Lecture 1: International, global, transnational
• Globalization
o 4 dimensions: people, capital, culture, politics
o The world becoming increasingly interconnected through these 4 dimensions
• Deterritorialization
o Process through which geographical territory becomes less of a constraint on interactions
• Interdependence
o Process through which security and force become less important and countries are connected through
multiple social and political relationships
• Time-space compression/ the shrinking world
o ICT and other technology is decreasing the time needed for global travel/ communication, creating the
appearance of everything being closer together
• The territorial trap (John Agnew)
o False belief in principles of Westphalia (that a state has exclusive sovereignty over its territory)
o False, because sovereignty is relational (not absolute), domestic and foreign realms aren’t networked,
but separated, identities are multiple and hybrid
• Nation-state
o Emerged because nation, state and empire on their own were not balanced enough in all realms
(economic, security…)
o Nation-state had good level of economic capabilities, as well as military
• 3 approaches to globalization
o The IR approach (similar to realism)
▪ World is split into domestic and international; state is the main actor (others exist, but are
negligible)
o Globalist approach
▪ World divides are flattened, state sovereignty is losing relevance
o Transnational critique
▪ Critique of the IR approach and globalist approach
▪ Relations develop between states and NSAs, problem of conceptualization
Reading 1: Transnational Relations and World Politics: An Introduction - Keohane & Nye
• Context
o Realist stance
o States = most important actors
• Transnational interactions
o Term to describe the movement of (in)tangible items across state boundaries when at least one actor
isn’t an agent of a govt or an IO
• 5 effects on interstate politics
o Attitude changes (through face-to-face interactions)
o International pluralism (linking of interest groups)
o Constraints on states through dependence and interdependence (especially in finance and transport)
▪ More powerful states have to consider the impact of their policy decisions on the system of
transnational relations
o Increased ability of govts to influence others (e.g. through TNCs)
▪ Can give strong states more leverage against already weak ones
o Emergence of autonomous actors with private foreign policies that may deliberately oppose/ impinge
on state policies (e.g. Catholic Church)
▪ Sometimes become actual opponents of govt policy
• Govt “loss of control”
o States remain most important actors, but transnational relations create a control gap btwn aspiration to
control and the ability to achieve it
1
, o Not to be prejudged as a complete loss of control
• Transnational relations and values
o Can be argued that transnational relations only enrich the strong and rich, as they are the only ones with
the resources enabling them to take full advantage of the network of intersocietal linkages
o Transnational relations = new name for old phenomenon: imperialism
o BUT: need to focus on asymmetries/ inequalities rather than using older terms like imperialism that
have ambiguous/ contradictory definitions
Lecture 2: Sovereignty and the nation-state
• Sovereignty
o 4 different kinds: intergovernmental (actual control of movement over state borders), Westphalian (each
state has exclusive rule over its territory), domestic (control over a state exercised by an authority
organized within this state), international (recognition from other states)
• Nation
o A named human population sharing a historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass
public culture, a common econ, and common legal rights and duties for all members
• Nationalism
o Nation as a domain of identity
• Naturalisation
o Led to container model of society that encompasses a culture, a polity, an economy and a bounded
social group
• Methodological nationalism
o Assuming that the state is an accurate unit of analysis of the world/ for studying the world
o 3 variants: ignoring fundamental importance of nationalism for modern societies, naturalization and
territorial limitation (confines the study of social processes to a particular nation state’s boundaries, also
restricting our understanding of the rise of the modern nation-state in several ways)
• Peace of Westphalia (1648)
o Where the nation state as we know it has its origins, but territorial states only acquired certain capacities
later on
o Recognition of states’ sovereignty over their territory
Reading 2: Methodological Nationalism, the Social Sciences & the Study of Migration – Andreas Wimmer & Nina
Glick Schiller
• Methodological nationalism
o Naturalization of the nation-state by the social sciences
o Assume that the nation-state is the natural unit for comparative studies
o Reflects the identification many scholars maintain with their own nation-state
• 3 variants of methodological nationalism
o Naturalization, ignoring/ disregarding, territorial limitation
• Phase 1: prewar era
o Time of nation-state building and intensive globalization
o Emergence of racial notions of “the people”
o Long distance nationalism
• Phase 2: ww1 to CW
o End of the free movement of labor (border closures & heavier border policing)
o National sentiment created and exacerbated by ww1
o Chicago school idea that migration is a form of assimilation
o Migrants were seen as a security threat
• Phase 3: CW
o Erasure of historical memories of transnational and global processes within which nation states were
formed & the role that migration played
2
• Globalization
o 4 dimensions: people, capital, culture, politics
o The world becoming increasingly interconnected through these 4 dimensions
• Deterritorialization
o Process through which geographical territory becomes less of a constraint on interactions
• Interdependence
o Process through which security and force become less important and countries are connected through
multiple social and political relationships
• Time-space compression/ the shrinking world
o ICT and other technology is decreasing the time needed for global travel/ communication, creating the
appearance of everything being closer together
• The territorial trap (John Agnew)
o False belief in principles of Westphalia (that a state has exclusive sovereignty over its territory)
o False, because sovereignty is relational (not absolute), domestic and foreign realms aren’t networked,
but separated, identities are multiple and hybrid
• Nation-state
o Emerged because nation, state and empire on their own were not balanced enough in all realms
(economic, security…)
o Nation-state had good level of economic capabilities, as well as military
• 3 approaches to globalization
o The IR approach (similar to realism)
▪ World is split into domestic and international; state is the main actor (others exist, but are
negligible)
o Globalist approach
▪ World divides are flattened, state sovereignty is losing relevance
o Transnational critique
▪ Critique of the IR approach and globalist approach
▪ Relations develop between states and NSAs, problem of conceptualization
Reading 1: Transnational Relations and World Politics: An Introduction - Keohane & Nye
• Context
o Realist stance
o States = most important actors
• Transnational interactions
o Term to describe the movement of (in)tangible items across state boundaries when at least one actor
isn’t an agent of a govt or an IO
• 5 effects on interstate politics
o Attitude changes (through face-to-face interactions)
o International pluralism (linking of interest groups)
o Constraints on states through dependence and interdependence (especially in finance and transport)
▪ More powerful states have to consider the impact of their policy decisions on the system of
transnational relations
o Increased ability of govts to influence others (e.g. through TNCs)
▪ Can give strong states more leverage against already weak ones
o Emergence of autonomous actors with private foreign policies that may deliberately oppose/ impinge
on state policies (e.g. Catholic Church)
▪ Sometimes become actual opponents of govt policy
• Govt “loss of control”
o States remain most important actors, but transnational relations create a control gap btwn aspiration to
control and the ability to achieve it
1
, o Not to be prejudged as a complete loss of control
• Transnational relations and values
o Can be argued that transnational relations only enrich the strong and rich, as they are the only ones with
the resources enabling them to take full advantage of the network of intersocietal linkages
o Transnational relations = new name for old phenomenon: imperialism
o BUT: need to focus on asymmetries/ inequalities rather than using older terms like imperialism that
have ambiguous/ contradictory definitions
Lecture 2: Sovereignty and the nation-state
• Sovereignty
o 4 different kinds: intergovernmental (actual control of movement over state borders), Westphalian (each
state has exclusive rule over its territory), domestic (control over a state exercised by an authority
organized within this state), international (recognition from other states)
• Nation
o A named human population sharing a historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass
public culture, a common econ, and common legal rights and duties for all members
• Nationalism
o Nation as a domain of identity
• Naturalisation
o Led to container model of society that encompasses a culture, a polity, an economy and a bounded
social group
• Methodological nationalism
o Assuming that the state is an accurate unit of analysis of the world/ for studying the world
o 3 variants: ignoring fundamental importance of nationalism for modern societies, naturalization and
territorial limitation (confines the study of social processes to a particular nation state’s boundaries, also
restricting our understanding of the rise of the modern nation-state in several ways)
• Peace of Westphalia (1648)
o Where the nation state as we know it has its origins, but territorial states only acquired certain capacities
later on
o Recognition of states’ sovereignty over their territory
Reading 2: Methodological Nationalism, the Social Sciences & the Study of Migration – Andreas Wimmer & Nina
Glick Schiller
• Methodological nationalism
o Naturalization of the nation-state by the social sciences
o Assume that the nation-state is the natural unit for comparative studies
o Reflects the identification many scholars maintain with their own nation-state
• 3 variants of methodological nationalism
o Naturalization, ignoring/ disregarding, territorial limitation
• Phase 1: prewar era
o Time of nation-state building and intensive globalization
o Emergence of racial notions of “the people”
o Long distance nationalism
• Phase 2: ww1 to CW
o End of the free movement of labor (border closures & heavier border policing)
o National sentiment created and exacerbated by ww1
o Chicago school idea that migration is a form of assimilation
o Migrants were seen as a security threat
• Phase 3: CW
o Erasure of historical memories of transnational and global processes within which nation states were
formed & the role that migration played
2
