Lecture Series 2011-2012

The State in a Globalizing World: Problematic, yet Indispensable

Redefining International Relations

Background information:

The 2009-2010 lecture series ‘Common Goods in a Divided World’ has addressed the complexities the world needs to deal with today. Solutions for problems related to climate change, energy security, exchange rates, and communicable diseases are beyond reach of individual states and governments. New forms of international cooperation, and increasing involvement of non-state actors (corporate sector and civil society), are needed to find the responses to the common goods issues that are at stake in a globalizing world.

In our 2010-2011 series we focused on the theme ‘Global values in a changing world’. One of the problems addressed was that of the enforcement of global values and norms by states, which are in the current world order, despite significant power shifts, still indispensable in making international treaties and conventions a reality on the ground and providing global public goods.

The concept of the Westphalian state, with the state as an autonomous institution governing its territory, is crumbling under the pressure of globalization.  In the economic realm, we see a diminishing power of states via-a-vis multinational corporations. The decisions of these corporations where to move factories and where to invest are taken regardless of the consequences for countries. We see civil society movements using their global networks and connections to promote social change (gender, social justice, human rights, sustainability) in order to effect significant changes in power structures. At the same time, it is noticeable how resilient the national state is. In the financial crisis of 2008 governments were concerned about their national banks in order to prevent the collapse of the financial system. In the restructuring of the monetary agreements within the euro-zone the national interests of Germany as the strongest economy in the zone are clearly predominant. The result of the new negotiations on the euro-zone is a messy reality of common and national interests: a stronger position for Europe as an intergovernmental body and a stronger position for Germany and other well performing economies.

National interests are again high on the agenda. The changes in development policies in the Netherlands can to a large extent be explained as a return of self-interest in the development debate. National interests to secure an uninterrupted and affordable supply of energy and other raw materials are becoming a cornerstone of the foreign policy of governments in order to safeguard the economy and to maintain the existing standard of living. And there seems to be increasing pressure from people on the state to protect their interests. In the US and in Europet he debate on politics has become more nationalistic. The tea-party in the US, the Freedom Party in the Netherlands, le Pen in France are all advocating more protectionism at the expense of open international policies. The electorate looks at the national state as its custodian and its provider of basic social services: health, education, security, affordable housing. In the fuzzy reality of globalization, where it is not always clear who is responsible for what, people tend to look at the national state as the one to hold accountable for keeping society afloat. With diminishing capacity to manage and control what’s happening in the world, populations are having even higher expectations of state and government.

To what extent is the concept of the Westphalian state also the basis for statehood in Africa, Asia and Latin-America? The reality in large parts of Africa is that of artificial states, formed by colonial rulers with little regard to the existing social and ethnic patterns of society. And states are often absent in large parts of Africa: they do not stretch out to the peripheries of their territories. Here, self-management and self-organization keep communities afloat rather than governments. The so-called ‘failed states’ are the most extreme examples of this reality. At the same time, artificial as they are, African governments are not willing to discuss the existing reality and aspire to full and autonomous sovereignty in their territories. The example of the secession of Southern Sudan is sending shivers throughout the continent.

In Asia we see  the strong developmental state in countries like South Korea,Malaysia,Taiwan  and the more authoritarian state in China and Vietnam as two specific  concepts of statehood, combined with capitalistic liberalism in economic policies. In the Middle East the tradition of autocratic rulers is challenged by the wave of uprisings in the region, but it is very unclear what will the outcome of this process will be.  Authoritarianism is also common in the Central Asian region (Kazakhstan,Turkmenistan). In Latin America the pattern is diverse, with more populist governments (Venezuela,Bolivia), democracies (Chile,Brazil) and the central American region, that is afflicted by widespread drug-related violence.

The very diverse picture of statehood is a reality but at the same time the need for international relations between states is a necessity in this globalizing world. The closing conference of our 2009-2010 series was about ‘a workable world order’: what works in international relations. The big international UN-framework (look at Copenhagen) seems more and more ineffective to create the necessary international treaties to manage new global issues like climate change. Do we have to look for ‘mini-lateralism’: workable alliances of a limited number of countries that are setting the agenda with their agreements?

In the second lecture of the 2010-2011 series, Inge Kaul pointed out that today’s negotiations in the field of international cooperation are still dominated by individual countries that have as single objective, the pursuit of their own national interest. As international organisations fail to take action, Kaul argued, state governments need to be reminded of their responsibilities, not only for the governance of their own country, but also for the management of global public goods and the management of interdependence. Kaul outlined her concept of ‘responsible sovereignty’: to create a norm of living in a world in which we have a certain amount of respect for each other’s freedoms at the national and international level. This norm should reflect a key public good that fosters social cohesiveness and peace, and where states hold each other responsible for their actions.

The 2011-2012 series will look at how the concept of the state and its roles are defined in different parts of the world, and at the ways in which states cooperate with other states. The series will also look at other actors, including civil society and the private sector, which increasingly operate on a global level: What issues are dealt with at local, regional, national and international level: what is left to the private sector, and what role could be played by NGOs at the different levels? New models for international cooperation will also be taken into consideration.  Can we expect the national triangle of state-market-civil society to be replicated at the international level? Or should we move beyond this classic triangle? Is ‘multi-polarity at the global level’, suggested by Kaul, indeed the future?

THE LECTURES

14 November 2011   

The role of the state in the development process: Notes from Africa

Speaker: Stephen Ellis, senior researcher at the African Studies Centre in Leiden, and Desmond Tutu Chair Holder

The state has traditionally been assigned a leading role in the development process.  While views have changed over the decades regarding the relative merits of state intervention versus the private sector, the state remains the mainstay of international diplomatic relations and law.  It is the building block of the international system.  Yet of the United Nations’ 193 member-states, perhaps a quarter are widely regarded as ‘fragile’, ‘failed’, ‘failing’ or described with similar terms.  Many such states are in Africa.

Stephen Ellis has recently published a study of Africa’s place in the world entitled Season of Rains: Africa in the World (Hurst & Co., London, and a Dutch translation Het Regenseizoen published by Prometheus).  He began research for this book in 2008 at the start of the financial crisis that has shaken the entire system of international relations.  In this lecture he will consider some of the implications for the role of the state in development as seen from Africa. 

Paneldiscussion – 15 December 2011

The role of the state in development: the case of fragile states

Panellists: Seth Kaplan (NYU), Ruud Treffers (World Bank) and René Grotenhuis (Cordaid)

More than one billion people live in fragile states. These countries face great development challenges, and progress remains elusive. Poverty rates are higher than in other low-income countries and states are unable to deliver basic services to their citizens. Internationally, many attempts have been made to ‘fix’ fragile states, but most of these efforts were unsuccessful. Should development actors continue to assist fragile states in order to promote development for their citizens or must we learn to live with them? Should we continue to send more aid, or rather supporting them in building strong institutions? SID welcomes you to engage in a lively debate with development experts from a variety of sectors.

16 January 2012      

Multipolarity of states or regions?

Speaker: Alcides Costa Vaz, Professor of International Relations, University of Brasilia

We are moving slowly but definitively towards a multipolar world. The ordinary discourse is about Europe as regional block and individual countries (China, India, Brazil, Russia, South Africa). Is the multipolar world of the future a multipolarity of states or a multipolarity of regions? Will individual countries increasingly be forced to seek alliances in order to defend their position in international relations? Is it in the interest of the emerging individual countries to seek regional alliances (Brazil in Lartin America, South Africa in Sub Sahara, India in the South Asian subcontinent)  in order to strengthen their position? What are its implications for current power relations, for individual states and for global governance and how should this development be considered?

13 February 2012    

Regional Cooperation: the case of Europe

Speaker: Ummu Salma Bava, Professor of European Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

The European Union is long seen as a masterpiece of regionalization and aligning national interests. In several regions of the world it is seen as an example how to realize better cooperation and stronger representation in the international arena. But Europe is in crisis since the financial crisis of 2008. What seemed a successful process appeared to be weak because the lack of  supranational power to align economies and welfare arrangements. Is Europe at a crossroad either to speed up its economic integration with inevitably the handing over of more decision-making to Brussels? What could that mean for the role of the national state in Europe?

12 March 2012

‘All politics is domestic politics!?’

Speaker: René Cuperus, Director for International Relations and Senior Research Fellow, Wiardi Beckman Foundation 

This lecture will discuss the fundamental incompatibility between hyper-globalization on the one hand, and nation state democracy on the other. Following Dani Rodrik’s Globalization Paradox, the tension between the State and its citizens versus the global world order will be addressed, as well as the new polarisation between so-called globalisation winning elites and globalisation losing ‘localists’. Big parts of the electorates increasingly consider the nation state as the defender of the national interest against globalizing ’threats’ (migration, economic competition with emerging countries, energy-scarcity). The state is challenged to meet expectations of citizens to safeguard their national identity against these outside threats. Is the state squeezed between the expectations of their citizens and their national perspective and the reality of a globalizing world where national control is less and less effective? And is the disrupting revolt of nationalistic populism, a revolt against globalisation and the deterministic technocratic ideology of globalisation, a result of this mismatch?  How to arrive at a sane and leaner globalization which is not undermining national democracies?

 26 March 2012         

The State and global common goods: the challenge of interdependency

Speaker: James Cameron, Executive Director and Vice Chairman, Climate Change Capital

The demand for global common goods and services will increasingly challenge international relations. As resources decline and prices escalate, the interdependencies among countries for food, water, energy and migration will become a reality. No country can handle the issues in isolation. How do these changing interdependencies affect the concept of nation and state? Are national interests an inherent obstacle for good stewardship or can we develop a concept of interdependency where states can productively engage and negotiate in this resource constrained world?

16 April 2012           

Towards Multipolarity? New models for international cooperation

Speaker: William Savedoff, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development

After World War II, multilateral organizations were the main channel for cooperation by their member states. Many of these international institutions have been unable to address new challenges and are having difficulty adjusting to geopolitical shifts, new forms of civil society organization, expanding power of global corporations, and growing numbers of overlapping regional and subregional institutions. In this fluid multipolar setting, how can states, NGOs, corporations and citizens collaborate on issues that require global cooperation? Will states cede some of their authority to supranational organizations or will participation remain essentially voluntary? Are new forms of international cooperation emerging in which the role of the state may be secondary to other social actors? How might existing international organizations evolve to fill new roles?

21 May 2012                  

The relevance of the state in a globalizing world

Speaker: Tak-Wing Ngo, Professor of Political Science at the University of Macau, China

The state has until now been the main governing institution of modern society. However, in a globalizing world the role of the state is experiencing some contradictory trends. On the one hand, the rise of multinationals (the so-called “footloose” capitals), the increase in international labour migration, and the proliferation of transnational civil networks have eroded the conventional boundary and jurisdiction of the state. On the other hand, the global financial crisis, widespread market failure, the global environmental challenge, and conflicts over natural resource exploitation have highlighted the relevance of the state in dealing with collective action problems. In these circumstances, what will be the future role of the state? Should the state be strengthened as a strong actor or should it be reduced to become a caretaker?  

18 June 2012            

Redefining the state: Social change, civil society, and the role of the state

Hilary Wainwright, Co-editor of Red Pepper and research director of the TNI New Politics Programme  

In our rapid changing societies social change and innovation are occurring in a rather autonomous way. Companies and universities generate all sorts of innovation (life sciences, ICT) in an autonomous process of research and exploration, and social changes happen anyway. At the end of the process, it is often the state that codifies what society has already developed and  accepted. It seems that we will need a lot of innovation and social transformation in order to cope with the challenges of new scarcities, climate change, migration and demographic changes such as aging populations in Western world and population growth in developing countries. Has the state a role to play in these processes of social change and innovation?