State And Globalisation Essay

The relationship between the role of the state and globalisation is a complex one. Globalisation, as defined by the Financial Times, is the ‘integration of economies, industries, markets, cultures and policy-making around the world.’ However this definition, and many others like it, must by default mean that as countries become more integrated the divisions between them blur. This would create a Pangaea like nation, where states are not separated, physically, economically or socially. The main argument in this essay will be whether states, (which are inherently divided by physical and economic boundaries) and the role they have to play in general society will be less relevant in an increasingly globalised world.

Attitudes to globalisation

An example being technological innovations that emphasise the idea of a stateless world, as global media outlets share events that are happening worldwide, reducing the divide between nations. This has been furthered with the increased use of the Internet, a strong challenge to the power of the state. The worldwide web has opened up the ability to share massive amounts of information both inter and intra state, thereby meaning the state can ‘no longer control all in-state language and education due to the global mass media’ . The state is no longer solely responsible for providing news, education and information to its residents. The increased reliance and use of global media has lead the international media industry to be dominated by a handful ‘powerful transnational media outlets that own and control a diverse range of traditional and newer forms of media’ These companies are usually deregulated due to their presence within various states and are often able to slip through many legal loopholes. One of example of this is Rupert Murdoch’s news conglomerate, which despite making him profits of over £4 billion ‘the holding company for his UK newspapers legally paid no corporation tax at all during the 1990s’ The demise of the state increases the ability of large media outlets to be based in tax havens (outside of the state that they accumulate the most business in), that allow them to

‘As people, products, food, and capital travel the world in unprecedented numbers and at historic speeds, so, too, do the myriad of disease-causing microorganisms.’ Increased availability of travel and it’s reduced cost has meant that people are travelling more and thereby passing microorganisms on at a rate that the state simply cannot control. This has been the case with Tuberculosis, which was declared a ‘global emergency by the World Health Organization in 1993’ Cases of Tuberculosis became highly prevalent in developing nations where medicine was too expensive and conditions favoured the spread of microorganisms. Contrastingly, it almost disappeared in western states where there are state hospitals and a welfare system (provided by the state). Tuberculosis became a world threat when levels of immigration increased and immigration-receiving nations experienced an overload of carriers coming from nations where tuberculosis was still a large-scale public health