What is the relationship between political and globalization? - Ju Sukyung

 1. Summary

Globalization and politics should be viewed as bilateral tensions rather than just mutual helpers. In the past, 'globalization' was viewed as an economic trend that prioritized efficiency and maximized it, but these days, the paradigm is shifting to national security and political control. Beyond embracing globalization, the state uses a number of economic tools as a political weapon. In doing so, we place our own interests as our top priority. In other words, politics is about protecting the rules of globalization through diplomacy and national policies, and sometimes protecting sovereignty by directly intervening or controlling them. These changes show that the sovereignty of the state is not disappearing, but is changing into a new form.

2. What I Learned and Found Interesting

Some say that the power of the state is weakening due to globalization, but in fact, the state is redefining its sovereignty by strategically utilizing the 'interconnectivity' gained through globalization. The state is using the economy as a 'political tool'. One of the representative examples is the control with core technologies such as semiconductors. The U.S. restricting the export of semiconductor technology can be seen not just as a trade policy but as a political act that seeks to maximize its influence through technological hegemony. 'Which country monopolizes and controls core technologies?' has changed to a focus of technological competition. This proves that technological sovereignty is a country's foremost value. In addition, the U.N., WTO, international NGOs, and multinational corporations are cross-border, creating various policies such as AI ethics and climate change agreements. Global governance networks are emerging like this, showing that countries have more areas of problems that can be solved by sharing and cooperating with other countries.Most intriguingly, just as big tech companies like Google, which we know by name, control large amounts of data and influence national public opinion and people's consumption patterns, they act as if they are sovereign. The government's attempt to regulate these companies appears to be a competition between the state and the business.

3. Conclusion and Discussion

In the end, the relationship between politics and globalization leads to a dilemma where the two values of security and openness must collide over and over again. If a country tightens its grip on security, it is forced to lose efficiency, and if it seeks openness, it is exposed to vulnerability. This trend may pose a major threat, especially for a country like ours. We believe that it should be a prerequisite for a country to consolidate its technological independence and have "political flexibility" through diplomacy with various governments rather than to show strong and general dependence on it. The future of a democracy depends on how to obtain democratic accountability from its increasingly powerful capital and technological powers. The question I'd like to discuss is the most interesting part of the topic: the dilemma between national security and intelligence. "Can great powers like the United States and China use security as an excuse to build a digital barrier that completely blocks access to certain websites and apps?"

Comments

  1. seenzeDecember 12, 2025 at 2:37 AM

    Your discussion clearly highlights the central tension between openness and security, showing how globalization has shifted from an efficiency-driven economic process to a politically charged arena of technological control and national strategy. You insightfully connect semiconductor restrictions, digital sovereignty, and big tech power to the broader question of how states redefine sovereignty rather than lose it. Most importantly, your final question about whether great powers can justify creating “digital walls” in the name of security captures one of the most urgent debates in global politics today. Overall, your writing shows a strong grasp of how political authority, technology, and globalization increasingly collide.

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