All Politics Is Global

Has globalization diluted the power of national governments to regulate their own economies? Are international governmental and nongovernmental organizations weakening the hold of nation-states on global regulatory agendas? Many observers think so. But in All Politics Is Global, Daniel Drezner argues that this view is wrong. Despite globalization, states--especially the great powers--still dominate international regulatory regimes, and the regulatory goals of states are driven by their domestic interests.As Drezner shows, state size still matters. The great powers--the United States and the European Union--remain the key players in writing global regulations, and their power is due to the size of their internal economic markets. If they agree, there will be effective global governance. If they don't agree, governance will be fragmented or ineffective. And, paradoxically, the most powerful sources of great-power preferences are the least globalized elements of their economies.Testing this revisionist model of global regulatory governance on an unusually wide variety of cases, including the Internet, finance, genetically modified organisms, and intellectual property rights, Drezner shows why there is such disparity in the strength of international regulations.

In All Politics Is Global, Daniel Drezner argues that states clearly retain the ability to influence and direct the world economy. He shapes his argument with clear and convincing points that he applies to areas ranging from international finance to the Internet. Despite globalization, he argues, the desires and capabilities of national states continue to define the contours of the world economic order. This careful study will be relevant to all those interested in understanding the interplay of international markets and international politics. -- Jeffry Frieden, Harvard University This important contribution to international relations theory will be of great interest to public policy practitioners--civil servants and their political masters--who find themselves today increasingly embroiled in international disputes over domestic issues. Drezner addresses with insight and in detail a welter of contemporary issues such as Internet governance and privacy, international finance and financial crises, genetically modified organisms, and the conflict between intellectual property and public health. -- Kenneth W. Dam, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Daniel Drezner takes on a complicated question: who, if anyone, regulates the global economy? His answer: states with large markets, when those states act in concert. Drezner's study is theoretically and methodologically sophisticated. His use of case studies is honest and convincing. Along the way, there is a rich review of many literatures. All Politics Is Global shows the 'hows' and 'whys' of great-power regulation, and explains why it sometimes fails. Along the way, we learn a lot about the roles and futures of nonstate actors in the global economy. All Politics Is Global adds up to a major contribution to the literature of international political economy. -- Henry S. Bienen, President of Northwestern University The beauty and attraction of Drezner's work on global regulation stems from its bold attempt to apply classic international relations theory to a topic long dominated by legal scholars, economists, and sociologists. Drezner bravely offers a big-picture account of global regulation that is analytical and focused on a few fundamental questions. This is stimulating and original research on a very timely global issue. It is the sort of book I have long been looking for. -- Walter Mattli, St. John's College, University of Oxford Daniel Drezner's All Politics Is Global is original, compelling, and written with dazzling clarity. The controversies Drezner addresses push forward theoretical and policy debates that are vitally important. The conceptual and empirical core of the book is first-rate, the evidence and arguments of his case studies are fascinating, and the book fills an obvious gap in the literature. -- Louis Pauly, University of Toronto

List of Tables ix Preface xi Glossary of Acronyms xix PART I: THEORY CHAPTER ONE: Bringing the Great Powers Back In 3 CHAPTER TWO: A Theory of Regulatory Outcomes 32 CHAPTER THREE: A Typology of Governance Processes 63 PART II: PRACTICE CHAPTER FOUR: The Global Governance of the Internet 91 CHAPTER FIVE: Club Standards and International Finance 119 CHAPTER SIX: Rival Standards and Genetically Modified Organisms 149 CHAPTER SEVEN: The "Semi-Deviant" Case: TRIPS and Public Health 176 CHAPTER EIGHT: Conclusions and Speculations 204 Index 221