What in the World are We Talking About?

#1: What is the most important issue in world politics?

Instead of saying the Israel/Palestine conflict is the most important world politics issue, or Darfur, or Islamic fundamentalism, or U.S. foreign policy, I propose something a bit more abstract: “World politics” is the most important issue in world politics. Which sounds circular, but the quotes are there to establish a… definable difference. When I refer to “world politics” as being the most important issue, I mean what, exactly, is world politics? The immediate reaction to the term is the relationships between nations’ governments, which is all well and good, but leaves out all the relationships that don’t happen within a government, but could be directly or indirectly affected by governments, or perhaps not at all. Who’s to say that the hottest trends in fashion this season aren’t a facet of world politics? Or the content of movies, world tours of musicians, frozen dinners in the grocery store, basketball games watched halfway across the world, which, on the outer surface, aren’t directly related to governments, but still aren’t a statement of world politics? Essentially, the question isn’t even what is world politics – the question is, what do we exclude? Everything, and where everything goes, can be a part of world politics. Each person indirectly contributes to global politics. If I’m able to go to an Italian restaurant where the food is cooked by a Mexican, served by a waitress from Bulgaria, eaten off of plates made in China, bussed by someone from El Salvador while wearing clothes made in Egypt, then I consider myself a contributor to world politics.

That last sentence now brings us to the actual point. The rest was just an introduction to this: the most important issue in world politics is globalization. Which brings up the question of what is globalization? Despite the debate going on with that term, I agree with the definition that “globalization refers to fundamental changes in the spatial and temporal contours of social existence.” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) In more laymen’s terms, everyone can be connected to everyone and everything thanks to the advent of new technology, government policies, trade and travel. This brings up a slew of questions about security, policy, poverty, and national identity. With the world at everyone’s fingertips, everyone’s backyard has gotten a lot bigger – and a lot smaller.

…This all brings us back to that central question (really, this entire thing is a circle…a globe): what is world politics? If the world is getting “flatter”, according to Thomas Friedman, and smaller, virtually, at least (according to global warming, it’s getting wetter and hotter), then where is the world in world politics? A global society is being created, where, supposedly, cultural distinctiveness is being diminished. It is my opinion that, if the world is becoming one instead of many, world politics is taking on a whole new spectrum. The connections and relationships within this developing spectrum are the new world politics. No one, especially me, can accurately define what these new world politics consist of, or where they will lead.


And that’s exactly the reason why world politics is the most important issue in world politics.