ABSTRACT
Globalization is commonly described as the processes and forces leading to an ever-decreasing capacity of the nation state to govern within its territorial boundaries. The causes for the state’s loss of its governing abilities range from the transnational nature of issues (such as environmental degradation and spread of terrorism) to the speed and intensity of financial and capital flows. The combined global nature of issues, and the ease and speed with which finance and capital flow in and out of a national market ensure that governance in one nation is almost impossible, as governments are judged by their attractiveness to international actors, not by indigenous policy success or failure. The problem faced by policy makers is that although they might have been accountable to indigenous forces in the past for their social and economic policies, international actors are not accountable or loyal to individual states but they can punish any state they perceive as acting against their needs or against their desires. As such, even traditional welfare state policies have had to be rethought to ensure that the international community perceives national socio-economic paradigms as being both safe and in their particular interests.
