Exclavity under globalization. Selected works

The problem of exclaves under globalization

the remoteness, which is a specific feature of rim lands, but about accessibility, which can be measured qualitatively.

Nowadays, the development of exclaves (as well as of all other regions) is determined by the processes of globalization and regionalization. Examining the connection between these processes, the author highlights that all spheres of modern life (economic, political and social ones) are involved in the process of globalization. This process results in the creation of a global space. It is a global sphere for certain objects with its fixed laws (or regulations) and standards, which determine relative positions of these objects. The objects of this global space are governed by common laws, but still they are not identical; they have different dynamics and disposition within the global space.

In a narrow meaning, globalization is a phenomenon of unification and transformation of economic, political, social and cultural spaces and, in the long run, their intertwining caused by technology changes, environmental restrictions etc.

Though this approach is rather abstract, it can be given a concrete substance, understanding the term “space” is a sphere of common laws, rights and regularities. Moreover, it’s important to stress that laws, shaping the social and economic space, are first and foremost, those of value (and investments) and norms of consumption, but not legal norms which shape political and legal spaces. Consequently, we can single out an economic, social and political globalization.

Economic globalization is a tendency for the formation of the global investment environment and integration of national markets. In other words, it is an aggregate of processes of special merger of markets, capitals, goods, services and financial instruments, which can be accelerated under the influence of competition (also at the level of innovative technologies).

According to some researchers, globalization forms a new, unprecedented economy1. But it doesn’t mean that the global economic space becomes completely homogeneous. The development

1 See e.g.: Кастельс М. Информационная эпоха: экономика, власть и общество. М.: ГУ ВШЭ, 2000.

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Exclavity under globalization

of information technologies being an indispensable condition for globalization is influenced by polarization even more obviously than material production is2.

Relative uniformity of the global economic space is set up by more developed states. They initiated the setting up of the WTO and elaborated its rules. These states take advantage of global circulation of their currencies. Many states unify national markets into a common economic space, forming regional economic blocs. The EU has already created its own currency which competes with the dollar. On the other hand, state borders used to be and still remain one of the most important constituent parts of the national sovereignty. They are a barrier for the flows of goods, services, capital and labour force. That’s why the role of the state in the process of economic globalization is indisputable.

Experts cannot give a unanimous answer to the question “What is the main agent of economic globalization? It is a state? Or transnational corporations?” Many researchers, especially those from developing countries, are inclined to contrast the activity of national states with the activity of transnational corporations. Such point of view seems to be right, if we are not speaking about peculiarities and tendencies of the formation of the global economic space.

Social globalization is also extremely contradictive.

It may seem that modern means of communication facilitate the interaction and integration of cultures. An increasing role of mass culture generates more and more similarities among people. By virtue of strong integration processes the modern world becomes more uniform in all spheres, it becomes “global”. Such terms as “global way of thinking”, “global responsibility” have emerged. But along with this, other equally important processes of social, economic, cultural etc. stratification of society take place, including the stratification according to the territorial principle.

2 Ding L., Lui X. Growth Pole Theory and its Implications on the Evolution of Internet and Internet Industry in the United States // Paper presented for the Digital Communities — 2003 Conference. Stockholm, June 15—18, 2003.

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The problem of exclaves under globalization

The distinctions between the civilizations under the influence of globalization are not diminishing (it can be proved by the hypothesis of a “clash of civilizations” suggested by Samuel P. Huntington; by the idea of replacing the Iron Curtain between Russian and the West by a “velvet” one etc), although the civilizations develop some new similar features as a result of an extensive use of new means of communication.

Nowadays we can speak about a new phase of globalization, strengthening the regional component and putting forward demands for the elaboration of new paradigms3. To make a step forward in this direction, the EU has elaborated a programme “Europe-2010”. This programme considers globalization from different aspects: territorial, cultural, demographical, etc. Negative consequences of globalization are highlighted as well.

Actually, if intensification of various links in the global political, economic and social spaces is the essence of globalization, then the formation of their concentration centres and their periphery is inevitable. In other words, the global space will remain heterogeneous.

The results of the research on the process of European integration reflect a contradictory character of social globalization. European integration forms a solid basis for an increase in social contacts between peoples of different states. According to some researchers, the recent dynamic migration process within the EU leads to the formation of dual national identity in some regions. There is a widely spread opinion that a new form of a societal group is being formed within the EU. And this new society is opposed to “other” societies with some sort of collective forms4.

3 Dialogue between Peoples and Cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean Area: Report by the High-Level Advisory Group established at the initiative of the President of the European Commission. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2004.

4 Banus E. Introductory Report: The European Union: A Space for Intercultural Dialogue // Intercultural dialogue. Dialogue intercultural. Brussels, 20 and 21 March 2002. Brussels: European Commission, DG for Education and Culture. P. 188.

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Exclavity under globalization

According to some researchers, political globalization means the end of the Westphalian or state-centred system of the world, which goes back to the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. This system is based on the idea of a national state, or a nation-state. The Peace of Westphalia stated that any country is sovereign (i.e. a sovereign holds on power over the territory of the sovereign state). A sovereign state determines its own domestic and foreign policies. The principle of non-interference of states in domestic policies of each other was established. Later, these principles spread to other countries and continents.

However, during the last quarter of the XX century, some events gave reasons to speak about the weakening or even, according to some researchers, about the beginning of the end of the Westphalian model of the world. Globalization processes have changed the world order and the position of national states in this system. State sovereignty, which used to be firm and stable, has been restricted both from the “top” (by international organizations and institutes, including multinational corporations) and from the “bottom” (under the influence of public opinion and “inner” regions, becoming more and more active on the international scene).

The emergence and a constantly increasing role of transnational production, trade and financial networks result in “denationalization” of economy. States are partly losing control over economic processes. Governments are transforming from the leading institutes of the world order into mediatory ones. Their new task is to provide links between steadily strengthening local, regional and global governance mechanisms. According to “hyperglobalists” (K. Ohmae, S. Strange, E. Luard, M. Albrow, etc.) national states as initial economic and political institutes of the world community will gradually be replaced by new forms of social organization as a result of global processes (first of all, of economic globalization).

This point of view is very close to the geopolitical ideas of “mondialists”. They use such concepts as “the end of history”, “the global world” and “the new world order”. Their doctrines envisage transition from a multiplicity of nations, states and cultures to the uniform homogenous world, based on the principles of liberal de-

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The problem of exclaves under globalization

mocracy and market economy. These doctrines went as far as the creation of the “world state” and the “world government” (F. Fukuyama, J.Attali etc).

At the same time, there is another point of view on the future of national states. Thus, for example, according to A.Giddens, a national state will not disappear under the conditions of globalization process5.The scholar thinks that in the foreseeable future the state will retain most of its administrative and cultural functions both on its own territory, and on the international arena. However, different nongovernmental organizations, business corporations and other groups will play a more active role in state governance. Co-gov- ernance emerges. Different actors (state actors, semi-state, private ones) participate in this co-governance.

On the other hand, the power of multinational corporations and their supranational nature are overestimated. States, especially when acting together, have much more power than corporations, and this situation will not change in the future6. After all, these are the states that control territories, elaborate and adopt legislation and strive for its observance (also by multinational corporations). If there is a need, states can legally resort to violence within the country and outside it. On the whole, globalization doesn’t deprive states of their power but leads to a new form of partnership between economic and political spheres7 – that is “private-public partnership”. In spite of a certain transformation of functions, states will remain important actors on the global arena for a long time.

Deterritorialization is another process very closely related to globalization. According to A. Appadurai, deterritorialization is

5Giddens A. Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy. Malden, Mass.: Polity Press, 1999. P. 32.

6Giddens A. Runaway World. How Globalization is Reshaping our Lives. N.Y.: Routledge, 2003. P. XXV.

7Шремпп Ю.Э. 10 тезисов к вопросу о глобализации // Проблемы теории и практики управления. 2000. № 2. [Электрон. ресурс]. Режим доступа: http://vasilievaa. narod. ru/ptpu/19_2_00.htm.

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Exclavity under globalization

one of the leading factors in the modern world8. This phenomenon, however, is not related to the “disappearance” of a territory, but rather to the “spreading” of a nation beyond its defined indigenous territory (that of a nation-state) to diasporas. It leads to the development of a system of formal and informal links between loose, emigrant communities or diasporas, which belong to the same “imagined community” even if territory-wise, they are often widely separated.

Globalization changes not only the essence of the concept “territory”, but it also changes the quality of borders. Borders of the above mentioned networks, being very mobile, change their shapes as a result of strategic choices and may differ from the interregional borders. That is why, such borders are more strategically important than territorial ones.

A political border may be seen as an institute, because it is an expression of the “rules of the game” accepted by participants on both sides of the border. As it was mentioned above, territoriality is expressed by a system of boundaries, which “tells” one sovereign state form another (so a national state may be regarded as a “container of power”). However, according to A. Paasi, borders are not just technical instruments, used by sovereign states, but they form national and regional identity, symbolizing territoriality and determining its bounds9.

Nowadays, the processes of globalization and integration make us understand the aforementioned statements in another way. With reference to the EU we can speak about a constantly increasing transparency of borders, about a rapid strengthening of their contact function, while trans-border cooperation often leads to the transformation of previously “alienated border regions” into “integrated border regions”. In the discourse of globalization and inte-

8Appadurai A. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 1998. P. 37—39.

9Paasi A. The Political Geography and Scales of Boundaries at the End of Millennium // Curtains of Iron and Gold: Reconstructing Borders and Scales of Interaction / Ed. By H. Eskilinen, I. Liikanen and J. Oksa. Aldershot, Hants, England; Brookfield, Vt.: Ashgate, 1998. P. 10.

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The problem of exclaves under globalization

gration, the role of a national state, the indivisibility of sovereignty and dividing function of borders are being seriously reviewed. The emergence of new intertwining and interpenetrating forms of identity is being discussed. The very political function of borders within the EU is changing; new forms of symbolic and mental borders are appearing. Qualitative change of borders, their increasing “porosity” and transparency, their transformation into peculiar membranes predetermine globalization and European integration developing in the same direction.

To conclude this brief analysis of different aspects of globalization, the author ascertains that there is only one common feature of globalization - that is an unprecedented complexity of the world. It affects both its functional structure and its spatial organisation. According to A. Neklessa, “the process, which is going on the planet might rather be characterized as a “new regionalism”, i.e. the formation of macroregional geo-economic spaces (or the establishing of “the new regional world order”) against a background of social and economic stratification of the world”. The author shares this opinion. A. Neklessa suggests naming the process in line with other buzz terms – “Globalization-2”10. There are only such processes as a unification of certain “rules of the game”, global informatisation, ensuring transparency of the economic space, establishing the global communication network, and developing governance systems. But in reality, the social and economic convergence (along with the political and social unification of the global community) does not occur.

Further the author again turns to the terminology issues, examining different approaches to defining the terms “exclave” and “enclave”. There is a dialectical link between these terms. An exclave is an area of a state, separated from the mother country by territories of other countries and it doesn’t have any land communication with the “mainland” without crossing state borders. An enclave is a separate state, which is entirely surrounded by the ter-

10 Etnos globalnogo mira. М.: Gorbachev foundation, RAS, 1999. http://www. archipelag. ru/geoeconomics/global/challenge/etnos.

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ritory of another country. Both exclaves and enclaves may be covered by the term “enclave territories”. They are characterized by a greater isolation from the external environment in the world political (as well as economic and social) space.

The proneness of exclaves to conflict and ways of reducing it

Regionalism and regionalization are issues of particular concern to exclaves and their national centres. Regionalism in politics is an issue of the distribution of power between federal and regional governments. On one hand, regionalism means defending the interest of the regions in its relations with superior governmental bodies, first of all, with the state. Such kind of regionalism is determined by a common identity, culture, history, geography. On the other hand, states and supranational institutions (CIS, EU etc) often play an active role in regulating regional development. Such regionalism meets state (or supranational) interests related to the peculiar territory.

Taking into account territorial autonomy of exclaves, it would only be logical to grant exclave authorities additional powers, including the right to build up relations with the neighbouring countries. But on certain conditions (such as weakening of the links with the centre, economic or social crises, interethnic conflicts, etc.) regionalism may become stronger and it may develop into regionalization. It is a process of a considerable proneness to conflict, as a result of a conflict between the centre and regions. Active regionalization may often cause separatism, and it is a matter of special concern to the federal government. However, effective governance of the territory is impossible without the necessary level of regionalization. Thus, the key issue is the issue of efficient distribution of functions between different territorial levels of governance. There is also a necessity to strike a balance between regional independence and federal control.

Exclavity influences the culture and identity of the population. They, in their turn, are determined by the ethnic and demographical features and peculiarities of exclave formation. Territo-

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The problem of exclaves under globalization

rial remoteness may weaken spiritual, social and cultural links of the exclave with its “motherland”. Some states tried to prevent this process by implementing special programmes aimed at facilitating two-way migration of the population. For example, subsidized school trips to West Berlin were included into the curricula in the Federal Republic of Germany while Bonn allocated money for the development of the necessary infrastructure. The programme “Russian children travel to Russia” has been launched in the Kaliningrad region.

In due course the remoteness of the exclave from its “motherland” and some regional features may lead to the formation of its own identity. This, in its turn, under the influence of specific conditions may result in contradictions with the centre and even in the emergence of separatist sentiments. The territories of some exclaves became outposts of armed separatism, for example the Angolan exclave of Cabinda.

The economy of exclaves is developing in the frame of deformed economic space. It is caused by the necessity to observe the laws of other countries in maintaining links between an exclave and its “mother country”. It means that even if an exclave is governed by the same legislation as its “mother country”, businessmen have to take into account at least some of the laws of the countries surrounding the exclave. It influences the population of the exclave in an indirect way (through a rise in prices for goods produced in other regions, or necessity to replace nationally produced goods by import, etc). Administrative barriers on the borders always lead to a decrease in trade, even if they do not lead to any direct financial losses, time and psychological losses are inevitable.

Exclavity also affects mentality of the population. Only a short time perspective and complete dependence of the region’s future on decisions taken by the geographically remote centre create prerequisites for the uncertainty of the population about their future. That is why the mentality and attitudes of the exclave population differ from those of the inner parts of the country. The weakening of spiritual, social and cultural links between an exclave and its mother country along with a constant feeling of close exposure to alien foreign communities lead to the awareness of the territorial

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Exclavity under globalization

remoteness from the national community (“the exclave syndrome”). The same processes take place in all border regions, but there is an alternative way of their development – strengthening the links with the neighbouring regions of the state. As for the exclaves, surrounded by foreign countries, such an alternative way of development is impossible for them.

The historic experience of the functioning of exclaves shows that the concerns mentioned above are well-grounded. The overwhelming majority of ever existed exclaves finally disappeared (they were absorbed by their neighbouring territories). Russian experience of setting up an exclave in America was not successful. The position of Alaska is different, because Canada is not a serious barrier for communication due to its close political, economical and cultural links with the USA. All the exclaves that existed on the Baltic Sea (excluding the Kaliningrad region) were absorbed by their neighbourhood. That is why, central authorities, if they want to keep this or that exclave as a part of their state, should pursue a special policy which is to take into account the conditions and factors of the development of the exclave.

The use of SWOT-analysis11 (by K. Andrews) makes it possible to access a situation emerging within exclaves in order to elaborate a strategy of their development. For this purpose, a combination of endogenous and exogenous factors either hampering or facilitating the development of exclaves is taken into account.

Given the estimation of the situation (which depends on both the objective processes and home and foreign policies pursued by the agent of management) the region (exclave) elaborates its development strategy, and the state centre determines the implementation of the exclave’s regional policy. Moreover, the evaluation of the factors and their importance largely depend on the subjects, making decisions. This influences the exclaves’ development strategy (which is finally determined by the mother country, as it is indicated by the estimations in Table 1).

11 SWOT — an abbreviation for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

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