The Westphalian order

How is the contemporary globalization altering or undermining the Westphalian order?

The contemporary globalization has been altering the Westphalian order as well as undermining its importance in the global stage with regards to various factors. The Westphalian system which has the ‘nation – state’ as its basic unit (Suter, 2006, p.1) has been undergoing a reconstitution and its sovereign statehood is affected strongly by the forces of accelerating globalization (Conteh -Morgan, 2006, p.1). The objective of this article is to analyze the various issues which are altering and/or undermining the Westphalian order.

 The fundamental system of governance across the world is the Westphalian world order (Suter, 2006, p.1). It has four principles, namely, territoriality, sovereignty, legality and autonomy (Mc Grew, 2000, quoted Lange hove and Costea, 2005, p.3). For the efficient functioning of the world order, the competence of these four principles is important. Functioning as nation –state block, the responsibility of the Westphalian system is to provide welfare for its citizens, the defense around its boundaries, internal order and civic engagement (Lange hove and Costea, 2005, pp.3-4). The role of the Westphalian system in the execution of these duties has been greatly affected by the growing importance of the contemporary globalization.         

The concept of globalization may be defined as ‘a fundamental shift of transformation in the spatial scale of human social organization that links distant communities’ (Mc Grew, p.3). Globalization helps the human activities to shift from the constricted boundaries of the nation-state to the entire globe itself (Valaskakis, 2000). Due to the rise of the multi national corporations, the globalization of production, which paved way for the mass migration of the skilled labour, trans- border movement of the entrepreneurs, technology etc, is introduced. Globalization happening in various sectors at a rapid speed makes permanent marks on the face of the Westphalian world order.

In the economic sector, the emergence of the international corporations has changed the perspective of the global business. Subjects of a country no longer produce goods only for the local market. People do not entertain thoughts of patriotism when they buy a product in the market. They are primarily interested whether the product is cheap and is of good quality. A consumer uses goods in his day to day life which are probably manufactured in countries he has never visited. The corporations do not want their product to have a national identity since it becomes a burden in the global market (Suter, 2006, p.4).

Since the national governments lost control over their economies and hence are unable to provide employment for its citizens, the transnational corporations move across boundaries and encourage intertwining of national economies (Suter, 2006, p.4) thereby creating job opportunities around the globe.

The real power to organize production and marketing of goods rests with the multinational corporations and hence the global financial markets get to determine to which countries the terms of credit go (Mc Grew, p.8). Hence the significance of the role of the national governments in the financial sector is greatly reduced due to contemporary globalization.

            At the same time, the economic restructuring of countries ‘in response to globalization requirements tend to produce civil strife in structurally vulnerable states’ (Conteh-Morgan, 2006, p.3). Due to free global market competition, the disparities in individual income have become greater which lead to frustration, anger and hostility in states (Conteh-Morgan, 2006, p.3). This makes the nation susceptible to state failure and collective violence. Structurally weak states like the African countries failed to support mercantilism and could not provide national support under globalization pressures which made the states work for the upper class at the expense of the lower class (Conteh-Morgan, 2006, pp.9-10). Globalization in the African countries induced mass unemployment, increased national insecurity and violent uprisings targeted at the incumbent governments leading to state failure and state collapse (Conteh-Morgan, 2006, p.2).

            Globalization has also brought about another major change in the international arena that challenges the sovereignty of the Westphalian order. Though the existence of the nation-state block is important for national identity and local governance, the Westphalian order is now transforming into a world order where world regions play a central role in creating international relations (Langenhove and Costea, 2005, pp.21-22) due to contemporary globalization. A region comprising of many states becomes the centre of governance and has the authority for policy implementation and elaboration (Langenhove and Costea, 2005, p.7). The regional world order makes a certain region a geopolitical entity with Westphalian statehood properties. ‘The European Union (EU) is the world’s best example of how a regional inter-governmental organization is eroding the Westphalian system’ (Suter, 2006, P.3).

            With the increasing awareness of the international human rights, the domestic affairs of the states can be intervened in the notion of preventing injustice, intolerance and violence thereby questioning sovereign equality of the states (Ingvarsdóttir, 2009, p.35). Though there will be no permanent damage done to the Westphalian order due to the intervention by human rights organizations, the order has to adjust itself to accommodate to the needs of the international human rights, the awareness of which is surely brought about by the globalization.

            Also the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly gain popularity over the national governments and influence governments in decision making process. People cease to have faith in their local political parties in power who fail to introduce policies owing to accelerating globalization. (Suter, 2006, p.5)  NGOs bring people together to work for a greater goal, encourage them to volunteer themselves to work for community welfare, raise concerns about public issues, provide continued care which the governments might prefer to ignore, (Suter, 2006, pp.5-6) and hence providing the people with an alternative set up to work out the social issues. The significant influence of the NGOs over the Westphalian system is strengthened by globalization.

            Many of such above factors brought about by globalization alter or undermine the Westphalian order. The overall impact of globalization on the Westphalian order can be summed up as the reduction in the policy capacity and policy legitimacy of national governments (Valaskakis, 2000). It seems that global financial system, the internet, global environment, spread of epidemics, genetic engineering, international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (Valaskakis, 2000) do not have borders and do not come under the control of any particular nation.  

            Globalization is making considerable changes in economical, social, legal, military, cultural and ecological sectors thereby altering the Westphalian order continuously. It is by no means to argue that the Westphalian order will disappear in the wake of globalization. In fact the sovereignty of the Westphalian order is, ‘a flexible but a resilient concept’ (Ingvarsdóttir, 2009, p.38) which can adapt itself to the changes brought about by forces of globalization. 

References

Conteh-Morgan, E, 2006, ‘Globalization, state failure, and collective violence: The case of Sierra Leon’, International Journal of Peace Studies, Volume 11, Number 2,  PDF e – book.

Ingvarsdóttir, A, 2009, ‘The Fall of Westphalia? Sovereignty of States Post Globalization’, University of Akureyri, PDF e – book.

Langenhove, LV and Costea AC, 2005, ‘Inter-regionalism and the Future of Multilateralism’, UNU – CRIS occasional papers, United Nations University, PDF e – book.

McGrew, A, ‘Globalization and global politics’, PDF e – book.

Suter, K, 2006, ‘Globalization and the new world order’, Contemporary Review, PDF e – book.

Valaskakis, K, 2000, ‘From ‘Westphalia’ To ‘Seattle’: Long-Term Trends In Global  

    Governance’, OECD Forum On 21st Century Governance, Expo 2000, Hanover  Germany.