In this article (“Not Just Hot Air”), I argue that globalization has resulted in “fluid borders and porous nationalities,” thereby diminishing the role of the nation-state as a definer of who we are as individuals. However, in an article entitled “Is the Nation-State Dying?” appearing in the September 3, 2013, online version of THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, Alan Wolfe states:
“Nations—the languages they speak, the novels their authors write, the music and art their geniuses produce, the citizenship they confer—continue to define who we are.”
(Alan Wolfe, CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, online 9/3/13 http://chronicle.com/article/Is-the-Nation-State-Dying-/141301/?cid=at.)
Have I overstated the case in my article based upon just one lawsuit? Incidentally, the Plaintiffs won and the EPA was told it had authority under the Clean Air Act to adopt regulations to deal with global warming and should set about doing so unless it could come up with an excuse that was better than “lack of authority.”
Article NOT JUST HOT AIR: Global Warming Solidifies World Opinion
Hi there,
In the two following papers, I have questionned the idea that national identities are declining and/or being fragmented by globalization. The argument is for a large part inspired by Billig's work on banal nationalism with the addition of a bit of survey data. This is not to deny that globalization can have effects on identities, but the idea that national identityes will disappear to be replaced by a 'global identity' just does not seem to hold the water for the time being.
Interestingly, last year I was at a talk by a leading economist where he argued that in the 18th century we reached a degree of globalization in many respect much higher than at present.
Sindic, D. (2011). Psychological citizenship and national identity. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 21, 202–214.
Sindic, D. (2008). National identities: are they declining? Futurelab: Beyond Current Horizons project. Available online at http://www.beyondcurrenthorizons.org.uk/national-identities-are-they-declining/. Times cited: 4
HI,
I am agree with Denis. I add that the global identity fits inside various national identities. Without national identities, it is not really possible to built a global identity. I'm thinking about the Social Imaginary by Arjun Appadurai.
For more information about the links between National and Global identities, you can read Appadurai: "Modernity At Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.", 1996.
Thank you, Denis and Christian; your references are very helpful; moreover, your own personal inclinations that national identities are not so easily trivialized are supported by the real-world failure of the WTO to successfully promote Free Trade (based solely upon ECONOMIC theories and arguments) as the sensible modus operandi for the modern nation-state.
Protective tariffs, "Local Content Requirements," subsidization of agricultural products, and other such obstacles prevent leveling the playing field between homegrown products and foreign goods. Not driven solely by economic considerations (to the exclusion of "national identity," socialization and cultural factors), today's nation-states are constantly erecting hurdles to Free Trade-- some of which barriers are no more creative than Japan's cutting tulip bulbs in half at the port of entry for "toll inspections" purportedly for the purpose of making sure that the tulips are "safe" and contain no contraband that would prove harmful to the Japanese people.
Gwen
- Badges
- Science method
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Ecology