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Comparative Politics and Government

Notes It boldly suggests “the multi-nationalisation of previous domestic activities and intensification of
the intermeshing of decision-making in international frameworks.” Here is a new and emerging
model of multi-national or trans-national state. The state that is usually regarded as a set of political
institutions that hold the monopoly of the means of physical violence has undergone a change. “A
major shift has occurred with regard to the steering of the state activities in Western democracies
over the last two decades. It is a shift from classic bureaucracy placing the emphasis on process
steering to New Public Management (NPM).
For this reason, it is said that even in the age of globalisation the model of nation-state has not been
replaced by any functional model. And yet it cannot be lost sight of that the model of such a state is
emerging and may fully grow in time to come as projected by Zielonka. As things stand now, it is
clear that the idea of sovereignty ‘as an indivisible, illimitable, exclusive and perpetual form of public
power is defunct.”

A trans-national state is known for having a divided sovereignty, for it is not the sole
centre of power within its own territorial boundaries. It does not possess ‘coercive powers’
of its own in the form of army, police and courts. It exists on the ‘willing surrender of the
aspects of sovereignty’.

14.3 Responses from Developed and Developing Societies

Policy Concerns of Less Developed Countries

The impact of the current process of globalization is extremely uneven, both within and between
nations. Consequently, it has resulted in rising income inequalities within countries as well as between
countries. The less developed countries experience a more skewed income distribution, which is
attributed largely to the shift in labour demand. If has also led to greater polarization across countries
because technology—the prime factor responsible for the current wave of economic globalization -
still remains concentrated in a small body of already industrially advanced countries. Also, sudden
spurts and shift in the direction of speculative capital often have triggered financial crisis more in the
capital-starved less developed countries than elsewhere.
Placed in such a situation, the policy concerns of the less developed countries are largely a response
to the evolving structural divide between them and the industrially advanced countries. So much so,
globalization is perceived by the less developed countries to be a system typified by the apex economic
institutions such as the IMF and WTO in which the more developed countries advance their national
interests to the detriment of the less developed countries especially in areas such as trade and capital
investment. Some among the less developed countries feel that the current globalization process has
led to the worsening of the structural poverty in many countries. At the same time, under the pressure
of economic globalization many of them have to resort to external debt, which have further contributed
to the deceleration of the growth in real terms.
Domestic Policy Responses

Given the adverse impact of the current economic globalization and given also the constraints in
which the less developed countries are placed, most of these less developed countries are engaged in
devising policy measures the prime objective of which is not so much as to engage themselves in the
process of globalization than as to how to engage effectively with it. Therefore, most policy measures
aim at either reshaping the impact or redirecting the globalization process to their advantage. Policy
rationale also underlines the means that would facilitate the less developed countries have access to
the positive benefits of globalization and at the same time help mitigate the adverse consequences.

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