Managing Global Interdependencies
By Vasile Puşcaş, 2010
The contemporary international system can be considered a complex network of unities, which are involved in a multitude of interactions, transactions and communications. In order to see these interac-tions as power relations (―the balancing of pow-ers‖), one should see the cooperative and integra-tive potential of transactions and communications. For those who have skeptically considered the ―so-cio-causal perspective‖ of Karl Deutsch to be more about an integrated international system, the recent global economic and financial crisis revealed the meanings of Deutschiane conceptualization.
Aspects of global interdependence are common subjects of analysis, whether the focus is the eco-nomic sub-system, or the cultural, social or political ones. ―The world is not divided into camps‖, says Fareed Zakaria, in his most recent book, ―and it is far more connected and interdependent than it was. ‹‹Balancing›› against a rising power would be dangerous, destabilizing and potentially self-fulfilling policy‖ (Zakaria, 2009). Furthermore, Joseph S. Nye defines globalization at the beginning of the 21st century as ―worldwide networks of interdepend-ence‖ (Nye, 2003).
 Puşcaş (2010) Managing Global Interdependencies | [ ] |
Interdependence Between Social Values and National Performance Indicators: The Case of the Enlarged European Union
By Cene Bavec, 2007
Based on the desk research, the paper provides an empirical insight into correlations between some social values and five selected economic performance indicators for 20 European Union countries. We concentrated on Composite Trust. This is a one-dimensional representation of citizens’ trust on national level and is calculated from three different types of trust that van Oorschot and Arts (2005) derived from the European Values Study (2001). We confirmed correlations between trust and economic performance, but we have also noticed a very different pattern for the old and the new eu member states. The old eu member states show a positive correlation, on the other hand there is no such correlation for the new member states. A plausible hypothesis is that the same level of Composite Trust causes different effects in different societies and economies.We could also assume that social structures in the new eu member states are still distorted and are not in the equilibrium which characterizes eu countries with long democratic and market economy traditions. Economic performance in the new eu member states is based mainly on economic and not on social incentives. On the other hand, correlation between trust and innovativeness is strong in all studied countries. It confirms many studies which see trust as a fundamental social enabler and stimulator for innovativeness.
The Impact of Economic Integration within the European Union as a Factor in Conflict Transformation and Peace-Building
By John Umo Ette, 2014
This study examines economic integration within the European Union as a factor in conflict transformation and peace-building. European responses to causes of frequent conflict and wars after the end of WWII focused on the search for peace, economic cooperation and prosperity. This thesis will focus on three elements: economic interdependence, the expansion of the free market, and economic integration. In-depth examination of these factors reveals that economic interdependence or the exchange of goods and services across inter-state and international boundaries only, is not sufficient to bring peace among states. Economic interdependence may reduce the impact of war, but cannot maintain sustainable peace. Unfair competition fanned by economic nationalism was a strong obstacle to free trade in Europe in the early 19th century. In the 21st century, the expansion of the free trade, with increased understanding has enhanced reduction in interstate conflicts. However, free trade, in and of itself does not constitute a strong factor for a sustainable peace. Free trade may encourage democracy, but the expansion of free trade coupled with interdependence, does not bring sustainable peace. The EU has successfully established sustainable peace through economic integration-the creation of the single market that establish freedom of movement, people, goods, services; and a single currency that facilitates easy transactions. The single market also abolished tariffs and custom duties. By and large, economic integration within the EU has been successful in creating sustainable peace because economic interdependence, and the expansion of the free market have been combined with political integration by building democratic institutions at the intergovernmental and transnational levels.
Investing in the Peace: Economic Interdependence and International Conflict
By Erik Gartzke, Quan Li, and Charles Boehmer, 2001
Research appears to substantiate the liberal conviction that trade fosters global peace. Still, existing understanding of linkages between con ict and international economics is limited in at least two ways. First, cross-border economic relationships are far broader than just trade. Global capital markets dwarf the exchange of goods and services, and states engage in varying degrees of monetary policy coordination. Second, the manner in which economics is said to inhibit con ict behavior is implausible in light of new analytical insights about the causes of war. We discuss, and then demonstrate formally, how interdependence can in uence states’ recourse to military violence. The risk of disrupting economic linkages—particularly access to capital—may occasionally deter minor contests between interdependent states, but such opportunity costs will typically fail to preclude militarized disputes. Instead, interdependence offers nonmilitarized avenues for communicating resolve through costly signaling. Our quantitative results show that capital interdependence contributes to peace independent of the effects of trade, democracy, interest, and other variables.
