Globalisation: the rise and fall of an idea that swept the world
The annual January gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos is usually a placid affair: a place for well-heeled participants to exchange notes on global business opportunities, or powder conditions on the local ski slopes, while cradling champagne and canapes. This January, the ultra-rich and the sparkling wine returned, but by all reports the mood was one of anxiety, defensiveness and self-reproach. The future of economic globalisation, for which the Davos men and women see themselves as caretakers, had been shaken by a series of political earthquakes. “Globalisation” can mean many things, but what lay in particular doubt was the long-advanced project of increasing free trade in goods across borders. The previous summer, Britain had voted to leave the largest trading bloc in the world.
What Is the Role of the Nation-State in Globalization?
The role of the nation-state in globalization is a complex one in part due to the varying definitions and shifting concepts of globalization. While it has been defined in many ways, globalization is generally recognized as the fading or complete disappearance of economic, social, and cultural borders between nation-states. Some scholars have theorized that nation-states, which are inherently divided by physical and economic boundaries, will be less relevant in a globalized world. While increasingly reduced barriers regarding international commerce and communication are sometimes seen as a potential threat to nation-states, these trends have existed throughout history. Air and sea transportation that made same-day travel to other continents possible and greatly expanded trade among countries did not abolish the sovereignty of individual nations.
How feelings took over the world
On a late Friday afternoon in November last year, police were called to London’s Oxford Circus for reasons described as “terror-related”. Oxford Circus underground station was evacuated, producing a crush of people as they made for the exits. Reports circulated of shots being fired, and photos and video appeared online of crowds fleeing the area, with heavily armed police officers heading in the opposite direction. Amid the panic, it was unclear where exactly the threat was emanating from, or whether there might be a number of attacks going on simultaneously, as had occurred in Paris two years earlier. Armed police stormed Selfridges department store, while shoppers were instructed to evacuate the building. Inside the shop at the time was the pop star Olly Murs, who tweeted to nearly 8 million followers: “Fuck everyone get out of Selfridge now gun shots!!”
Why the World Is Flat
Thirty-five years ago this summer, the golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez was competing in his seventh US Open, played that year at Hazeltine Country Club outside Minneapolis. Tied for second place after the opening round, Rodriguez eventually finished 27th, a few strokes ahead of such golf legends as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player. His caddy for the tournament was a 17-year-old local named Tommy Friedman. Rodriguez retired from golf several years later.
Globalisation and State Sovereignty: A Mixed Bag
By Jacalyn Goldzweig Panitz (Bsc International Relations) As the process of economic globalisation has unfolded since the 1960s, international trade and capital flows have grown tremendously (Hay, 2014). While perhaps not unprecedented, this growth has led some to argue that the sovereignty of the nation-state is under dire threat.
Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound
Look around on your next plane trip. The iPad is the new pacifier for babies and toddlers. Younger school-aged children read stories on smartphones; older boys don’t read at all, but hunch over video games. Parents and other passengers read on Kindles or skim a flotilla of email and news feeds.
The World Is Flat
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century is an international best-selling book by Thomas L. Friedman that analyzes globalization, primarily in the early 21st century. The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, wherein all competitors have an equal opportunity. As the first edition cover illustration indicates, the title also alludes to the perceptual shift required for countries, companies, and individuals to remain competitive in a global market in which historical and geographic divisions are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Friedman himself is a strong advocate of those changes, calling himself a "free-trader" and a "compassionate flatist", and he criticizes societies that resist the changes.
Will the Nation-State Survive Globalization?
A specter is haunting the world's governments -- the specter of globalization. Some argue that predatory market forces make it impossible for benevolent governments to shield their populations from the beasts of prey that lurk beyond their borders. Others counter that benign market forces actually prevent predatory governments from fleecing their citizens.
Study: Racial resentment influences appraisals of President Obama's economic performance
New research published in the journal Electoral Studies indicates that racial beliefs can lead some Americans to minimize President Barack Obama’s economic accomplishments. “What interested us most was the idea that people construct their own racial reality and they will align their beliefs to fit within this reality. People tend to minimize or ignore information that is inconsistent with their existing racial beliefs,” said study author Darren W. Davis, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame.
The Beginning of the End of the Nation State?
There has been a lot of commentary recently about the rise of nationalism and threats to the Rules Based International Order. Rightly so – CTD Advisors recently cited these trends as posing significant risks for both global security and global prosperity in the coming decade. But, paradoxically perhaps, there are deeper – and less well documented - threats to the Nation State itself. We have become used to the concept of sovereign states and to the idea of Governments being all powerful. But the current system of international governance dates back less than 400 years to the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, a relatively short period in human history. It is true that the number of countries in the world has grown rapidly, from 70 in 1945 to 193 today.
'BlacKkKlansman' Shows How White Supremacists Make Language Into a Weapon
The opening scenes of Spike Lee’s new movie, BlacKkKlansman, are in black and white. The movie is a period piece based on the true story of a black man, Ron Stallworth (played in the film by John David Washington), who became the Colorado Springs Police Department’s first black officer in 1972 and then successfully infiltrated the city’s local Ku Klux Klan chapter in an elaborate sting operation. But this black and white imagery is an effect Lee is using to create the illusion of film from an even earlier era. A conspicuously squarely-dressed man named Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard (Alec Baldwin) appears in front of images of D.W.Griffith’s epically racist black and white film Birth of a Nation, practically foaming at the mouth with concern like the narrator in anti-marijuana propaganda film Reefer Madness — only this time the warnings are about Jewish and black Americans who he believes are turning America into a “mongrel” nation.
