Pham Thi Ngoc Diep IS09 Globalization

INTERCONNECTEDNESS

Introduction _ Some examples of global interconnectedness: transnational communication and international games of football. _The power of a state is increasingly questioned in an interconnected environment. While few claim that the state is becoming weaker, its power to govern is being challenged from several directions, including: transnational large corporations, transnational rights movements and the world market. 1. The network society Manuel Castells concept the network, which constitutes the new social morphology (structure) of our societies. _ The main mode of social organization is shifting from the relatively stable hierarchy to a more fluid network form. The networks are interpersonal, transnational and transitory. _ Our societies are increasingly structured around a bipolar opposition between the Net and the Self. The Net is about dependence, while the Self supports autonomy. _ Networks are built around nodes. A node is a point where lines intersects; in our network society, a node can be and often be a person with relevant connections to others. Thanks to these nodes, network can expand without limits. 2. Communication networks _ Communication networks are of great importance, with the rapid growth of the Internet, mobile phones and communication satellite. 1995-2005: people who had access to the Internet grew from 26 million to over 1 billion. 1991-2006: mobile phones increased by 10 million, reaching 2.6 million

_ Transnational media lead to similar forms of deterritorialization, but it would be difficult to argue that the transnationalization of media lead to global homohenization.

Pham Thi Ngoc Diep IS09 Globalization 3. A networked global economy _ The network enterprise emerges as a new kind of company: loosely organized, little job security, scattering assets in several places. Flexible production is replacing mass production. _ On the other hand, some huge corporations have grown and benefited from increase globalization, adapting to new situation. They are becoming more powerful.

Eg: by 2004, Unilever had more than 500 subsidiaries located in 100 countries. *Some views on the networked economy: _ Hardt and Negri : the world being ruled by a web of overlapping networks of transnational corporations an empire with no geographical centre and without a government or an executive committee. _ Hirst and Thompson : the current international economy is less integrated and open than before; most transnational companies are in fact based and firmly rooted in national economies; etc. _ There are strong tendencies towards wider and denser transnational networks. 4. Global governance _The degree of transnational economic connectedness far exceeds the degree of transnational political regulation. However, it is undeniable that the degree of diplomatic connectedness has grown so much as time passes. _ International co-operations grown but much of it is only international rather than global: it tends to be bilateral and governed by nation-states. _ Global governance is binding on states and states are required to commit their power to a transnational good. It is proliferating in areas such as environmentalism and human right issues.

* Some views on global governance: _ George Monbiot: suggested the establishment of a world government, building on and extending both the power and the democratic legitimacy of the UNs General Assembly everything seems to be globalized except democratic

Pham Thi Ngoc Diep IS09 Globalization _Samuel Huntington: the increased contact across borders can be a source of conflicts due to competition over scarce resources, deep cultural differences and so on. 5. Translation The global dominance of English _ _ During 1979-2002, more than 830,000 books were translated from English.

51.3 per of communication on the Internet is in English.

6. Remittances and cheap calls Remittances and cheap calls relate to globalization through the presence of contemporary migration. _ Remittances are transfer of money from migrants to relatives or other close associates in the home country. There is a massive transfer of wealth going on from the rich countries to the poor ones, which show the extent of interconnectedness between migrants and the people they have left. _The rapid spread of cell phones and the reduced cost of using them enable people to regularly stay in touch with their loved ones. => Two ways create and maintain strong webs of transnational commitment worldwide.

7. Football and globalization _The recent history of football can serve both as an illustration and as an indication of the extent of transnational, interconnectedness. The sport earned global popularity, in all European and Latin American counties, in most of Africa and in large parts of Asia. _According to Robertson (1992), globalization involves a heightened awareness of the world as an interconnected place and that process of globalization tend to be met with glocalization the local adaptions of global trends. While football has international games and fans are becoming more familiar with the football scene in countries other than their own; teams continue to be locally based and are associated with a home ground and a team mythology.

Pham Thi Ngoc Diep IS09 Globalization 8. Delinking, chosen and enforced

_The transnational network economy, and its cultural correlates, create opportunities for some and powerlessness for others. Eg: French filmmakers are unhappy with Hollywoods global dominance _Globalization can usually be described as glocalization: the pres-existing, local is fused with global influence, the particular merges with the universal _The extent to which urban slum growth is a result of globalization is debatable. People move to town for a variety of reasons such as: relative overpopulation in rural areas, possibilities for work, etc. On the other hand, the rich are the beneficiaries of a globalization and standardization of lifestyles.

Conclusion _Both at the individual level and at the macro level of states, the degree of interconnectedness usually measures the degree of success. No isolated state is successful in providing material security for its inhabitants or offering them civil rights and personal freedom. _Interconnectedness is both a central feature of globalization and a way of measuring success in a globalized society. At the individual level, wide-ranging personal networks and mutual ties of obligation would be an asset at the societal level, trade and openness to the world would also be profitable in most cases. _Appadurai (1990) distinguishes between ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes,

finanscapes and ideoscapes as five relative separated fields affected by, and affecting, globalization. Global flows take place through these five distinctive dimensions, which collide and enter into conflict with one another. The degree of transnational interconnectedness varies along such dimensions.