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This essay examines the expansion of global governance into developing countries. Its central thesis is that in the present era of globalization, competitiveness has become a major concern for developed countries, in particular, those facing tough competition from the developing states that have improved their terms of trade through state‐led development strategies and have become major exporters of manufactured products. Developed countries seek the expansion of global governance in order to regulate the behavior of these developing states, thereby opening their economies to foreign investment and augmenting their wealth. Yet, a successful expansion of global governance requires the creation of internal institutions in the developing countries that may alter their political cultures. Given the unique problems of the developing states, this task cannot be achieved simply by internationalizing the countries in the Global South. This essay relies on the theory of social constructivism and contends that the creation of internal institutions compatible with global governance has been achieved only when developing countries have become convinced that global regulations will benefit them, not just the more developed states.

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This article examines the behaviour of a minority as a political unit and its endeavours to construct an informal state‐like hierarchy. The article examines the history of the Druze minority during the major crises of 1830s and 1860 Lebanon, 1925 Syrian Great Uprising, 1936–1939 Palestinian Great Revolt and the 1948 Zionist–Arab War. The article explores how inter‐subjectivity among Druze individuals around principles such as ‘preserving of brotherhood’, their imagination of themselves of belonging to a large community and the inter‐subjectivity around the prominence of certain clans, notables and religious clergies allowed the minority to behave as a community and create its own informal hierarchy within the loose hierarchy of their own state. The hierarchy that was established was based upon elements of inter‐subjectivity that include communal solidarity, faith‐based binding foundations, the seniority of certain clan leaders and the prominence of certain clergies, where the clan leaders and clergies were authorized to settle daily disputes and in steering the foreign affairs of the minority.

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