Media and Globalization in the 21st Century

Introduction: Globalization Myths and Realities

Dina Lache Iacov, PhD

Lecture 1

Initial Questions
Everyone has encountered the term "globalization," but what does it really mean, and how can we best study it? What do we study in a course on globalization that is not covered in international relations? Does globalization mean that the world has changed in important respects? If so, how? Is globalization a "good" thing or a "bad" thing? This introductory lecture aims to answer these and other questions.

What images does the idea of globalization conjure up in your mind?

Possibilities:

International organizations such as the UN, WHO and World Bank The Internet Global warming Terrorism Stock exchanges and banks

These are all images associated with globalization but there are others, equally important. For example:

The World Cup (and other sporting world championships) The Olympic games (being the best in the world) McDonald's (same food the world over?) Universities (IDC's students from all over the world) Passports (freedom to travel the world) Jeans (the whole world wears the same pants)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Sei7F61U8&feature=related

All lead us to imagine the world as a single place

So what is globalization?

Globalization is best thought of as the growing interconnectedness in the world. It is the result of a series of historical processes (economic, political, cultural) through which the world has become compressed, and which have led to an awareness that the world is becoming a single place This definition originated in the work of Roland Robertson, a leading globalization theorist. It is also the definition which will guide us through this course

Myths about globalization

There exist many myths with respect to globalization. For example: that it is very new (since 1950s or 1980s) that it is all about economic interconnectedness (markets, money flows) that it spells the end of the nation-state that we now live in a "borderless world" that it is another name for "Americanization" that it is a threat to democracy that it is a bad thing

These myths also lead to some very simplistic explanations for what has caused globalization

that it is the result of market forces and trade liberalization that it has been caused by the revolution in information and communication technologies since the 1970s that it is the project of a single global superpower

At best these are only partial explanations

When does globalization start?

Possibilities:

Ancient Rome 650-850: Expansion of Islam from the Western Mediterranean to India 1100: Rise of Gengis Khan (integration of Eurasia) 1300: Creation of the Ottoman Empire spanning Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East 1492 and 1498: Columbus and de Gama travel West and East to the Indies (age of European seaborne empires)

Robertsons phases

1.

The first was the germinal phase which lasted from the early fifteenth to the mid-eighteenth century and was confined to Europe. During the phase, such processes as growth of national communities, beginning of modern geography and introduction of heliocentric theory of the world, acceptance of the universal (Gregorian) calendar took place. The second phase was the incipient phase during which globalization manifested itself through the spread of the idea of the homogeneous (national) state, introduction of the idea of formal citizenship, increase in international regulations and agreements, discussions on the issue of nationalisminternationalism, etc. This phase lasted from the mid-eighteenth century to the 1870s and still centered around Europe.

2.

3.

The third phase Robertson calls the take-off phase and dates it between the 1870s and the mid-1920s. He relates it to such events and developments as sharp increase in Global forms of communication, introduction of global competitions (e.g. Oympics, Nobel Prizes), the First World War, concern with the ideas of national and personal identities, and so on. The struggle-for-hegemony phase was the fourth one and lasted from the early 1920s to the mid-1960s. During this period global international conflicts have intensified (World War II, Cold War), and the universal nuclear threat has appeared. The League of Nations (1910) and the United Nations (1945) were formed. The last phase is the uncertainty phase which began in the 1960s and lasts until the present. It is characterized by the formation of supraterritorial world communities, consolidation of global media systems, recognition of global environmental problems, rapid increase in worldwide institution, etc.. Robertson calls this phase "uncertainty" because there is no confidence as to the direction of future developments.

4.

5.

Thomas Friedman: The World is Flat

By 'flat' I did not mean that the world is getting equal. I said that more people in more places can now compete, connect and collaborate with equal power and equal tools than ever before. That's why an Indian in Bangalore can take care of the office work of American doctors or read the X-rays of German hospitals.

According to Friedman, we can appreciate the levels of globalization by considering who was the dynamic agent of globalization. Globalization is discussed in phases:

1.0: Countries, such as Spain, Portugal and Italy set out to sea in search of different continents - looking for India and finding America 2.0: Companies marketing using technological innovations 3.0: Individuals have the power to contribute to the process of globalization because they can use the technological innovations that are evident in mass communications

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53vLQnuV9FY

Globalization has no one single cause, but the following have been very important:

Voyages of exploration Technological innovation Mass communication Supra-national regulation Scientific standardization (e.g. time zones) Expansion of trade and markets Spread of ideologies (e.g. religions) Developments of global events (e.g. Olympics) Environmental consciousness

Contested Origins
According to Robertson and others, globalization is a "long-run process of diffusion across borders and boundaries, moving outward from multiple sources and centres" (Holton, 1998: 49) Scholte (2005:117) emphasizes that "when conceived as the rise of transplanetary and supraterritorial social connections, globalization is mainly new to contemporary history." The debated origins and history of globalization are not just relevant to our understanding of the past looking at the history of globalization also encourages us to think about the future:

Is further globalization inevitable? Can globalization be reversed? What forces of de-globalization exist?

Impact of Globalization on Political Science and International Relations

We can no longer assume that the nation-state is the most important actor on the international stage (international organizations and INGOs are also crucial) The world can be seen as a political system (but is not necessarily best seen as a system of nation-states) The interconnectedness of the world has important social and cultural dimensions (enterprises, INGOs, citizens) Some political problems have a global dimension and cannot be solved by nation-states (e.g. global warming) It is possible that a "world system" predated a world of nationstates

Is globalization good or bad?

The world needs more globalization, not less - Tony Blair
What do you think he means by this?

There's only one thing worse than being overrun by big multinationals, not being overrun by big multinationals Ulrich Beck
What does this suggest about the dynamics of globalization?

However, the fact that the world is becoming a single place, and we recognize it as such, does not mean that:

World peace will come about anytime soon We are heading towards a world state Peoples of the world are more likely to agree on key issues Nations and nationalism will cease to be important in the near future

Concluding Questions
Thinking about globalization has led to some "big" questions for the social sciences. For example:

Is the world becoming more similar? Are we all McDonald's-eating, jeans-wearing, Hollywood-watching global inhabitants? Or, does globalization promote cultural difference? Do common scripts of difference exist?

We will investigate these issues further as we work through the course.

References

Friedman, T.L. 2005. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21 st Century (New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Holton, R. 1998. Globalization and the Nation-State (Palgrave) Robertson, R. 1992. Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture (Sage). Scholte, J.A. 2005. Globalization: A Critical Introduction, 2 nd edition (Palgrave)