Globalisation and International Relations
Globalisation and International Relations examines interdependence and power beyond the state. You need to define globalisation across dimensions, evaluate its winners and losers, and explain Ireland's place in international institutions.
Core rules and concepts
- Globalisation: intensification of cross-border flows - economic (trade, FDI, finance), cultural (media, migration), political (institutions, law) and technological (internet, transport).
- International organisations: UN (peace and security, human rights), WTO (trade rules), IMF and World Bank (finance and development), EU (supranational regional integration).
- Sovereignty is pooled, not simply lost: EU membership constrains policy but gives Ireland a seat at the table.
- Irish foreign policy: military neutrality (not in NATO), UN peacekeeping, the 'triple lock' (UN mandate plus Government and Dáil approval for deployments over 12 troops), Irish Aid, and the Good Friday Agreement's international dimension.
- Brexit illustrates interdependence: trade disruption, the Northern Ireland Protocol and Windsor Framework, and cross-border cooperation.
Worked example
Should Ireland join NATO? Arguments for: collective defence, interoperability, shifting European security after 2022. Arguments against: neutrality tradition, the triple lock, public opinion, risk of entanglement. A strong answer distinguishes neutrality as legal status, political policy and identity, and notes that Ireland already participates in PESCO and UN missions.
Traps
- Equating globalisation with Westernisation or with trade alone.
- Assuming sovereignty is zero-sum.
- Ignoring regionalisation (EU, African Union, Mercosur).
- Treating neutrality as a single fixed meaning.