Rodrigo Gonçalves
Economist and Political Affairs Specialist
Economic globalisation is the process of increasing economic interdependence of countries around the world. It is the result of the increasing integration of national economies through trade, investment, capital flows and the diffusion of technology.
The process of globalisation has been brought about by a series of dramatic technological changes, from the Internet to air travel and container shipping, and by economic, social and political changes. These included the end of the Cold War, the emergence of China and India as economic powers and the growing importance of global institutions such as the World Trade Organisation.
The globalisation of the world economy has led to the emergence of multinational companies, the growth of international trade and the spread of new technologies and ideas. It has also brought new challenges, such as the spread of global diseases, the displacement of workers by technology, and the growth of economic inequality.
But economic globalisation has consequences at several levels, and what becomes most relevant is at the political level. Here we have political globalisation that maximises global reach at the political, cultural and social levels.
Political globalisation is the process by which regulations are created to achieve global reach. Thus, a large part of the world’s countries agree to follow certain guidelines.
Viewed another way, political globalisation is a phenomenon whereby international mechanisms and institutions emerge to which more and more nations decide to adhere. In doing so, they promise to follow certain norms and comply with certain rules, for example in relation to the respect of human rights.
Political globalisation goes hand in hand with social globalisation, which is the process by which all people in the world seek recognition of the same rights.
Similarly, we must not neglect the fundamental role of technology that makes real-time remote communication possible. This has an impact on political globalisation because, should a country violate, for example, its international commitments, it will spread instantly.
Examples of political globalisation are the United Nations (UN), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The advantages of political globalisation are enormous and in terms of global development go far beyond what we could imagine. Political globalisation has the following main advantages:
It allows countries to cooperate to combat common problems such as poverty, global warming, malnutrition, pandemics, wars, etc.
Diplomatic solutions to conflicts between countries can be found through international organisations; in fact, the world is currently experiencing two conflicts (the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the conflict in Gaza) that can be largely solved through diplomacy.
Thanks to political globalisation, there are international bodies to which citizens can turn if their rights are violated. This can be extremely important, for example, if a government commits genocide against its own people. In these situations, we have Human Rights Defence bodies that only in the current context of political globalisation are strong enough to be able to mitigate some of these evils.
By being under the scrutiny of the international community, the risk of authoritarianism will be reduced, also with direct influence in the political globalisation that stimulates, more and more, this scrutiny. Moreover, let us remember that electoral processes in more fragile democracies often have foreign observers.
But it is not all plain sailing and political globalisation also has some identified disadvantages.
By entering into international agreements, countries give up part of their sovereignty. In other words, the government is not free, in some areas, to apply measures that go against previously signed agreements.
This loss of sovereignty can lead to discontent among a sector of the population, which is reflected in internal conflicts. This occurs mainly in contexts of economic or political crisis, and can lead to the emergence of nationalist movements and stimulate extremist movements, both on the left and on the right.
It can happen that countries with greater economic and political power achieve greater influence in international organisations, imposing their agenda and conditions, which has been happening with great influence of the American bloc, the European bloc, the Arab bloc and the Asian bloc. However, it is assumed that all countries affiliated to a supranational entity should be represented in it, in theory, with a voice and a vote.
They run parallel to each other, confuse in some circumstances and one influences the other. This is how we have to perceive, briefly, economic globalisation and political globalisation, which are key variables to perceive how the present has been constructed and, above all, what paths we can foresee for the future.
© All rights reserved
