Mains Practice Questions

Approach

• Give precise definition of 'globalization'.
• Discuss various dimensions in which globalisation has affected the role of state.
• Discuss the impact of globalization on developing countries.
• Conclude by evaluating the net effect of globalization and give a way forward.

Introduction

• Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology.
• Being multi-dimensional and global in nature, this process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.

Body

Globalization, both as an ideology and process, has become the dominant political, economic and cultural force in the 21st century and impacted the role of state in a significant manner.

Change in Political role

Globalization has changed the role of the state politically because of strengthened interstate relationships and dependence on one another. States were created to be sovereign but now, due to globalization, often give their sovereignty away to ‘pooling’ in conventions, contracting, coercion and imposition. This has led to increasingly similar jurisdictions across states and to power being seen as an economic rather than political progress because states now make political progression and regression together, causing states to become more developmental.

Change in Economic role

• Globalized economic changes have a substantial effect on the state’s role. The global economy has been created by online banking, stock markets and, largely, global franchises. The state no longer controls currency because of intangible assets and importation as well as online and electronic banking and a shared currency between many states, like in much of Europe.
• International organizations like WTO have a dominant role in influencing countries to adopt certain market initiatives.

Social dimension

• Social globalisation has created greater social awareness of human rights violations, child labour abuses and corruption. These challenges, in turn, affect public administration and the role of government. The major change in the configuration of the public-private spheres in favour of globalising the corporate sector has changed the leading role of government
• in the allocation of resources, the distribution of wealth, the stabilisation of the economy and economic growth.

Advantages

• By economic integration, it helps the government of developing countries to deal with major problems by increasing their economic growth, solving the poverty problems etc.
• The model of state and its functioning also evolves as a result of the free flow of political ideas.
• The government takes policy initiatives in the field of health, education and technology which are the direct result of globalization.
• Recent verdicts on the rights of the LGBTQ community in India are the perfect example of the changing role of the state in providing rights to its citizens.

Disadvantages

• Matters related to India's subsidy regime at WTO shows too much interference by the dominant powers at the world stage.
• Globalization facilitates the spread of new diseases in developing nations by travellers between countries, and states in developing countries have to rely on developed countries due to lack of capabilities of tackling these problems.
• Decrease in skilled labor in the developing countries because of easy mobility of skilled manpower to other countries having higher opportunities.
• Globalisation has led to economic inequality in developing countries.

Conclusion

In this way, globalization has changed the role of the state in many ways: politically through interdependence and independence of states, socially through the problems and threats of terrorism and deadly diseases, technologically through the media and internet and economically through the change from national to global economies. Globalization is often seen to have lowered the importance of the state, but in the end, the states that will remain the most successful in the face of globalization is those who adapt to the changes their role makes.