ULUSLARARASI EKONOMİK SORUNLAR

Özgür ÇALIŞKAN
My argument in this paper is that when the current world realities and political
history including international economic aspects, and major international relations
theories are analyzed wholly, it can be said that the most important events in international
politics are explained by differences in the capabilities of states, not by national/
international economic forces and markets’ behaviors. Furthermore, the economic
globalization has increased the importance of an efficient/strong state. The argument
depends on three assumptions: First, the current political configuration of world and
historical experience say that states are the main actors to determine national and
international politics. In this part, the Realistic perspective has a good handle on
explaining how the real world works. Second, with the globalization, the role and
functions of state have changed and increased dramatically (especially in security and
social policies). To maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of globalization, the
state capabilities and national institutions are crucial for managing the change. Third,
recalling the Karl Polanyi’s vision for markets and society is useful for analyzing the
current globalization process and the near future of world.
From the current state of the world: Globalization as a semi-virtual reality
The globalization process is not truly global. As Stiglitz (2002) says, globalization
has meant different things in different places (p.2). Currently, most of the world has
been left out of the process: most of Africa and Latin America, Middle East, and Asia.
The benefits of globalization have been distributed unevenly all over the world. One
good example is about the foreign direct investments (FDIs) by TNCs, which are the
common-cited drivers of globalization and usually emphasized as main source of
development of the Third World. According to the UNCTAD data, as of 2008, more
than 80 percent of global FDI stock has been located only in the EU, North America
and Japan. Also more than 90 of the world’s top 100 non-financial TNCs are located
mainly in these regions. In other words, TNCs are not transnational; they have been
firmly anchored in their home bases in terms of the important location of assets, center
of R&D, ownership, and management. Furthermore, under the absence of rules
pertaining to competition, anti-trust, public health and safety, and environmental and
social standards, such firms have led to market imperfections and negative externalities
in the Third World.
On the other hand, another face of world is about “the existence of a digital divide
in which only 5 percent of the world is connected to the internet and 80 percent of web
sites are published only in English” (p.4, Annan 2005). Annan (2005) notes that half of
humanity has neither received nor made a simple telephone call. As for the economic
Uluslararası Ekonomik Sorunlar 35