Custom «Globalization and Power in the State System» Essay Paper Sample

     Globalization is one of the most powerful tools of development that the society today is using to further engage in international relation that both fuels their capability of affecting the world and gaining personal development as a part of a society  that aims to be a part of the world.  However, no matter how positive globalization may appear to many individuals in the world today, it could not be denied that many economists and socialists believe that the process of globalizing the world economy gives more power to the capitalists and the states that are most likely in direct control of the territories and economies of the major cities at present.

     In the paper that follows, an understanding of the major identification of globalization as it relates to the role of the states and how this affects the local residents of countries around the world shall be presented so as to raise understanding in the society. Considerably, this denotes the possibility of the fact that globalization, although noted as a major tool towards global economic progress is recognized too as the major agent of failure in terms of providing everyone else an equal share of the social progress of which they are promised upon implementation of the said system in the society today. Understanding how the different aspects of the society react towards each other under the effects of globalization shall also be considered during the topic discussions herein.

What Globalization is Based Upon?

There are numerous studies that pertain to the reasons behind the reality of the actual events of the worldwide events regarding the issue of underdeveloped countries. There have also been numerous theories designed through the said studies to be able to explain the reason behind the issue being discussed herein. For instance, John Degnbol-Martinussen said in his book Aid: Understanding International Development Cooperation, “the foreign relations between many countries worldwide mainly depend upon the economic status of each state. The ability to be n relation with other countries is usually dependent upon the fact that a country is required to have a certain considerable economic status in the world economy” (13). Saying this, Martinussen simply shows how the present society measures a country’s status through its economic status. This is mainly the reason behind the fact that there exist three divisions of economic class in the global setting of economic scale. Basing from the dependency theory, it could be identified that among the reason behind the status of underdeveloped countries is the fact that many poor sectors of the global economy remain as suppliers to the developed states. They serve as mere support to the ‘bigger or larger sectors’ of the human generation. The fact that proves the said theory is its basis upon the actual occurrences today regarding the oppression of the poor. True, to be able to remain wealthy, many developed countries depend upon the underdeveloped ones for raw materials and resources for several economic productions, it turn, when the products are ready, the underdeveloped nations tend to depend upon the produced items of technology or inventions at that produced by the developed countries making up the First World Countries.

On the other hand, another author named Robert Chambers in his book “Rural Development: Putting the Last First commented on the issue this way: “it has been obviously noticeable during the history of human civilization that the poor sectors of the society are the ones constantly oppressed. At times, the chance of being developed in some way is already lost simply because of the fact that they are always if not usually neglected in the global economic development” (56). It is indeed true that many underdeveloped countries have the capabilities of being developed. However, because of the lack of support of other developed sectors of the world economy, these underdeveloped nations are most likely set aside and are rather neglected in the process of implementing progressive systems for their economy.

The modernization theory on the other hand tries to show how much important developed countries are in the innovation of worldwide society. According to this theory, the capability of the developed sectors of the worldwide society helps the entire humanity to incur development. However, the current issues of worldwide development pertain to other truths, which are contrary to the suggested result of the said theory. Instead of being a sharer of development, the First World Countries tend to have all the benefits making it easier for them to become wealthier and the Third World Countries to grow even poorer.

This is proven by a paradigm of developing economies known as the Import Substitution Model. This model shows the possibility of many underdeveloped communities to gain progress even without the assistance of the developed sectors of the society. As seen during the actual connection of the divisions of the countries in the world with each other, the higher sector usually oppresses the lower sector. In this regard, it has even been proven that in many ways, First World Countries are even more dependent to the Third World countries in many ways. The only edge that the First World countries have against the other sectors is wealth, and this wealth could have never been attained without the existence of the sources and the raw materials provided by the Third World nations.

     In an actual setting, Fantu Cheru in the book “African Renaissance: Roadmaps to the Challenge of Globalization, commented that  “Africa, as a part of the Third World group of the economic scale in the world, it has been one of the most vital supplier of raw materials to the American regions. It could be concluded then that without the existence of African resources, the American regions would have a hard time dealing with their needs required for them to become a highly developed society” (15).

     This is mainly supported by the description carried out by the World Systems theory regarding the domination of the wealthy over the poor. In many ways, if the underdeveloped countries resist supplying the developed nations with what they need, the wealthy nations would naturally lose their power and the capability to remain in authority over other nations. Indeed, it is obvious that the possibility of the nations to become equal is rather large. Only that the existing economic systems in the world today is rather shifted to support the wealthier sectors of the society.

The Actual Accounts

The widening gap is also producing serious consequences for the richer nations. This is because of their growing dependence on the raw materials of the nations of the “Third World.” But now these nations have changed their attitudes about how their resources will be used, and paid for. An example of this was the action taken by the oil-producing underdeveloped nations, sending shock waves throughout the industrial lands. For many decades, the poorer oil-producing nations had to sell their oil at a relatively cheap price. Recently, these nations banded together and agreed to quadruple their prices. The shah of Iran voiced the changed attitude of such nations by saying: “The era of cheap oil is finished. We must add that the era of exploitation is finished” (James, 45).After observing what happened to oil prices, Chancellor Schmidt of West Germany stated: “The struggle over oil prices may be followed tomorrow by a similar struggle over the prices of other important raw materials.” That view was reinforced by the prime minister of Jamaica, which land is rich in the bauxite ore that produces aluminum. He declared:

“The underdeveloped nations can no longer continue to supply raw materials to developed countries on the old basis and, in an inflationary world, it is important to link the value of raw materials to the value of finished products” (Atlantic Magazine, 12).

The poor nations have laid down a clear challenge to the rich nations. They will no longer passively accept what the industrial nations have assumed for more than two centuries. That assumption was that there would always be cheap raw materials available from the poor nations. No longer is this the case. However, the dilemma of the poor nations is that most of them are not blessed with abundant raw materials. Most of them lack abundant mineral and oil resources. They are largely agricultural lands, and in bad years, they have nothing to fall back on to sell to other nations. Therefore, they will not have the money to buy the food and other things they need to help them in bad years. That is just what is happening now to various countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The Connection of the Capitalists With the Role of the States

     Governance over the basic participants of globalization depends on the different capabilities of the nations to accept the challenge of globalization itself. It could not be denied that governing the capabilities of small areas would take up so much time and attention from the national administration for governance, hence as a result, the state which has direct overseeing over the small areas of a nation have been given the chance to have power over the trade systems that their territories undergo every now and then. The idea is that the closer the governance is, the more effective it becomes in assisting the entire community go through a strong and effective transformational state for the sake of getting through with the need to develop further to be globally competitive both in the field of economics and politics.

     As it could be seen from the explanation above, it could be observed that somehow, the process of making it a point that the source of governance is transferred to the local administrations of the state denotes the possibility of actually assisting the smaller areas of the nation to cope well with the huge adjustments that they need to face as they try to take part in the different approaches of globalization. It is expected that as governance is brought nearer to the areas of concern, the development of the said places would likely result to a more productive resource that would provide each state the attention that it needs to make a great adjustment thus enabling it to become fueled up to compete with the major participants of the state in the field of globalization. It is also believed that through transferring the governing responsibility and the power to control to the local government administrations of the state, the more focused the national administration would be as it would be able to give importance to the larger scope of adjustment that the country needs to undergo through since the entire society then depends on the capability of the nation to handle the global changes that the entire country should face. Having smaller administrations govern over the states makes the governance more specifically denoted on each of the institutions included in motivating the people of the country to make changes in their own communities and even in their lives so as to be able to fit the demands of globalization as one group of people who are not afraid of advancement and who thirst for social development. If seen directly, this idealism does post a strong implication on the possibilities of globalization to the be best tool there is to put a state’s name in the map of global recognition. The power of the state to make its resources well laid to compete with all the other participants of globalization would actually make it possible for the entire nation to be competitive enough with other countries in the field as its smaller states are all empowered and well geared to face the challenges of global competition.

     Although this is the case, economic and social experts find it hard to simply accept the role and power of the state as simple as that. Apparently, the capability to rule given to the states and their governmental officials seem to have the negative points laid in it. What are some of these inconsistencies of the law that allows the state a chance to control over the resources and the people that it has within its territory? It should be realized and constantly remembered that in the process of transferring power to the state, the national governance is still in power to control the nation. Understandably then, this denotes that the power to govern by the states is dependable on the different mandates that are given to the officials as to what particular parts of area governance are they able to take part of which includes accepting economic contracts that they believe would give the boost needed by their state to become a part of the struggle of the country to be globally competitive. However, approving such contracts still needs to undergo procedures that still involves the participation of the national administration as the process would actually require of their permission to accept the proposal of investors as part of the economic force of the state to which they are to establish their businesses. The role of the state is to basically oversee if the approval of the contract on the national part would not endanger any resources of the state or in any case endanger the health of their people. These are clearly basic functions that give the state the power to question approval if in any case it would result to social or community devastation. Understandably then, the role of the state is supposed to be basic. However, with the situation happening around the globe today, there are times when the states become territorial and would be less interested in following the rules or the process of making things happen. Undoubtedly, globalization in this status becomes a tool of political power for the state. With the capabilities and the power to lead given to them by the national administration, they are now able to create possible decisions that sometimes does not undergo the basic procedures as required by the national government. It seems like as if in this situation, exercising power on the part of the administration that governs the state becomes as struggle of power between the state and the national administration’s sense of control which makes the entire situation even harder to compete with. This is the primary reason why it has been observed by economic and social enthusiasts that somehow, the giving of power to the states may create certain problems and issues that would bring about the downfall of a nation as it tries to make it to the field of global competition.

     The main idea of studying the way people live in the society is to see how far they have fared in making their way to progress. However, contrary to the aimed unified progress, development is usually shifted only to the “haves”. Yes, the world may be seemingly unfair, equality may even seem too impossible to be achieved, but through a unified effort, having an equal community could still be worked upon by the entire human civilization.

     The struggle for power in the field of governing the major states that participate in the process of empowering the entire nation to gain a considerable status that would be competitive enough in the global scene is indeed one of the most important issues needing attention today. If not given careful interest and assistance for solution, this issue may grow and rather increase the tension that exists between the states and the national administration that governs the country. This then would negate the role of globalization into a situation that causes division rather than that of unity in the community. Because of this, it is highly encouraged that this issue be resolved thus making globalization a tool of advancement for all and not just for the few ones who are less able to cope up with the challenges thus making competition more balanced for everyone else to participate in.