Societal Structures and Practices in the Milieu of Globalization. (original) (raw)

Abstract

The world, as a product of the Peace of Westphalia, consisting of sovereign states, has undoubtedly changed since 1648. The very essence of sovereignty, ingrained strength of which has so far been considered the determinant pattern of the state-system, has, somewhat, lost its meaning, having turned a whole world into a borderless place. This ongoing transformation of the world is but the process of globalization, whereby individuals are not merely residents of their native countries but the interconnected citizens of a single world. “Gone are accustomed differences in national or regional preference.”1 Natural tendency toward homogenization of the states and their populations through standardization of the approaches to social, economic and political activities is, however, stipulated by the eternal quest for scarce resources that are only to be achieved under the rules set by the international system, to which all the participants are members by consent. Not that all the players of the “world theatre” are equal in terms of the roles assumed, but each actor acts according to scenario prescribed to him within the functional frames of the world system, described neatly by I. Wallerstein.2 “The current processes of globalization, at many levels, have observably diminished, if not complete cancelled, the capacity of the nation state to control the processes of economic, cultural, political and social dimensions.”3 Therefore, logical but contradictive conclusion comes at place suggesting that self-sustainable world system based on and empowered by international relations and international cooperation is to thrive by the increase of relations and cooperation, however, to undermine the very nature of the nation state-the key actor in the system, by diminishing its sovereignty and the importance of territorial integrity. Speculations over the future of the world order is not a simple task, all the more so in the context of rapid economic, political, social and, in some extent, even ideological changes. Thus, the objective of this work is not only to establish that countries are to become similar in their societal structures and practices, but to critically evaluate causes and consequences of this processes. Of no less importance is the attempt of this work to elaborate the assumption that the current process of globalization responsible for homogenization of the world and decline of contemporary world system is an inevitable denouement of artificially created Westphalian sovereign-state system.

Loading...

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

References (13)

  1. Buliung N. Ron (2011): Wired People in Wired Places: Stories about Machines and the Geography of Activity, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 101:6, 1365-1381, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2011.583568
  2. Castells Manuel, "The Contours of the Network Society", The Journal of Future Studies, Strategic Thinking and Polici, vol. 02, no. 02, apr.00, p. 152
  3. Chase-Dunn Christopher; Kawano Yukio; Brewer D. Benjamin, "Trade Globalization since 1795: Waves of Integration in the World-System", American Sociological Review, Vol. 65, No. 1, Looking Forward, Looking Back: Continuity and Change at the Turn of the Millenium. (Feb., 2000), p. 80, http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003- 1224%28200002%2965%3A1%3C77%3ATGS1WO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R
  4. Eisenstadt . N, "Multiple Modernities", Daedalus, Winter 2000; 129, 1; ProQuest Direct Complete pg. 2, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027613.
  5. Kardulias P. Nick, "WORLD SYSTEMS THEORY", Academic Press, Encyclopedia of Archaeology, 2008, Pages 2219-2221, doi:10.1016/B978-012373962-9.00324-1, http://ac.els-cdn.com/B9780123739629003241/3-s2.0-B9780123739629003241- main.pdf?_tid=168b7004-eb8f-11e5-be96- 00000aacb361&acdnat=1458143729_5af644432173f55dd5d24b1b670d115e
  6. Levitt Theodore, "The Globalization of Markets", Harvard Business Review, (May 1983), p. 2, https://hbr.org/1983/05/the-globalization-of-markets#
  7. Martin Cihák, and Fonteyne, Wim. IMF Working Papers : Five Years After : European Union Membership and Macro-Financial Stability in the New Member States. Washington, DC, USA: International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2009. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 10 March 2016
  8. Meyer W. John, "Globalization: Theory and Trends", International Journal of Comparative Sociology 2007; 48; 261, p. 263, DOI: 10.1177/0020715207079529, http://cos.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/48/4/261
  9. Osiander Andreas, "Sovereignty, International Relations, and the Westphalian Myth", International Organization, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Spring, 2001), p. 266, http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract\_S0020818301441324
  10. Ryan Alan, On Politics: a History of Political Thought from Herodotus to the Present, (Penguin Books, London, 2012)
  11. Schumpetter A. Joseph, Capitalism, Socialism And Democracy (Counterpoint, Unwin Paperback, London, 1987)
  12. Wallerstein Immanuel, The Modern World-System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century (University of California Press, 2011)
  13. Wallerstein Immanuel, "The Three Instances of Hegemony in the History of the Capitalist World-Economy", International Journal of Comparative Socilogy, XXIV, 1-2 (1983), p. 102 http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/812380-government-succeeds-by-failing