Inter-Dependencies Between States and Consequences of Regional Integration - Essay Example

The Rise of Global Governance Student’s Name Institution Date The Rise of Global Governance Introduction Many countries have reduced political, economic and social barriers that made it difficult for them to interact and exchange ideas. Some international relations experts have argued that the emergence of strong global governance systems will weaken the legitimacy of national governments in different regions. Human societies are becoming more organized into various economic, social, religious and political groupings which are likely to have a large impact on their destinies. The traditional roles of national governments have been to rule over their people with legal and military authority. Global governing systems make it possible for people to coalesce around various objectives to develop systems that make it easy for them to succeed (Mittleman 2000). This paper will discuss the impacts of various global systems on political, social and economic destinies of various nations in different regions in the world. Global Systems of Governance One of the most conspicuous global governments is the UN which controls different affairs in the world. The growing impacts of globalization have redefined the role of the United Nations and other global agencies in different regions in the world. As a result, regional bodies involved in various forms of global governance are expected to foster cooperation, stability and prosperity in various regions across the world (Dryzek 1999). Globalization has brought about various challenges such as human trafficking, economic problems, environmental degradation and human rights issues, which affect people in different societies. These challenges require all countries to come up with common agreements that outline how they are going to be tackled to improve the welfare of people living in different societies. As a result, this has made many countries to form organizations which have the mandate to champion various causes in different societies. Many countries have joined large regional blocs to champion their interests on the global stage. There is an increase in world trade between various countries which has necessitated all countries to form rules and regulations to enforce free trade and do away with unnecessary barriers. The increase in foreign direct investment has also led to the rise of corporate companies which have interests in different countries across the world. Some corporate firms are wealthier than poor countries which gives them more power to influence political and economic factors in different regions they operate in. Such firms control the means to capital production and they influence political leaders and other government policy makers to implement laws that favour their operations (Putzel 1997). As a result, some national governments are not able to take care of their citizens’ interests effectively which makes them lose the legitimacy to rule. Inter-Dependencies between States Global governance has created different levels of inter-dependencies between states. This has created a situation where states use different methods to achieve their own goals by expansionist strategies. For instance, for more than forty years, many states were either aligned to the US or USSR. The collapse of the USSR in the early 1990’s led to the triumph of capitalist ideologies over communist and socialist ideologies. As a result, the US was able to remain the sole super power in the world. The cold war period between the two world superpowers of the time led to various conflicts in different parts of the globe because they were keen on extending their influence to different countries in the world. These expansionist agendas led the two to battle over Cuba, Korea and Vietnam. This situation shows that some nations have a large desire to control other weaker nations to accumulate more power (Lewis 2006). Transnational networks are a key form of global governance. These networks are common in situations where governments form strong bonds with other governments in a region to harmonize laws related to labour, human rights and free movement of goods. The European Union is one of the common inter-governmental bodies which has managed to harmonise many governmental functions of its member states. As a result, the regional body has a single economic union for all its member states where labour and human rights laws are harmonised. The regional government has also encouraged member states to allow the free movement of goods and capital across their borders (Karns & Mingst 2009). This has encouraged Europeans from different countries to interact freely without getting restricted by their political borders. This has made the EU one of the most powerful regional bodies in the world. It has managed to unite different European countries with common laws and protocols, a factor that has encouraged greater integration on the continent. Consequences of Regional Integration However, the increase in regional integration being witnessed in some continents has other risks that threaten harmonious coexistence between nations. In some instances, the economically dominant countries may feel that they are being short-changed by their poorer counterparts in such arrangements. Citizens of such countries may not be willing to open up their borders to allow other people seeking new job opportunities to enter their countries. They become resentful towards foreigners because they feel that they are taking advantage of the hospitality shown to them by their hosts (Stokke & Hønneland 2007). As a result, this makes them feel that their identity as defined through their nationhood is threatened by the influx of foreigners from other countries. This makes it difficult for regional governance bodies to gain acceptance and legitimacy in different countries. Government officials of various countries who meet to discuss different agenda are more interested in economic and political stability more than anything else. This makes them meet after specific periods of time to discuss different agendas which impact on their countries. The G-20 meetings comprise the most developed nations and emerging economies from different continents (Najam 2003). In these meetings, G- 20 member countries are represented by their heads of state together with senior state officials. The G-20 mostly looks at creating a stable economic environment across the world to limit international economic crisis from taking place. They meet to take action against different political issues which threaten the stability of various nations across the world. However, such meetings are looked at with a lot of suspicion from other poor countries due to a variety of reasons (Najam 2003). Rich western nations influence global governance systems by coming up with resolutions for global security issues through the UN Security Council and other global bodies. The UN Security Council is controlled by five permanent members who have veto power against decisions made regarding various global security matters. For instance China and Russia have traditionally vetoed many resolutions passed by other permanent members of the UN Security Council. The US, France and Britain has on many occasions made similar decisions to take action against some world leaders who violate internationally recognised peace standards (Stone, 2008). This has made it difficult for the UN to take action to end people’s suffering in various humanitarian conflicts that happen in various places across the world. However, some nations prefer not to include the UN in their internal affairs because they feel that this gives an opportunity to western nations to impose unreasonable conditions on them. Rich nations have also been accused of interfering in the economic management of poor countries which depend on donor aid. As a result, poor countries have been forced to implement laws that do not advance the interests of their citizens. Many of them have lost their national sovereign power that enables them make their own decisions. The economic destiny of such countries is normally combined with their political destiny and as a result, donor aid has been offered with external conditions attached to them (Slaughter 2004). Even though there is a lot of foreign aid which had been given to poor countries, citizens from these countries have felt that their governments give up control of important national systems to more powerful foreign countries. As a result, this makes them feel that their governments lack legitimacy and willingness to perform their political as well as economic functions. Global governance has created challenges for some countries because large transnational criminal syndicates have taken advantage of weak laws and territorial borders to advance their own interests (Najam 2003). For instance, in Latin America, drug cartels collude with corrupt senior law enforcement officials to traffic drugs to other destinations in North America and Europe. This has created a lot of challenges for many countries because they are not able to curtail the activities of drug traffickers who are often involved in dangerous criminal activities. The spread of transnational terrorism across different countries has also caused a lot of challenges for global security. Many countries have become victims to some terrorist groups which advance extremist religious, social and political ideologies (Beyer 2010). As a result, terrorist groups have developed cells in different countries that plan and carry out attacks against key political, social and economic facilities. This issue has been taken as a direct challenge to the legitimacy and ability of national organs to deal with various forms of insecurity within their borders. In conclusion, global governance has created a lot of issues for many states. Some global systems of governance have reduced the level of control national governments have over their own internal systems. Many national governments have lost control over their key national functions to foreign political and economic bodies. Bibliography Beyer, AC 2010, Counterterrorism and international power relations, IB Tauris, London. Dryzek, JS 1999, ‘Transnational democracy’, The Journal of Political Philosophy, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 30-51. Karns, MP & Mingst, KA 2009, International organizations: the politics and processes of global governance, Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder. Lewis, D 2006, Global governance and the quest for justice - volume i: international and regional organizations, Hart Publishing, Oxford. Mittleman, JH 2000, The globalization syndrome, Princeton University, Press Princeton. Najam, A 2003, ‘The case against a new international environmental organization’, Global Governance, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 367–384. Putzel, J 1997, ‘Accounting for the 'dark side' of social capital’, Journal of International Development, Vol. 9, No. 7, pp. 939-949. Slaughter, A 2004, A new world order, Princeton University Press, Princeton. Stokke, OS & Hønneland, G 2007, International cooperation and Arctic governance: regime effectiveness and northern region building, Routledge, London. Stone, D 2008, ‘Global public policy, transnational policy communities and their networks’, Policy Studies Journal, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 19–38. Read More

 

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