Contemporary Issues In World Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Contemporary Issues In World Politics - Essay Example On the other hand, importing leads to the development of dependency of the receiving nation on foreign countries. It also leads to a reduction in national reserves thereby contributing to inflation. Moreover, local businesses as well as the labor market are threatened. On the other hand, the importing nation may experience security concerns especially with regards to high tech military hardware. These are addressed through ensuring that the imports are sourced from a trusted source to guarantee security. The decision to import or export is an economic development that influences the political interest of a nation state (Oatley, 2011). Nations react to influences that may have an impact on the military and economic strengths through export controls. A nation may resort to control its exports despite having the capacity to maintain an excessive export surplus over imports. Maintaining high export surplus may be interpreted by the recipient nation states as an aggressive policy that may have an impact on economic and military security hence the need to establish defensive mechanism for the purpose of safeguarding the security interests of the targeted nation for export. Trade affairs between nation states are therefore viewed cautiously in a political perspective (Sachs, 2006). Permission for imports from particular nations and not others is one of the tools that are applied in the establishment of the foreign policy of many nation states. It is applied to persuade governments to adhere to certain agreements that are meant to protect the interests of other nation states. For example, trade embargos have been enforced on countries such as Iraq by the US during the Saddam... This pressure is meant to protect the political and economic interests of the US that have often been threatened by global terrorism. The European Union countries also engaged in an economic agreement of adopting the Euro as their single currency, which would help to maintain economic stability. The treaty was politicized by the fact that its main aim was to bind the Cold War Alliance partners EU. For example, the agreement would prevent Germany from realigning itself with East and Central Europe. Generally, as Oatley observes, economic agreements generate political responsibilities that are prone to political exploitation. The global political economy is manifest through international trade and international relations. Exports increase the economic well being of the exporting country but a high export surplus may be viewed by other nation states as an aggressive policy that may not promote friendly international relations. Treaties such as NAFTA, WTO, and COMESA have been significan t in promoting international trade. Regional alliances among nation states present various economic and political challenges including a decline in democratic space. Nations that get financial assistance from these organizations are compelled to pass laws that serve the economic and political interest of the dominant economies that are involved in the management of the institutions. Generally, recourse to the global political economy is important in understanding world politics as presented in this paper.