Capitalist Sphere Free Essay Example

Riding on the tidal wave of economic globalization, the most powerful contemporary impetus and penetration of new norms is taking place through the economic/capitalist normative system. However, the development in this system cannot be effected, unless the state, the official catalyst agent in any given society, recognizes and gives it due response. CIETAC’s case study exhibits how corruption faulty regulation and systemic inefficiency of a government, coupled with conflicting traditional norms of society, may make incorporation of a separate economic system difficult, time-consuming and, sometimes, impossible.

China has ratified the New York Convention in 1986, leading to a perceived ease of enforceability of arbitration awards. In reality, the enforcement of arbitration awards remains problematic. A tenaciously guarded culture of local protectionism, delay and procedural hurdles arising from the lack of legislative clarity, and deep-rooted corruption practices, have been identified as factors contributing to the legal fiction of incorporation.

Globalisation and the interaction between the Economic/Capitalist sphere and international ‘values’.

As official state systems become more economically integrated through globalisation with international economic bodies, they undergo more pressure to conform to a unified value system with other harmonised laws, ultimately aggregating as an international body of law.

International institutions such as the World Bank and the WTO have facilitated this by regulating free and fair trade and money amongst nations. Firstly, an informalistic, empirical explanation can be satisfied by employing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

After the attainment of basic level needs, it raises an assumption that citizens will progress to desire higher levels of social welfare and rights.

The next way would be more formalistic in nature, and can be embodied by the Rostovian take-off model. According to Rostow, the transition from underdevelopment to development of a nation, through modernisation, can be described in terms of a series of five basic stages of economic growth of varying length, through which all countries must proceed.

The common phenomenon today witnesses increasing international economic bodies employing usage of contracts and trade agreements, as specific bargaining chips to imbue an international value system into the recipient, or contracting member’s nation state. The EU for one, has expanded to its current status of a global political union from a national vision with a purely economic aim. However, its failure to include Turkey as a member state on grounds of it being a Muslim state, has spawned much backlash about its inability to separate economic issues from cultural differences.

Graduation of mere economic goals

This illustrates a slow but distinct graduation of mere economic goals, to global economic platforms that carry with it non-negotiable social values. Nevertheless, we recognise the limitations of our above arguments. Firstly, the question of feasibility comes into play: how long would these developments take to have its effects felt when the “[l]ong run is a misleading guide to current affairs… since [i]n the long run we are all dead”? Secondly, there exists a hierarchy of priorities whereby economic goals, despite its importance, may not always be the foremost consideration.

Thirdly, the enforceability and nature of international law has always been a debate. The possibility of reservation and the lack of enforcement by the international bodies undermines the assumption of an effective, universal and far-reaching “International Law”. Lastly, the premise of Rostow’s model has been widely criticized as being too enthno-centric whereby it habours a strong bias towards a western concept of modernization, and unrealistically trying to fit all economic progress into a linear system.

Despite these limitations, it is undeniable that the membrane between economic, capitalist systems and value systems has become more permeable. In light of globalisation, this convergence of normative systems looks here to stay.

Harmonisation

Whether globalisation means harmonisation, or even global uniformisation of laws, rather than localization or global pluralism depends on the specific sphere, stemming from the different motivations behind the system. In the customary and religious sphere, the future for harmonisation remains bleak. Each society is uniquely different.

The Islamic law example highlights the fact that the in a religion that constitutes to diverse pluralism itself marks its uniqueness and justifies that it would unlikely harmonise with the tide of globalisation. With the state recognising that more than one official law governs a significant aspect of their citizens’ life, this reinforces the presence of legal pluralism and marks recognition of multiculturalism. The constant debate of what constitutes ‘Asian values’ may be displaced by looking at it from the perspective of legal pluralism.

The Western hegemonic assumption

By acknowledging other non-state systems in the nation state, this displaces the Western hegemonic assumption that one positive state law unites all differences. Extrapolating this argument to the realm of human rights, one should similarly concede that cultural relativism might reign over the western assumption of universal universalism. On the economic basis, there is a higher inclination for legal systems to recognize the validity of competing economic spheres, and incorporate them.

Contrary to diverse socio-personal beliefs, there is a relative ease in coming to an absolute grounds in terms of economic values because of less intangible factors present. There exists a common denominator of profitability – as long as a win-win situation is ensured, the likelihood is for the national legal system to adopt the economic system into its laws, and accord it an equal status. The unequal bargaining power in most reality will see a dominant market player usually exercising its influence on a sub-servient one, working against the latter being able to adopt a mere acknowledgement stance.

Globalisation has spurred on a greater urgency for integration where international investors are also keenly aware that commercial disputes often arise during the interpretation and implementation of trans-borders business agreements. Hence, the state would be compelled to integrate economically, with an expedient, global economic platform or body which is recognised widely to resolve such conflicts swiftly and efficiently. In conclusion, legal pluralism reflects the significance of comparative legal study.

The above analysis canvassed the evolution of laws, allowing close examination within each sphere comparatively to other spheres, reinforcing that a ‘pure’ legal system merely amounts to a fiction when looking at the history of a nation43. However, the significance of globalisation, greater emergence of transnational and international law provides an insight as to the future of the nation’s legal system with convergence in some aspects (mostly economically) but contributing to the already dynamic nature in pluralism in others.