How Far Has Globalisation Undermined The State

919 Words4 Pages
Harry Holland To what extent has globalisation undermined the sovereign nation-state? I believe that globalisation has undermined the nation-state slowly over the past fifty years to some extent however I believe that the nation-state is still strong and will not disappear any time soon. Globalisation is the process in which there is an increase in the political, economic and cultural integration across the world. It is argued that this new rise of international integration undermines the nation-state. The nation-state has dominated world politics since the treaty of Westphalia hundreds of years ago it is simply a sovereign, self determining geographical area. An argument that the nation-state’s sovereignty has been undermined is that many states now give up or “pool” some of their sovereignty to NGO’s and other organisations that have risen out of globalisation. There has been a sharp rise in regional organisations such as the EU and other political or economic bodies which almost all states are now part of, for example in the EU members sacrifice their sovereignty over many issues for example EU law now overrides that made by states. Similar to this has been the rise of large companies some to the extent of rivalling major economies, particularly in areas such as oil and finance, like BP and RBS who have assets worth over one trillion pounds. This has received much criticism as unlike states these organisations operate without checks or balances and are difficult to control due to their flexible nature and cross-border activity. Marxists also point out that unlike nation-states government’s, companies are motivated by profits and self interest rather than a democratic government which is in place to serve the people regardless of self interest. However an argument in defence of the nation-state is that of nationalism most countries from the most
Open Document