Globalization Effects on the International System

International System
International System

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Globalization Effects on the International System

PART II

Introduction

Globalization refers to an approach that engages people, business entities, companies and governments from different regions in freely interacting with each other in an effective manner. It is essential to consider the fact that the element of interaction between people from different regions is enhanced by particular parameters that are an international system. These parameters include information technology, international trade, infrastructures, engagement in business activities, the ideal of exploiting different resources from various regions and social media (Mehrabanfar, 2015).

These factors therefore remain the main elements that drive people from different contexts to cross borders with the sole aim of engaging in activities geared towards the promotion of a common approach to life. The second part of this paper therefore seeks to determine the manner in which globalization affects the key actors of an international system.

In particularly, this essay examines the way in which globalization affects the main actors in the international system. The essay does so through analysis and critique of the subject matter and not just by describing the topic, as well as through the use of pertinent real-life examples in illustrating the arguments made in the essay. Some of the key actors in the international system as far as globalization is concerned include people, national governments and multinational corporations that have their business operations in multiple countries globally.   

This essay also explores the topic further by analyzing the impacts and implications of globalization on different countries globally. Globalization as evident in the present day has largely been driven by policies implemented by countries in the international system which have served to open economies internationally as well as domestically (Zhang, 2015).

A lot of countries have espoused free-market economic systems that have significantly enhanced their productive potential and brought a wide range of opportunities for global trade and investment. In addition, countries have negotiated considerable decreases in barriers to trade and have created transnational agreements that are aimed at promoting trade in services, goods as well as investment. This essay will also clearly describe how this is affecting the main actors in the international system in globalization today. 

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How Globalisation Affects the Key Actors in the International System

According to Mehrabanfar (2015), the process of globalization has been determined to influence different human development, cultures, and environments, including political and economic systems. It is essential to understand the process of globalization and its effects on the key actors within an international system.  This gives a clear depiction of the manner in which the world is constructed by several changes in the social and economic lives of people (PP.24).

In this, it is therefore essential to determine that globalization is a powerful tool that enhances the course of the new worlds systems that represent the forces that are responsible describing the future of the planet. Globalization is in this case concerned with the economic, political, environmental, security, culture and health of different nations with emphasis placed in the status of different states (Qureshi & Jalbani, 2014).

It is however significant to consider that there are scholars who have different reactions in the interpretation of globalization, a factor that has seen some policy makers considering globalization as an essential element in the advancement of the world’s economy while other believe that this element places negative energy and serious danger upon the world’s economic systems (Baylis, John & Steve, 2001). In as much as globalization can be viewed as a contributor of conflicts, it has several benefits both at the state and individual levels.

Many observers allege that globalization is accelerating with these factors prevalent in the manner in which similar cultural practices have been created and the uniformity of markets.  It is therefore important to consider that globalization effects are very strong that they undermine the powers of international and national governance (Popa, 2014).

This element therefore assumes that societies are strongly connected in this dispensation as compared to the past and that change emanates from a single center that is then radiated outward through a uni-directional fashion (Nederveen, & Dasgupta, 2009).

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Impacts of Globalisation

There are several effects that emerge from globalization which impacts different economies of the world. The production of goods and services is affected by different elements of globalization. This has also seen the development of different approaches of production such as capital and other inputs and labor that are primarily dependent on the levels of globalization.

Additionally, competitiveness as seen in producing a good or service has resulted in the diffusion of technology that has resulted in the initiation of nations to other developed cities (Gaur, 2015). Having considered this, globalization is therefore ascribed as the force behind the efficiencies that have been experienced in affecting investment opportunities of different organizations within different nations and markets.

Investments are known to play a central role in technological transfer, formation of global investment and in industrial restructuring which have an effect in the national level (Luković, 2015). New technological advancements in different economies additionally remain an essential factor in globalization that stimulate competition and enhances the diffusion of nations through foreign direct investments.

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International Commercial Transactions

One of the implications of globalization is increased rise of international commercial transactions that have opened opportunities for cross border trade on both small and large scale.  Over the past, it is essential to consider that it was challenging to find developed economies engaging in trade with the developing countries. This was centrally because different economies were considered as superior to others, a factor that saw this economies gain big percentages in trade.

According to Francioni, Musso and Vardiabasis (2013), the manner in which organizations engage in international commercial transactions as that has seen the inclusion of electronic buying and selling depicts the manner in which globalization has affected trade in the entire world, a factor that depicts the impact of globalization (PP.240).

It is therefore essential to note that the perception of international commercial transactions also known as international trade can be viewed as an approach that offers a variety of business services to different market on both a small and large scale (Bourguignon, 2016). This concept has therefore been changed with the advent of technological developments, availability of social media, infrastructural development including the development of information communication technologies.

This has therefore transformed the manner in which people conduct their business functions and other affairs that relate to trade (Vadlamannati, 2015). Improvements in the way individuals move from one area to the other have also been enhanced by globalization, a factor that has seen the elimination of various barriers in the market.

Globalization as detailed by Faulconbridge (2008)  has provided a clear guideline in the manner in which people from different regions integrate across different markets with each other through the development of an established law system also known as commercial law (PP.185).   This according to the author depicts the fact that there are procedural laws that have been created as a result of globalization that regulate the levels people can interact for the sole purpose of ensuring that safety and the protection of the wellbeing of these parties that engage in international and commercial transactions are adhered to the latter.

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It is however essential to consider that Williams and Martinez (2012) believe that this approach does not create the element of free trade since it provides some restrictions through the developed laws that hinder international commercial trade to occur.

In as much as the element of commercial law remains paramount in regulating trade, it is essential to consider the fact that free trade opens different boarders that allows trade interactions and different activities that promote these practices (PP.79). In my view, I however believe that commercial laws are essential since they specify certain activities that promote trade and the manner in which individuals interact in this process.

States have additionally turned out to be interdependent through the implementation of free-trade that has seen the opening of national boarders for the purposes of trade.  As a result of globalization, companies now have an easier way of setting up branches and different production sites in other nations where the market conditions remain favorable for a company (Westermann, Rehbein, & Fort, 2015).

However, it is significant to consider the fact that these have seen an increase in competition between different nations considering the fact that each of them would want such establishments made in their own economies. The element of free-trade has therefore seen countries turn out to be dependent on one another in order to present attractive markets for multinational corporations that seek to expand their operations in different markets.

Free-trade was to develop market conditions that would define the manner in which different states would conduct trade freely and with the presentation of equal opportunities with other states (Andreeska, 2015). However, the achievement of this objective was met by different reactions that alluded to the fact that such terms may not favor all nations in an equitable manner. This is because some nations had the capacity to export cheaper raw materials and labor as compared to others and are likely to be trade-partners.

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In this case, some countries needed to implement quotas and tariffs to protect their national economies in dealing with this element. This has therefore seen several states affected by other states tariffs and quotas in effectively trading in the markets (Seitan, 2014). This therefore implies that  some states may not be in a position to trade particular goods with other countries considering the fact that meeting these requirement’s may turn out to be detrimental to their functions.

Globalization has in this contemporary time made international trade easier by incorporating online business transactions, a factor that has made it simpler for people to transact (Schelhase, 2008). Commercial laws have therefore been enhanced to cover several aspects within the business spectrum that involves the transfer of funds, accounting, marketing, operational management, book keeping and sales.

It is however essential to consider that the undeveloped nations that may not have access to internet as a result of various factors such as the lack of resources and underdevelopment also have the opportunity to interact with the traders from different regions through enhanced approaches of movement that involve different transport modes (Castro Pereira, 2015). These modes have therefore made movement. Globalization has impacted the transport modes with this making it easier to move from one region to the other without difficulties a factor that impacts international trade.

It is also essential to determine that an essential role was also played when various Inter-Government entities (IGOs) gained significance in the element of globalization. Before the advent of globalization, several states were in pursuit of approaches aimed at promoting their national interests. This therefore saw states primarily concerned with their own interests and safety that developing a global approach to security (Antonelli, & Fassio, 2016). This clearly indicates that states were primarily concerned with their own ways of dealing with their problems at a state level rather than inn an international level.

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Currently, it is essential to establish that issues and challenges have escalated with these affecting states on a global level, a factor that has seen several states unable to protect its citizens (Schelhase, 2008). States have therefore been incapacitated in dealing with these issues by their own means, with this therefore requiring the development of collective action plans with other states through the IGOs.

Through a joint effort, states are in a position to relinquish their sovereignty to a single body that collectively manages the decisions of other member-states (Taylor, et.al.2014). It is essential to consider that these joined sovereignty never existed, a factor that gives the impression that states are obligated to comply with the laid down decisions by the majorities and are in most times affected by such actions considering that this may be against their governance approaches.

States therefore depend upon the aid of other nations who are partisans of the decision making process with the aim of achieving their goals as depicted in the case of UN Security Council. This entity therefore ensures that member states needing to pass resolutions depend on their parameters (Kilic, 2015). Considering the fact that this entity holds veto-powers, they have the capacity to stop a state’s resolution even in the event that these resolutions are passed in their favor.

Another implication that has been noted in these IGOs and the manner in which they relate with members-states remains in the laid down obligations to act under defined circumstances (Verma, & Singh, 2010). In accordance to this, member states of NATO as agreed under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty who lodge armed attacks against other states that reside within North America or Europe are bound to have an attack against them.

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It is also passed that in the event of such armed attacks each of the member-states in exercise of the rights accorded to them recognized by Article 51 of the Charter as described by the United Nations will take full responsibility in assisting the parties affected by taking part in actions as deemed fit that include the use of their forces in order to restore and ensure the security of such a nation (Bassens, & van Meeteren, 2015).

With this example it is therefore essential to note the manner in which member states belonging to NATO remain dependent on one another and are in most cases affected by the happenings in other member states (Bassens, & van Meeteren, 2015). This therefore ensures that the United States of America is required as described under Article 5 of this treaty to send its military forces to assist the European member states when attacks are lodged against them in as much as the US has nothing to do with the issues that arise and are not closer to the attacked states in any way.

This factor therefore implies the fact that in this contemporary society, events have turned out to be borderless, placeless and distancless, a factor that ascertains the fact that states remain unaffected by issues that arise in other nations but may be affected in a way (James, & Steger, 2014).

Another element that can be noted in the manner in which smaller numbers of nations my impact the whole world is in relation to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In the year 1970, OPEC raised the prices of oil considerably which affected many countries in the world. During this period, OPEC only had 12 member states with their decisions held intact with more states.

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It is also essential to consider the fact that it is not only IGOs and other member states that increase the dependence of other states on others. A Trans-border trade connection that occurs between different locations in different nations has also seen a similar impact as a result of globalization.  It is therefore critical to determine that the developed bodies that are given the mandate of run these connections are the makers of decisions with their constituent regions taking the required actions which then impact the manner in which these systems are run globally (James, & Steger, 2014).

This has seen the development of regulatory bodies such as the Assembly of European Regions and the European Union’s Committee of the Regions that influence the manner in which trade is conducted in member-regions. This has therefore seen states turn out to be independent not by their own actions but due to the regions that form part of a regional organization.

On the other hand, it is also significant to note that another development that has been spurred by the element of globalization is in relation with the interconnections of different states within the modern international systems (Schaeffer, 2009).

This has therefore seen the unity of private sector institutions and other entities such as the International Federation of Stock and Exchange that were incorporated in 1961 with the sole purpose of making decision and taking the required actions in addressing issues such as food pricing and credit rates that have significantly impacted different economies over the world.

It is also important to consider the element of fusion of national capital markets and the development of integrated global economies as another factor that is augmented by globalization in the development of interdependent states (Schaeffer, 2009).

Considering the fact that states do not have control over their own economies, it is essential to point out that they primarily rely on a collective approach to governance by different bodies for instance International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank so as to develop effective approaches of regulating the international financial markets.

These dependencies have seen different member-states provided with protection in an even where their economies are troubled with financial difficulties. It is therefore essential to consider the fact that the element of interconnectedness may also have its negative effects as this can be determined in the recent economic crisis (James, & Steger, 2014).

This therefore gives an impression of the fact that the advent of a global economy may increase the risks of states being affected by different issues which may begin in a single country and stretch to different nations with this affecting the manner in which functions are conducted.  Additionally, a countries economy may also be affected as a result of this crisis.

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It is therefore essential to determine that the element of globalization has overally impacted the international systems in a significant way by making states turn out to be interconnected through trade and independent.  This therefore determines the fact that this contemporary society is not concerned with the independence of a single state but takes a collective responsibility in uniting the whole states for different purposes (Nederveen, & Dasgupta, 2009).

The issues that affect different nations are therefore solved through a collective approach rather than the engagement of individual states in finding solutions to those issues. It is significant to point out to the fact that intergovernmental organizations, global financial institutions, and the private sector organizations are the products of globalization and take the roles of solving the challenges that different economies and nations face in the development of a global market.

Conclusion

Globalization refers to an approach that engages people, business entities, companies and governments from different regions in freely interacting with each other in an effective manner. It is essential to consider the fact that the element of interaction between people from different regions is enhanced by particular parameters that include information technology, international trade, infrastructures, engagement in business activities.

The ideal of exploiting different resources from various regions and social media.it is therefore imperative to consider the fact that one of the implications of globalization is in its increased rise of international commercial transactions that have opened opportunities for cross border trade on both small and large scale.

Over the past, it is essential to consider that it was challenging to find developed economies engaging in trade with the developing countries. Globalization has therefore seen States turning out to be interdependent through the implementation of free-trade that has enhanced the opening of national boarders for the purposes of trade (Nederveen, & Dasgupta, 2009).

As a result of globalization, companies now have an easier way of setting up branches and different production sites in other nations where the market conditions remain favorable for a company. Additionally, globalization has also in this contemporary time made international trade easier by incorporating online business transactions, a factor that has made it simpler for people to transact.

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References

Andreeska, I. (2015). The Effect of Globalization to the World Poverty and Economic Inequality. Journal of Sustainable Development (1857-8519), 5(13), 5-15. 

Antonelli, C., & Fassio, C. (2016). Globalization and the Knowledge-Driven Economy. Economic Development Quarterly, 30(1), 3-14. doi:10.1177/0891242415617239

Bassens, D., & van Meeteren, M. (2015). World cities under conditions of financialized globalization. Progress In Human Geography, 39(6), 752-775. doi:10.1177/0309132514558441

Bourguignon, F. (2016). Inequality and Globalization. Foreign Affairs, 95(1), 11-15.        

Castro Pereira, J. (2015). Environmental issues and international relations, a new global (dis)order — the role of International Relations in promoting a concerted international system. Revista Brasileira De Political Internacional, 58(1), 191-209. doi:10.1590/0034-7329201500110

Francioni, B., Musso, F., & Vardiabasis, D. (2013). Key decisions and changes in internationalization strategies: The case of smaller firms. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 21(3), 240-259. doi:10.1080/0965254X.2013.790466

Gaur, A. (2015). Impact of Globalization on Trade and Employment. International Journal Of Multidisciplinary Approach & Studies, 2(5), 110-113.                     

Kilic, C. (2015). Effects of Globalization on Economic Growth: Panel Data Analysis for Developing Countries. Economic Insights – Trends & Challenges, 67(1), 1-11.

Luković, S. (2015). The Impact of Globalization on the Characteristics of European Countries’ Tax Systems. Ekonomski Anali / Economic Annals, 60(206), 117-139. doi:10.2298/EKA1506117L 

Mcnally, C. A. (2013). How Emerging Forms of Capitalism Are Changing the Global Economic Order. Asia pacific Issues, (107), 1-8.

Mehrabanfar, E. (2015). Globalization Streams in Futures Studies. Informatica Economica, 19(3), 96-106. doi:10.12948/issn14531305/19.3.2015.09

Nederveen Pieterse, J., & Dasgupta, S. (2009). Politics of Globalization. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications India Pvt., Ltd.

Popa, F. (2014). The Inference of Globalization from the Regionalization Process. Economics, Management & Financial Markets, 9(4), 486-493.

Qureshi, J. A., & Jalbani, A. A. (2014). The Puzzle of Mainstream and Deviant Globalization. IBA Business Review, 9(2), 106-118.

Schaeffer, R. K. (2009). Understanding Globalization : The Social Consequences of Political, Economic, and Environmental Change. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Schelhase, M. (2008). Globalization, Regionalization and Business: Conflict, Convergence and Influence. Basingstoke [England]: Palgrave Macmillan.

Seitan, S. (2014). Problems of the Impact which Globalization Has on the Macroeconomic Balance. Economic Insights – Trends & Challenges, 66(3), 49-57.           

Taylor, P. J., Hoyler, M., Pain, K., & Vinciguerra, S. (2014). Extensive and Intensive Globalizations: Explicating the Low Connectivity Puzzle Of U.S. Cities Using A City-Dyad Analysis. Journal of Urban Affairs, 36(5), 876-890. doi:10.1111/juaf.12077

Vadlamannati, K. C. (2015). Rewards of (Dis) Integration: Economic, Social, and Political Globalization and Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining Rights of Workers in Developing Countries. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 68(1), 3-27. doi:10.1177/0019793914555851

Verma, S., & Singh, P. (2010). Organizing and Managing in the Era of Globalization. New Delhi, India: SAGE Publications India Pvt., Ltd.

Zhang, C. (2015). The Effect of Globalization on Inflation in New Emerging Markets. Emerging Markets Finance & Trade, 51(5), 1021-1033. doi:10.1080/1540496X.2015.1039894

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How is Globalization Affecting the Key Actors in the International System?

Globalization
Globalization

How Is Globalization Affecting the Key Actors in the International System?

Introduction

Globalization basically has no precise definition. In actual fact, globalization is in danger of becoming the truism of the modern era. Even so, the word globalization encompasses aspects of an extensive perception that there is a widening, deepening and accelerating of global interconnectedness in virtually every aspect of life (Rourke & Boyer, 2000).

At the core of globalization is a global shift; meaning, the globe being shaped by technological and economic forces, into a collective political and economic arena. The three main perspectives with regard to globalization include transformationalist, the sceptical, and the hyperglobalist viewpoints (Verma & Singh, 2010).

Hyperglobalists: those who hold this viewpoint maintain the world today is a more and more global world wherein countries are being subject to immense political as well as economic processes of transformation. These processes serve to erode and fragment countries and reduce the power of political leaders. In circumstances such as these ones, countries are becoming gradually more the ‘decision- takers’ rather than the ‘decision-makers’ (D’Anieri, 2011). The sceptical: those with this viewpoint strongly oppose the perspective of hyperglobalists and maintain that present-day global circumstances are not unprecedented.

According to them, although there has been an increase in social and international activity in the past few years, this has served to reinforce and enhance the powers of state in a number of domains (D’Anieri, 2011). Transformationalists: those who have this view maintain that globalization is producing novel economic, political as well as social situations that are actually altering powers of the state and the context wherein countries operate. Transformationalists do not try to envisage the outcome (Popa, 2014). They maintain that it is uncertain – but assert that politics is not just rooted in nation-states.

 Globalization

Globalization can suitably be seen as a process which exemplifies a change in the spatial organization of social transactions as well as relations, resulting in interregional or transcontinental flows and networks of activities, interaction as well as power (Kilic, 2015). Globalization is typified by the following: integration of international/global economic decision-making, integration of international economic decision-making, exponential growth in global fiscal transactions, increases in global Non-Governmental Organizations and Activities (NGOs), and strengthened political International Governmental Organizations (IGOs) (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006).

Furthermore, globalization is typified by 4 kinds of change:

(i) globalization entails a stretching of economic, political and social activities across political regions, frontiers, and countries.

(ii) Globalization involves the intensification of interconnectedness as well as flows of migration, finance, investment, and trade.

(iii) The increasing intensity and extensity of international interconnectedness could be associated with an increase of international processes and interactions, as the development of global communication and transport systems increases the rate of the dissemination of information, capital, people, goods and ideas (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006).

(iv) The rising intensity, extensity and rate of international interactions can be linked to their increasing impact such that the effects of distant occurrences could be very considerable in other places.

In fact, the most local events and occurrences could have considerable international implications. As such, the boundaries between international affairs and domestic matters can become more and more blurred. On the whole, globalization could be described as the broadening, increasing, accelerating and rising impact of international interconnectedness (Nederveen & Dasgupta, 2009). When globalization is thought of in this manner, then patterns of international relations and connections could be empirically mapped in all major domains of human activity.

Principal actors in international system

In the international system, the key actors include country government, international organizations, non-government organizations, multinational enterprises, inter-governmental organizations, and transnational corporations.

State Actors

On the modern world stage, the state is certainly one of the oldest and universally recognized actors. A State refers to a political unit which has sovereignty over a territory and the citizens in that territory (Gaur, 2015). Examples of states include sovereign country governments such as Italy, Canada, USA, UK, and Egypt among other countries.

Intergovernmental Organizations

Even as States are still the leading and main actors on the global stage, other important actors also exist such as intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). These are created by states, often through a treaty. The common IGOs are International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, International Criminal Police Organizations, and the World Bank Group. IGOs mainly do not have a way of enforcing state compliance with their decisions, perhaps except with the assistance of powerful nations (Kegley Jr. & Wittkopf, 2004).

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)

Not every actor on the world’s stage has governmental roles. NGOs are essentially not-for-profit voluntary organizations which support public good or pursue it. These organizations are by and large involved in such things as economic development, issues pertaining to human rights, social welfare, as well as humanitarian assistance. Common non-governmental organizations are Greenpeace, the Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the Red Cross (Nederveen, & Dasgupta, 2009).

Multinational Enterprises

Theother significant grouping of actors comprises multinational enterprises (MNEs). These are for-profit organizations with presence in more than 1 country. It is notable that some multinational enterprises such as Sony, General Electric, General Motors, and Wal-mart have very large amounts of monetary resources that equal or exceed the resources of smaller nations like Burundi, Fiji and Somalia. It is notable that an MNE’s interests do not essentially coincide with those of the countries wherein they do business, or even the MNE’s home country (Seitan, 2014).

Sub-state actors or domestic actors

These comprise groups of persons who have the same interests not beyond the countries which can affect the foreign policy of the State. Examples include tobacco sector and automobile sector in USA. These sectors, in essence, have interests in the country’s foreign fiscal policy so that they may sell automobiles or cigarette products overseas and decrease importations of competing products produced overseas. They can influence the decisions made with regard to their country’s laws with the aim of protecting the rights of workers (Antonelli, & Fassio, 2016).

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 Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)

These are organizations whose members comprise at least 3 countries. These organizations are formed by countries to resolve common problems that give them authority of making collective decisions to deal with various problems and issues on the international agenda (Francioni, Musso & Vardiabasis, 2013). In IGOs, the representatives of country governments assemble to talk about issues which are of shared interests to member countries. There are 2 major kinds of Intergovernmental Organizations: the global Intergovernmental Organizations and the regional Intergovernmental Organizations.

Global Intergovernmental Organizations are organizations with universal or nearly universal membership; this means that each country is a member such as the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and the United Nations. Regional Intergovernmental Organizations are essentially a subset of countries as members basing upon a certain interest or region, for instance the European Union and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Kegley Jr. & Wittkopf, 2004).  

            There are several reasons that cause countries to create or join Intergovernmental Organization. As per liberal institutionalism, states form Intergovernmental Organizations since it is in their best interest to form. With Intergovernmental Organizations, some problems or issues could be resolved easily and cheaper than without them. In particular, liberal institutionalism is focused on collective problems, for instance the security dilemma, the appeal to execute competitive tariffs, as well as the difficulty in agreeing to protect the environment (Art & Jervis, 2011).

Countries should correspond with one another and oversee other countries in order to ensure that they are actually sticking to their commitments to acknowledge many of the problems. For instance, in the case of free trade, the World Trade Organization was created to coordinate the negotiation of tariffs and offer a mechanism for dispute resolution. Some of these tasks may be more complex and costly to implement without the Intergovernmental Organizations (Taylor et al., 2014).

There are times in which Intergovernmental Organizations are not only formed to resolve problems but also to offer a platform for discussing crucial issues (Art & Jervis, 2011). The United Nations General Assembly has no predetermined agenda but offers a forum for countries to talk about and debate matters that come up. Likewise, one of the goals of the World Trade Organization is to organize meetings at which countries would negotiate to resolve major issues (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006).

Common Intergovernmental organizations and their functions

The United Nations: This is in charge of maintaining international peace and security. It also develops friendly relations amongst countries. It also seeks to accomplish international cooperation in resolving global problems. Furthermore, it functions as a center for harmonizing the actions of states. World Trade Organization: this organization manages disputes that arise from trading partners.

It also monitors trade in agriculture and manufacture commodities. ASEAN: this organization promotes regional economic, social and culture cooperation amongst the nations situated in the Southeast Asia region (Vadlamannati, 2015). NATO: this organization is a system of joint defense in which the member countries agree to collective defense in response to a military attack by a country that is not a NATO member state.

 Transnational Actors

These are actors which function below the state level. However, they function across the state borders. The 2 sorts of transnational actors include nongovernmental organizations and multinational/transnational corporations. Multinational/Transnational Corporations: Multinational corporations are firms which have headquarters in one country but do business extensively in other countries. Such companies are based in one country but have divisions that operate in other nations (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006). Put simply, such a firm is a big organization operating globally in different nations at the same time, with fixed facilities and staff members in state. 

Types of multinational companies 

Industrial corporations manufacture their products in production facilities in different states and sell them to businesses and clients located in different states. The biggest multinational companies operate in the automobile, oil and electronic industries. Virtually every multinational corporation has its headquarters in the Group of Seven countries. Examples of these firms include Sony, Honda, Toyota, BP, BMW, General Motors, Wal-Mart, Total and Apple. Financial institutions like banks: these do business globally but have more restrictions compared to industrial corporations (Mehrabanfar, 2015). Examples include international airlines like Asiana Airlines, Virgin Atlantic; Hilton Hotels & Resorts and Sheraton; and services like McDonald’s fast-food chain.

Multinational corporations are becoming more and more powerful as autonomous actors. A lot of the industrial multinational corporations, Wal-Mart for instance, have yearly revenues of tens of billions of dollars annually. Multinational corporations can match most global companies in monetary resources as well as size. The biggest intergovernmental organizations, which is the United Nations, has an estimated two billion dollars annual revenue, which is really small in comparison to over 250 billion dollars for the largest multinational corporations.

The biggest country economically, USA, has government revenues of over $2 trillion annually. This clearly demonstrates that the power of multinational corporations does not rival the biggest countries but in fact surpasses a lot of poorer countries (Francioni, Musso & Vardiabasis, 2013). Multinational corporations are viewed as citizens of the world and they are beholden to not any government.

Head of Dow Chemicals Company once envisioned to purchase an island to construct the company’s head office. In such view, multinational corporations act internationally in the interests of their global stockholders. In actual fact, they do not owe loyalty to any country. Multinational corporations are motivated by the need to maximize profitability (Nederveen, & Dasgupta, 2009).

The operations of multinational corporations support an international business infrastructure linking a global community of businesspersons. For instance, an American manager who arrives in Tokyo Japan does not find a confusing and puzzling scene of strange customs, locations, as well as languages. Instead, this manager would be able to move through a known series of faxes and telephone calls, multinational hotels, airport lounges, business conference facilities, and international news broadcasts – most likely hearing the English language spoken in all of these (Mehrabanfar, 2015).

Moreover, multinational corporations contribute to the development of their host country. As transnational companies operate in other countries, they create job opportunities for the locals in that country and in so doing help to stabilize the economy in that particular country.

  Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)

In the contemporary world, a lot of people find that by joining nongovernmental organizations, they may be able take part in the global system and lobby to influence international organizations. Most have joined as members of one or more nongovernmental organizations, which have roughly 30,000 members worldwide. Nongovernmental organizations are private global actors whose members are not countries, but rather volunteers from populations of 2 or more countries that have formed organizations to foster their common interests and ideals for the purpose of influencing the policies of intergovernmental organizations and country governments.

Nongovernmental organizations handle many international issues and seek changes in the world for various causes like human rights, environmental protection and disarmament, among others (Nederveen & Dasgupta, 2009). Many nongovernmental organizations pursue objectives that are very much respected and positive, hence do not result in any controversies or a lot of resistance.

NGOs interact with multinational companies, nation-states, and sub-state actors, plus other NGOs. NGOs are increasingly becoming recognized in the UN and other forums, as real actors together with countries but are not equal to them. Some of the groups have a political purpose, some a humanitarian purpose, while others have an economic purpose.

There are times in which nongovernmental organizations mix efforts by means of transnational advocacy networks (Antonelli & Fassio, 2016). By joining nongovernmental organizations, a lot of people learn that they may take part in the global system and lobby to influence multinational organizations.

Examples of nongovernmental organizations

 A nongovernmental organization that particularly fights for human rights is the Amnesty International; a global movement of individuals campaigning for globally acknowledged human rights for everyone. They carry out research and generate actions aimed at preventing or ending serious human rights abuses and demanding justice for people whose human rights have been infringed.

The main issues which have been campaigned include freedom of the press, welfare of children, protection of civilians during armed conflicts, rights of women, disability rights, rights of people with AIDS, human impact of pollution and environmental degradation among others (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006). The other sort of nongovernmental organizations is the religious movement.

They are a politically active organization rooted in strong religious beliefs. Even though religious movements had a powerful influence in politics in the past decades for instance being able to cause a war between communities with different religious beliefs, religious movements these days are in fact peace makers between conflicting countries.

 Political Groups that Advocate Violence: Terrorists

Political factions which support violence or terrorism may really not refer to themselves nongovernmental organizations, but they operate in more or less the same fashion which is by interacting with countries and with relevant populations or institutions by means of violence and terrorist attacks. These groups have great power. They influence the international relations between different countries. One group that is currently active is the Islamic State group.

 International Criminal Groups

These actors are that are seen as transnational actors but they act in an illicit fashion. Most of these them have a great capacity of monetary resources which gives them the ability to influence the policies of the state (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006). Some international criminal groups can even threaten the security of the country. They are mainly operated secretly making it not easy for the authorities and the police to find them.

These groups are largely involved in various crimes including human trafficking, drugs, prostitution, as well as firearms. Examples of international criminal groups include the Sicilian Mafia in Italy, Yakuza in Japan, and also Triads in Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong, Macau (Art & Jervis, 2011).

Impacts of Globalization

There are several effects that emerge from globalization which impacts different economies of the world. The production of goods and services is affected by different elements of globalization. This has also seen the development of different approaches of production such as capital and other inputs and labor that are primarily dependent on the levels of globalization.

Additionally, competitiveness as seen in producing a good or service has resulted in the diffusion of technology that has resulted in the initiation of nations to other developed cities (Gaur, 2015). Having considered this, globalization is therefore ascribed as the force behind the efficiencies that have been experienced in affecting investment opportunities of different organizations within different nations and markets.

Investments are known to play a central role in technological transfer, formation of global investment and in industrial restructuring which have an effect in the national level (Luković, 2015). New technological advancements in different economies additionally remain an essential factor in globalization that stimulate competition and enhances the diffusion of nations through foreign direct investments.

Perception in world politics

Facts do not speak for themselves. Facts are organized by concepts, structured by theories, interpreted by worldviews and assessed in the light of individual and subjective value systems. Realism:  this view depicts the world’s political system as a disordered chaotic struggle for security and power amongst competing nation-states. There is no higher authority besides these countries (Verma & Singh, 2010).

As such, countries individually, or alongside other countries, provide for their own defense. In essence, the only effectual way of assuring security is power. Idealism-Liberal Internationalism: this view maintains that there is reason to believe that the leading global role of countries may in fact be declining (Art & Jervis, 2011). Therefore, the world should be described not just in terms of country interactions, but also in terms of growing community. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, even though countries remain as the most significant actors in the global system in today’s world, non-state actors have a growing power and influence in globalization. One of the biggest multinational enterprises has annual revenues which actually exceed some of the gross domestic product of poorer countries and this demonstrates their growing influences. As the world keeps globalizing, it would really not be easy to different between multinationals, states and other actors in a period of collapsing states and reemerging countries.

References

Antonelli, C., & Fassio, C. (2016). Globalization and the Knowledge-Driven Economy. Economic Development Quarterly, 30(1), 3-14. doi:10.1177/0891242415617239

Art, R. J., & Jervis, R. (2011).  International Politics: Enduring Concepts and Contemporary Issues (10th ed.). New York: Pearson Education.

Bourguignon, F. (2016). Inequality and Globalization. Foreign Affairs, 95(1), 11-15.

D’Anieri, P. (2011). International Politics: Power and Purpose in Global Affairs (Brief ed.). Stamford, United States of America: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.            

Francioni, B., Musso, F., & Vardiabasis, D. (2013). Key decisions and changes in internationalization strategies: The case of smaller firms. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 21(3), 240-259. doi:10.1080/0965254X.2013.790466

Gaur, A. (2015). Impact of Globalization on Trade and Employment. International Journal Of Multidisciplinary Approach & Studies, 2(5), 110-113.         

Goldstein, J. S., & Pevehouse, J. C. (2006). International Relations (7th ed.). New York, United States of America: Pearson Education.          

Kegley Jr., C. W., & Wittkopf, E. R. (2004). World Politics : Trend & Transformation (9th ed.). Belmont, United States of America: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Kilic, C. (2015). Effects of Globalization on Economic Growth: Panel Data Analysis for Developing Countries. Economic Insights – Trends & Challenges, 67(1), 1-11.

Mehrabanfar, E. (2015). Globalization Streams in Futures Studies. Informatica Economica, 19(3), 96-106. doi:10.12948/issn14531305/19.3.2015.09

Nederveen P. J., & Dasgupta, S. (2009). Politics of Globalization. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications India Pvt., Ltd.

Popa, F. (2014). The Inference of Globalization from the Regionalization Process. Economics, Management & Financial Markets, 9(4), 486-493.

Rourke, J. T., & Boyer, M. A. (2000). World Politics: International Politics on the World Stage, Brief (3rd ed.). New York, United States of America: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill.

Seitan, S. (2014). Problems of the Impact which Globalization Has on the Macroeconomic Balance. Economic Insights – Trends & Challenges, 66(3), 49-57.           

Taylor, P. J., Hoyler, M., Pain, K., & Vinciguerra, S. (2014). Extensive and Intensive Globalizations: Explicating the Low Connectivity Puzzle Of U.S. Cities Using A City-Dyad Analysis. Journal of Urban Affairs, 36(5), 876-890. doi:10.1111/juaf.12077

Vadlamannati, K. C. (2015). Rewards of (Dis) Integration: Economic, Social, and Political Globalization and Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining Rights of Workers in Developing Countries. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 68(1), 3-27. doi:10.1177/0019793914555851

Verma, S., & Singh, P. (2010). Organizing and Managing in the Era of Globalization. New Delhi, India: SAGE Publications India Pvt., Ltd.

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Effect of Globalization on Key Factors in the International System

Globalization
Globalization

How Is Globalization Affecting the Key Actors in the International System?

Introduction

Globalization basically has no precise definition. In actual fact, globalization is in danger of becoming the truism of the modern era. Even so, the word globalization encompasses aspects of an extensive perception that there is a widening, deepening and accelerating of global interconnectedness in virtually every aspect of life (Rourke & Boyer, 2000). At the core of globalization is a global shift; meaning, the globe being shaped by technological and economic forces, into a collective political and economic arena. The three main perspectives with regard to globalization include transformationalist, the sceptical, and the hyperglobalist viewpoints (Verma & Singh, 2010).

Hyperglobalists: those who hold this viewpoint maintain the world today is a more and more global world wherein countries are being subject to immense political as well as economic processes of transformation. These processes serve to erode and fragment countries and reduce the power of political leaders. In circumstances such as these ones, countries are becoming gradually more the ‘decision- takers’ rather than the ‘decision-makers’ (D’Anieri, 2011).

The sceptical: those with this viewpoint strongly oppose the perspective of hyperglobalists and maintain that present-day global circumstances are not unprecedented. According to them, although there has been an increase in social and international activity in the past few years, this has served to reinforce and enhance the powers of state in a number of domains (D’Anieri, 2011).

Transformationalists: those who have this view maintain that globalization is producing novel economic, political as well as social situations that are actually altering powers of the state and the context wherein countries operate. Transformationalists do not try to envisage the outcome (Popa, 2014). They maintain that it is uncertain – but assert that politics is not just rooted in nation-states.

 Globalization

Globalization can suitably be seen as a process which exemplifies a change in the spatial organization of social transactions as well as relations, resulting in interregional or transcontinental flows and networks of activities, interaction as well as power (Kilic, 2015). Globalization is typified by the following: integration of international/global economic decision-making, integration of international economic decision-making, exponential growth in global fiscal transactions, increases in global Non-Governmental Organizations and Activities (NGOs), and strengthened political International Governmental Organizations (IGOs) (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006).

Furthermore, globalization is typified by 4 kinds of change:

(i) globalization entails a stretching of economic, political and social activities across political regions, frontiers, and countries.

(ii) Globalization involves the intensification of interconnectedness as well as flows of migration, finance, investment, and trade.

(iii) The increasing intensity and extensity of international interconnectedness could be associated with an increase of international processes and interactions, as the development of global communication and transport systems increases the rate of the dissemination of information, capital, people, goods and ideas (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006).

(iv) The rising intensity, extensity and rate of international interactions can be linked to their increasing impact such that the effects of distant occurrences could be very considerable in other places.

In fact, the most local events and occurrences could have considerable international implications. As such, the boundaries between international affairs and domestic matters can become more and more blurred. On the whole, globalization could be described as the broadening, increasing, accelerating and rising impact of international interconnectedness (Nederveen & Dasgupta, 2009). When globalization is thought of in this manner, then patterns of international relations and connections could be empirically mapped in all major domains of human activity.

Principal actors in international system

In the international system, the key actors include country government, international organizations, non-government organizations, multinational enterprises, inter-governmental organizations, and transnational corporations.

State Actors

On the modern world stage, the state is certainly one of the oldest and universally recognized actors. A State refers to a political unit which has sovereignty over a territory and the citizens in that territory (Gaur, 2015). Examples of states include sovereign country governments such as Italy, Canada, USA, UK, and Egypt among other countries.

Intergovernmental Organizations

Even as States are still the leading and main actors on the global stage, other important actors also exist such as intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). These are created by states, often through a treaty. The common IGOs are International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, International Criminal Police Organizations, and the World Bank Group. IGOs mainly do not have a way of enforcing state compliance with their decisions, perhaps except with the assistance of powerful nations (Kegley Jr. & Wittkopf, 2004).

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)

Not every actor on the world’s stage has governmental roles. NGOs are essentially not-for-profit voluntary organizations which support public good or pursue it. These organizations are by and large involved in such things as economic development, issues pertaining to human rights, social welfare, as well as humanitarian assistance. Common non-governmental organizations are Greenpeace, the Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the Red Cross (Nederveen, & Dasgupta, 2009).

Multinational Enterprises

Theother significant grouping of actors comprises multinational enterprises (MNEs). These are for-profit organizations with presence in more than 1 country. It is notable that some multinational enterprises such as Sony, General Electric, General Motors, and Wal-mart have very large amounts of monetary resources that equal or exceed the resources of smaller nations like Burundi, Fiji and Somalia. It is notable that an MNE’s interests do not essentially coincide with those of the countries wherein they do business, or even the MNE’s home country (Seitan, 2014).

Sub-state actors or domestic actors

These comprise groups of persons who have the same interests not beyond the countries which can affect the foreign policy of the State. Examples include tobacco sector and automobile sector in USA. These sectors, in essence, have interests in the country’s foreign fiscal policy so that they may sell automobiles or cigarette products overseas and decrease importations of competing products produced overseas. They can influence the decisions made with regard to their country’s laws with the aim of protecting the rights of workers (Antonelli, & Fassio, 2016).

 Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)

These are organizations whose members comprise at least 3 countries. These organizations are formed by countries to resolve common problems that give them authority of making collective decisions to deal with various problems and issues on the international agenda (Francioni, Musso & Vardiabasis, 2013). In IGOs, the representatives of country governments assemble to talk about issues which are of shared interests to member countries. There are 2 major kinds of Intergovernmental Organizations: the global Intergovernmental Organizations and the regional Intergovernmental Organizations.

Global Intergovernmental Organizations are organizations with universal or nearly universal membership; this means that each country is a member such as the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and the United Nations. Regional Intergovernmental Organizations are essentially a subset of countries as members basing upon a certain interest or region, for instance the European Union and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Kegley Jr. & Wittkopf, 2004).  

            There are several reasons that cause countries to create or join Intergovernmental Organization. As per liberal institutionalism, states form Intergovernmental Organizations since it is in their best interest to form. With Intergovernmental Organizations, some problems or issues could be resolved easily and cheaper than without them. In particular, liberal institutionalism is focused on collective problems, for instance the security dilemma, the appeal to execute competitive tariffs, as well as the difficulty in agreeing to protect the environment (Art & Jervis, 2011).

Countries should correspond with one another and oversee other countries in order to ensure that they are actually sticking to their commitments to acknowledge many of the problems. For instance, in the case of free trade, the World Trade Organization was created to coordinate the negotiation of tariffs and offer a mechanism for dispute resolution. Some of these tasks may be more complex and costly to implement without the Intergovernmental Organizations (Taylor et al., 2014).

There are times in which Intergovernmental Organizations are not only formed to resolve problems but also to offer a platform for discussing crucial issues (Art & Jervis, 2011). The United Nations General Assembly has no predetermined agenda but offers a forum for countries to talk about and debate matters that come up. Likewise, one of the goals of the World Trade Organization is to organize meetings at which countries would negotiate to resolve major issues (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006).

Common Intergovernmental organizations and their functions

The United Nations: This is in charge of maintaining international peace and security. It also develops friendly relations amongst countries. It also seeks to accomplish international cooperation in resolving global problems. Furthermore, it functions as a center for harmonizing the actions of states. World Trade Organization: this organization manages disputes that arise from trading partners.

It also monitors trade in agriculture and manufacture commodities. ASEAN: this organization promotes regional economic, social and culture cooperation amongst the nations situated in the Southeast Asia region (Vadlamannati, 2015). NATO: this organization is a system of joint defense in which the member countries agree to collective defense in response to a military attack by a country that is not a NATO member state.

 Transnational Actors

These are actors which function below the state level. However, they function across the state borders. The 2 sorts of transnational actors include nongovernmental organizations and multinational/transnational corporations. Multinational/Transnational Corporations: Multinational corporations are firms which have headquarters in one country but do business extensively in other countries. Such companies are based in one country but have divisions that operate in other nations (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006). Put simply, such a firm is a big organization operating globally in different nations at the same time, with fixed facilities and staff members in state. 

Types of multinational companies 

Industrial corporations manufacture their products in production facilities in different states and sell them to businesses and clients located in different states. The biggest multinational companies operate in the automobile, oil and electronic industries. Virtually every multinational corporation has its headquarters in the Group of Seven countries. Examples of these firms include Sony, Honda, Toyota, BP, BMW, General Motors, Wal-Mart, Total and Apple.

Financial institutions like banks: these do business globally but have more restrictions compared to industrial corporations (Mehrabanfar, 2015). Examples include international airlines like Asiana Airlines, Virgin Atlantic; Hilton Hotels & Resorts and Sheraton; and services like McDonald’s fast-food chain.

Multinational corporations are becoming more and more powerful as autonomous actors. A lot of the industrial multinational corporations, Wal-Mart for instance, have yearly revenues of tens of billions of dollars annually. Multinational corporations can match most global companies in monetary resources as well as size. The biggest intergovernmental organizations, which is the United Nations, has an estimated two billion dollars annual revenue, which is really small in comparison to over 250 billion dollars for the largest multinational corporations.

The biggest country economically, USA, has government revenues of over $2 trillion annually. This clearly demonstrates that the power of multinational corporations does not rival the biggest countries but in fact surpasses a lot of poorer countries (Francioni, Musso & Vardiabasis, 2013). Multinational corporations are viewed as citizens of the world and they are beholden to not any government.

Head of Dow Chemicals Company once envisioned to purchase an island to construct the company’s head office. In such view, multinational corporations act internationally in the interests of their global stockholders. In actual fact, they do not owe loyalty to any country. Multinational corporations are motivated by the need to maximize profitability (Nederveen, & Dasgupta, 2009).

The operations of multinational corporations support an international business infrastructure linking a global community of businesspersons. For instance, an American manager who arrives in Tokyo Japan does not find a confusing and puzzling scene of strange customs, locations, as well as languages. Instead, this manager would be able to move through a known series of faxes and telephone calls, multinational hotels, airport lounges, business conference facilities, and international news broadcasts – most likely hearing the English language spoken in all of these (Mehrabanfar, 2015).

Moreover, multinational corporations contribute to the development of their host country. As transnational companies operate in other countries, they create job opportunities for the locals in that country and in so doing help to stabilize the economy in that particular country.

  Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)

In the contemporary world, a lot of people find that by joining nongovernmental organizations, they may be able take part in the global system and lobby to influence international organizations. Most have joined as members of one or more nongovernmental organizations, which have roughly 30,000 members worldwide. Nongovernmental organizations are private global actors whose members are not countries, but rather volunteers from populations of 2 or more countries that have formed organizations to foster their common interests and ideals for the purpose of influencing the policies of intergovernmental organizations and country governments.

Nongovernmental organizations handle many international issues and seek changes in the world for various causes like human rights, environmental protection and disarmament, among others (Nederveen & Dasgupta, 2009). Many nongovernmental organizations pursue objectives that are very much respected and positive, hence do not result in any controversies or a lot of resistance.

NGOs interact with multinational companies, nation-states, and sub-state actors, plus other NGOs. NGOs are increasingly becoming recognized in the UN and other forums, as real actors together with countries but are not equal to them. Some of the groups have a political purpose, some a humanitarian purpose, while others have an economic purpose.

There are times in which nongovernmental organizations mix efforts by means of transnational advocacy networks (Antonelli & Fassio, 2016). By joining nongovernmental organizations, a lot of people learn that they may take part in the global system and lobby to influence multinational organizations.

Examples of nongovernmental organizations

 A nongovernmental organization that particularly fights for human rights is the Amnesty International; a global movement of individuals campaigning for globally acknowledged human rights for everyone. They carry out research and generate actions aimed at preventing or ending serious human rights abuses and demanding justice for people whose human rights have been infringed.

The main issues which have been campaigned include freedom of the press, welfare of children, protection of civilians during armed conflicts, rights of women, disability rights, rights of people with AIDS, human impact of pollution and environmental degradation among others (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006). The other sort of nongovernmental organizations is the religious movement.

They are a politically active organization rooted in strong religious beliefs. Even though religious movements had a powerful influence in politics in the past decades for instance being able to cause a war between communities with different religious beliefs, religious movements these days are in fact peace makers between conflicting countries.

 Political Groups that Advocate Violence: Terrorists

Political factions which support violence or terrorism may really not refer to themselves nongovernmental organizations, but they operate in more or less the same fashion which is by interacting with countries and with relevant populations or institutions by means of violence and terrorist attacks. These groups have great power. They influence the international relations between different countries. One group that is currently active is the Islamic State group.

 International Criminal Groups

These actors are that are seen as transnational actors but they act in an illicit fashion. Most of these them have a great capacity of monetary resources which gives them the ability to influence the policies of the state (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2006). Some international criminal groups can even threaten the security of the country. They are mainly operated secretly making it not easy for the authorities and the police to find them.

These groups are largely involved in various crimes including human trafficking, drugs, prostitution, as well as firearms. Examples of international criminal groups include the Sicilian Mafia in Italy, Yakuza in Japan, and also Triads in Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong, Macau (Art & Jervis, 2011).

Impacts of Globalization

There are several effects that emerge from globalization which impacts different economies of the world. The production of goods and services is affected by different elements of globalization. This has also seen the development of different approaches of production such as capital and other inputs and labor that are primarily dependent on the levels of globalization.

Additionally, competitiveness as seen in producing a good or service has resulted in the diffusion of technology that has resulted in the initiation of nations to other developed cities (Gaur, 2015). Having considered this, globalization is therefore ascribed as the force behind the efficiencies that have been experienced in affecting investment opportunities of different organizations within different nations and markets.

Investments are known to play a central role in technological transfer, formation of global investment and in industrial restructuring which have an effect in the national level (Luković, 2015). New technological advancements in different economies additionally remain an essential factor in globalization that stimulate competition and enhances the diffusion of nations through foreign direct investments.

Perception in world politics

Facts do not speak for themselves. Facts are organized by concepts, structured by theories, interpreted by worldviews and assessed in the light of individual and subjective value systems. Realism:  this view depicts the world’s political system as a disordered chaotic struggle for security and power amongst competing nation-states. There is no higher authority besides these countries (Verma & Singh, 2010).

As such, countries individually, or alongside other countries, provide for their own defense. In essence, the only effectual way of assuring security is power. Idealism-Liberal Internationalism: this view maintains that there is reason to believe that the leading global role of countries may in fact be declining (Art & Jervis, 2011). Therefore, the world should be described not just in terms of country interactions, but also in terms of growing community. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, even though countries remain as the most significant actors in the global system in today’s world, non-state actors have a growing power and influence in globalization. One of the biggest multinational enterprises has annual revenues which actually exceed some of the gross domestic product of poorer countries and this demonstrates their growing influences. As the world keeps globalizing, it would really not be easy to different between multinationals, states and other actors in a period of collapsing states and reemerging countries.

References

Antonelli, C., & Fassio, C. (2016). Globalization and the Knowledge-Driven Economy. Economic Development Quarterly, 30(1), 3-14. doi:10.1177/0891242415617239

Art, R. J., & Jervis, R. (2011).  International Politics: Enduring Concepts and Contemporary Issues (10th ed.). New York: Pearson Education.

Bourguignon, F. (2016). Inequality and Globalization. Foreign Affairs, 95(1), 11-15.

D’Anieri, P. (2011). International Politics: Power and Purpose in Global Affairs (Brief ed.). Stamford, United States of America: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.            

Francioni, B., Musso, F., & Vardiabasis, D. (2013). Key decisions and changes in internationalization strategies: The case of smaller firms. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 21(3), 240-259. doi:10.1080/0965254X.2013.790466

Gaur, A. (2015). Impact of Globalization on Trade and Employment. International Journal Of Multidisciplinary Approach & Studies, 2(5), 110-113.         

Goldstein, J. S., & Pevehouse, J. C. (2006). International Relations (7th ed.). New York, United States of America: Pearson Education.          

Kegley Jr., C. W., & Wittkopf, E. R. (2004). World Politics : Trend & Transformation (9th ed.). Belmont, United States of America: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Kilic, C. (2015). Effects of Globalization on Economic Growth: Panel Data Analysis for Developing Countries. Economic Insights – Trends & Challenges, 67(1), 1-11.

Mehrabanfar, E. (2015). Globalization Streams in Futures Studies. Informatica Economica, 19(3), 96-106. doi:10.12948/issn14531305/19.3.2015.09

Nederveen P. J., & Dasgupta, S. (2009). Politics of Globalization. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications India Pvt., Ltd.

Popa, F. (2014). The Inference of Globalization from the Regionalization Process. Economics, Management & Financial Markets, 9(4), 486-493.

Rourke, J. T., & Boyer, M. A. (2000). World Politics: International Politics on the World Stage, Brief (3rd ed.). New York, United States of America: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill.

Seitan, S. (2014). Problems of the Impact which Globalization Has on the Macroeconomic Balance. Economic Insights – Trends & Challenges, 66(3), 49-57.           

Taylor, P. J., Hoyler, M., Pain, K., & Vinciguerra, S. (2014). Extensive and Intensive Globalizations: Explicating the Low Connectivity Puzzle Of U.S. Cities Using A City-Dyad Analysis. Journal of Urban Affairs, 36(5), 876-890. doi:10.1111/juaf.12077

Vadlamannati, K. C. (2015). Rewards of (Dis) Integration: Economic, Social, and Political Globalization and Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining Rights of Workers in Developing Countries. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 68(1), 3-27. doi:10.1177/0019793914555851

Verma, S., & Singh, P. (2010). Organizing and Managing in the Era of Globalization. New Delhi, India: SAGE Publications India Pvt., Ltd.

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Accounting Standards

Accounting Standards
Accounting Standards

Accounting Standards

Abstract

Globalization has closely linked different markets. With the rise in globalization and market integration, there is a quest to establish a set of global accounting standards. Though progress has been made in establishing a common set of accounting standards, the process still faces challenges that have made it impossible to establish common accounting standards. This paper addresses there benefits of having converging the accounting standards and goes ahead to look at the challenges that make it difficult to converge the accounting standards.

Accounting

Introduction

The rise in globalization has led to the quest to achieve common international accounting standards. Financial users around the world are working towards establishing a common set of worldwide accounting standards though it is yet to be accomplished. This is unfortunate given the many benefits of adopting common accounting standards all over the world.  Establishing the same accounting standards would mean that each organization prepares financial statement using the same rules.

This would make it easier for users of financial statements to compare the financial position of different companies. The use of a similar set of global standards would improve the quality of financial reporting. Companies around the world would follow the same high-quality standards and they would have to adhere to these rules hence the quality of financial reporting would improve around the globe.  Using a similar set of global standards would enhance efficiency and reduce the cost of capital.

The allocation of funds of companies around the globe would reduce the cost of and enhance efficiency. However, even in light of these benefits of having global accounting standards, the world is yet to achieve common accounting rule. For the last two decades, financial experts have been working towards achieving similar accounting standards without success. Progress has been made but there are still notable differences in financial reporting between countries. Part of the reason the common global accounting standards have not been achieved is due to sovereignty of nations.

Countries feel that having one set of accounting standards would undermine the sovereignty of a nation. This termed as westernization by various nations who feel that the western countries have a tendency to impose rules on other countries. The second challenge is lack international regulatory body that would be used to implement the international accounting standards. Despite the challenges, the world needs to look for a workable solution and converge the accounting standards to enjoy the benefits of a common set of global accounting standards.

Reason the world Need International Accounting Standards

Financial reporting standards around the globe are different, and this creates inconsistency in financial reporting. Today, the world economy has become integrated. Globalization is on the rise, and every market is connected to the other market.  Globalization closely links markets together, and effects felt in one market are felt in other markets in different countries (Albrecht, Stice, Stice, & Swain, 2014).

Furthermore, countries are coming together to create economic blocs as each country is realizing the need to integrate and form a single market without barriers. As the world is converging and becoming one market each day, financial expert are also looking for a way to remove the inconsistency in financial reporting. The inconsistencies are a major setback to the users of financial reports. Investors rely on financial statements to make investments decisions.  Globalization has encouraged investors to invest in global companies.

However, inconsistency in financial reporting makes it difficult to get the right information. A company located in different countries follows different accounting standards to prepare its financial reports hence it becomes difficult to make sense out of different financial reports provided. There is a need to achieve consistency and ensure that investors are provided with the right information when making decisions around the globe.

International convergence is a concept that was established in the 1950s after the Post World War. It was round this time that countries started creating strong economic blocs that eliminated tariffs and reduced the requirements to move across nations. The integration and diversity of the world increased the cross-border capital flows increasing the need to converge the accounting standards.

Previously, the world had been working towards harmonization of accounting standards but with the integration, it was clear that convergence was appoint of urgency (Horton, Serafeim, & Serafeim, 2013).  Different countries sought to come up with the same reliable accounting standards that would be used to represent information of organizations operating in major capital markets.

This led to the formation of the International Accounting Standards Committee which is the modern day International Accounting Standards Board. IASB has made progress in the quest for a unified global accounting standard. This board came up with international financial reporting standards (IFRS). The IFRS is used in more than 100 countries most of them are European Union member states.

Benefits of Having Common Accounting Standards

Comparability

Comparability is one of the greatest advantages of using financial statements. Financial statements are used to indicate the performance of an organization. A person wishing to evaluate the performance of an organization should critically look at the financial records. Financial statements provide a summary of financial position making it possible for investors to understand the position of a company.

However, when companies use different accounting standards, it becomes difficult to understand the financial reports (Atrill & McLaney, 2012). A company in China and a company in the United States will use different accounting standards making it difficult for financial reports users to compare the performance of companies. Using global accounting standards would make comparability a reality.

Items located in financial reports would be similar, and an individual comparing the performance of different companies would compare the essential parts of the reports (Christensen, Lee, Walker, & Zeng, 2015). Users of financial reports can be able to compare important aspects of a business such as liquidity, credit worthiness, profitability, and solvency.

Comparability is not limited to different companies. There are companies operating in different countries. For instance, General Motors, and Mac Donald are operating in different parts of the world. The multinationals have many subsidiaries around the world that use different accounting standards. The companies must adhere to the local accounting standards of each country that they operate in (Drury, 2013).

This makes it difficult for organizations to compare the financial reports of same organization but located in different countries. With international accounting standards, the organizations can be able to measure the performance of each entity regardless of its geographical location. Additionally, the companies would be able to consolidate the financial reports easily and understand how each of entity contributed to the overall performance of the organization.

Improve Quality of Financial Reports

At the top of agenda of the ISAB is to improve the quality of financial standards. The IFRS was established to enhance the quality of financial reports across the world. A global set of accounting standards would be high quality standards (Crosson & Needles, 2013). As much as countries are willing to converge to same accounting standards, they are not willing to compromise the quality of financial reports.

Quality financial reports would provide the user of financial reports with the right information. Investors can make the right investment decision when provided with the right information. If companies across the world would follow high-quality accounting standards, then the financial information provided would be clear, useful and relevant to the users of financial reports.

The cases of the financial crisis of 2008 make it critical to have reliable and quality accounting standards. The financial crisis which affected the world’s strongest economies was caused by lack of adequate regulation where companies provided misleading financial information. A single set of global standards would improve the quality of accounting standards. Companies would not find a loophole to mislead users of financial reports since the global standards are clear and target to ensure that financial report represent the true position of a company.

Companies that have embraced the IFRS have improved the quality of financial reporting. A report released by the IASB indicated that the IFRS has improved the quality of financial reports (Crosson & Needles, 2013). The report further indicated that capital market participants and investors who use information prepared using the IFRS standards get the right information and can be able to evaluate the financial position of different companies use the international standards.

Simplification

Implementing unified financial reporting standards would not only enhance comparability, but it would simplify financial reporting. This is especially true for organizations that have subsidiaries around the world. The companies prepare different financial reports that adhere to local standards but at the end of the day the organizations have to consolidate the financial reports (Becker, Schäffer, & Thaten, 2015). It is difficult to consolidate financial reports prepared using different rules. This is because the items are not represented and accounted for the same way.

The items represent in one financial report in one country may differ from the items of another country making it difficult for multinationals to consolidate the financial reports. Additionally, without converged financial accounting standards, the countries are forced to prepare financial reports using different currencies such as yens, pounds, and dollars depending on the locality they operate (Brochet, Jagolinzer, & Riedl, 2013). It becomes difficult to consolidate the financial reports because they have to consider the foreign exchange rates. 

Financial reports simplify the process of mergers and acquisition. Companies are looking to make strategic mergers and acquisition to increase their market share. Mergers and acquisition are becoming prevalent today as companies globalize (Bradshaw, 2010). Companies are establishing mergers to launch products successfully in new markets. Using global accounting standards would enable companies to make the right mergers and acquisition. The companies can be able to look at financial reports comprehensively and compare the results with ease enabling them to make sound decisions.

Reduction in Cost of Capital

Shifting from locally accepted principles to international reporting standards will reduce the cost of capital. Research conducted on the EU nations showed that using a the same accounting standards has boosted the net income by 25%. Companies recorded a rise in earnings before taxes and depreciation. A second study that focused on 30 European organizations showed that the application of the same accounting standards increased profits by $30 billion (Albu & Alexander, 2014).

Implementing similar accounting standards across the world indicates that companies allocate capital more efficiently, and the markets would be more efficient. International accounting standards would also converge the regulation of financial reports hence companies would strive to be efficient. To be ahead of competitors and to attract investors companies would enhance efficiency hence global market would be more efficient.

Challenges

Differences in Accounting Practices in Different Countries

Publicly held countries use the generally accepted accounting principles. Different countries have accepted various accounting principles which are recognized by the different nationals. Research indicates that over 132 countries have so far embraced the IFRS, but there is still a difficult in implementation (Wang, 2014). Countries are not implementing the IFRS standards in the same manner because they have national accounting standards. For instance, the U.S. has U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and the U.K. use the U.K. GAAP.

Since 2005 Japan started converting to the IFRS from the Japanese Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. However, there are still notable differences between the ways countries treat financial reports. For instance, the United States and United Kingdom accounting standards are stock market oriented because the foreign companies based in these countries rely on the stock exchange as a source of finance.

On the other hand, the accounting standards of Japan are bank oriented because companies rely on bank loans and not willing to participate in stock markets. Japan and the U.K. are guided by different accounting laws. For instance, the United Kingdom is guided by the common legal system while Japan is guided by the code and civil legal system. The differences in accounting practices make it difficult to find one single accounting standards. Countries are not willing to abandon their way of doing things to adopt a new single set of accounting.

For instance, the United States was hard hit by the financial crisis. The country established the Sarbanes Oxley law which increase regulation and specifically focuses on financial reporting. This means that companies in the United States must follow the U.S. GAAP and meet the legal requirements in financial reporting as stipulated by various laws concerning financial reporting (Arnold, 2013). It is difficult for companies to adopt a common set of accounting standards because there are local accounting standards that are unique to each country and laws that must be met.

The generally accepted accounting standards and the International accounting standards treat items of financial reports differently. For instance, there is a distinction in the way the U.K GAAP and IFRS treat leases. The IFRS requires a company to capitalize leases as long as the lease term is major part of the assets economic life. Conversely, the U.K. GAAP requires a company to capitalize a lease as long as the term of the lease is equivalent to 75% of the asset’s economic life (Horton, Serafeim, & Serafeim, 2013).

Converging the different accounting practices of different countries is a big challenge. Countries already have their accounting principles and the way they treat different items such as the lease in the example above is different. It is a big challenge to harmonize the accounting standards and find a set of standards that will be accepted by different countries (DeMiguel, Nogales, & Uppal, 2014).

Sovereignty

The politics of the pride of a nation and sovereignty has worsened the chance of achieving global accounting standards. Establishing a global set of standards would impose accounting standards on countries. The global set of accounting standards has already come under criticism because it undermines the sovereignty of nations. Financial experts in the United States released a report that revealed that a global set of financial standards would impact on the quality of financial report negatively (Weil, Schipper, & Francis, 2013).

The experts argued that global set of accounting standards replaces comparability with quality. The report indicates that the current accounting standards in the United States focus on the quality of financial reports and adopting other standards would undermine the sovereignty of the nation and at the same time lower the quality of financial reports.

The global accounting set of standards has been criticized as western dominance.  The Western countries have often been criticized of imposing rules and regulations on countries. The wave of democratization, for instance, has been cited as a move by West to dominate (Arrow & Lind, 2014). When coming up with the global accounting standards, the West is actively involved and poor countries do not get to contribute adequately. When the accounting standards are imposed on other countries, it strips them the ability to establish different accounting standards that are unique to the situation.

Lack of Regulatory Body

Though more than 130 countries have adopted the IFRS, there are notable differences financial reports. This is because there is no regulatory body that ensures that each country strictly follows the accounting standards. There is no international regulatory body that can mandate countries to adhere to accounting process. According to Scott (2012), to achieve consistency in the preparation of financial report, there must be an international regulatory body. The regulatory body should oversee the implementation of converged accounting standards.

Additionally, it would be in-charge of dealing with companies that fail to comply with the accounting standards.  The regulatory body should be endowed with the authority to regulate both public and private entities to ensure that financial reports meet the international standards. Without the regulatory body, it is impossible to achieve consistency and ensure that all companies are using the same set of global standards.

The Costs of having Global Set of Standards

Having a worldwide accepted  accounting standards would increase the cost of accounting in various companies. First, establishing a global set of standards would require that accountants worldwide are retrained. The accountants must be trained on how to prepare the financial accountants using the new accounting standards (Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2013).

Companies would have to incur the costs of retraining the accountants in order to adhere to the new set of accounting standards. The second cost is that failure in the accounting system would cause a worldwide failure. Leiwy and Perks (2013) stipulate that a failure in the accounting standards would cause accounting standards at the same time.

Conclusion

Getting a set of global accounting standards has definitely been at the top of agenda of the IASB in the last decade. Amidst the challenges this course changes there are doubts as to whether it is still possible to attain the global accounting standards. The pride of nationalism and politics of sovereignty make it difficult every day to achieve a single set of global accounting standards.

Every country wants to maintain certain aspects of its accounting standards making it difficult to come up with a common set international accounting standard that will be widely accepted. The world lacks an international regulatory body that will be in charge of implementation and ensuring companies comply with the laws. Lastly, the differences in accounting practices across countries make it impossible to establishing similar accounting standards.

However, there are numerous benefits of applying the same accounting standards. They include comparability, enhancing market efficiency, simplification and improving the quality of financial accounts. In light of these benefits, countries should work together to find a solution and establish a common set of international accounting standards.

Reference List

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