Political globalization

1.

Specifically with respect to political globalization it concerns an approach to the social world that stresses postnational and transnational processes as well as a consciousness of the compressed nature of space and time. Political globalization has been much discussed in the globalization literature where the emphasis has been on the decline of the nation-state under the impact of global forces, which have created different kinds of politics arising from, on the one hand, the development of transnational networks and flows, and, on the other, processes of de- and reterritorialization.

The United States will not be able to establish global supremacy and will be challenged by many centres of power – centres that are mostly states. Thus, the first dimension of political globalization is the geopolitics of global power.

A second dimension of political globalization refers to the rise of a global normative culture. This is independent of geopolitics and is largely legal but diffused in global political communication. One of the main expressions of this is human rights, which lies at the centre of a global cosmopolitanism, but it also includes environmental concerns, which are now global. It is also a dimension of globalization that is not specifically Western.

The global political order represented by the United Nations is largely based on nationstates, it is possible to speak of a different kind of global political order that can be associated with the notion of global civil society. The concept of civil society is much contested and for present purposes it simply refers to the political domain between the state and the market where informal politics takes place.

The argument in this chapter questions this assumption: political globalization is not leading in the direction of a new global order of governance or world society but to transnational political action which challenges neoliberal politics. The logic of globalization bears out the central logic of political modernity in expressing the inner conflict within the political frame of autonomy versus fragmentation: globalization can enhance democracy but it can also fragment democracy by shifting autonomy to capitalism.

The three dynamics of political globalization will be examined in this chapter around four examples of social transformation: the transformation of nationality and citizenship, the public sphere and political communication, civil society, and space and borders.

The transformation of nationality and citizenship is that The notion of the decline of the nation-state in a post-statist world of governance without government – or in a ‘new medievalism’ of regional economies – should be replaced by the idea of the continued transformation of the nation-state.

And political communication is that communication is central to politics. Nation-states have been based on centralized systems of communication ranging from national systems of education and science, national newspapers and media such as TV as well as national commemorations and popular culture in which national narratives and collective identities were codifi ed, reproduced and legitimated. Most nation-states have been based on a national language, which was increasingly standardized over time. In addition, political parties have been at the centre of large-scale apparatuses of political communication which they have used for social influence.

We have seen how political globalization is associated with the changing relationships between state, society and the individual, and the new transnational or global communities, networks and publics which have come into existence and which are in turn driving new forms of politics. Central to understanding these developments is the idea of civil society which perhaps more than any other development has come to symbolize the political potential of globalization, and signals the onset of globalization from below. Before looking at the emerging reality of global civil society it is necessary to give consideration to a related development which we can term the ‘civil societalization’ of politics, a development stimulated, on the one hand, by the spread of governance practices which coordinate policy both beyond the nationstate and in partnership with a range of social actors not traditionally involved in the mechanisms of government, and, on the other, by shifts in the scale of the local, with social movements and grass-roots politics increasingly coordinated across national boundaries. The ‘civil societalization’ of politics both reinforces the idea that politics is increasingly informed by a normative global culture and points to the transformation of the nation-state as a site of political struggle.

To conclude, we can point to three dilemmas to which these complex relationships give rise and the implications for the tension between autonomy and fragmentation.

First, the globalization of the nation-state, and its model of political membership and institutionalized governance, has given form to the universal aspiration for democracy.

Second, global normative culture, which has been disseminated by INGOs over a long period of time and has scripted the development of the nation-state as a global form, has also acted as a vector for global norms of personhood positing a world of individuals sustained by human rights law.

Third, polycentric networks, and in particular the development of global civil society, create new opportunities for autonomy and the recognition of a range of new actors and new modes of governance, but, at the same time, can create new instabilities and dangers.

2.

Politics is a vital part of our concern.But we have a prejudice that politics is hard and difficult.By the way, it was fun to learn what the politics meant in globalization, and to learn more about globalization.Also, the three drivers of political globalization were novel.

These days, people talk a lot about U.S. presidential election.There are predictions that the world economy, trade, and culture will change rapidly.Learning political globalization has led to a lot of thoughts about this area.It is a meaningful subject for me.

3.

These days, the situation in our country is serious.People are demonstrating on the streets because of politics that has not taken into account the people.The whole nation is acting with one mind.Politics is an important subject in sociology.And this is our nation's work.So I want to talk about the politics of other students and our country.