Think local, act global 2014

Page 1

THINK LOCAL, ACT GLOBAL

Beyond the nation-state


The Exam 

The exam is three hours long and will be held on campus between the 28th of April and 16th of May (the module ends on the 26th March)

There will be ten questions, one from each lecture

There will be some cross-over between topics

Each question begins with ‘To what extent…’


What do I want? 

The most important thing is to demonstrate a CRITICAL understanding of globalisation

Showing this understanding is much more important than remembering facts – but you will need to read to increase your understanding

Being critical requires you to evaluate different sides of an argument in order to develop your position, as well as integrating information from different parts of the module


Today 

Introducing the nation and national identity

Imagining national communities

Your questions

The nation-state and the threat of globalisation


Our Progress 

Last week we discussed the idea that our local circumstances are increasingly influenced by global social structures



Today we consider whether the nation, as a particularly strong form of local identification, is threatened by changes in global social structures

To what extent is the nation-state relevant in the 21st century?


Defining the nation 

‘Nations’ are a people with a shared identity, usually based on common geography

Nations differ from ethnic groups because they seek political autonomy as well as cultural unity

Nations produce social solidarity through belonging and identification


What is your nationality?


Nationhood and identity 

Social identity: A socially attributed identity or label that is applied to an individual and has a structuring influence over them (how are we the same as others) 

‘We British like to…’

Social identities produce a sense of belonging through an identification with a group

We can have multiple and competing social identities, of which national identity is one, and the composition of these competing identities make up our sense of self


Is your nationality important to you?


An imagined community 

National identities are not naturally produced, but are socially constructed – nations are built, not born

Benedict Anderson (1991) argued that the nation was an ‘imagined community’ that is inherently limited and sovereign

Nations are imagined because we will never meet all the members of the nation, but members still have an ‘image of their communion’ (p.6)


Limited Sovereign Communities (p.6) 

Nations are imagined to be limited because they establish ideological and physical boundaries from others

Nations are imagined to be sovereign because they have rule over themselves (or aspire to)

Nations are imagined as a community because of the inherent comradeship between members

This imaginary is based upon an identification with symbols that allow for the construction of a common identity and common bond with other people


Being Kiwi


What symbols define your nationhood?


Constructing Imagination 

Whilst our national imaginations are based on shared symbols and ideas, they cannot be fixed

National identity is always in flux – What defines ‘us’ from ‘them’

As a consequence, national identity is strongly influenced by global structural shifts

Conversely, national identities are often firm emotional attachments



Why are we more passionate about nationhood than other aspects of our identities?


Nationalism 

Nationalism is the desire of a people to assert their autonomy, identity and unity

A patriotic identification with the nation over other forms of identity, particularly divisive ones 

‘We are all English’

Nationalism is a powerful tool for achieving social solidarity and mediating against social divisions and conflict

Today we discuss what happens when our emotional attachments to our identification with an imagined shared, limited and sovereign community are threatened


What do you want to know?


Challenging the nation 

Whilst nationhood provides a powerful sense of identity for some, and a common bond between many, it has come under threat from a number of sources:  

 

The emergence of global political and economic institutions The spread of global cultures The presence of multiple national identities within a nationstate A return to localist politics

These factors challenge both the way we think of ourselves and the way our lives are organised through the nationstate


Nations and states 

Nations might be imagined, but they are also formally constructed

Modern nations are generally coupled with states (the nation-state)

Nations are cultural constructions, states are political institutions

The ideal of a nation-state is that a common people living in proximity to each other should have political autonomy


The State 

States are primarily defined by their monopoly over physical force within a given territory based on a centralised authority

Weber: ‘A human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory’

The use of force is vital to the nationstate: It is the local state who is responsible for enforcing laws, no matter how they are created


State and agency 

As a social/political structure, states have a significant impact on our capacity for agency

The organisation of the state impacts on who is able to be ‘free’ and act on their own choices 

  

How are resources distributed? Under what rules is society managed? Who has the power to make decisions? What happens to those who disobey?

Global institutions, economic forces and cultural factors impact on the state’s capacity to influence our lives


The Nation State 

The nation-state is a relatively recent invention, one that came out of the global spread of empires

With the autonomy of the nation-state, however, came the clash of nation-states and the need to establish systems for controlling the actions of nations

In the idea of the ‘social contract’, individuals within a nation give up power to the state – a similar system applies to states themselves

The need for this global social contract emerged after the horrors of World War I


Global Institutions 

The most prominent political institutions were the ‘League of Nations’, constructed after World War I, and the subsequent ‘United Nations’

These institutions attempt to maintain global order and negotiate common ground between states

As we will discuss next week, a global economic system was also created to ensure that everyone played to the same ‘rules’, often giving power to global corporations over local states


Principles The UN has four main purposes To keep peace throughout the world;  To develop friendly relations among nations;  To help nations work together to improve the lives of poor people, to conquer hunger, disease and illiteracy, and to encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedoms;  To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations to achieve these goals. 


The Security Council 

Whilst the general assembly of the UN can only make recommendations, a ‘Security Council’ can make binding decisions

The Security Council has 15 members, with five permanent members: China, France, Russia, the UK and the US

These permanent members can ‘veto’ any binding decision


Some nations are more equal 

The permanent members of the Security Council, all of whom are nuclear powers, are able act on their exclusive interests  

Permanent members of the Council are able to protect their national and ideological interests The US has vetoed 32 resolutions critical of Israel

As any one of the divergent nations can veto a motion, the security council is naturally conservative

Whilst global institutions may appear neutral, some nations have much stronger influence over other nations

Consequently, some ‘distant localities’ become more global than others


Should bigger nations have more say in global affairs?


Cultural Spread 

As we will discuss further in Weeks 4 and 5, these global institutions are not neutral, but represent the spread of localised values – primarily American

American values have become dominant through both practical factors – the power of the US Dollar, military support – and through the spread of US entertainment media and ideology

As a consequent, local nations, and identities, have become threatened by a foreign culture

A similar threat in the UK is perceived to come from the European Union


Britain and the EU 

Regional organisations have also developed alongside global institutions

Britain is part of the European Union, a block of 28 nations, which was constructed in the latter half of the 20th century

The European Union established free movement of peoples, capital, goods and services

This requires the UK to give up some power to the EU: Britain contributes around £4billion a year to the EU and about 15% of all British laws stem from the EU

By far the most controversial of these is the European Court of Human Rights


European Court of Human Rights 

Established in 1949 by the ‘Council of Europe’ in the first post-war attempt to unify Europe

Individuals in the UK have the right to take cases to the court and the court has jurisdiction in the UK

There has arisen ‘moral panic’ over the ability of the court to make rulings in the UK, such as over prisoners voting or asylum cases

This is an issue at the heart of globalisation: should global institutions be able to enforce cultural values on others who do not have any power over these decisions?



Are you a European?


What political institutions do you have power over?



The challenge of local culture 

The increased influence of global factors on local lives has generated strong local resistance and moves to restore local sovereignty

A number of ‘nations’ such as Scotland and Catalonia, are seeking to become independent

Nationalist movements within nations, such as the British National Party, the English Defence League (EDL) and the UK Independence Party (UKIP), have rallied against global and regional influences, particularly migration and distant governing institutions


National Instinct 

These movements reject the influence of ‘non-representative’ institutions in the name of an imagined peoples 

“We believe in the right of the people of the UK to govern ourselves, rather than be governed by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels (and, increasingly, in London and even your local town hall)” “The EDL believes that English Culture has the right to exist and prosper in England”

This is a return to ‘primordial’ nationalism that implies that nations are rooted in biological similarities, geography and heritage

Nationalist’s argue that the ‘true’ nation is being undermined by institutions that do not represent the will of the people, as well as intruders who threaten our existing sense of nationhood


National solidarity 

Those who live close to each other are expected to share common values

Without any cultural commonality, social relations are often defined by conflict over the right way to do things, or who benefits from existing arrangements

Whilst common points of identification can operate on a micro level, they are encouraged to extend to coincide with legal geographical boundaries


0 Colombia

Cyprus (Non-‌

Zimbabwe

Austria

Iraq

Latvia

Korea (South)

Slovakia

Malaysia

Nepal

Mauritius

Iran

Netherlands

Canada

Russia

Greece

Hungary

Afghanistan

tish Indian Ocean‌

New Zealand

Sweden

Ghana

Philippines

Bulgaria

Brazil

Somalia

Japan

Turkey

Jamaica

China

Spain

South Africa

Sri Lanka

Australia

Pakistan

Bangladesh

United States

Romania

Germany

Italy

Portugal

Nigeria

Lithuania

France

Ireland

India

Poland

Non-UK Population in London by Nationality

160,000

140,000

120,000

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000


The aliens amongst ‘us’ 

Immigrants from distant localities can bring the global into the local

Immigrants come to embody the threat of globalisation and different values and lifestyle: our imagined communities are no longer limited

As a consequence, many people attempt to reestablish the limits on who belongs

Politicians often seek to return to achieve this through devices like citizenship tests and returning political control to the state


The ‘Cricket Test’

“A large proportion of Britain's Asian population fail to pass the cricket test. Which side do they cheer for? It's an interesting test. Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?

Conservative UK Politician Norman Tebbit (1990)


Is it important for immigrants to identify with the nation of their residence?


DIY Summary

Is the nation-state still relevant in the 21st century?


Take-away points 

Our point of identification and attachment are often very local – for many, the nation is a core source of identity

Nations and the nation-state in particular have come under threat from cultural, economic and political culture forces

This has led to a rise in localist politics


Next Week Week 3: THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE? THE(RE)BIRTH OF GLOBAL CAPITALISM

Readings Cohen and Kennedy, Chapter Four. Group Reading Bello, W. (2003) Global capitalism versus global community. Race & Class, 44(4): 63-76. (downloadable from BBL)

Starter Question: Is globalisation more about the spread of money, ‘capital’ and ‘market forces’ than the spread of cultures?


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.