geo-politics and changing power relations
DESCRIPTION
GEO-POLITICS AND CHANGING POWER RELATIONS. Society for International Development (NL) Amsterdam, 23 September 2013 Jan Aart Scholte Gothenburg University/University of Warwick. OUTLINE. Power: the capacity to affect Power Shifts (1): Countries Power Shifts (2): Scales - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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GEO-POLITICS AND CHANGINGPOWER RELATIONS
Society for International Development (NL)Amsterdam, 23 September 2013
Jan Aart ScholteGothenburg University/University of
Warwick
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OUTLINE• Power: the capacity to affect• Power Shifts (1): Countries• Power Shifts (2): Scales• Power Shifts (3): Sectors• Power Shifts (4): Norms• Power Shifts (5): Structures• Coping: the incapacity to control• Creating: the pursuit of possibilities
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POWER
• Power as the capacity to affect: who or what has the capacity to shape outcomes in world politics
• So what kinds and degrees of shifts have been taking place in capacities to alter events and conditions of world politics?
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POWER
• Power of actors• Power of institutions (rules and
regulatory processes)• Power of deeper structures
(underlying patterns of world order)• So looking for shifts in power of
actors, norms and structures
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POWER SHIFT (1a): COUNTRIES
• states such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey more prominent in world politics
• companies, civil society associations, media from those countries more involved in world politics
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POWER SHIFT (1b): COUNTRIES
• But countries are not monolithic; countries are not actors
• Which sectors, regions, classes have ‘risen’ (and declined)?
• Farmers of Hunan Province? Amazonian indigenous peoples? Undocumented migrants in Moscow?
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POWER SHIFT (2): SCALES
• power shifts from the country-nation-state• localisation and urbanisation• regionalisation• globalisation• nation-state-countries persist• transscalarity: power to those who can most
adeptly navigate across the various scales
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POWER SHIFT (3a): SECTORS
• power shift from public/governmental actors
• market actors and private regulatory mechanisms
• civil society and multistakeholder initiatives
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POWER SHIFT (3b): SECTORS
• individuals: celebrities, bloggers, etc.
• transsectorality: power to those who can adeptly navigate across the various sectors and form coalitions of actors from different sectors
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POWER SHIFT (4a): NORMS
• on the whole new state-country powers seeking better positions within existing regimes rather than new regimes
• general persistence of established diplomatic codes, neoliberal discourses, etc.
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POWER SHIFT (4b): NORMS
• more space for ‘non-western’ political cultures in world politics?• different ideas of human livelihood
and a good society gain strength in world politics?• more cultural diversity at the core of
power in world politics?
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POWER SHIFT (4c): NORMS
• possible shifts in interpretations of, and relative priorities among, core values such as cultural vibrancy, democracy, distributive justice, ecological integrity, individual liberty, material welfare, moral propriety, peace, solidarity
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POWER SHIFT (5a): STRUCTURE
• structure as deeper patterns of world order
• power shifts in countries → multipolarity, more decentred state power• less North-South hierarchy; or merely an
enlarged core (e.g. from G8 to G20)?
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POWER SHIFT (5b): STRUCTURE
• less racial hierarchy?• greater class inequality and hierarchy• greater urban dominance and rural
marginalisation• any effect on hierarchies of age, caste,
(dis)ability, faith, gender, sexual orientation?
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POWER SHIFT (5c): STRUCTURE
• decentring of geography with localisation, regionalisation, globalisation?• decentring of governance with
polycentrism• decentring of identities and
solidarities with pluralism
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POWER SHIFT (5d): STRUCTURE
• sooner rise of hypercapitalism than decline of capitalism
• shifts within capitalism with rising commodification of finance, communications and knowledge
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POWER SHIFT (5e): STRUCTURE
• sooner rise of hyperrationalism than decline of modern rationality
• i.e. secularist, anthropocentrist, techno-scientist, instrumentalist life-worlds
• perhaps more diversity within modernity and more reflexive rationalism
• but an even more extractivist ecology?
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HANDLING THE POWER SHIFTS
How can people (policymakers as well as citizens) cope with these multiple continuities and changes of power in world politics?
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HANDLING THE POWER SHIFTS Navigating Polycentric Governance (1)
• map the complex of relevant governance sites• ‘forum shop’ to find most conducive
sites• pursue diverse tactics with different
institutions and see what brings results
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HANDLING THE POWER SHIFTS Navigating Polycentric Governance (2)
• maximise coherence and coordination in multi-pronged strategy
• obtain resources for complex engagement
• secure compliance when many escape routes
• stay democratically participatory and accountable
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HANDLING THE POWER SHIFTS Reinventing Democracy (1)
• inadequacies of liberal-national democracy in the face of polycentrism• targets of democracy beyond the
state: transscalar and transsectoral• constructions of ‘the people’ beyond
the nation
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HANDLING THE POWER SHIFTS Reinventing Democracy (2)
• agents of democracy beyond parties and parliaments: civil society and social movements• principles of democracy beyond
citizenship and human rights: economic redistribution, eco-ship and cultural diversity
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HANDLING THE POWER SHIFTSLiving with Uncertainty (1)
• face lack of control with equanimity and grace• embrace opportunities to pursue
possibilities• prepare publics to expect and accept
policy shortfalls
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HANDLING THE POWER SHIFTSLiving with Uncertainty (2)
• fail in the least damaging ways• learn from shortcomings to limit
them• deliberate democratically on how
to move forward