Political and economic factors for the national development in all countries underline the increasing role of globalization and international cooperation in the last several decades. Globalization serves for the liberalization of trade and capital movement, the promotion of cultural and technological exchange, and even in some cases for the support of democratic reforms. Yet despite rosy prospects, it is hard to assert that globalization can work so everywhere and for everything. On the one hand, the high level of administrative burdens restraints the development of international trade both in goods and services. In some cases, the danger of corruption scares the potential foreign investors. On the other hand, in those countries where the administrative procedures and the bureaucratic institutions are weak or totally absent, globalization would not find neither field, neither mechanisms to act. Therefore bureaucracy in any of its dimensions from government regulation to administrative costs to the level of corruption should be considered as a key actor for the globalization processes.

The question is on a mutual effect of bureaucracy and globalization in this interplay. Does globalization reduce bureaucratic barriers through the bilateral agreements and the WTO rules, or does it create just the opposite, a new kind of global bureaucracy acting worldwide? Does bureaucracy support international cooperation by providing a legal and institutional framework, or on the contrary does it fight with the global features, trying to keep its old-fashioned routine, sluggishness, and venal power?

As this project is expected to show, the state bureaucratic quality is directly linked with the level of globalization inputs for a country.

Seminar IBEI Mirkina