Sovereignty and Globalization

Global Proliferation Managing the Effects of Globalized Proliferation on State Sovereignty What are the essential elements of an effective strategy to address proliferation? Effectively managing the cultural, economic and sociopolitical effects of globalization needs to begin prior to its proliferation across a culture. The emphasis on ensuring consistency and balance between the cultural norms and values of a nation or region vs. The benefits of globalization need to be defined through constructs and frameworks (Nef, 2002).

The essential elements of an effective strategy to address the proliferation of globalization need to include a very clear definition of state sovereignty, especially in the most critically important areas of economic policy (Hobson, Ramesh, 2002). This is essential for balancing the needs of a sovereign state and the clarity and stability of economic policies relative to the continual economic pressure to continually become more consolidated into a regional trading block or operating region (Randeria, 2007).

Nations attempt to achieve the balance of controlled globalization to ensure economic growth without having to experience the downside effects that globalization can deliver to any nation, including wage competition, greater compliance and reporting requirements, and greater instability to currencies (Lentner, 2010). Defining the policy and strategic aspects of which areas of a nation's economic, fiscal and sociopolitical policy will be immune from globalization's proliferation takes forethought and the use of scalable, flexible frameworks (Nef, 2002).

This approach to creating an effective strategy for mitigating the downside risks and unintended costs of globalization need to be taken into the context of global economic development, the potential use of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs for multinational corporations leading the shift to globalization,. And the potential to supplant an existing economic policy with MNC's assistance.

Third world nations that have the need for greater infrastructure including Brazil, Russia, India and China have the option of bargaining their native markets for greater CSR support, holding MNCs accountable for their performance to common standards (Higgins, Hallstrom, 2007). Only by building in a more robust approach to accountability for performance of MNCS and their contributions through well-defined CSR programs will nations be able to better manage proliferation to their advantage.

Without any structure or framework (Nef, 2002) any nation and region will quickly find their national agenda being challenged by the aggregated interests of MNCs who have the potential to significantly change their economic national agenda quickly. B. Is globalization a substantial threat to state sovereignty? Do we need to think of sovereignty differently? Globalization is a significant threat to state sovereignty across multiple dimensions of a given nations' economic, social and political landscape.

Only by relying on a series of frameworks to arbitrate and define the direction of a nation's policies and structure for sovereignty in the midst of globalization pressure can the two be arbitrated successfully (Nef, 2002). Globalization is a challenge and threat to state sovereignty most fundamentally at the economic level however (Higgins, Hallstrom, 2007).

This is most prevalently seen in how the balance of payments and balance of trade are redefined and often altered through massive amounts of MNC-based trading and infusions of capital relative to the financial scale of a given nation (Randeria, 2007).

Like any supplier of a major corporation needs to evaluate and assess the risks associated with being too dependent on a given customer, the same is true for any nation as it evaluates what percentage of its workforce is committed to a given MNC or regional producer of goods and services. This is where the sovereignty conflicts often emanate from and grow over time.

The continual strains and conflicts regarding the allocation of natural resources in a given nation relative to the needs of MNCs who are infusing cash into a foreign economy including Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) needs to be managed with sufficient controls to alleviate sovereignty being lost (Higgins, Hallstrom, 2007). This is a challenge for many 3rd world nations that can readily see the value of having a strong MNC base of companies infusing FDI into their economy.

Yet many must stop and ask themselves at what price are they gaining this incremental revenue and funds for infrastructure growth. It is common for 3rd world nations in need of infrastructure to trade away sovereignty for the FDI inflows that will ensure longer-term growth (Lentner, 2010). The cultural dimension of globalization also must be addressed, and in forward-thinking nations, taken in the context of FDI guidelines for continued investment. Cultural trade-offs, as.