Internationalising the state

The process of political globalisation has an accompanying effect, related to the emergence of inter-governmental and other global networks, which is the internationalisation of the state. Government activity has become increasingly international over the last 50 years as occasions beyond national jurisdictions or originating outside the borders of a given national state and increasingly influential to it have become more numerous.

Virtually every ministry in every national state today has a department of international relations, co-ordinating the state’s operations in the given field with partners in other states. Such relations tend to be direct without the blessing touches of the central government. Supranational networks are thus created among these bodies.

The emergence of inter-governmental organisations
The numbers of inter-governmental organisations have also grown exponentially; through them countries’ governments co-ordinate and regulate the activities in their respective fields at the global level. While only 37 such organisations existed in 1907, they amount to about 350 nowadays. These formal organisations, such as the World Health Organisation or the International Monetary Fund, also include numerous inter-governmental working groups, and various summits and conferences that are organised. The growing number of informal contacts, enabled by new technologies, must also be added.