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Summary Contemporary Issues in International Politics
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- Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
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Par: brianplevoets • 1 année de cela
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Contemporary Issues in International PoliticsPortfolio:
• two summaries of maximum 400 words of off-campus lectures, debates, conferences, and so
forth;
• one multiple book review (comparing two books on a comparable subject) of 800-900 words;
• ten annotated newspaper reports in English or French.
Exam: 10-15 minutes oral exam
• 70% 3-5 exam questions on book
• 30% 1 question exam
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8Iws0gy4iPvbZw8j2_xcQicLDCAPz0YU = videos!!
→ 10 minute conversation, need to be more analytical, personal and opiniated than in HIR!
, WORLD POLITICS SINCE 1989
THE PENDULUM
1989: Wallpeckers on Berlin Wall → fall of Iron Curtain (SU – West)
→ Era of Iron to golden era: shift from war to trade competition
→ Globalization : connectivity, growth. → security interdependence, global common goods.
Great convergence: - (Renaissance of?) Africa, Latin America, ME: raw material exports.
- South Korea, China, Vietnam: capitalism, consumer markets
- → all towards rich societies like US, West EU, Japan.
A missed Opportunity
! BUT: Pendulum swung back !
→ fragmenting world: 2019: invisible wall US-Mexico.
→ De-globalization : power politics, localism, nationalism (Brexit), authoritarianism (Hindu-
nationalist), xenophobia (South Africa), i.a. territorial conflicts.
2020: COVID: ↑↑ nationalism. Not CAUSE of political decay but took hold of politics in bad
shape.
This book: 1990s: ↑ economic globalization & democratization
2000-2009: ↑ economic globalization. Democratization stagnated
2010-2020: economic globalization stagnated, democratization ↓↓.
+ global military spending >> Cold War.
RQ: How could it be that the age of globalization bred so much nationalism? i.e. the story of a lost
momentum.
WHY?
3 decades of relative peace: West: power BUT no wisdom (social cohesion, use historical wealth for
economic future). → in prosperity, we find causes of decay.
Western democracy as incubator of demagogy: once it woke up to challenges, it chose nationalism.
A cause of instability: failure of politics to deal with complexity → SO: will not do in book.
, Harmony Contested
Recurring themes & causes: that contributed to wasting the (western) momentum.
1. Harmony contested : 1989+ is no Belle Epoque: West spent beyond means on imported raw
materials & consumer goods ( invest on local sustainable industries). Period of western
arrogance, abuse… western growth, but what for rest? Contestation from in and outside.
2. Power shift : failure of west to harness power. Transfer of technology & capital to main
competitors (China, Russia…) → power shift from west → east (China main beneficent).
3. Decadence trap : Consumerism, speculation, materialism, import >> export, civic duty,
entrepreneurialism, free mind.
4. Making authoritarianism strong : ‘free’ consumerist West made grow: 1) China: billions
trade surplus 2) Russia: fossil fuel dependence. 3) Gulf: energy fuelled radical Islamism.
5. Hubris : excessive self-confidence in 1) military technology & remote-control
interventionism 2) international cooperation: rest did not liberalize like west expected.
6. The School of strife : school of peace. Because of western interventionism (e.g. Iraq), rest
learnt to compete against it. West learnt rest how to militarize & wage war. = negative learning.
Negative socialization: oppressed learn on sovereignty & power against west.
7. The changing nature of power : economy: automation & digitization → growth-wellbeing
gap. This changing nature of economic power (financialization of power) brought a
distribution inequality. Discrepancy between growth in wealth vs. growth in wellbeing &
happiness.
8. The limits of learning : knowledge & science (on challenges) present BUT: didn’t turn to
action. Window-dressing: pretence of change.
Gray Zone
Hybrid & grey = intrinsic to world politics; states go guerrilla, information wars: each own truth with
propaganda (Russia → 2016 American elections), Silk road…
Environment, climate change cyber security, migration: new topics ? → NO : form changes, not the
issues. → no attempt to write a prophetic collapse of society. Yet, democracy is in bad shape.
, 1. Progress
‘Scientific proof’: cf. Pinker & Harari: post-cold war: progress: ↑ trade, production, security, wellbeing
→ globalization as a cosmic force, borne out of the age of enlightenment.
! Call for nuance ! ➔
The Weakening of the West
Since 90s: Western dominance ↓: public satisfaction, trust in politics, economy, military power = ↓
Real disposable income of poorest 40% has NOT grown since 2000.
YET: resilient: trade & domestic production: ↑.
= growing gap between economic growth vs. purchasing power.
= mitigated by growing external debt → majority of western countries imported more than they
exported.
The limits of globalization
1990s: core of western foreign policy: conditional engagement: access to Western market in exchange
for accepting Western values (free trade, democracy…)
BUT: since 90s:
- authoritarian countries profited most from age of globalization & western openness.
- no increase political openness. Peak: 2008 → globalization & democratization ↓.
- 13,000 km physical wars ( Iron Curtain: 6,800). THUS: commerce does not break borders!
= this deal was deception. I.e. economic openness did NOT lead to political openness.
→ picture: top line: economic globalization. Bottom line: political globalization.
→ economic globalization was always doing better than political one.
→ from 2000: larger decoupling of both.
→ 2010: both declining.
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