Global Political Economy, State-Fragmentation, and the Transformation of Diplomatic Realm

This work aims to theoretically explore the diffusion of power in the diplomatic realm through the examination of the rationale behind sub-national governments' growing involvement in global affairs. It argues that decentralization and privatization processes, combined with the rise of corporate power, and the growing autonomy of diverse public and private regulatory bodies beyond democratic control, result in a new competitive era in which sub-national constituencies compete amongst them in the global economy, whilst simultaneously contributing to the fragmentation of State power. These transformations have important implications for the global diplomatic realm that, in spite of its growing importance, remain largely unnoticed in mainstream approaches – under the non-explained assumption that sub-national interventions in the global political process are basically irrelevant and that diplomatic system itself has no particular connection with the restructuring of the global political economy. Against this trend, this work asserts that whilst centralization of diplomacy in past centuries was crucial for securing the imperatives of the rise of liberal capitalism, the decentralization of diplomacy that we are witnessing today is equally rooted in deep historical transformations of contemporary capitalism. Through the discussion of a variety of aspects this work aims to contribute to a critical understanding of the implications upon the diplomatic system of the current transition from ‘embedded' liberalism to a new global ‘ordo-liberalism' in which constitutional designs, international institutions and global law making are subordinated to market imperatives