The Global Society Essay, Research Paper
A discussion of
the Issues of globalisation and fragmentation in
today?s world. With the growing trend towards the creation of a
global community it is becoming more and more necessary for us to find a
balance between creating a truly integrated global society, and remembering the
needs of the local community. It is necessary for us to find this balance or to
suffer the negative affects of the fragmentation reaction. With the current
availability of weapons of mass destruction the idea of a unified global
society is almost necessary to keep us from destroying ourselves. It is
possible for us to achieve a unified global society; we just need to balance
the needs of the local with the global, maintaining a local environment that
fosters community and unity. ?Today, that new world is struggling to be
born, a world quite different from the one we have known, a world where the
rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle, a world in which nations
recognise the shared responsibility for freedom and justice, a world where the
strong respect the rights of the weak. –
President George Bush,
September 17,1990 [1] They say that all you need to look at in order to
see the current trends and drives of a society are is look at their
advertising. Catch slogans like, ?Help your small business take its place in
the global economy, use brand X?, and ?Use product Y to help you network with
people across the world.? are all indicators that our planet is heading towards
a globalisation of societies. Until recent years even though we were all part
of the collective of planet earth, we were essentially locally driven. If
something happened on the other side of the world, it really didn?t make all
that much of a difference in our own little piece of the planet. Now however
there are major forces working towards pulling us into a global society. The Media, and global networks like CNN allow
us to see what is going on in other parts of the world as they are unfolding.
Now we can watch the wars as they happen, and we can see the pain on the face
of a war victim full close up and in colour. The global media allows us to
identify with others more. If you walk down the street in Stockholm you will
find that people look much the same as those in Montreal with their style of
dress and fashion. Instantaneous communication is now available with anyone
around the planet who has a computer and an Internet hook-up. It is possible
for me to carry on a chat conversation with my brother in Australia and my
parents in Ontario all at the same time. One of the articles that I was reading
remarked, ?What is the power of the Pentagon
compared with Disneyland?s? Can the sixth fleet keep up with CNN? McDonalds in
Moscow and Coke in China will do more to create a global culture, then military
colonisation ever could. It is less the goods than the brand names that do the
work,?[2] Pure economics also pushes for, and is indeed even
moving toward a unified global market at least. The merger of national
companies into multinationals or even supernationals is pulling us more and
more towards a unified global society. With the interconnectedness of today?s
market it is almost guaranteed that if the Tokyo stock exchange has a bad day,
then the effects of that will be felt in the business sectors of metropolitan
Vancouver.? While it may be said that
this is only economics and doesn?t really mean that our societies are getting
any closer together, can this honestly be said? The majority of societies are
becoming more and more market driven, the most important thing about a country
these days seems to be whether or not it has a strong economy. International
business thrives on markets where there are no barriers, and one of the ways to
have these barriers removed is to make the societies themselves feel that there
is no need for the barriers to exist. Clothing companies are an example of the
close ties between culture and economics. Clothing styles pass for example
fairly freely between Canada, the US, Britain, and France, due to the fact that
many of our styles come from the same designers. Economics dictates that the
companies that want to distribute those clothing items want to be able to with
the fewest market restrictions possible, they achieve this through either
deregulation, or mergers with companies that are in the countries that they
want to distribute too. Now while it is just a matter of economics that these
companies want to merge and pull closer together in order to sell their goods.? The end result is that the populations of
all these countries end up wearing the same style of clothing, and that pulls
their cultures that one step closer to each other. So while it is easy to say
that the world is only really moving towards a global society economically,
with the interrelation of culture and economy nowadays, it isn?t fair to say
that economic globalisation has no effect on cultural globalisation. While usually a vehicle for nationalism some
governments are also playing a role in the assimilation of countries into a
global society. Currently the countries of Europe are pulling together to form
the European Union. The
European Union will be made up of fifteen member countries, with plans to widen
the union in future years. Hungary, Poland, Estonia, the Czech Republic and
Slovenia have already presented applications. Some feel that the formation of
this union is mainly for economic purposes, however the effects of the
formation of this new government of Europe are much greater and far reaching
then that. Some of the more notable highlights are the following; 1. The
creation the Euro, this currency is to be used in all of the member states of
the European union, eliminating the need for currency exchanges and most
notably harmonising the value of a number of different countries currency. 2. The
European Court of Justice, the European court of justice would have
jurisdiction over the national courts of the member states in many different
areas of law, including but not limited to; the fundamental rights of all
people, discrimination, and the abolishment of the death penalty in all member
states. 3. The
European Parliament, currently the Parliament shares decision making power with
the European Council, in a limited number of areas such as research, health and
culture. This is significant due to the fact that since its creation the
European Parliament has received greater and greater powers. The Parliament is
seemingly moving towards the day when there will be a general government over
Europe in the form of the European Parliament that has jurisdiction over most
matters of state and security. 4. The
Freedom of movement of citizens of the various countries, between member states
of the European Union. Members of the different member states will be able to
travel from Member State to Member State without having to go through border
checks. The only states that are currently not subscribing to these procedures
are The United Kingdom and Ireland. 5. On
a cultural level, the European Union will have it?s own flag, it?s own anthem
and Europe day will be celebrated on the ninth of May, every year. One of the significant things to note about the
whole procedure and creation of the European Union is the very terminology.
Countries in the union are no longer referred to as individual countries in
most discussions but rather as member states, setting up the frame work for a
Federal system over all the member states in concept at the very least. Another
thing to note is the fact that such a great number of countries have subscribed
to the vision of a unified Europe. Integration has been met with only moderate
resistance in some regions, and for the most part is proceeding rather smoothly
on most all accounts.? What we are also seeing is the emergence of regional
trading Blocs, the European Union included, but also the North American Free
Trade Agreement, which turned the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a
regional economic union, the ?Yen bloc? which centers around Japan is also a
regional economic power. While the latter two groups have not moved as far as
the European Union, it is still a start in this society ruled by economics. There are forces and issues that are causes of
fragmentation, which do however need to be dealt with and resolved before any
true global integration can occur. The two major issues that I have identified
are as follows, Hypernationalism, and ?Rights talk?. The reason that these
issues need to be dealt with is the effect that they have on globalisation. Not
to mention the fact that they are also relevant concerns of the countries that
are being assimilated into the global community. Hypernationalism is most clearly applied to the
states or nations that have protectionism, isolationism, and a firm belief in
the supremacy of their own nation, or race. Some countries that could be called
hypernatinalist have some and not all of the above qualifiers. One of the major
reasons that Hypernationalism has a negative effect on globalisation is due to
the fact that it is not a viewpoint that allows for the inclusion of other
societies. The dictionary defines hypernationalism as; the love of a country
and willingness to sacrifice for it. The conviction that the culture and
interests of your nation are superior to those of any other nation. While it is
possible to argue that the United States and Canada are of this persuasion, it
is not to the same level as countries like Palestine and Iran. Both of these
countries have populations and cultures that are incredibly hypernationalistic,
the difference between them is the fact that they have widely different goals,
or rather goals that are not compatible with each other. Iran, or rather many
militant Iranians see the need to eliminate any vestiges of the west from their
sphere of influence, or even from their region of the world in general. To the
extent of threatening the United States in their own country and to the goal of
obliterating the western sponsored state of Israel from their region. Their
subscription to this operating policy was made evident by their attack on
Israel when it was first created and left to operate to an extent on it?s own.
The policy of Israel and most Israelites is the maintenance and continued
existence of the Jewish State at any cost.?
The respective beliefs and operating policies of these countries are
mutually exclusive and are for the most part contrary to any progress towards
any unified or even co-operative global society. While it can also be argued
that the belief that it is necessary for a progression towards a unified global
so society is nothing more then an imperialistic idea of the western world and
a desire for the west to impose it?s views and culture on other less
influential countries.? It is for the
most part fair to say that the development of a unified world is more about
global stability then it is about nationalism imposed on a larger scale. In
order for the almost continual war in the Middle East to end, it is necessary
for the nation states of the region, and for some of the western powers to
realise that the only way for any lasting progress is through co-operation and
discussion. As opposed to violence and continuing bloodshed. Another contributor to the fragmentation effect is
the dawning age of ?Rights talk?. One of the major shifts of the last few years
has been societies movement away from the idea of, ?What can I do for my
country? to ?What can my country do for me?? Perhaps this is nothing more then
a reaction to the forces of globalisation, but it is a significant phenomenon
in today?s world. People are beginning to focus on self, more then they are
focusing on the world around them. People want to know what they can get for
numero uno, what can be done for them. The reason for this shift can be
attributed to anything from the feeling that we need to make sure that our
identities don?t get lost in the dawning of the new corporate age, to the
increasing influence of American media on the rest of the world. The feeling is
that you constantly have to be on the look out for ?your rights? lest they be
trampled on. You also have to make sure that whenever someone infringes on your
rights that you do something about it. You can never let your rights be
violated. Now in my discussion of this I am not trying to say that human rights
are not an important and positive concern for society, what I am concerned
about is the fact that we have moved past the realm of human rights, and into
the realm of MY RIGHTS. People even in Canada have forgotten that the rights of
a Canadian come after the fulfilment of ones responsibilities in the Canadian
constitution, and the courts for the most part have allowed this forgetfulness
to take place. What we as Canadians and for the most part global citizens as a
whole need to remember is that the Universal Declaration of Human rights reads
as follows; ?Everyone
has duties to the community?? and that
everyone?s rights and freedoms are subject to limitations ?for the purposes of
securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and
meeting the just requirements of morality, public order, and the general
welfare in a democratic society.?[3] ??????????? So where do we go from here? It is possible for us to
reach the point of being a global society. The important thing that we need to
remember to do however is to remember to respect the rights and identity of the
local. The phrase ?think globally, act locally? should be the new call to arms
of the citizen of the next millennia, it also holds new meaning for the future
of our country and other countries. It is the idea behind the integration of
societies into a working global whole. The successful government of the future
will be the one that is willing and able to make itself a progressive,
integrating and aggressive force in the global society. Progressive in that it
is willing to move and form new alliances and strengthen partnerships.
Integrating in it?s openness to other cultures and the movement to a unified
and co-operative society, and aggressive in that it remembers to protect the
local society. It makes sense to protect the local neighbourhood, and it is not
misguided or wrong to think that governments are the best vehicles to do that.
The movement towards a global society that is co-operative is necessary in that
it will keep us from destroying ourselves. It is possible to become a working
global society, we all just have to be part of the process.? Bibliography
Bateman, Mertin, Thomas, Braving
the New World, Toronto, International Thomson Printing. 1995. Gowland, D. A. (ed), The
European Mosaic, New York, Longman Publishing. 1995 Whittington, Williams, Canadian
Politics in the 1990s, Toronto, Nelson Canada. 1995. ?Europa the European Union?s
server.? Europa ???http://europa.eu.int/index-en.htm ?Webhelp.com? Webhelp, http://www.webhelp.com/intro1.html ?Globalisation: What
Challenges and Opportunities for Governments?? OECD, 1996. http://www.oecd.org/puma/gvrnance/strat/pubs/glo96/toc.htm [1] (Canadian Politics in the 1990s p40) [2](Ch 2, Braving the New
World) [3] (Chapter 12, Braving the New World)