DOCSLIB.ORG

The Decline of American Power and the End of the World System

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Decline of American Power and the End of the World System Immanuel Wallerstein. Alternatives: The United States Confronts the World. Boulder and London: Paradigm Publishers, 2004. v + 173 pp. $28.95, paper, ISBN 978-1-59451-067-0. Reviewed by Roger Chapman Published on H-US-Japan (November, 2005) In Alternatives: The United States Confronts tingly accelerated the process of America's decline the World, Immanuel Wallerstein argues that the of power. This is the thesis of the book and conse‐ United States is a superpower in decline, dating quently there is a great deal of focus on Bush's at‐ the beginning of this trend back to the 1970s. The tack on Iraq. dominance the United States enjoyed immediately Wallerstein writes, "September 11 simply following World War II was not to last as other crystallized a vague sentiment into a pressing countries began to catch up economically and concern." That vague sentiment was essentially a technologically. Now what is new, Wallerstein ex‐ nation's fear of losing international standing. plains, is the response coming out of Washington. Hence, there is the fear of Other and the fear that From Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton the ap‐ Other is scornful and no longer in awe of the Unit‐ proach to foreign policy was basically the same, ed States. "The American people are afraid of ter‐ one of "soft" multilateralism. In other words, rorists; they are afraid of Moslems; they are afraid Washington always did what it wanted to do on of strangers," the author continues. "It is the fear the world stage but usually after frst obtaining that the U.S. is no longer strong as it once was, is agreement from other nations: "The U.S. is multi‐ no longer as respected as it once was, is no longer lateral to the degree that others adopt the U.S. uni‐ appreciated as it once was" (p. 78). lateral position" (p. 90). Such orchestrating of Significantly, such fear is interconnected with coalitions and the development of consensus actu‐ domestic worries. "It is the fear that the American ally helped maintain American dominance in for‐ standard of living is in danger--a fear of inflation eign affairs and it helped maintain what the au‐ and of deflation, a fear of losing employment, a thor has for years referred to as the "world sys‐ fear that, as they live longer, they no longer live tem."[1] With George W. Bush's response to Sep‐ as well, because the health care for the older part tember 11 traditional multilateralism has been re‐ of the population is far weaker than people expect placed by "raw" unilateralism, which has unwit‐ and want." As if fear is the only thing to fear, H-Net Reviews Washington has responded with a course of ac‐ would explain in part why political conservatives tion that largely ignores the underlying problems. have resorted to Cold War rhetoric when address‐ "Bush responds to that fear not by saying there is ing the problem of global terrorism. Although the no problem, but by saying that there is a problem policy of containment has been relegated to the to which he has a remedy--tough, determined ac‐ dustbin of history and replaced by the Bush Doc‐ tion. The Bush administration exudes confidence trine of preemption (which is quite in keeping in itself and this attracts fearful people, enough at with these postmodern times characterized by a least who give their vote to toughness" (p. 78). vagueness of boundaries and a vagueness of ene‐ And such toughness, the implementation of shock, my identification), it has little to do with an aban‐ is directed at scapegoats, such as Saddam Hussein, donment of the Cold War mindset. while the decline of the United States accelerates Then and now, the thinking out of Washing‐ to terminal velocity. ton has been one of American exceptionalism, the Wallerstein sees Bush's invasion of Iraq as United States as savior of the free world. If it less about carrying out regime change and more could be shown that Washington possesses the ca‐ to do with intimidating the allies of the United pability of containing terrorism the way it had States, "so that they stop their carping, their criti‐ once contained the Soviet Union (contained in cisms, and fall back into line, as the schoolchild‐ that the Kremlin never bombed the United States ren they are considered to be" (pp. 89-90). In other or Western Europe), probably there could be words, "What Bush sought to demonstrate was greater unity between America and its allies. that the United States could and would assert its What is new is that there is no equivalent of nu‐ power unilaterally in the world, succeed militarily clear deterrence to keep the enemy at bay. Other in doing so, and thereby strengthen its political than waging world war and carrying out a policy and economic position in the world" (p. 135). of extermination, there is no military solution for The author thinks the "shock and awe" plan stopping terrorism in the way that nuclear has failed miserably, putting the nation's decline brinkmanship worked against the Soviet Union. of power in an unstoppable fast-forward mode. [2] Since the United States has few answers and He believes that now more nations than ever will little power in dealing with terrorism, Washing‐ try to develop weapons of mass destruction, in‐ ton as command center is devalued by its tradi‐ cluding nuclear arms. Moreover, new alliances tional allies. are being fashioned to serve as a counterweight Alternatives is divided into three sections: against the United States' unilateralism: France, part 1, "Terrorism: The Bush Fiasco" (pp. 1-16); Germany, and Russia; China and Russia; China, part 2, "Bush Encounters the World: Commen‐ Korea, and Japan; and Latin America. The United taries, 2001-2004" (pp. 17-142); and part 3, "The States is challenged by a populist resurgence in Possible and the Desirable" (pp. 143-162). The bulk Latin America, a stronger China, and an unwill‐ of this work is comprised of the author's reconsti‐ ingness of Japan, South Korea, and China to take a tuted Web blogs (p. vii) that offer a diary-like com‐ hard stance against North Korea (pp. 83-84). mentary on the events leading up to Gulf War II Actually, the end of the Cold War began this and the subsequent quagmire/insurgency. The au‐ unraveling of American hegemony. "The collapse thor is a senior research scholar at Yale University of the Soviet Union in 1989-1991 represented a and editor of the Fernand Braudel Center Series. disaster, from the standpoint of U.S. control over There is probably an unwritten rule that a series its allies," Wallerstein explains. "It undid the ma‐ editor never publishes his own book in order to jor justification for U.S. Leadership" (p. 104). This avoid the problem of embarrassment afterwards. 2 H-Net Reviews This work is a fascinating and brisk read, on par As for the "political chaos" of the Middle East, with a rousing op-ed piece, but it would hardly is there any not directly or indirectly related to have passed muster through the usual vetting the legacies of imperialism? The terrorism that process. Web blogs on current events, it seems, has emerged from that part of the world is very are less than ideal material for constructing an much a negative reaction to the imperialistic mis‐ academic work because the reflection of events in sions of Great Britain and France and later, fol‐ real time, no matter how insightful the commen‐ lowing World War II, the United States. For exam‐ tator, is inevitably shortsighted. ple, what is the origin of the dislike Iran has for The strength of this book is that it attempts to the United States if it is not the 1953 CIA coup to explain American post-September 11 foreign poli‐ reinstall the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlevi to the cy developments and show the rational, if not nec‐ throne, an action Dwight Eisenhower ordered on essarily wise, thinking behind the decisions made behalf of British oil interests?[4] by Bush and his advisers. On the other hand, a What exactly are the "alternatives" being dis‐ weakness of the overall analysis is the presuppo‐ cussed in Alternatives? The author maintains that sition that the hawks of the Bush administration the Bush foreign policy has made things where are always behaving as rational actors. It could be the United States will not be able to return to argued, seemingly without much difficulty, that "soft" multilateralism because the world commu‐ the hawks have been deluded by an ideology that nity is no longer the same. The alternative to has made them less than rational. An ideology can American hegemony is multipolarity. This will re‐ be based on rational thought, but its adherents quire the United States to jettison American ex‐ can turn that rationality into a faith system that ceptionalism and "start thinking of itself as one calcifies into a rejection of the world of facts. Un‐ mature country among many, one that has had like Abraham Lincoln who maintained a war cabi‐ both greatness and things to repent in its past, as net comprised of individuals with diverse view‐ have most others" (p. 148). This approach would points,[3] George W. Bush seems happily predis‐ require Washington to engage in genuine dia‐ posed to seclude himself with people who practice logue with the rest of the world and quit talking groupthink and have zero tolerance for dissent. down to its allies. Perhaps only a psychoanalyst would be able to "Multipolarity is a great virtue, not a danger uncover the source of why Bush wanted to go to for the United States," Wallerstein insists, adding war against Iraq, but Wallerstein probably offers that a new era of dialogue among the nations (in‐ at least a partial reason.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Globalization: a Short History
    CHAPTER 5 GLOBALIZATIONS )URGEN OSTERHAMMEL TI-IE revival of world history towards the end of the twentieth century was intimately connected with the rise of a new master concept in the social sciences: 'globalization.' Historians and social scientists responded to the same generational experience·---·the impression, shared by intellectuals and many other people round the world, that the interconnectedness of social life on the planet had arrived at a new level of intensity. The world seemed to be a 'smaller' place in the 1990s than it had been a quarter­ century before. The conclusions drawn from this insight in the various academic disciplines, however, diverged considerably. The early theorists of globalization in sociology, political science, and economics disdained a historical perspective. The new concept seemed ideally suited to grasp the characteristic features of contemporary society. It helped to pinpoint the very essence of present-day modernity. Historians, on their part, were less reluctant to envisage a new kind of conceptual partnership. An earlier meeting of world history and sociology had taken place under the auspices of 'world-system theory.' Since that theory came along with a good deal of formalisms and strong assumptions, few historians went so far as to embrace it wholeheartedly. The idiom of 'globalization,' by contrast, made fewer specific demands, left more room for individuality and innovation and seemed to avoid the dogmatic pitfalls that surrounded world-system theory. 'Globalization' looked like a godsend for world historians. It opened up a way towards the social science mainstream, provided elements of a fresh terminology to a field that had sutlcred for a long time from an excess of descriptive simplicity, and even spawned the emergence of a special and up""ttHlate variant of world history-'global history.' Yet this story sounds too good to be true.
    [Show full text]
  • Immanuel Wallerstein's World-Systems Theory
    Immanuel Wallerstein This presentation is based on the theory of Immanuel Wallerstein as presented in books listed in the bibliography. A summary of this and other macro-social theories can be found in Macrosociology: Four Modern Theorists, by Frank W. Elwell. Marx’s legacy in social theory does not lie in his predictions of future utopias but rather in his analyses of the workings and contradictions of capitalism. Within contemporary sociology this tradition is very much alive in world-systems analysis, a perspective developed by Immanuel Wallerstein in the 1970s. According to Wallerstein, the modern nation state exists within a broad economic, political, and legal framework which he calls a “world- system.” Just as individual behavior cannot be understood without reference the sociocultural system in which they are members, individual societies or nation states cannot be understood without reference to the world-system in which they are embeded. Modern nation states are all part of the world- system of capitalism, and it is this world- system that Wallerstein seeks to understand. Wallerstein believes that there are only three basic types of social systems. The first he terms as “mini-systems,” these are the small, homogenous societies studied by anthropologists. Hunting and gathering, pastoral, and simple horticultural societies are relatively self-contained economic units, producing all goods and services within the sociocultural system itself. The second type of social system is a “world- empire.” This system has an economy that is based on the extraction of surplus goods and services from outlying districts. Much of this tribute goes to pay for the administrators who extract it and for the military to ensure continued domination, the rest goes to the political rulers at the head of the empire.
    [Show full text]
  • From Immanuel Wallerstein's
    chapter 1 Theories of Socioeconomic Impact: from Immanuel Wallerstein’s ‘World Systems’ to Kondratiev/Schumpeter Waves 1.1 World Systems Analysis: from Business Cycles to Ancient World Theory In scholarly literature, we find wide-ranging theoretical inquiries related to the perception of trade and the origins of past economic phenomena.1 Different approaches determine the particular interpretations of economic changes, 1 One of these theoretical currents in the literature is a concept of the functioning of the world systems in the past, known as the ancient world systems theory, created on grounds formed by Immanuel Wallerstein’s inquiries. In particular, the ancient world systems theory involves the question of how far back in the past it is possible to project the phenomena observed by Wallerstein. See Kajsa Ekholm and Jonathan Friedman, “Capital imperialism and exploi- tation in ancient world systems,” in Historical Transformations: The Anthropology of Global Systems, eds. Kajsa Ekholm and Jonathan Friedman, (Lanham/New York/Toronto/Plymouth: AltaMira Press, 2008), pp. 59–70. See also Jonathan Friedman and Michael J. Rowlands, “Notes toward epigenetic model of the evolution of civilization,” in Historical Transformations: The Anthropology of Global Systems, pp. 87–92. This current in inquiries concerning archaeologi- cal research was summarized by Christoph Kümmel. Christoph Kümmel, Frühe Weltsysteme: Zentrum und Peripherie-Modelle in der Archäologie, (Tübinger Texte. Materialen zur Ur-und Frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie) 4 (Rahden/Westfalen: Verlag Marie Leidorf, 2001). What might be of interest in the model of ancient world systems theory is precisely its historical as- pect: the possibility of perceiving the ancient empires through the prism of the world system (or rather of world systems).
    [Show full text]
  • Rep.Ort Resumes
    REP.ORT RESUMES ED 010 471 48 LANGUAGE AND AREA STUDY PROGRAMSIN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES. BY MOSES, LARRY OUR. OF INTELLIGENCE AND RESEARCH, WASHINGTON, 0.Ce REPORT NUMBER NDEA VI -34 PUB DATE 64 EDRS PRICEMF40.27HC $7.08 177P. DESCRIPTORS *LANGUAGE PROGRAMS, *AREA STUDIES, *HIGHER EDUCATION, GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS, COURSES, *NATIONAL SURVEYS, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AFRICA, ASIA, LATIN AMERICA, NEAR EAST, WESTERN EUROPE, SOVIET UNION, EASTERN EUROPE . LANGUAGE AND AREA STUDY PROGRAMS OFFERED IN 1964 BY UNITED STATES INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION ARE LISTEDFOR THE AREAS OF (1) AFRICA, (2) ASIA,(3) LATIN AMERICA, (4) NEAR EAST,(5) SOVIET UNION AND EASTERN EUROPE, AND (6) WESTERN EUROPE. INSTITUTIONS OFFERING BOTH GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS IN LANGUAGE AND AREA STUDIESARE ALPHABETIZED BY AREA CATEGORY, AND PROGRAM INFORMATIONON EACH INSTITUTION IS PRESENTED, INCLUDINGFACULTY, DEGREES OFFERED, REGIONAL FOCUS, LANGUAGE COURSES,AREA COURSES, LIBRARY FACILITIES, AND.UNIQUE PROGRAMFEATURES. (LP) -,...- r-4 U.,$. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH,EDUCATION AND WELFARE I.: 3 4/ N- , . Office of Education Th,0 document has been. reproducedexactly as received from the petson or organization originating it. Pointsof View or opinions CD st4ted do not necessarily representofficial Office of EdUcirtion?' ri pdpition or policy. CD c.3 LANGUAGEAND AREA "Ai STUDYPROGRAMS IN AMERICAN VERSITIES EXTERNAL RESEARCHSTAFF DEPARTMENT OF STATE 1964 ti This directory was supported in part by contract withtheU.S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
    [Show full text]
  • Bhambra, Gurminder K. "Opening the Social Sciences to Cosmopolitanism?." Connected Sociologies
    Bhambra, Gurminder K. "Opening the Social Sciences to Cosmopolitanism?." Connected Sociologies. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014. 63–80. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 28 Sep. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781472544377.ch-003>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 28 September 2021, 01:25 UTC. Copyright © Gurminder K. Bhambra 2014. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 3 Opening the Social Sciences to Cosmopolitanism? The interest in globalization within the social sciences has not only been about mapping the changes wrought by globalizing processes, but has also been concerned with the consequences of a proper recognition that such changes have occurred and therefore altered the landscape in which social science is conducted. From research seeking to ‘demonstrate’ the emergence and development of globalization, scholars have become more concerned with addressing the impact of globalization upon disciplinary structures and the possibilities for knowledge production in a global age. The central issue, for many social scientists, appears to rest in the following claim: that as we have moved from a system of nation states to a global system, our conceptual categories are still tied to a nation state framework and thereby are inadequate to address the new phenomena associated with the global age. The world has moved on, but our categories for under- standing that world haven’t. We are urged by Robinson, among many others, ‘to shift our focus from the nation-state as the basic unit of analysis to the global system as the appropriate unit’ (1998: 562).
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae: Jeffrey William Sommers
    Sommers, Jeffrey William CURRICULUM VITAE: JEFFREY WILLIAM SOMMERS Career summary Research is focused on ‘spatial fixes’ to the long and short crises of global capital accumulation. This has centered on the role played by the Baltic states as the drain for both commodities and capital from the former Soviet Union to global markets in the context of a wider international political economy. In the case of capital flows the Baltic states (chiefly Latvia) are examined as offshore banking centers facilitating ‘tax dumping’ attracting capital from points both east and west that works to undermine social systems formerly constructed by the Soviet bloc and Bretton Woods social democracies alike. Other research centers on the political economy of austerity. Additional research has been conducted on the political economy of labor migration within and into the European Union. Further research centers on the political economy of Africa’s (and its Diaspora) accelerated integration into new networks of accumulation (chiefly from the Indian Ocean). Past research focuses on the political economy of 19th and early 20th century US relations with Haiti. Publications are both individual-authored and collaborative interdisciplinary monographs, along with international peer-reviewed journal articles, published and in progress. Interdisciplinary methodological research employing qualitative approaches (interviews and archival work) while making use of extant quantitative data sets. Work experience, program building, and grants include: Fulbright PhD research award and extension, 1999-2001. Fulbright work conducted at Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE Riga) and Center for European and Transition Studies (2003-2005). Organized World Affairs Seminar, launched Silk Roads Project on Eurasian Transit, and created Andre Gunder Frank Memorial Library (SSE Riga).
    [Show full text]
  • Econ 5060/6060-001
    Economics 5060/6060-001 History of Economic Doctrines Spring 2015, Tu/Th 2:00-3:20 pm, MLI 1130, Credit Hours: 3 Instructor: Minqi Li, Associate Professor Office: OSH 365 Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 12:30-1:30 pm E-mail: [email protected] Webpage: http://content.csbs.utah.edu/~mli/index.htm Course Content / Description The evolution of modern economic ideas reflects the changing historical dynamics of capitalism and follows certain logics of intellectual development. Both the modern neoclassical economics and political economy find their intellectual origins in the classical political economy. Successive generations of economists have debated over the origins of value/surplus value, the underlying determinants of prices, and the inherent stability/instability of the capitalist system. Fundamentally, the debates raise the questions whether capitalism is an economically and socially rational system and whether there are historically viable alternatives to the existing economic system. Course Objectives 1. At the end of the course, students will be able to grasp the evolution of economic ideas from Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, to Marx, modern neoclassical economists, and Keynes, understanding their historical connections as well as the underlying logics of intellectual development. 2. There are two common themes throughout the course: the origin of value/surplus value (and the determination of relative prices); and the stability/rationality of the capitalist economic system. 3. Historical economic ideas will be related to contemporary economic theories and economic realities. This helps to enhance the students’ theoretical understanding as well as their ability to analyze real world economic problems. Textbook: E. K. Hunt, History of Economic Thought, Third Edition (M.
    [Show full text]
  • 01 ARTICLE ENG Immanuel Wallerstein FINAL
    OBSERVARE Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa ISSN: 1647-7251 Vol. 1, n.º 1 (Autumn 2010) Articles Immanuel Wallerstein – Ecology versus property rights: land in the capitalist world- economy (1-9) Miguel Santos Neves – Paradiplomacy, knowledge regions and the consolidation of «Soft Power» (10-28) Luís Tomé - Security and security complex: operational concepts (29-44) António Oliveira – Using the military instrument in conflict resolution: a changing paradigm (45-58) José Rebelo - The big information and communication groups in the world (59-69) Pedro Veiga e Marta Dias – Internet Governance (70-80) Francisco Rui Cádima – Global televisions, a single history (81-91) João Ferrão – Putting Portugal on the map (92-101) Notes and Reflections Luís Moita – The concept of international configuration (102-106) Nancy Gomes – The role of Portugal in Euro-Latin relations (107-111) Brígida Rocha Brito - Hard, Soft or Smart Power: conceptual discussion or strategic definition? (112-114) Critical Reviews Noya, Javier (2007). Diplomacia Pública para el siglo XXI. La gestión de la imagen exterior y la opinión pública internacional. Madrid: Ariel: 469 pp – by Marco António Baptista Martins (115-118) Valladares, Rafael (2010). A conquista de Lisboa — Violência militar e comunidade política em Portugal, 1578-1583. Lisboa: Texto Editores: 332 pp. ISBN 978-972- 47-4111-6 (Tradução Manuel Gonçalves) – by João Maria Mendes (119-120) Saviano, Roberto (2008). Gomorra. Infiltrado no Império Económico da Máfia Napolitana, Caderno, 2008, Lisboa, 3ª. Ed.: 351 pp – by René Tapia Ormazábal (121-124) OBSERVARE Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa ISSN: 1647-7251 Vol. 1, n.º 1 (Autumn 2010), pp. 1-9 ECOLOGY VERSUS PROPERTY RIGHTS: LAND IN THE CAPITALIST WORLD-ECONOMY1 Immanuel Wallerstein Director of the Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems, and Civilizations and Senior Research Scholar at the University of Yale.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Introduction How Can We Understand and Interpret Culture
    193 CULTURE AND THE WORLD-SYSTEM THEORY SOME REFLECTIONS FROM WALLERSTEIN’S PERSPECTIVE by Augusto Gamuzza 1. Introduction How can we understand and interpret culture today? This concept – often referred to the ‘centre of gravity’ of the cognitive strate gies developed by human sciences 1 to analyse phenomena such as the dy - namics of social interactions, the performances and functioning of the political- economic systems, grand and minor historical transformations, appears to be facing a theoretical identity crisis [Santoro, 2000]. This paper aims to consider the possible destiny of the concept starting from Immanuel Wallerstein’s article “Culture as ideological battleground in the modern World-system” [1990]. In this article Wallerstein put forward a very interesting and ‘alternative’ approach to the definition of culture as determined by the theoretical glasse s2 of World-system theory. This very vision represents the starting point of this paper which is structured in three parts. Each part is connected and logically consequent to the preceding in a propedeutic fashion. Such structuring aims to achieve a ‘comprehension path’ – which starts by ana - lyzing the ‘toolbox’ used by Wallerstein, then it passes on the analysis of what culture means in such perspective, so to finally discuss the validity of this con - cept and of its use in today’s sociological debate. 1 I use this term in accord with Raymond Aron and Franco Ferrarotti considering that the French locution sciences humaines fits better than the Anglophonic social sciences to all the dis - ciplines that have for object the human being. Cfr. R. Aron (1965) Main current in sociological thought .
    [Show full text]
  • U.S. Weakness and the Struggle for Hegemony
    Wallerstein.qxd 5/30/2003 12:40 PM Page 1 U.S. Weakness and the Struggle for Hegemony IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN I am going to start with two things with which I think nearly all MR readers will probably agree. One, imperialism is an integral part of the capitalist world-economy. It is not a special phenomenon. It has always been there. It always will be there as long as we have a capitalist world- economy. Two, we are experiencing at the moment a particularly aggres- sive and egregious form of imperialism, which is now even ready to claim that it is being imperialist. Now, I ask you to reflect upon that anomaly. How come at the moment we are living through a particularly aggressive and egregious form of imperialism, which for the first time in over a hundred years has been ready to use the words “imperial,” and “imperialism”? Why should they do that? Now, the answer most people give in one word is U.S. strength. And the answer I will give in one word is U.S. weakness. We have to start in 1945 when the U.S. became hegemonic, really hegemonic. What does hegemony in this context mean? It means that the U.S. nation-state was so much the strongest, it had an economic capabil- ity so far ahead of anybody else in the world as of 1945, that it could undersell anyone in their own home markets. The United States had a mil- itary strength that was unparalleled. As a consequence, it had an ability to create formidable alliances, NATO, the U.S.–Japan Defense Pact, and so on.
    [Show full text]
  • Cosmopolitanism and Patriotism: Questions of Identity, Membership and Belonging
    Annals of the University o f Craiova, Romania 151 Proceedings of the 2008 Conference on Language, Literature and Cultural Policies - Interfaces ELISABETE DO ROSÁRIO MENDES SILVA Polytechnic Institute of Bragança ULICES – University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies Cosmopolitanism and patriotism: questions of identity, membership and belonging We now live in a globalized world which influences international relations, world economy and diplomacy. The individual also faces the challenge of imagining and feeling part of the world, besides the obligations he owes to the state he belongs to. This conception is based on the idea that each individual has a significant role in the sense that they represent a relevant contribution for the world problems, for peace maintenance, for the global and equal distribution of goods and resources, for humanitarian assistance and for the protection of the human rights. The world citizen is therefore asked to be part of a compassionate world project, in a tolerant and understanding outlook of our fellow citizens, despite all the skeptical positions regarding this ideal. We are, in fact, growingly faced with a plurality of identities, promoting thus a cosmopolitan way of life. According to Robin Cohen (1999), taking into account the three great forces which define our current world: globalization, multiculturalism and nationalism, the solution lies in cosmopolitanism because, on the one side, there is no other way and it’s part of our global contemporary conditions and, on the other, only cosmopolitanism represents the right choice seeing that it considers the individual in a universal perspective. (Cohen, 1999: 25) However, the respect for difference and cultural diversity was seriously threatened by the terrorist attacks of 9/11, which created an atmosphere of suspicion and skepticism regarding the ‘Other’.
    [Show full text]
  • Globalization and Historical Macrosociology
    GLOBALIZATION AND HISTORICAL MACROSOCIOLOGY Giovanni Arrighi Published in Janet Abu-Lughod, ed., Sociology for the Twenty-First Century. Continuities and Cutting Edges. Chicago:Chicago University Press 2000, pp. 117-133. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the ASA/ISA North American Conference, "Millennial Milestone. The Heritage and Future of Sociology," Toronto, Canada, August 7-8, 1997. Globalization and Its Contents History continually makes untidy the neat conceptual frameworks and theoretical speculations with which we endeavor to understand the past and forecast the future of the world we live in. In our attempt to cope with the "chaos of existential judgements" (Max Weber's phrase) engendered by events and processes that challenge our understanding of the world, we tend to deny or exaggerate the novelty of what is actually happening. Denial leads to changes in the familiar meaning of words. Exaggeration leads to the coinage of new words of uncertain meaning. Either way, to paraphrase John Ruggie (1994, p. 553), "[t]imes of change are also times of confusion." Some twenty-to-thirty years ago the main source of confusion in the study of the global political economy was the persistent use of the term "imperialism" to designate tendencies that in key respects were antithetical to the tendencies that had been the object of classical theories of imperialism, both liberal and Marxist. In a critique of this anachronistic use of the term, I underscored how the establishment of US hegemony after the Second World War had dissolved the very explicandum of classical theories of imperialism, namely, the tendency of intercapitalist competition to translate into open and generalized warfare.
    [Show full text]