Research Paper Example: Contemporary Political Analysis

By definition, neo-liberalism is the resurgence of the 19th-century ideas such as, the reductions in government spending to increase the overall role of the private sector or even the economic liberalization policies such as free trade and privatization, done in the 20th century. Although the definition and application of neoliberalism are considered unfamiliar to a majority of the American legal audiences, the term is primarily deployed by social movements and political leaders especially in the concrete struggles that are experienced across various national settings (Abbey, 2005). Nonetheless, when applied in a political and legal conflict context, neoliberalism refers to a set of recurring claims that are mainly made by policymakers, scholars, and advocates in an ongoing contest that exists between the imperatives of market economies as well as the non-market values that are primarily grounded in the democratic legitimacys requirements. This being said, neo-liberalism, has to a broad extent, been applied in solving various inherent political analysis problems.

To begin with, globalization is a renowned political analysis problem that is in the modern day today, presented as a non-negotiable external economic constraint that must be accommodated. Being a process that does not have amenable nature, content, and consequences both in practice and political deliberation, globalization has its invocation being associated with both the logic of the absence of political choice and that of economic compulsion. Besides, with regard to how globalization relates to the standard political analysis problems, the restoration of subjects to the process of globalization as well as assessing the extent to which globalizations constructions impact their behavior have become the most renowned challenges for critical political analysts. However, with the application of neo-liberalism, it is possible to demystify globalization and to hold it open to political and democratic scrutiny and by so doing it is possible to challenge its perceived logic of no alternative. Therefore, in the current era of neo-liberalism, if globalizations nature, content, and consequences are to be put into context, there first have to be a restoration of agents to the globalization process except for a subject as well as the politics to the economic compulsions logic.

In addition, the modern day today political analysis has been faced with numerous inherent challenges and problems which have forced a majority of the legislative analysists to want to understand the broad spectrum of neoliberalism. Being a regularly used term that is used in a myriad of debates to define the past 40 years, neoliberalism is commonly applied in an economic system in which case the free market is extended to most of the public and personal worlds. Thus, with regard to the neoliberalism era, the process in which the state transforms from the provider of public welfare to becoming a promoter of markets and completion, notably aids in this particular shift. This being the case, when it comes to solving various political analysis issues and problems that are related to the states or a nations economy, neoliberalism comes to play since it is generally associated with multiple policies such as cutting trade barriers and tariffs. Montgomerie (2007) argues that the influence of neoliberalism in various economic problems has helped liberalize the international movement of capital and at the same time, limited the power of different trade unions. More fundamentally, when approached from this perspective, neoliberalism has helped break up the state-owned enterprises, sold off public assets and has also generally opened up the publics lives to dominance through market thinking.

The Origin and Development of International Economic Relation

Arguably, the international economics are primarily centered on the effects relating to economic activity from the global differences in productive resources as well as the consumer preferences alongside the international institutions affecting them. Similarly, the concept of international economic relation seeks to explain the different consequences and patterns of both interactions and transactions between the members of different countries on matters concerning trade, investments and also migration. With regard to the origin and development of the international economic relation, various scholars contend that the international thought has, over the last hundred years, togged through numerous origin stories (Foreman-Peck, 2010).

The earliest and most common origin story of international economic relation dates back to the late nineteenth century. However, it is thought that these origin stories did not gather a full head of steam until sometimes between the 1930s and 1940s. During this time, the notion of international affairs was perceived as a product of the industrialization and imperialism which were experienced in the late nineteenth century. According to modern literature, dating back to 1945, the international economic relations have endured numerous and dramatic changes that have ranged from the balance of power to the contemporary global crisis experienced between the years 2008 and 2009. This essay, therefore, seeks to explore the various theories and origin stories that adequately explain both the origin and the development of international economic relations.

With regard to the origin of the international economic relations, a lot of historians reference the trade policy that existed before the First World War, between 1860 and 1014. More fundamentally, the historians and the economists who are primarily interested in learning more about the origin of the international economic relation are fundamentally intrigued by the rise and the decline of free trade in the 19th century as well as the political and attendant economic consequences of the trade policy trends. Based on this context, it was during the second half of the 19th century that all the international trade relations were rebuilt during the phase which the free trade episode among the European countries was commonly referred to as the golden age. In the latter era, however, there was a notable economic development that was primarily driven by industrialization and technological change. Moreover, this was also enforced by the expansion of trade that was supported by a network of bilateral trade treaties. Specifically, this network began with the Anglo-French agreement of 1860 and in turn triggered a series of other treaties among the European countries.

With regard to the essential characteristics and the structure of the world economic relations, scholars contend that the modern world economy is deemed as a special organic, holistic system whose origin was centered by the world market since the beginning of the 20th century. Based on this premise, the international economy is, therefore, referred to as a global economic system that is based on both the world and the international economic division of labor as well as the integration and production which operates on the principles of market economy. Donaldson (1930) points out that the modern world economy which evolved into the formation of the international economic relation was formed as a result of the evolution of the international division of labor, the process of internationalization of other countries economic life and the integration of groups of countries into regional economic unions, among others.

The development of the international economic relations has seen many changes that have ranged from events such as the European integration in the 1960s to the collapse of the international monetary systems. The renowned European integration was commonly regarded as the process of legal, political, industrial and economic integration of various states either wholly or partially in Europe. This, primarily came about through the renowned European Union and its policies.

Today, in the modern world, dramatic decreases in both transport and communication costs have become the primary driving forces behind the modern day global trading systems. In the same vein, geopolitics have also played a significant role in advancing as well as reinforcing the structural trends of the international economic relations. This being said, the international economic relations of the modern day today uniquely present an aspect of coexistence as well as the peaceful economic competition that exists between two very different social systems. Besides, the contemporary economic relations is also associated with a unique number of sovereign states that are entering the world arena after having achieved every political condition that is necessary for independent economic development. According to various modern-day economists, a majority of the characteristics of the modern day international economic relations were particularly determined prior to and during the industrial revolution especially in England and other Western Europe countries.

Besides, Donaldson (1930) contends that other lines of development in the international economy have notably been determined by the colonial conquest as well as the export of capital. Based on this regard, various forms of foreign investments in the economies of colonial and dependent countries have significantly impacted and tremendously influenced the structure of the world economy as well as its whole development trend. An excellent example of this factor was substantiated at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th century, in which case the world happened to be divided into smaller groups of creditor states and very many debtor states. Today, therefore, as a result of the imbalance between the creditor and the debtor states across the globe, the exact number of the industrially developed countries has remained significantly small and the established forms of international economic relations, having become resistant to changes that are appropriate to progress have increasingly tended to come into conflict with the current real demands of economic growth both in specific countries and also in the global economy, as a whole. This, in essence, has resulted in the creation of very powerful explosive forces which have, in turn, made themselves felt in various social revolutions as well as the disintegration of the colonial systems.

The development of international economic relations has also been effectively impacted by globalization, especially in the 21st century. Based on this premise, scholars have increasingly contended that globalization, which is the process of integration among societies and economies across the globe, has substantially brought about the integration of the individual national economies with the global economy. Similarly, with globalization, the international economic relations have been primarily characterized by social, technical cultural and most importantly, the economic interdependence among various nations, across the globe. In this regard, Foreman-Peck (2010), states that being an essential factor considered in the political analysis, globalization has in the recent past significantly impacted the economic scenario of individual countries and the global economy as a whole. This being said, the international economic relations which have been undertaken in the light of globalization have primarily led to rapid development as well as the decline in poverty in numerous developing countries such as China and India.

Also, in the face of globalization, today, the international economic relations have extensively developed to the extent that these relations play an important role in the rapid growth of various economies across the world. For instance, for there to exist a successful economic relation between...