The Impacts of Political Globalization on Shanghai Cooperation Organization

The phenomenon or process of globalization is the result of global distribution of goods, ideas, etc.; and entails profound consequences on the political, social, economic and cultural indices of different countries. In the political sphere, globalization has numerous features such as corrosion of national sovereignty, intensification of regionalism, and entry of new national and international actors into the decision making arena at national and transnational level. Regional organizations are among the new actors of international arena which have expanded during the second half of the 20th century along with the trend of regionalism occurring simultaneously with globalization. One of the biggest regional organizations in terms of size and population is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization founded in 2001. The present study, using descriptive-analytical method and positivist approach, addresses the impacts of political organizations on this organization. The findings revealed that two factors contribute to the impacts of “political organization” on “Shanghai Cooperation organization”, namely, “security and defense considerations and political goals of the founders of the organization” and “the effect of issues like religious extremism, separatism, and terrorism on the Central Asian member states.