Chapter 10
Chapter 10: The Globalization Agenda
Chapter Review
Like the other main issue
areas of US foreign policy, the post-Cold War international economy poses
complex policy choices amid dynamic patterns of change. Globalization is not
the only influence on international events today, but it is a major shaping
force of our modern political economic system. Globalization has three key
characteristics:
- The dynamic of
globalization is the increasing interconnectedness of the world across
nation-state boundaries. This affects governments, businesses, communities, and
people in a wide range of policy areas.
- The multiple dimensions of
today's globalization makes it unique. While the economic dimension is arguably
the most fundamental, contemporary globalization also affects telecommunication
technology, and it also has a social and cultural dimensions.
- All of this poses a number of
major policy dilemmas. In the broadest sense, the policy dilemmas
brought about by the complications of globalization are the manifestations of
the challenges of global governance gap.
Globalization is neither
wholly positive nor negative. It simply is. The issues thus are how to
work with its dynamics, address its dimensions, and deal with the dilemmas
posed for international trade, international finance, sustainable development,
and other key related policy areas.
America carries a large trade
deficit. This trade deficit goes up when the growth in the value of
American exports does not keep up with the growth in the value of American
imports. Two of the principal components of this trade deficit are trade with
China and oil imports. America has a bilateral trade deficit with China of over
$200 billion, and America is strongly reliant on oil imports. America's
vulnerability because of this oil dependence was emphasized by the oil crisis
of 2008. Reducing vulnerability to the next oil crisis is as much if not more
about domestic than foreign policy.
The WTO plays an important
role in the conduct of international trade. The WTO replaced the GATT and was
designed as a significantly stronger multilateral institution. Whereas the GATT
always was more a set of agreements than an international institution per se,
the WTO has full legal standing and is very much a formal organization. There
has been much controversy within the US over the greater regulatory authority
given to the WTO, especially concerning the organizations' dispute
settlement authority. NAFTA has also been an important international trade
agreement. The agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the US created a free
trade zone among these three nations. However, like the WTO, NAFTA has been met
with intense debate within the US.
US goals for the
international financial system remain fundamentally the same as when the system
was set up at the end of World War II. The system as designed has been grounded
in free-market principles but with sufficient international management and
regulation to prevent or at least correct the imperfections of market forces.
The world economy was wracked beginning in the mid-1990s by a chain of
financial crises in Asia and Latin America. When a country faces financial
crisis, the IMF usually takes steps to lessen the financial impact of the
crisis. Though the IMF is the premier international organization with regards
to international finance, the organization has faced criticism, including:
- Concerns over the Washington
consensus
- Debate over the viability of the
IMF
- Questions over broader shifts in
international monetary power.
- The 2008 international financial
and economic crisis.
Questions over resolving
global poverty and sustainable development have also been more evident during
today's era of globalization. Attempts to improve poverty worldwide, such as
the Millennium Development Goals, have failed to make significant progress.
Though foreign aid has been an important part of US foreign policy for many
years, debates have arisen regarding how much aid the US should provide as well
as what form aid should take. The World Bank continues to be the principal
multilateral institution for fighting global poverty. Over the years it has
achieved many successes but has also been plagued by a number of failures and
controversies. One of the key concerns over sustainable development is global
overpopulation and world hunger. International policies have failed to improve
either situation.
Global public health is
also an important concern worldwide. Infectious diseases are the number one
cause of death worldwide. Diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis
in themselves are responsible for 25 percent of all worldwide deaths. The world
faces a threat of Diseases of Mass Destruction, and many organizations such as
the WHO and the Gates Foundation are working to provide medical aid and other
resources to fight DMDs. Effectively preventing deaths due to disease, however,
will require the joint cooperation of nations, as the SARS outbreak in China
demonstrates.
Global environmental
issues also pose an international challenge and take the form of six unique
types of policy challenges:
- They are a classic problem of
public goods and collective action.
- They require the balancing of
environmental and economic priorities.
- Issues of North-South equity
further complicate global environmental negotiations.
- Questions concerning international
enforcement are very problematic.
- The environment is also a peace
and security issue.
- A balance must be struck between
immediate costs and future benefits.
Global climate change is a
prominent global environmental concern as global warming threatens the global
ecosphere. However, there are other pressing global environmental issues such
as the state of the world's oceans, biodiversity, desertification,
deforestation, air pollution, and urbanization. All told, the questions,
issues, and policy choices posed by globalization are another area in which the
twenty-first century presents both challenges and opportunities for US foreign
policy.
We see elements of both
the old and the new in the foreign policy politics of issues focused on in this
chapter. The new is manifested by the much expanded and more influential role
that NGOs play; the old in the basic historical pattern of free trade vs.
protectionism being played out yet again in the making of U.S. trade policy.
Modern globalization has also sparked an antiglobalization movement that has
three principal characteristics:
- Political protest as a form of
political action.
- New groups becoming involved in
the policy making process.
- The trend is not exclusively an
American phenomenon.
NGOs have become
increasingly involved in globalization, and scholars Keck and Sikkink have
provided important insights into how NGOs work and what makes them effective.
These include:
- "information politics" - the
ability of NGOs to serve as alternative sources of credible information
- "symbolic politics" – NGOs have
mastered the art of politics as theater
- "leverage politics" – NGOs target
the actors and institutions that are the greatest points of leverage on a
particular issue
- "accountability politics" – NGOs
have positioned themselves as the "voice of the people" on many issues.
Trade policy has been
among the more politically contentious issue areas of post-Cold War US foreign
policy. Politics arises in each of the three key areas in the making of US
trade policy:
- Executive branch negotiation and
congressional approval of treaties and other trade agreements
- The promotion of American exports
and foreign investments
- The regulation of imports
NAFTA was a major
political test in US trade policy. A big protectionist push was made by NAFTA
opponents, but was eventually ratified by the Senate. By 1997, though, trade
policy politics had shifted sufficiently against trade agreements that the
Clinton administration was unable to get Congress to renew its fast-track trade
treaty-negotiating authority. Several executive branch agencies are responsible
for promoting American exports and foreign investments, including the
Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Trade and Development Agency, and
the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. The International Trade Commission
is responsible for regulating US imports.