The Economic Globalization And The International System After The Cold War

After the cold war, the economic globalization sweeps over any corner of the world. With international trade, financial transfers, and foreign direct investment, the economic globalization makes the international actors increasingly closely interconnected and deeply interdepended, and also gives us a new "paradigm" to analyze and understand the changing world. Meanwhile, the international system is also under adjustment and transition. The economic globalization creates an unprecedented background for the evolution of the international system after the cold war. Therefore, research on the impact of economic globalization on the evolution of international system has its academic and realistic meanings.The international system is a complicated complex. To simplify the analysis, the international system here is divided into three parts—the international actors, the international regimes and the international structure, according to the neo-realism theory. And the analyses focus on these three aspects. First, the economic globalization weakens the power of nation states, and enhances the status and functions of non-state actors in the international society. That means a shock to the international system in which nation states are regarded historically as the most basic and important interaction units, and a change of the international system to anther one with multi-actors and multi-sources of power. Second, under the push of the economic globalization, global, regional, multilateral and bilateral international regimes emerge with their fields expanded and the functions enhanced continuously, which make the interactions between the units more institutionalized. The international system is now becoming more ordered. Meanwhile, the economic globalization participated by all the actors (nation-states, international organizations and multinational corporations) forwards its request for innovation to the international regime dominated chronically by advanced countries and sets the condition for the establishment of more reasonable and democratic international political and economic new order. Third, though the United States is exerting its crucial influence on global affairs resorting its mighty power, the economic globalization is now drivinginternational system into the road of multi-polarization and equalization. On the other side, the regional economic integration is presumably changing the international structure into an unprecedented one that will be composed of "weak polars" based on the regional units or blocks without "strongly" opposed relationship. We are in an ever-changing world. Though the international system may not go as we predict, we still should not overlook the role of the economic globalization in the process of the international system evolvement after the cold war.