Mia
Probst
1st year class notes : Actors in World Politics
Overview
1. Lecture 1: introduction
2. Lecture 2 : international, global or transnational?
3. Lecture 3 : sovereignty and the nation state
4. Lecture 4 : transnational communities, migration and diasporas
5. Lecture 5 : transnational religious actors
6. Lecture 6 : *skipped by the professor*
7. Lecture 7 : transnational corporations
8. Lecture 8 : transnational organized crime
9. Lecture 9 : pirates and private maritime security companies
10. Lecture 10 : transnational hacktivism
11. Lecture 11 : transnational political violence
12. Lecture 12 : transnational advocacy networks
,lecture 2 (03/11): international, global or transnational?
I. the world has become more global
A. dimensiosn of globalizat°
B. globalizat° as a series of process
A. dimensions of globalizat°
- people (migrants, on the move) tend to think migrat° global south → north
BUT majority south → south
- capital (increase growth of exports : internat° trade + and + in internat° pol)
(rich to rich & non rich to non rich → internat° trade + and = distributed in the
world = + participants)
- politics (ex: russo/ukraine has global implicat°:energy prices, grain), world
looks at the news of the world, ramificat° of events become global
- culture: centers of cultural product° aware that the market + global & need to
cater to diff cultures
B. globalizat° as a series of processes
- deterriorialisat° : the process through which geographical territory becomes less of a
constraint on social interact° (ex: w technologies such as whatsapp)
- interdependence: the process through which security and force matter less and
countries are connected by multiple social and political relationships (kehoane & nye)
: degree of interdépendance between countries is massive (ex: eco: china has + us
debt, war in congo bs materials in phones)
- time-space compression: the set of processes that cause the relative distances
between places(as measures in terms of travel time or cost) to contract, effectively
making such place closer (david harvey) → faster way to communicate, travel,
cheaper
II. making sense of globalizat°
1. the international relation approach
dominated w realist paradigm of world pol, main in us scholars
- world divided in domestic/internat°
- states main actors
- other actors exist but negligible
- focus on relat° from units separate from all other disciplines = specific rules apply to
teh world of states (anarchy)
2. the globalist approach
- witness end CD, bipolar, nuclear threat = end internat° relat°?
- world divides flattnes (friedman) = undifferentiated society
- undifferentiated investment surface
- decreased relevance of states
- not in realism so global society
, 3. the transitional critique
a problem of analytical purchase
- relations develop between states and non state actors (+ influential)
- states adapt to globalizat°: transgovernmentalism
a problem of conceptualizat°: an either/or concept°
III. directions for a transnational approach
1. the “territorial trap”
we fall into a mental trap : 3 wrong ideas
- states have absolute power over territory and happened in 1648 (no)
- realist consolidate = domestic and foreign realms are separated (but they are not
separated)
- boundaries of the state are the boundaries of society (no) : italians in italy…
2. sovereignty is not absolute but relational
- rule existed in other forms (city-staten monarchies, empires) → nation states
could disappear in pol in the future (smt before & after it)
- territorial state is a recent invent° (19th) : wars, negociat° for unificat°⇒ family
of monarchies rule territories but don’t care abt culture, language
- transnational elites networks/transgovernmentalism
3. the space of power is not homogenous but made of networks
- don’t care abt borders (cultural exchange, cuisines = ignore borders)
- unified territorial control has a history
- effective territorial sovereignty is a myth
- sovereign states & border come as bundle → not natural
- power oprztes through networks & transnat° society
4. identities are not homogenous but multuple & hybrid
- nationalism is historically determined
- id never actually fit territorial borders → populat° w same culture spread in the
world (celebrated ect)
- globalizat° has reinforced discrepancy
- hybridity/diversity are becoming the standard
, key points
● Globalization means that the through people, capital, politics and
culture and increasingly interconnected across the globe.
● Globalization is not a simple, but a complex set of processes of de- territorialization,
interdepence and compression of time and space
● Academic theories have debated the disappearance or persistence of the
nation-state in the face of globalization
● This debate is grounded in problematic premises summarized by the notion of the
“territorial trap”
Three main concepts of international politics need to be examined:
– Sovereignty as relational
– Spatiality as networked
– Identity as multiple and hybrid
Probst
1st year class notes : Actors in World Politics
Overview
1. Lecture 1: introduction
2. Lecture 2 : international, global or transnational?
3. Lecture 3 : sovereignty and the nation state
4. Lecture 4 : transnational communities, migration and diasporas
5. Lecture 5 : transnational religious actors
6. Lecture 6 : *skipped by the professor*
7. Lecture 7 : transnational corporations
8. Lecture 8 : transnational organized crime
9. Lecture 9 : pirates and private maritime security companies
10. Lecture 10 : transnational hacktivism
11. Lecture 11 : transnational political violence
12. Lecture 12 : transnational advocacy networks
,lecture 2 (03/11): international, global or transnational?
I. the world has become more global
A. dimensiosn of globalizat°
B. globalizat° as a series of process
A. dimensions of globalizat°
- people (migrants, on the move) tend to think migrat° global south → north
BUT majority south → south
- capital (increase growth of exports : internat° trade + and + in internat° pol)
(rich to rich & non rich to non rich → internat° trade + and = distributed in the
world = + participants)
- politics (ex: russo/ukraine has global implicat°:energy prices, grain), world
looks at the news of the world, ramificat° of events become global
- culture: centers of cultural product° aware that the market + global & need to
cater to diff cultures
B. globalizat° as a series of processes
- deterriorialisat° : the process through which geographical territory becomes less of a
constraint on social interact° (ex: w technologies such as whatsapp)
- interdependence: the process through which security and force matter less and
countries are connected by multiple social and political relationships (kehoane & nye)
: degree of interdépendance between countries is massive (ex: eco: china has + us
debt, war in congo bs materials in phones)
- time-space compression: the set of processes that cause the relative distances
between places(as measures in terms of travel time or cost) to contract, effectively
making such place closer (david harvey) → faster way to communicate, travel,
cheaper
II. making sense of globalizat°
1. the international relation approach
dominated w realist paradigm of world pol, main in us scholars
- world divided in domestic/internat°
- states main actors
- other actors exist but negligible
- focus on relat° from units separate from all other disciplines = specific rules apply to
teh world of states (anarchy)
2. the globalist approach
- witness end CD, bipolar, nuclear threat = end internat° relat°?
- world divides flattnes (friedman) = undifferentiated society
- undifferentiated investment surface
- decreased relevance of states
- not in realism so global society
, 3. the transitional critique
a problem of analytical purchase
- relations develop between states and non state actors (+ influential)
- states adapt to globalizat°: transgovernmentalism
a problem of conceptualizat°: an either/or concept°
III. directions for a transnational approach
1. the “territorial trap”
we fall into a mental trap : 3 wrong ideas
- states have absolute power over territory and happened in 1648 (no)
- realist consolidate = domestic and foreign realms are separated (but they are not
separated)
- boundaries of the state are the boundaries of society (no) : italians in italy…
2. sovereignty is not absolute but relational
- rule existed in other forms (city-staten monarchies, empires) → nation states
could disappear in pol in the future (smt before & after it)
- territorial state is a recent invent° (19th) : wars, negociat° for unificat°⇒ family
of monarchies rule territories but don’t care abt culture, language
- transnational elites networks/transgovernmentalism
3. the space of power is not homogenous but made of networks
- don’t care abt borders (cultural exchange, cuisines = ignore borders)
- unified territorial control has a history
- effective territorial sovereignty is a myth
- sovereign states & border come as bundle → not natural
- power oprztes through networks & transnat° society
4. identities are not homogenous but multuple & hybrid
- nationalism is historically determined
- id never actually fit territorial borders → populat° w same culture spread in the
world (celebrated ect)
- globalizat° has reinforced discrepancy
- hybridity/diversity are becoming the standard
, key points
● Globalization means that the through people, capital, politics and
culture and increasingly interconnected across the globe.
● Globalization is not a simple, but a complex set of processes of de- territorialization,
interdepence and compression of time and space
● Academic theories have debated the disappearance or persistence of the
nation-state in the face of globalization
● This debate is grounded in problematic premises summarized by the notion of the
“territorial trap”
Three main concepts of international politics need to be examined:
– Sovereignty as relational
– Spatiality as networked
– Identity as multiple and hybrid
