Thursday, November 8, 2007

Globalization of Political Culture

We talked a lot in class today about the globalization of culture in terms of popular culture, food and language, but that leaves me wondering about the globalization of political culture. Is it forced or is it natural or is it even occurring? The US often views that the global spread of democracy is inevitable, and that it is in the natural course of events. In support of this view, our government has often taken it upon itself to depose of corrupt leaders and to implement “democratic” elections to facilitate this process. Others, however, tend to view the spread of democracy as a forceful and parochial spread of US political culture. Can it even be called globalization if it’s a forcefully perpetuated series of events? Another example to ponder is that of the EU, which is trying to adopt a common constitution. Is the globalization of political culture occurring on more than just an ideological level, but also on a more concrete level of disintegrating borders? The constant rejection of constitution could prove that countries are actually resistant to the idea of a unified political culture but may be more open towards other kinds of globalization (ie. economical). Personally, I don’t believe that the globalization of political culture is as prominent as other sorts, but I’m curious to see other people’s thoughts.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Good question Agata. Here's one in response. Is it possible that we might have had a more utopic vision of the globalization of, to use your phrase here, "political culture" hence the disillusionment and frustration now?

Agata said...

I think that's exactly it. I think we're naive to think that we know best -- the truth is that what is best differs by perspective and culture. Other cultures may also be less utopic in their visions because their views are simply less prominent in the global context, but that does not mean that they are wrong.