Table Of ContentThe Global Political System
The Global
Political System
Fulvio Attinà
Translated by Antoinette Groom
Translation consultant: A. J. R. Groom
Originally published in Italian as Il sistema politico globale© 1999, 2003
Gius Laterza & Figli SpA, Rome–Bari
English-language edition published by arrangement with Eulama Literary
Agency, Rome
New material in English-language edition © Fulvio Attinà 2011
English-language translation © Antoinette Groom 2011
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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First published 2011 by
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
To George Modelski, Antonio Papisca and Umberto Gori;
and to Francesca, Stefania, Carla and Daniela
The ones I’m in between
Contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgements x
List of Abbreviations xi
Introduction xiii
1 From International Relations to Global Politics:
the Challenge 1
Understanding a smaller and more complicated world 2
From a realist base to a theoretical pluralism 5
2 Politics as Conflict in an Asymmetric World 12
Theoretical and methodological paradigms 13
Theories of politics as conflict 18
3 Politics as Cooperation in a World of Equals 38
Theories of politics as cooperation 40
Concluding remarks 54
4 Global Institutions and Government 56
Global political institutions 56
Organizational institutions 60
Hegemony or leadership in the governmental structure 64
5 Global Political Change 70
Long-term analysis: the evolution of global political
institutions 72
Short-term analysis: cleavages, coalitions and competitions 80
6 Contemporary Global Politics 84
The first phase: US leadership and the Soviet challenge 85
The second phase: the destabilization of the world
governmental structure 93
7 Reorganizing the State 101
Global economic integration 101
vii
viii Contents
Relations between cultures 104
The reorganization of states 106
The European case 108
8 Changing International Security 114
The security of states as a public good 115
Security cooperation 119
Global terrorism 137
9 The New Global Policies 141
Environmental policy 142
Migration policy 148
Human rights policy and democracy 153
The control of transnational organized crime 161
Health protection policy 169
Conclusions 174
Conclusions 175
References 181
Index 197
List of Figures
1 The focus of the study of global politics 11
2 Evolutional analysis: the mechanisms of social
evolution 73
3 Origin of multistate political systems 109
ix
Acknowledgements
I have accumulated a number of debts along the way of studying and devel-
oping an explanatory perspective of global politics, and writing this book.
It would be a very long list of names if it were to include all those who
inspired, stimulated, criticized and advised my research on the structure
and change of the global political system.
However, I want to remember here the attention to the empirical study
of politics that Umberto Gori taught me, the awareness for the human rights
dimension that Antonio Papisca instilled in my research work, and the great
inspiration that George Modelski’s evolutionary analysis gave to my
search for explanations of the continuous change of international practices
and institutions.
Talking and debating about world political issues with colleagues and
friends such as Emmanuel Adler, Ester Barbé, Walter Carlsnaes, Claudio
Cioffi-Revilla, A. J. R. Groom, Mario Telo, William R. Thompson and
John A. Vasquez helped me better understand the different factors and
processes that an international political scientist must take into considera-
tion in the investigation and explanation of world politics.
Like all European International Relations (IR) scholars of my genera-
tion, I owe very much to A. J. R. Groom for his invaluable commitment in
creating the ECPR Standing Group of International Relations. By bringing
together fragmented national schools and linking them to the world society
of IR students and scholars, this community has been something of a cradle
for our research programmes.
At my institution, the University of Catania, I always enjoyed the envi-
ronment and got the resources that scientists need to have at their disposal
in order to progress in research, teaching and scientific organization.
Last but not least, I want to thank the people at Palgrave and Antoinette
Groom for making this book a reality. Steven Kennedy, the Palgrave
Publisher/Director, gave me the initial encouragement and supervised all
the phases of the process with great professionalism and nice touch.
Antoinette was responsible for the translation from the Italian manuscript,
which updated the original edition. She worked with admirable commit-
ment and experience.
The presence of my wife Annamaria in the background is so important
that any acknowledgement is but a beginning.
x
List of Abbreviations
ARF ASEAN Regional Forum
ASEAN Association of South-East Asian Nations
BISA British International Studies Association
CDC Center for Disease Control and Prevention [US]
CFCs chlorofluorocarbons
CSCE Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
ECOSOC Economic and Social Council [UN]
ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States
ECPR European Consortium for Political Research
EU European Union
Europol European Police Office [EU]
FATF Financial Action Task Force
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GNP gross national product
G7/8 Group of the Seven major industrialized countries (G7)
and Russia (G8)
G20 Group of the Twenty major industrialized and developing
countries
Group of 77 Group of developing countries of UNCTAD
HIV/AIDS human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune
deficiency syndrome
ILO International Labour Organization
IMF International Monetary Fund
Interpol International Criminal Police Organization
IOM International Organization for Migration
IR International Relations
ISA International Studies Association
JAIR Japan Association of International Studies
MAD mutual assured destruction
NAM Non-Aligned Movement
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NGO non-governmental organization
OAS Organization of American States
ODHIR Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
[OSCE]
xi
