POLS2010 Chap.12 Globalization, the Nation-State and the Backlash
Globalization, the Nation-State and the Backlash
The last week looks at globalization as a future trend for comparative politics. The chapter follows Stefanie Walter’s argument that the globalization backlash reflects the politicisation of existing scepticism rather than a swing in public opinion, and shows how globalization-sceptic parties, economic shocks and financial crises turn that scepticism into protectionist, isolationist and nationalist policies.
It then uses Suzanne Berger’s review to ask whether open markets hollow out the nation-state, the welfare state and national varieties of capitalism, and ends with the debate over whether compensating globalization’s losers can defuse the backlash.
Because the final exam covers the whole semester, this chapter is a good place to practise linking topics.
Globalization connects to the transnational cleavage, to party competition, to the EU and Brexit, and to the welfare state, and an answer that draws on two of those links will read as genuinely comparative.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Defining the globalization backlash
- 02
Politicisation rather than opinion change
- 03
Supply-side mobilisation by sceptic parties
- 04
Trade shocks, crises and voting
- 05
Is globalization new?
- 06
The welfare state and the race to the bottom
- 07
Varieties of capitalism and compensation
Worked example · free
Opinion swing or politicisation?
- 1Stable survey support for trade means public preferences have not swung against globalization.
- 1The growth of a sceptic party from 5% to 20%, a fourfold rise, shows existing scepticism being mobilised on the supply side.
- 1Mainstream parties echoing it shows the issue becoming more salient and contested, which is politicisation in Walter’s sense.
Key terms
- Globalization backlash
- A significant decrease in support for globalization, expressed in voting, party discourse and protectionist or nationalist policy.
- Race to the bottom
- The claimed tendency for capital mobility to force governments to cut wages, social provision and regulation to stay competitive.
- Varieties of capitalism
- An approach that separates coordinated market economies, such as Germany, from liberal market economies, such as Britain.
- Embedded liberalism
- Ruggie’s idea of combining open markets with domestic social protection, which compensation strategies try to restore.
- Politicisation
- The process by which an issue becomes more salient and contested in public debate and party competition.
Globalization, the Nation-State and the Backlash FAQ
Has public opinion turned against globalization?
Not much, according to Walter. Public preferences have changed little over the decades; what has changed is that sceptical attitudes have been politicised, globalization issues have become more salient, and sceptic parties and actors have gained political influence.
Does globalization destroy the welfare state?
The fear is that capital mobility constrains taxes and spending and forces a race to the bottom. Berger notes that the evidence shows greater resilience than this predicts, with corporate taxation as a share of revenue or GDP remaining fairly stable.
Why has compensation not stopped the backlash?
Those who gain often resist sharing, and Denmark and Sweden, despite generous welfare systems, still have strong radical right parties. Their backlash targets political and sociocultural globalization, which compensation for economic losses does not address.
Did the China shock affect voting?
Walter reviews evidence that regions more exposed to Chinese import competition saw more polarisation and more support for protectionism, and that Leave support in the 2016 Brexit referendum ran higher in places hit harder by the China shock and by rising immigration.
What is the varieties of capitalism argument?
It holds that advanced economies are organised in distinct ways, with coordinated market economies such as Germany and Japan relying on business coordination, and liberal market economies such as the United States and Britain relying on markets. Each should excel at different kinds of production.
Exam move
Prepare this chapter as a bridge to the rest of the course, since the final exam can ask you to connect globalization to cleavages, parties, the EU or Brexit. Learn Walter’s central claim in one sentence and practise applying it to a country you know. Keep Berger’s four debates as a checklist for questions about the nation-state, and have one example each of a coordinated and a liberal market economy.
Finally, practise a balanced paragraph on compensation that names its logic, its evidence and its two limits, ending with your own judgement. For a final drill, take a country such as Britain or Denmark and write two paragraphs: one diagnosing which dimensions of globalization its backlash targets, and one judging whether compensation could address it.
Ending with a clear verdict is what distinguishes an evaluation from a summary of the literature.
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