Introduction

• Author: Terri-Ann Gilbert-Roberts
• Profession: Research Fellow of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) University of the West Indies Mona
• Pages: 11-17

Introduction



politics and governance.

‘Who governs whom...why (for what purpose)...and how (by what

means?)’

Accordingly, various theoretical traditions have made assumptions

about the nature and role of leadership, about ideas and ideology and

about governing institutions. In the context of Politics and International

        

conceptual parameters of a system of sovereign states. In that regard,

  ‘Who governs whom...and why?’

– have been treated as axiomatic. States govern ‘the people’ through

governmental representatives who are empowered to exercise political

power on behalf of ‘the people’ in the pursuit of human and socio-

economic development. State sovereignty has therefore, traditionally

enjoyed an unopposed position as the dominant paradigm for governance.

However, contemporary processes of globalisation and regionalisation

have increasingly challenged the predominance of sovereignty, giving

rise to a complex governance problematic.

Since the end of the Second World War in particular, scholars

      

‘How do states govern?’, have been confronted with an arena for

governance which extends beyond the territorial borders of the state.

Firstly, the liberalisation of socio-economic activity worldwide, via

processes of globalisation, has created an arena for international

     

over the process of development, even without attaining sovereignty. In

that regard, liberal theoretical traditions have continuously challenged

the predominance of the realist state-centric paradigm, in light of the

    

in the governance process. Yet, both liberal traditions as well as neo-

realist traditions, while acknowledging the role of other actors, continue

to recognise the special role of the state in developing the regime of