Globalization and Its Challenges to Liberal and Realist Assumptions Regarding the State and New Security Concerns

Globalization has become one of the most (hotly) debated issues eliciting both great enthusiasm and deep concern. On the one hand, it is argued that it leads to economic growth and prosperity for nations while on the other side, many argue that it only increases the “disparity between the rich and the poor,” [456] and diminishes the power of the states. In this essay, I will analyze the question: how globalization challenges the liberal and realist assumptions regarding the state and what new security concerns globalization brings with it? In other words, I will argue that globalization challenges the liberal and realist assumption of the state as being the main actor because in this era, neo liberal economic policies are being implemented all around the world which has lead to the rise in power and spread of multinational corporations. Globalization also challenges the liberal assumption of ‘absolute sovereignty’ of a state because the spread of communication technology has lead to the blurring of borders. And the economic interdependence amongst states raises questions about the state as being a unitary actor. When it comes to security concerns, globalization has increased fears of states because due to the Internet, terrorists are better connected than they have been before, movement of people has increased fears of more ethnic violence and the spread of ‘dual use’ technology has further made states unsure about their true intended use. However, because globalization and the state are both central to the question, let us begin by first looking at both in order to get a better understanding?
Over the years, vast amount of literature has been written on the subject but even today there exists no clear definition of globalization primarily because it affects such a wide range of activities. Simply put, globalization is defined as “increasing and intensified flows between countries of goods, services, capital, ideas, information and people, which produce national