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PART ONE
Background, Theories, and Contexts
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1
What Is Global Studies? A Political
and Economic Perspective
Michael R. Anderson and Stephanie S. Holmsten
Global studies is an approach to studying the world that recognizes the complexities of human interactionsâinteractions that occur among individuals and groups, in the market, through the nation-state, and at the supranational level. This perspective thus gives attention both to structural matters (such as capitalism) as well as to the role of individual experience in our interconnected world. While more traditional approaches to international affairs have privileged the state and governmental actors, global studies attempts to highlight the complex interactions among transnational forces, the state, and non-state actors. Individuals, nation-states, and international organizations are in a constant conversation to define the nature of our world. Global studies programs, which have proliferated in schools and universities in the last two decades, use different scholarly methodologies to explore these networks of actors and their sources of power. Many scholars involved in global studies also use their analytical frameworks and tools to scrutinize the conceptual underpinnings of globalization, a term often used to refer to these networks. Rather than a discrete discipline, global studies is an interdisciplinary project that integrates a variety of fields to describe and analyze the nature of society and international affairs.
Layers of Analysis
Three levels of analysisâthe nation-state, international organizations, and individualsâare critical in the political and economic foundations of global studies. The first, the role of nationstates, remains central to global studies, even though much debate takes place about how relevant the nation-state is in todayâs globalizing world. The decisions of nation-states affect the nature of the global order. Important decisions such as whether to go to war, how to resolve conflict, patterns of trade, human rights enforcements, and environmental regulations are largely the responsibility of states. In addition, the structure of the state, its political and economic organization, shape the way that individuals experience the world around them. Political systems affect how individuals translate their preferences into policies, who is included in the policymaking process, and who is left out, while economic systems determine access to goods, distribution of resources, and economic growth. Scholars at work in global studies explore systems of inclusion and representation, how resources are allocated and who is included in the governing process.
Global studies also shines a light on the ways that nation-states are constrained and shaped by international institutions, which influence the nature of global affairs in a variety of ways, especially insofar as they generate a framework of expectations and legal mandates to govern the global space. International organizations such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, for instance, influence domestic policy changes through loan commitments that require economic and political adjustments. And the World Trade Organization promotes efforts to reduce trade barriers, encouraging greater integration of national markets into the global economy. Scholars explore the ways in which international agreements and arrangements can also promote ideas that generate new state initiatives. For example, international affairs scholar Martha Finnemore studied the ways that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) âtaughtâ states the importance of national science-policy organizations, thus motivating policy reform by changing the norm about the modern nation-state.
Globalization also exerts influence at the individual level, where the impact of global institutions and nation-states is experienced firsthand. Global studies scholars, therefore, explore the experiences of individuals to understand how international norms and institutions, translated through state action, create opportunities and challenges for particular communities and groups, as well as identify new voices and alternative ideas about the effect of globalization. Globalization has brought about an increase in the level of interconnectedness among individuals, through travel, communication, and sharing of ideas. This increased interconnectedness has drawn individuals closer to each other, fueling deeper understanding of people around the world. Yet, interconnectedness has also created conflict when such connections challenge traditional values. In some regions of the world, economic integration has also created economic vulnerabilities, as local industries lose out to global producers, workers compete on an international scale, and wealthy individuals capitalize on the opportunities while low-income people face greater challenges. The result of rising inequality, economic instability, and cultural pressures can generate a backlash against integration from individuals whose economic and social stability has come under threat due to globalization. Global studies highlights individualsâ experiences and pays attention to the voices of those impacted by globalization to better understand the nature of our world today.
Civil Society
The term civil society refers to individuals, informal groups of activists, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in issues relating to citizensâ interests and concerns, particularly as they relate to official government policies. Larry Diamond, a political scientist who studies the emergence and consolidation of democracy, defines civil society as âthe realm of organized social life that is open, voluntary, self-generating, at least partially self-supporting, autonomous from the state, and bound by a legal order or set of shared rulesâ (1999, 221). Civil society includes the activities of individuals outside the state as they come together as citizens to share their views, and often to use those collective views to influence political institutions. Civil society includes, among others, the following types of groups.
⢠Local, grassroots organizations focus on particular communities, such as neighborhood associations, parentâteacher associations, or clean-up projects and housing projects such as People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo, http://push-buffalo.org/), or on specific issue areas, such as labor rights, gun rights, food issues, environmental issues, and many more.
⢠Some local organizations also attempt to address global issues, such as the Zapatista National Liberation Army, which raised concerns about the effects of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) on Indians in Chiapas, Mexico.
⢠International organizations draw membership from across the world to tackle a global issue; examples include Amnesty International (amnestyusa.org), Human Rights Watch (hrw.org), and Greenpeace (greenpeace.org).
⢠Other organizations are constituted in less formal ways when individuals mobilize around a particular moment in time, such as the Arab Spring uprisings or Black Lives Matter. Such organizations utilize social media to initiate activity, and they may develop more formal institutions over time for lasting power.
Research into civil society allows global studies scholars insight into the impact of the global order on communities and community groups. In addition, global studies recognizes the power of individuals to shape the international order through advocacy at the local, national, and international levels.
An Interdisciplinary Project
Global studies takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the world around us. This interdisciplinarity allows scholars the flexibility to study the complexity of the global order, incorporate a variety of actors in their analyses, and evaluate the changes effected by these actors at different levels. The discrete academic disciplines of history, economics, political science, sociology, anthropology, and geography, along with regional area studies programs, have changed over time and are continually increasing their analytical breadth, adding knowledge and research to the study of the international order. Global studies joins in the important work of these disciplines and other interdisciplinary approaches to emphasize their interconnected nature.
James Mittelman, the founding chair of American Universityâs Comparative and Regional Studies program, argues that state-centered thinking in international studies has provided useful frameworks for the analysis of power, âsmart power,â rising power, and contestation. Insights into civil society, revolution, and social movements from regional studies, meanwhile, contribute to global studies of subaltern voicesâvoices of those not in powerâwhich are often left behind in state-centered analyses of elite opinion and behavior. The multifaceted nature of global studiesâand indeed of globalization itselfâdemands that scholars investigate a wide variety of factors, whether economic, political, historical, or social, and to gather best practices for such investigations from the traditional disciplines. For Mittelman, global studies encourages attention to historic and current forms of âempire, imperialism, sub-imperialism, and the governance of capitalismâ (2013, 516). To explore these dynamics, global studies enters into a conversation across disciplines to ask what we can learn from history, economics, political science, sociology, geography, and area studies. As a result of this interdisciplinary perspective, the field employs varied models of analysis as well as diverse forms of data, from ethnography and archival research to quantitative cross-national analysis.
Globalization and Global Studies
The term globalization recognizes the deepening of social relations across the world, the integration of markets, the influence of international arrangements, such as the G-20 and G-7, and the changing nature of the international order. In many ways, it is a word that describes the character of the international order today.
Global studies explores the nature of this interconnectedness, recognizing various actors and acknowledging that globalization is a process of dual forces, of coming together and breaking apart. While interconnectedness can affirm the universality of humanity, it can also invigorate the defense of distinct local traditions and customs. The philosopher and cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah, for instance, has argued in this direction in Cosmopolitanism (2006), stating we should seek to âintertwineâ universal concern for humanity and respect for culturally based differences, the two strands of cosmopolitanism. The concept of globalization encourages an investigation into the level of interconnectedness in the world today, whether economic, political, cultural, or social. At the same time, however, globalization is not necessarily an inherent tendency of human nature, or the natural state of the international order. Rather than a given, levels of interconnectedness may grow or shrink, often as a result of international, national, and local policy decisions. Scholars should remain attentive to the ebb and flow of integration and inquisitive about which areas remain integrative, and which are isolating.
The Importance of Economic and Political Power
Considering various levels of analysis and academic approaches, global studies also commonly investigates political and economic phenomena by asking about power. Who has power? In what ways is power expressed?
Individuals and groups can exert power to influence national policies from the bottom up, demanding inclusion, representation, or accommodation of their interests. National political leaders shape incentives for individuals through legislation that provides political and economic opportunities, rewarding some constituents and punishing others. International arrangements shape state behavior by generating norms for appropriate conduct and by monitoring compliance with international agreements. Policy decisions at the national level must respond to the demands of the citizens while abiding by international norms. For example, national policy regarding economic growth, trade flows, and the balance between protectionism and openness are made in the context of both domestic interests and the global marketplace.
Global studies seeks to explore these interrelated systems of power, the contestation about the allocation of resources, and the structural forces that shape the international order. To see the global studies model in action, we now turn to an example of a contemporary debate with global political and economic consequences: food security and the rise of genetically modified organisms.
Global Studies at Work: Food Security
As global demand for food has risen, food insecurity has increased, occupying journalistic as well as scholarly attention. The issues they investigate surrounding food and food security include a complex, global network of producers and consumers; historical trade patterns and modern-day production technology; and the confluence of national policy, local preferences and global trading rules and norms. To investigate an issue that spans the globe, a transnational approach is needed. As food security also includes historical and sociological traditions, economic considerations, political decisions, and science and technology, we also need insights from a variety of disciplines. And the study of food security benefits from attention to multiple levels of analysisâfrom the individual household, where food insecurity is intimately experienced, to national policies that aim to balance demands of consumers and producers alike; from international norms for free trade to alternatives such as fair trade, locally sourced, and organic foods.
A Global Phenomenon
The demand for food is increasing around the world because of a variety of global trends, including increasing population, urbanization, and economic growth among developing countries. Climate change is also causing a decline in food production in some regions of the world that have historically provided food, according to a 2014 report by the United Nationsâ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Changes in food production combined with increasing food demand can cause greater food insecurity around the globe, especially where there is little political initiative or financial resources to adapt to climate change. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about 795 million people were undernourished in 2015. Food insecurity persists in regions where economic growth has slowed or is less inclusive, as well as in countries with political instability, most notably in central Africa and western Asia.
The FAOâs 2015 State of Food Insecurity in the World is available at www.fao.org/3/a-i4646e.pdf. A 2017 report, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, is available here: www.fao.org/state-of-food-security-nutrition/en/.
Food crises are not only national crises: they tend to occur regionally and have global impacts as well. During the 2008 food crisis, many countries experienced both sharp increases in food prices and declining food production. In the wake of the crisis, many food producers focused on meeting growing domestic needs and as a result reduced exports abroad. This affected countries like Saudi Arabia that have been largely dependent on buying food from foreign suppliers to satisfy domestic demand, and found that food imports were declining. In response, King Abdullah, then Saudi Arabiaâs ruler, urged domestic companies to acquire land from abroad to grow food for export to Saudi Arabia. One company, Saudi Star Agricultural Development, founded by a Saudi millionaire, responded by investing up to $2.5 billion in Ethiopia to develop a rice-farming project, according to Ethiopian news reports (see Tigrai Online 2011).
The Middle East is not the only region in the world interested in bolstering its food security by looking abroad. The 2008 food crisis caused an international response that has included investment in land and food production across the globe. China also has invested in âoffshoreâ agricultureâespecially in Africa, but also in Latin America and other parts Asia. The countryâs âGo Outâ strategy involves increases in foreign direct investment, including buying foreign land to grow food for Chinaâs growing population. According to Elizabeth Economy (2013) of the Council on Foreign Relations, and other analysts, China is facing critical land and water shortages. With close to 20 percent of the worldâs population but only 7 percent of the worldâs arable land, Chinaâs concern for food security has shaped its modern history. Today, it is the third largest purchaser of land abroad, behind the United Kingdom and the United States (Economy 2013). Seeking arable land abroad, it aims to ensure domestic food security by avoiding dependence on the international market.
Global studies asks us to consider ...
