Skip to main content
Social Sci LibreTexts

12.6: Student Resources

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF
  • Page ID
    141545

    • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    Key Terms/Glossary

    • Bretton Woods System - a conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in 1044 to arrange and manage international economic relations after World War II.
    • Brexit - the term used to describe the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
    • Bureaucratic authoritarianism - the management of a country through a strong bureaucratic organization that excludes the popular will of the people, and where decisions are made by technocrats, or subject matter experts.
    • Digital immigrants - people who did not grow up with today’s technology.
    • Digital natives - people who were raised with technology.
    • Economic marginalization - an environment where workers feel like they have no control over their economics, and to a lesser extent, their lives.
    • Free trade - the unregulated trade of goods and services between countries, usually through the reduction of import and export controls.
    • Foreign direct investment (FDI) - the domestic investment by a foreign company, where the investment can be in the form of exports, the building of a production plant in the host country, an acquisition of a domestic company, or a joint venture.
    • Fragmentation - understood as the fracturing of established orders, be they political, economic, or cultural.
    • Geopolitics - defined as the study of the geographical aspects of political phenomena.
    • Global governance - the collective efforts of the world’s countries to find lasting solutions to global problems through the constellation of international institutions.
    • Global imaginary - refers to people’s growing consciousness of global connectivity, where people think of themselves as global citizens first.
    • Globalization - an overarching international system shaping the domestic politics and foreign relations of virtually every country. Defined by Steger as growing worldwide interconnectivity.
    • Glocalization - defined by Steger as the “thickening of the global-local nexus”.
    • Great Unsettling - earlier ways of acting and knowing that have been upended through globalization, causing uneasiness among people.
    • Immigrants - migrants who willingly and legally left their home countries to work and live in another country.
    • Intentional migration - migrants who choose to move from one place to another.
    • Internally displaced people (IDPs) - unintentional migrants who have not crossed a border to find safety.
    • International institutions - bodies of authority above the state that codify, maintain and sometimes enforce, sets of rules that govern state behavior.
    • International Monetary Fund (IMF) - an international institution that manages the global monetary system and provides loans to countries that experience a currency crisis.
    • Internet - an interconnected global computer network that allows for communication and information sharing that rose to prominence in the 1990s.
    • Leftist-populism - characterized by a combination of populism with some form of socialism. In leftist-populism, the ‘worker’ needs protection from globalization.
    • Market globalism - Steger defines it as a discourse where a “self-regulating market…serves as the framework for a future global order.”
    • Migrants - people who move from one place to another, usually between countries.
    • Multilateralism - the formal cooperation between three or more states on a particular issue.
    • National-populism - characterized by a combination of right-wing populism with nationalism. In national-populism, the ‘nation’ needs protection from globalization.
    • Neoliberalism - the driving ideology in contemporary globalization. It promotes free-market capitalist principles worldwide.
    • Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) - private, voluntary organizations that unite, usually for action on specific issues.
    • Populism - denunciation of the elites in a country and the idea that politics should be an expression of the general will.
    • Refugee - a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence who has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group.
    • Sojourners - migrants who temporarily live in a place & return to their home country. This included international & study abroad students and also temporary labor.
    • Supranational - where member-states agree to give up or share sovereignty on particular issue areas. The European Union (EU) is an example.
    • Temporary asylee - a person who intends to stay in a new place for a brief time, but is subsequently unable to return home.
    • Unintentional migration - migrants who do not choose to move from one place to another.
    • Washington Consensus - the collective efforts of the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO to promote neoliberalism. So named because the World Bank and the IMF are headquartered in Washington, DC.
    • World Bank - an international institution that provides loans and financial assistance to developing countries, primarily by funding industrial projects.
    • World Trade Organization (WTO) - an international institution that supervises the trade agreements between countries, with the aim of promoting free trade.

    Summary

    Section #12.1: Challenges and Questions

    States are no longer the only actors on the international stage. Given this, does it make sense to still study comparatively? We answer yes as the state is still the most important unit of analysis. This is evident in the recent pandemic, where management of controlling infection, vaccine development, and deployment has overwhelmingly been at the state level. Even so, the state is not immune to outside pressures. Pressure from above comes in the form of globalization. Pressure from below is through fragmentation. Paradoxically, these pressures have been present for decades and have been a recurring dimension.

    Section #12.2: Pressure From Above: Globalization

    Globalization is an overarching international system shaping the domestic politics and foreign relations of virtually every country. There are three disciplines from which we study the effect of globalization on comparative politics. The first is economic globalization, where the ideology of neoliberalism has been the driving force in the global economy. The second is political globalization where international institutions work with member-states and each other to promote good global governance. The third is cultural globalization, where the flow of people and the flow of information through newer technologies has changed societies and our role in them.

    Section #12.3: Pressure from Below: Fragmentation

    Fragmentation is understood as the fracturing of established orders, be they political, economic, or cultural. Fragmentation can take place at several levels. First, individually where people lose faith in the world around them. Second, domestically, where existing political systems are fraying. Third, at the global level, where nationalism and geopolitics are becoming more prominent. Fragmentation can also be understood through three disciplines. Economic fragmentation can be seen through the marginalization of those who have not benefited from globalization. Political fragmentation is evident through the rise of populism, particularly national-populism, which has rocked democracies, such as the US, the UK and Brazil. Finally, a wave of protests have swept over the world, originally stemming from the Global Financial Crisis, and most recently with the COVID-19 pandemic. Brexit is a good example of social fragmentation and the consequences that come from it.

    Section #12.4: Conclusion

    Comparative politics offers a wide scope of research topics, including but not limited to: studies of democracy, authoritarianism, different economic systems, the origins and outcomes of political conflict, issues relating to political identity, economic inequalities, environmentalism and climate change, and so much more. The impact of globalization will continue to be a dominant theme as various social, political, and economic forces affect individuals within, between and across states. In the midst of many critical research questions and lacunae in the literature, the field of comparative politics offers researchers and scholars the opportunity to delve deeper into political phenomena in deliberate and systematic ways; processes that can be underappreciated in the face of other methods which rely upon Large-N studies alone.

    Review Questions

    1. Which two pressures do contemporary states face?
      1. COVID-19 and Populism
      2. Globalization and Fragmentation
      3. Politics and Economics
      4. Migration and Technology
    2. What is Globalization?
      1. The driving ideology in contemporary globalization. It promotes free-market capitalist principles worldwide
      2. The formal cooperation between three or more states on a particular issue
      3. Understood as the fracturing of established orders, be they political, economic, or cultural
      4. An overarching international system shaping the domestic politics and foreign relations of virtually every country.
    3. What is Fragmentation?
      1. The collective efforts of the world’s countries to find lasting solutions to global problems through the constellation of international institutions.
      2. It refers to people’s growing consciousness of global connectivity, where people think of themselves as global citizens first.
      3. Earlier ways of acting and knowing that have been upended through globalization, causing uneasiness among people.
      4. Understood as the fracturing of established orders, be they political, economic, or cultural.
    4. What is Brexit? How does it represent societal fragmentation?
      1. It is the term used to describe the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
      2. Brexit has led to serious economic and political consequences at home.
      3. Both responses are correct.
      4. Neither responses are correct.
    5. Why are states still considered the most relevant unit of analysis?
      1. The state remains the central actor in international politics, as seen in the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
      2. The impact of globalization is best understood at the state level.
      3. It is where the negative effects of fragmentation are fully realized.
      4. All of these responses are correct.

    Answers: 1.b, 2.d, 3.d, 4.c, 5.d

    Critical Thinking Questions

    1. How have the forces of globalization impacted the country you live in? Do you think this impact has been positive or negative? Which one of the three aspects of globalization - economic, political, and cultural - do you think has been the most relevant for your society?
    2. Have the forces of fragmentation affected your country? If so, how? Has it been economic nationalism, economic marginalization, national-populism or something else? If not, why do you think that is the case?
    3. Of the two pressures - globalization and fragmentation, which one do you think will have the greater effect in a post-pandemic world? Will we see a return to neoliberalism and global governance? Or will we see a further fragmentation of economies, polities and societies?

    Suggestions for Further Study

    Articles

    • Birdsall, N. (2012). “Global Citizens and the Global Economy.” Center for Global Development.
    • Guo, C. (2021). “Globalization and De-globalization.” In M. K. Sheikh & I. Svensson (Eds.), Religion, Conflict and Global Society: A Festschrift Celebrating Mark
    • Juergensmeyer (pp. 175–182). Danish Institute for International Studies.
    • Stepputat, F., & Larsen, J. (2015). “Global political ethnography: A methodological approach to studying global policy regimes.” Danish Institute for International Studies.

    Books

    • Stiglitz, Joseph. (2002) Globalization and its Discontents. W. W. Norton & Company
    • Wolf, Martin. (2004) Why Globalization Works. Yale University Press; First Edition
    • Baldwin, Richard. (2019) The Great Convergence. Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press; Reprint edition

    This page titled 12.6: Student Resources is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Dino Bozonelos, Julia Wendt, Charlotte Lee, Jessica Scarffe, Masahiro Omae, Josh Franco, Byran Martin, & Stefan Veldhuis (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI)) .