture of myriad cultural activities of many different representative societies and nations across the world. For instance, motion pictures - the most popular sub-sector of this industry - are the best medium of representing cultures. Talking about examples, India is considered as the largest film producer in the world in terms of the number of movies produced a year. But when it comes to the availability of relevant data, the US film industry is the dominant force. However, usability of the audio-visual sector is evident even in the developing countries. The significance of this sector is increasing fast along with technological advancements: “In the last few years, world audio-visual markets have been undergoing an intense restructuring process, driven by technological changes and characterised by increased concentration and vertical integration, as well as by inter-sectoral integration. Audio-visual firms are becoming a part of broader, diversified groups.” (Guerrieri et al, 2005, p. 3) Audio-visual policies play a special role in influencing economic integration between nations. Guerrieri et al (2005) describe the example of the relationship between French audio-visual policy and the GATT. Initiated by France, GATT Article IV on special provisions relating to cinematograph films allows all GATT members to show foreign films (mostly US films) in the cinemas of host countries. Technological progress in the audio-visual sector is further expected to offer French movie producers more opportunities to produce ‘cultural’ movies than the current technology. Increasing cost of investment in production and particularly in distribution makes the French film industry restructure its system to adopt new technological strategies. In this context, major Hollywood films have been produced outside the US to deal with the increasing costs in the US. This has also resulted in the US implementing audio-visual policies to join their forces with foreign partners. The role of new technology here is undoubtedly one of the most significant ones: “New technology will change this traditional balance between large and small-scale films. Digital equipment will reduce the costs of producing movies, while internet connections will provide access to viewers worldwide at minimal costs, hence reducing the threshold for the efficient scale of producing films and audio-visual works, a trend that will favour cultural movies.” (Guerrieri et al, 2005, p. 47) While turning to international economic integration, significant concentration at the basic level is important, that is, including the regional issues. In other words, in order to make international economic integration successful, it is important to take appropriate policy measures for regional economic integration (Robson, 1998). Four important points of difference between regions within countries and member states within economic communities are relevant here to mention (p. 232): Factors are more mobile within regions of member countries than between them. National economies are less open than regional economies. Members of economic communities have control over their monetary and exchange policies whereas regions within states do not. Redistribution of income within regions of member states through national budgets is more important than that within member states of economic communities. In terms of interference from regional issues, a large number of member states in the European Union (EU) have experienced a wide range of internal disparities over the past decade. There are different socio-economic variables along with other cyclical and adjustment factors affecting the member states and regions differently. Research evidently shows that cross-country disparities tend to narrow in periods of rapid growth while regional divergence gains its ground. The main objective of current EU regional policies is to reduce disparities between the regions and the backwardness of the less favoured regions, as well as to promote cohesion. Current EU regional policies focus on investment funds for infrastructure (transport, telecommunications, energy, water supply, etc.), human resources and productive investment. Integrated planning is being introduced into regional policy. The overall objective of the strategic policy making decisions is the effectiveness of regional convergence influencing integration of member countries within the EU. Conclusion: International integration or in short globalisation commonly indicates economic integration between countries in terms of various processes of trade unification. The degree of economic integration can be categorised into different stages including free trade area, common market, and so on. While all these stages are significant to understand the description of global economic integration, focus on regional issues is equally important as on international issues (world economy, market policies, etc.). With globalisation taking place, integration is essential in all aspects. Therefore, it includes a wide range of variables that determine the nature of the integration. For instance, socio-cultural diversity is a relevant issue to be considered seriously in international integration of nations. International integration can be recognised as being driven by a number of factors including economic, socio-cultural, technological and geo-political factors. While international communities like the European Union are established, the main objective is to promote convergence of its member countries in all possible aspects. The development as well as implementation of foreign policy measures is based on a number of variables including infrastructure, goods and services, capital, labour, and of course, technology. Adoption of latest technological advancements is essential for implementing strategic policies, be it a regional policy or an international policy for the member countries within the economic group. One of the best examples of the usability of new technology is the restructured audio-visual sector in the major industrial countries like the United States. In this context, it is important to note that all the variables measured in international integration are correlated. Further, this correlation can also be established in order to develop better and more appropriate integration policies. Above all, a calculated amalgamation of all these factors is significant to make international integration a successful step. References: 8. Bourdet, Y. (1988). International Integration, Market Structure and Prices. New York: Routledge. 9. Guerrieri, P., Iapadre, P. L. and Koopmann, G. (Eds.). (2005). Cultural Diversity and International Economic Integration: The Global Governance of the Audio-Visual Sector. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. 10. Jovanovich, M. N. (2006). The Economics of International Integration. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. 11. Robson, P. (1998). The Economics of International Integration. Fourth edition. London: Routledge. Read More