Globalization and Public Policies. Transnational Actors' Involvement

The analysis concerning the impact of globalization on the process of formulating and implementing public policies implies several relevant aspects, out of which we emphasize the following: -economic aspects, further strengthening market integration as result of developing trade, investments and capital mobility; -political aspects, due to restructuring the relationships of power at the same time with occurrence of new supranational political centres; -cultural aspects, expressed highly in the area of diffusing values and norms; -ideological aspects, identified with market liberalism, deregulation and privatization. For the Central and Eastern European countries, including Romania, the above-mentioned aspects acquire additional connotations that derive from the relative low level of economic-social development, political instability as well as imminent gap between consolidated democracies and national democracies of the mentioned countries. Aiming the analysis of the effects of globalization on the public sector, we have to emphasize the strong connections between the economic and ideological dimensions of globalization and governments' role in ensuring the interface with the national social, economic and political environment. By extending the above assertions, the specialized literature mentions the need to redefine the scope of public policies, mainly due to: -narrowing the sphere of action of the public authorities as result of the actions of private economic and social actors and international institutions; -asserting the imperatives of competitiveness, imposed by globalization, imperatives that are strengthening the pressures on public sphere and are leading to align the instruments of public policies to those from other countries. These two aspects that will be developed on a large scale in the paper bring on the working agenda of governmental authorities the issue of aligning their priorities to transnational interests as well as the issue of compatibility and exogenous convergence of public policies. In this context, the theses of "strong globalization" or "weaker globalization" lead to relevant conclusions, distinct and specific for Romania as well as for other Eastern European countries. At the same time, reality confirms in this complex process of diffusing various aspects of globalization, the presence of supranational or transnational actors, such as: World Bank, International Monetary Fund, etc. The affirmation of these actors as providers of globalization, or concisely "globalizers" can be emphasized also within the framework of the transition process undertaken by Romania before integration into the European Union. The various facets of transition, most of them convergent with globalization have been supported by the mentioned actors of globalization. The current paper will focus on the analysis concerning their role in globalization specific for the public sector, more precisely in formulating and implementing the public policies.