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The politicization of world politics and its effects: Eight propositions

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  • Zürn, Michael

Abstract

World politics is no longer a matter of executive multilateralism and technocratic expert decisions. What we see instead is the politicization of international institutions – a twofold process of growing resistance to and the more intensive utilization of these institutions. After providing evidence for this claim, this article develops propositions on the effects of politicization of world politics on the quality of decision making and the content of policies on both the international and national level. On the one hand, the politicization of international institutions arguably heralds a reflexive stage of global governance. The increased participation of societal actors leads to a new mode of decision making in world politics, which includes a notion of global common goods in conjunction with elements of public deliberation. By the same token, increased politicization of international institutions contradicts lamentations about the hollowing-out of national democracies and shows that political participation is in fact partly emigrating to the international level. While politicization has the inherent potential for initiating the democratization of international institutions and making new types of global policies possible, there are on the other hand several dangers associated to this process. First, it may perpetuate existing inequalities between North and South in terms of representation on the global level. Second, the politicization of world politics puts pressure on national democracy, since it moves attention away from national political matters and skews national policies towards universalist positions. Moreover, it arguably provokes the constitution of a new political cleavage, cosmopolitanism vs. communitarianism, which may possibly restructure politics in the 21st century to a large extent. These propositions on the effects of politicization will be developed with the help of empirical illustrations. However, they will not be systematically tested – the purpose of this contribution is to elaborate the analytical potential of a new concept and identify broad trends.

Suggested Citation

  • Zürn, Michael, 2014. "The politicization of world politics and its effects: Eight propositions," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 6(1), pages 47-71.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:209705
    DOI: 10.1017/S1755773912000276
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    Cited by:

    1. Bes, Bart Joachim & Schoonvelde, Martijn & Rauh, Christian, 2020. "Undermining, defusing or defending European integration? Assessing public communication of European executives in times of EU politicisation," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 397-423.
    2. Dirk De Bièvre & Arlo Poletti, 2020. "Towards Explaining Varying Degrees of Politicization of EU Trade Agreement Negotiations," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 243-253.
    3. Hubert Zimmermann, 2019. "The European Parliament and the Layered Politicization of the External Dimension of the Common Fisheries Policy," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 237-247.
    4. Kovanic, Martin & Steuer, Max, 2023. "Fighting against COVID-19: With or without politics?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).
    5. Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian & Zangl, Bernhard, 2020. "Zwischen Hoffen und Bangen: Zum Verhältnis von Autorität, Politisierung und Demokratisierung in internationalen Organisationen [Between hope and fear: On the relationship between authority, politic," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 5-36.
    6. Marcel Hanegraaff & Arlo Poletti, 2021. "It's economic size, stupid! How global advocacy mirrors state power," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1326-1349, October.
    7. Alejandro Esguerra & Silke Beck & Rolf Lidskog, 2017. "Stakeholder Engagement in the Making: IPBES Legitimization Politics," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 17(1), pages 59-76, February.
    8. Wilde, Pieter de & Junk, Wiebke Marie & Palmtag, Tabea, 2016. "Accountability and opposition to globalization in international assemblies," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 823-846.
    9. Anna Herranz-Surrallés, 2020. "‘Authority Shifts’ in Global Governance: Intersecting Politicizations and the Reform of Investor–State Arbitration," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 336-347.
    10. Henning Schmidtke & Tobias Lenz, 2024. "Expanding or defending legitimacy? Why international organizations intensify self-legitimation," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 753-784, October.
    11. Viktor Szép, 2022. "Transnational Parliamentary Activities in EU Foreign Policy: The Role of Parliamentarians in the Establishment of the EU's Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(6), pages 1741-1757, November.
    12. Axel Dreher & Katharina Michaelowa, 2008. "The political economy of international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 331-334, December.
    13. Niels Gheyle & Ferdi De Ville, 2017. "How Much Is Enough? Explaining the Continuous Transparency Conflict in TTIP," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(3), pages 16-28.
    14. Hannah Schmid-Petri, 2017. "Politicization of science: how climate change skeptics use experts and scientific evidence in their online communication," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 523-537, December.
    15. Jan Beyers & Marcel Hanegraaff, 2017. "Balancing friends and foes: Explaining advocacy styles at global diplomatic conferences," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 461-484, September.
    16. Israel Nyaburi Nyadera & UÄŸur Yasin Asal & Billy Agwanda, 2021. "The Role of Regional Organisations in Economic Growth Among Developing Countries: A Case of the Af DB," India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, , vol. 77(3), pages 384-403, September.

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