TheTechnological Dimension
What has madeglobalization possible has been the rapid advances in communicationstechnology. The rise of the personal computer in the 1980’sand theadvent of the interconnections of the World Wide Web and the Internet in the1990’s have created a form of communication which can move large amountsof information at an extremely rapid rate. It has expanded the scope and cutthe time of communication dramatically. It is this possibility of connecting somany people and institutionsand making their interaction fast and relativelyeffortlessthat lies at the foundation of globalization as we are experiencingit. This is most evident in the information flow that this new communicationstechnology makes possible. Information is more accessible and more abundant foreven greater numbers of people.
In additionthe easeof long-distance transportation has led to both the migration of peoples toimprove their political and economic lot and the rapid movement of capital andconsumer goods. Such migration and movement areof coursenot new. But thethey are now emerging on a scale not known at earlier stages.
TheEconomic Dimension
It is in the economicdimension of human life that globalization has made itself particularly felt.The rapid transference of information and capital allows for businesstransactions at a greater pace and with great intensity. The economic orderthat is emerging out of this possibility is a world-wide market capitalismoften called neoliberal capitalism because it resembles in many ways theliberal capitalism of the end of the nineteenth century. It is a form ofcapitalism less and less under any cultural or governmental control andregulation. It has linked more countries together than ever before. It alsorepresents one of the profound paradoxes of globalization. Despite its abilityto improve life for allit has - at least to this point - widened the gapbetween a few immeasurably wealthy groups and individuals and an ever greaternumber of people imprisoned in economic hardship or even misery. The 1999report of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) indicates that the gapbetween rich and poor is growing ever wider rather than narrowing. I willreturn to this point later. Likewisedespite its ability to link togethereveryone in this new economic arrangementit has mostly linked those mostprivileged in rich and poor countries.
ThePolitical Dimension
The political effectof communications and transportation technologythe powerful economic forcesof global capitalism and the pervasive cultural images circulated in daily lifeis a weakened nation-state. Communications leap over every national boundary. Aglobal market economy limits government controlreducing the importance andthe power of the nation-state. Additionallyeconomic agreements betweennations have created blocs which undercut national sovereignty: the EuropeanUnionNAFTAand Mercosur are all familiar arrangements. Finallythe collapseof the bipolar Cold War world order has been accompanied by an increase insmall-scale warsmost often fought now within the nation-states rather thanbetween them. These wars are creating large numbers of displaced persons andrefugees on a scale not seen since the end of World War II.
As the politicalorder shiftsthe nation-state will not immediately disappearbut its powersand roles are changing. We are also witnessing the rising importance oftransnational non-state organizations such as the Non-GovernmentalOrganizations (NGOs) in the political order. Especially important are thoseaccredited at the United Nations.
TheCultural Dimension
In thisinterconnected web of relationships fostered by communications technologyakind of global culture has emerged. This culture is marked especially by signsof consumption: foodclothingand entertainment. Many of these signs ofconsumption emerged - at least initially - from North America: McDonald’shamburgersCoca-ColaT-shirtsathletic shoesrock musicvideosandmovies. Because they are public companiesthey are owned by investorsthroughout the hemisphere and around the world. Although these cultural signsare received and interpreted in different ways ill cultures around the worldthey do provide a common cultural languageespecially among the youth of theworld. Along with a wider choice of cultural goods and life-styles. a kind ofuniversal skepticism about the human intellect’s ability to grasp truthhas arisen. The post-modern mind deconstructs but resists intellectualsynthesis.
Paradoxicallypost-modern diversity seems to lead to homogenization of culture. Thehomogenizing powers of the economic forms of globalization give the impressionthat there is no alternative to neoliberal capitalism. - Can this businesseconomy described by Pope John Paul in Centesimus Annus - one based onprivate propertya free market and personal economic initiative but designedso that the economy serves the person rather than the person serving theeconomy -emerge from our present global economic order? The homogenizing powersof cultural globalization seem to be breaking down forms of artmusicandeven language in local cultures. Although Spanish continues to be the mostspoken first language in the Catholic Church todayEnglish has emerged a thelanguage of globalization.
These homogenizingforces are keenly felt. Because of their sheer sizemany people experiencethese forces as being beyond their control. At the same timethere continue tobe signs that they may not become as all-embracing as they now appear to be.The United Nations Development Program has called for greater regulation ofeconomic globalizationwhich indicates an awareness of the problem but givesno solution. Studies are also showing thatwhile global cultural signs maypervade a culturethey have not eradicated local cultural expressions andsometimes intensify their local culture. It isin factbeing increasinglyrecognized that to understand globalizationone must not look only at itshomogenizing aspectsbut must instead attend precisely to where the globalintersects with the local. Very few people beyond a small managerial andcultural elite live exclusively at the level of the global. Most people feelits impact as it interacts with their local setting.
One of the mostcommon postures regarding the global is resistance by reasserting localidentity. This has been one of the causes for the increased number of wars inthe world today. It has led in some instances to religious identity beinginvoked as a means to establish a clearer local identity and difference fromone’s neighborsoften with violent consequences. It has also contributedto the revival of language and custom in other places. In both instancesthelocal is experienced more intensely because of its being countered by theincursion of the global.
This interaction ofthe global and the local has combined with the migration of peoples (bothvoluntary and forced) to produce cultural interactions unmatched in intensityand scale. Many of the countries of America have long been multicultural. Whatis new is the intensity of the interaction between cultures. The United Statesand Canada are now the second and third most multicultural countries of theworld (after Australia). The United States is now also the fifth largestSpanish-speaking country in the world.
The jostling ofcultures with one another has led to cultural fragmentation and new forms ofculture emerging. Againcultures have always borrowed from one another. Butwhat we are seeing today is a cultural fragmentationespecially in urbansettings.
Because of a combinedexperience of powerlessness in the face of globalizationresistance to itsencroachments and the fear of fragmentation of basic cultural valuesgroupsaround the world are responding with what are sometimes calledfundamentalisms. Fundamentalism is a reassertion of identity andautonomy by selecting certain anti-modernanti-global dimensions of local(especially religious) identityand making them both the pillars upon whichidentity is built and the boundary against further global encroachment. Ifglobalization is responsible for an unacceptable homogenizationthe postmodernworld may find its protection for the local in premodern phenomena. Humanfreedom might thereby be finally disconnected from modernity and a genuinelynew postmodern order be born in the dialogue between premodern culture such asIslamand the postmodern culture of secularized Christianity. |