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ITM Master 1. Sem. |
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Internationalisation of Political Decision-Making
Transnational actors and international organizations in global politics • The concept of the 'state' has three very different meanings: a legal person, a political community, and a government. • The countries and governments around the world may be equal in law, but have few political similarities. Many governments control less resources than many transnational actors. • It cannot be assumed that all country-based political systems are more coherent than global systems, particularly as national loyalties do not match country boundaries. • By abandoning the language of 'states' and 'non state' actors, we can admit the possibility of theorizing about many types of actors in global politics. By distinguishing government from society and nation from country, we can ask whether private groups, companies, and national minorities in each country engage in transnational relations. • The ability of Transnational Companies (TNCs) to change transfer prices means that they can evade taxation or government controls on their international financial transactions. • The ability of TNCs to use triangulation means individual governments cannot control their country's international trade. • The ability of TNCs to move production from one country to another means individual governments are constrained in regulating and taxing companies. • The structure of authority over TNCs generates the potential for intense conflict between governments, when the legal authority of one government has extraterritorial impact on the sovereignty of another government. • In some areas of economic policy, governments have lost sovereignty and regulation now has to be exercised at the global level rather than by governments acting independently. • Effective action against transnational criminals by individual governments is difficult for the same reasons as control of TNCs is difficult. • Groups using violence to achieve political goals generally do not achieve legitimacy, but sometimes they may be recognized as national liberation movements and take part in diplomacy. • The transnational activities of criminals and guerrillas shift problems of the domestic policy of countries into the realm of global politics. • Terrorism may be particular to individual countries, have transnational aspects or be carried out by groups in a transnational network, but it is not a single political force. • Most transnational actors can expect to gain recognition as NGOs by the UN, provided they are not individual companies, criminals, or violent groups, and they do not exist solely to oppose an individual government. • The creation of a global economy leads to the globalization of unions, commercial bodies, the professions, and scientists in international NGOs, which participate in the relevant international regimes. • Governments can no longer control the flow of information across the borders of their country. • Improved communications make it more likely that NGOs will operate transnationally and make it very simple and cheap for them to do so. • NGOs from each country may combine in four ways, as international NGOs, as advocacy networks, as caucuses, and as governance networks. • International organizations are structures for political communication. They are systems that constrain the behaviour of their members. • Governments form intergovernmental organizations and transnational actors form international non-governmental organizations. In addition governments and transnational actors accord each other equal status by jointly creating hybrid international NGOs. • A simple concept of power will not explain outcomes. Military and economic resources are not the only capabilities: communication facilities, information, authority, and status are also important political assets. In addition, an ability to use the interaction processes to mobilize support will contribute to influence over policy. • TNCs gain influence through the control of economic resources. NGOs gain influence through possessing information, gaining high status and communicating effectively. TNCs and NGOs have been the main source of economic and political change in global politics.
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Contact:
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt FRGS |
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