Quality vs. Quantity

9/24/12

Henry Milner’s article expands beyond merely hegemony and into the sphere of state’s specific characteristics and values, a reassuring contrast to Krasner’s article that focuses supremely on dominance of a single state. Milner emphasizes that the concrete size or power of a nation doesn’t ensure its global dominance, something I find that applies to the simple industrialization of developing countries as well.

Last year I researched case studies that took into account the quantity and quality of a state, finding quality to be of higher importance. While world leading, industrial countries differ in the size of their national governments, it is required that they have high quality public sectors embedded with upstanding values. For instance, Nigeria has abundant natural resources and arable land, but due to corruption within the oil sector, they have a catastrophic poverty rate and inequality index. The corruption in the public sphere has spilled over into the economy, as dishonest and unjust country leaders prevent the development of industries beyond oil in order to protect their personal wealth. Milner emphasizes the importance of looking beyond mere power by claiming that “the possession of superior resources by a nation does not translate automatically into great influence or beneficial outcomes for the world” (Milner, 115).

When states do have justified purposes and goals, these shape their dominant ideas, which lead to their actions and probable institutional structure. This structure then determines their economic development, something severely lacking in countries like Nigeria.  

In addition to his claim that there is more to dominance than hegemony, he emphasizes the role of international organizations. He parallels Stiglitz in his belief that international structures provide information to states, create a checks and balances system between states, and allows the international economy to function fairly, especially in reference to globalization. He goes into further detail on the worries that globalization presents, but emphasizes that states are “the means for countries to resist and reshape the pressures generated by globalization” (Milner, 121), so having a high quality state is imperative. In order for countries to reap the benefits from the global market, they do not need to aim to reach supreme worldly power, but have upstanding, moral states.