Global politics is the study of the political, economic, and social processes that shape our world. It encompasses interactions among nations, non-state groups, and transnational institutions.
International politics is a process where each nation strives to safeguard or secure its national interests through coercion and violence.
National Interest
National interest is a concept used to convey the long-term objectives of a nation. It plays an essential role in global politics.
Leaders throughout history have often justified their decisions by reference to national interests. For example, Alcibiades declared that he was acting in ancient Athens’ best interests when urging the launch of Sicilian expedition during the Peloponnesian War.
Factors such as a country’s governmental structures and processes, the characteristics and social ideologies of its people, its geopolitical location and capabilities, challenges from neighboring countries and international organizations, as well as the overall state of world society at any given time all influence how a nation formulates its national interests.
Conflict
Global politics refers to the process of managing international relations and resolving conflicts among states around the world. Unfortunately, conflict cannot be completely eliminated due to competing national interests and objectives that cannot be reconciled.
However, this is not entirely negative as it creates opportunities for collaboration and the exchange of information and ideas. Doing so can improve performance and spur innovation.
Conflicts can range in nature and type from personal to racial, class, caste, political and international. Typically, conflicts arise due to lack of coordination between two parties due to differences in interests, culture religion education background etc.
There are several conditions that can exacerbate confrontation and war. These include sociocultural dissimilarity, cognitive imbalance, status disparity between parties, as well as their coercive power.
Cooperation
Humans are social animals and need to work together towards common objectives. Whether we’re constructing skyscrapers or sending packages to distant island nations, it is imperative that we do so for everyone’s benefit.
Cooperation has long been the cornerstone of success in the past. Nowadays, cooperation plays an increasingly important role in global politics.
Human beings tend to be motivated by self-interest and thus find collaboration difficult. Nonetheless, as discussed in this module, there are several factors that can make collaboration more efficient.
Cooperative individuals typically possess greater trust and reputations. Furthermore, cooperative people tend to engage in behaviors that benefit others such as volunteering or giving money away for charity.
Interactions
Global politics is an expansive concept, encompassing the interactions of states and international organizations (both private and public), as well as other global actors. Studying these interactions gives us insight into how the world functions and what shapes its dynamics.
An effective way to understand global politics is by looking at it from multiple angles. We start at the macro-level, taking in the big picture and how it affects individual nations. Secondly, we look at micro-level issues which have an impact on global politics – such as local conflicts.
