1. SOC 451
Globalization of Culture and
Communication
Global Political Structures and
Processes
Asst. Prof. Fatma Altınbaş Sarıgül

2. Understanding of Contemporary Globalization
• The global flow of people- refugees, illegal
immigrants
• Dwindling oil and water supply
• Economic flows dominated by MNCs.
• Economic and financial crisis
• Environmental problems-Global warming
• Diseases- Malaria, AIDS, etc.
• War
• Global Inequalities
• Terrorism

3. THE NATION-STATE
• The Treaty of Westphalia (1648) ended the Thirty and
Eighty Years Wars in Europe and instituted an
international system which recognized sovereign
states as its core.
Nation: Social group linked through common descent, culture,
language or territorial contiguity. (Cerny 2007:854)
National Identity:A fluid and dynamic form of collective identity;
members of the community believe that they are different from other
groups.
Nationalism: Doctrine and political movement that seek to make the
nation the basis of a political structure.
State: The new institutional form after the fuedal systemi offers a
more centralized form of control.
Nation-state: Integrates sub-groups that define themselves as a nation
with the organizational structure that constituted the states

4. Threats to the Nation-States
• The global economy and global economic flows
• Flows of information
• Illegal immigrants
• New Social Movements
• Terrorists
• Money and Drug Traffic
• The growing power of global and transnational
organizations
• The growth of global problems
• Growing interest in international human rights

5. International Human Rights
• The Declaration of International Human Rights
states that human rights take precedence over
the nation-state and that the UN is seeking
control over the state on these issues.
• The International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002,
created a venue in which those accused of
human rights abuses could be tried and found
guilty.

6. THE NATION-STATE
• It is still the major player on the global stage,
but it retains some power in the face of
globalization.
• Some scholars argue that the issues which
may be seen as threats to nation-states are
also the issues which increase the power of
the nation-states.

7. IMMAGINED COMMUNITY
(Benedict Anderson)
• Nation-state is not a ‘natural’ phenomenon but is
rather a social an political construction.
• Anderson’s theory of ‘Immagined Community’
states that a nation primarily exists within the
realm of ideas.
• The idea of nation and nationalism is linked to
two developments- the modern novel and the
modern newspaper.
• It was the mass sale and distribution of novels
and newspapers that was critical to the rise of the
imagined nation.

8. Changes in Global Nation-State Relations
• International Relations during WWII;
The Allies ( US, Great Britain, France, Russia)
The Axis (Germany, Japan, Italy)
• During the Cold War;
Soviet Bloc countries and West
• Contemporary Question:
How about international relations of the new
global political world?

9. Changes in Global Nation-State Relations
• New Big Three in the World:
The EU, China and the US.
• Why EU is important?
• Why China is important?
• What about Russia?
• Second World nations on the way;
Turkey, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, Brazil, Saudi
Arabia, Iran, Malaysia, Thailand.

10. Global Political Institutions
• League of Nations
• United Nations (UN)
• United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD)
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
• G8 Nations- France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
United Kingdom, US, Russia, Canada.