Globalization in Europe

10 Key excerpts on "Globalization in Europe"

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  Research Agendas in EU Studies

  Stalking the Elephant

  • M. Egan, N. Nugent, W. Paterson, M. Egan, N. Nugent, W. Paterson(Authors)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  Third, globalization as universalization - the spread of human artifacts to corners of the globe far from their creation - is present in discus- sions about the EU's ability to externalize its own rules, especially in an effort to 'manage globalization' (Lamy, 2004). Fourth, globaliza- tion as Westernization or modernization is featured in investigations of the diffusion of contemporary EU practices to aspirant member states (Jacoby, 2004) or close geographical neighbours (Kelley, 2006). 356 Europe and Globalization Fifth, globalization as deterritorialization - or the reconfiguration of geography, so that social space is no longer mapped primarily in terms of (especially national) borders (Giddens, 1990; Scholte, 2000, 2002; Katzenstein, 2005). A crucial issue for scholars of Globalization in Europe is a definition of globalization that clearly differs from regional integration, a second pow- erfully transformative force affecting the EU. While some early literature often used interchangeably the concepts of globalization, internationaliza- tion and regionalization, the rise of the concept of Europeanization has led scholars to try to be more precise. Such precision has not led to agreement, but it has led to somewhat more self-conscious definitions. To an extent, these definitions track findings in predictable ways. Broad definitions - such as Weber and Posner's (2001) use of factor 'mobility' as the key indicator - are linked to a broad appreciation of globalization as a powerful force in Europe (though clearly one medi- ated by other factors) (d. Hiscox, 2002). By contrast, definitions that demand of globalization a degree of physical distance from Europe that allows us to distinguish it from regional processes tend also to downplay the effects of globalization in favour of more focus on Europeanization (d. Hirst and Thompson, 1996; Hay, 2006). Several scholarly and popular sources purport to measure globaliza- tion with some precision.

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  Living with Globalization

  • Paul Hopper(Author)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • Berg Publishers

    (Publisher)

  Globalization is considered to be an important contributory factor in the spread of regionalism, and the EU is often regarded as a notable example of this tendency. Of course, individual member states have their own agendas and ideas about the development of Europe and their role within it (which will often change with different governments). Nevertheless, broadly speaking, globalization has given the European project additional momentum by providing further incentives for economic and political integration (see Rhodes et al., 1997). 4 Globalization and ‘Fortress Europe’ The most controversial of the EU’s responses to globalization is in relation to migration and more specifically immigration and asylum. This goes to the heart of the debate about who is a ‘European’. However, contemporary patterns of migration are a source of considerable debate. Paul Hirst and Grahame Thompson (1996) consider that levels of international cross-border migration were as high if not higher in earlier periods of history. In particular, they regard the century after 1815 to be the ‘greatest era for recorded voluntary mass migration’ (1996: 23); recent levels are therefore not unprecedented. On the other hand, Stephen Castles and Mark Miller (1998) describe how migration became a global phenomenon during the late twentieth century, with many more countries being affected by it. For instance, nearly all parts of the world are now importing or exporting labour. It is difficult to determine exactly what is happening with regards to this sensitive and contested issue. Yet even Hirst and Thompson acknowledge that a lack of economic development in Africa and elsewhere is creating strong incentives for economic migration to Europe (1996: 159). And there certainly has been a rise in the number of people seeking asylum within the EU in the recent period.

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  Theorizing European Societies

  • Marinus Ossewaarde(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  Globalization is above all triggered by the traumatic experiences of the Second World War, which inspired the draft-ing of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as a reaction to the annihilation of millions of human lives. The ECSC and EEC emerged, in the first place, to try to prevent a third, nuclear, world war in Europe. After 1989 – that is, the end of the Cold War in Europe – the EU has tried to channel social changes to adjust to conditions of global capitalism (Roche 2009, 192). This chapter will focus on the various social dimensions of globalization, ranging 177 178 THEORIZING EUROPEAN SOCIETIES from cosmopolitan solidarity to global terrorism. Globalization forces blur or challenge the national boundaries of European societies. This means that glob-alizing European societies are characterized by new cultural diversities, new inequalities, new powers, new sources of legitimacy, and new types of war-making that can all be classed as ‘postmodern’. The social order of globalizing European societies In modernizing European societies, the demarcated territories of the sovereign nation-state, rather than the walls of city-states, embed social relationships. Globalization blurs these modern boundaries, since ‘the world’ and ‘humanity’ increasingly become frames for collective identification. As a result, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of European societies. The myth of the nation One of the most deeply felt outcomes of the modernization process is nation-hood. The unusualness of this institution tends to be forgotten by modern Europeans. Yet there were no nations in ancient European societies, and this phenomenon, at least in its European meaning, is still absent or not fully present in several parts of the world, including China and India. In ancient Greece and Rome, there are fatherlands and cities, but there are no nations, and ancient European society was a Europe without nations.

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  Dissociation and Appropriation

  • Katja Füllberg-Stollberg, Petra Heidrich, Ellinor Schöne, Katja Füllberg-Stollberg, Petra Heidrich, Ellinor Schöne(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Klaus Schwarz Verlag

    (Publisher)

  Any student of relevant topics will have to take cognisance of the situation. Globalization in Historical Perspective 35 IV Several scholars attribute globalization as a typical feature to the twentieth cen-tury. They are inclined to look at it as the major factor for bringing about a genuine global history that tends to establish a global society - as distinguished from the earlier universal history which centred on the transregional and trans-continental interaction of people, cultures and countries and which saw the na-tion states as the chief agents or major players. 20 Another interpretation which draws both from social theory as well as from the sociological reality em-phasizes that the processes of globalization were set in high motion, reached their crucial phase of take-off, during the period lasting from about 1880 through the first quarter of the twentieth century 21 . One could, in this connec-tion, also cite as a precursor the opinion of Arnold Toynbee who periodized the beginning of the new age of Western history in the 1870s by locating at this juncture as simultaneous events the globalization of Western culture and the re-empowerment of non-western states. 22 The concept parallels the interpreta-tion which established a coincidence between the crisis of hegemony of the West and the beginning of the use of Western and indigenous symbols by people without history to construct their own identity-spaces. In contrast, authors who favour the world-system's attitude perceive of globalization as a continuous process, which encompasses the past five centuries. They are not prepared to demarcate the establishment of transcontinental links or transcultu-ral interaction and the configuration of universal relations since the age of Columbus and Vasco da Gama on the one hand, from the recent process of globalization, on the other.

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  The European Union

  A Political Sociology

  • Chris Rumford(Author)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  42 THE EUROPEAN UNION AND GLOBALIZATION outline ways in which globalization, and more specifically the “inclu- sive globalization paradigm,” is an essential component of a study of the contemporary European Union. One common feature of accounts on the impact of globalization on the EU is the assumption that it works to unify the EU, and that the EU’s response is coherent and coordinated. This stems from an interpretation of globalization which emphasizes its role in dissolving old institutional structures and the boundaries of nation-states: in short the increasing transnationalization of economic, cultural, and political activity. But there are good reasons to challenge the assump- tion that transnationalization is automatically the dominant or most important result. The integrative logic generated by many accounts of globalization fails to allow space for a consideration of other outcomes of the relationship between transnational flows and the EU. Globalization animates economic, social and political actors from a distance, and leads to greater internal differentiation and fragmenta- tion. Globalization destabilizes the hierarchies upon which the (national) economy is ordered, it asserts the importance of the local vis-a `-vis the national and the transnational, it fosters a new set of relationships between regions and nation-states, between sectors and the state, between centers and peripheries. Incorporating a globalization perspective in our study of the EU enables us to demonstrate the complex and contradictory nature of the contemporary EU. It enables us to go beyond the traditional or common sense appreciation of what the EU is, how it works, and what are the most important processes shaping it at the current time. Some examples will illustrate these claims. The question of what form of state the EU represents looms large in EU studies, dominated as it is by the disciplines of political science and international relations.

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  The World Economy Towards Global Disequilibrium

  American-Asian Indifference and European Fears

  • M. Baldassarri, P. Capretta(Authors)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  Part I What Does Globalization Really Mean?: World, Europe, Italy Premise: the Speeding up of the Eras, 500–50–5 Day after day the world is becoming smaller and smaller and societies which had been ignoring each other for millenniums are suddenly coming into contact – or into conflict with one another. A new view point about the way we behave both in politics and economics as well as in our health organizations and military strategies is needed. In the past, man had to abandon his city or regional view point and move on to a national one. Now we have to convert our way of thinking to a “global” point of view. We are making an attempt to describe, from a global point of view, human evolution in terms of increasing population and the progress made in improving living conditions. From the same global point of view, an effort is being made to touch some of the most alarming problems humanity is facing today, such as the demographic explosion, the increasing need for energy resources, the diffusion of technical knowledge and the role of education in an industrial society. This is what a great economist and historian, Carlo Maria Cipolla 1 wrote in a slim book almost 50 years ago. His great foresight and his almost prophetic vision was to show the interaction between man’s mind produ- cing ideas and technological innovations and the succession of historical, economic, political and social eras: from man as a hunter to man as a farmer and from the first industrial revolution in manufacturing to the 1 See Carlo Maria Cipolla, The Economic History of World Population, Penguin, Berkeley, California, 1962. 1 2 The World Economy Towards Global Disequilibrium revolution in immaterial productions. Briefly, his keen intuition consisted of appraising how ideas and technological innovations could be repres- ented by strong leaps upward and great discontinuities in the relationship between energy used to produce and energy obtained from production.

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  Introduction to Sociological Theory

  Theorists, Concepts, and their Applicability to the Twenty-First Century

  • Michele Dillon(Author)
  • 2024(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  516 Economic and Political Globalization economy; at the same time, it ignores localized demands to bolster its existing national infrastructure, especially the need to build more schools despite their obvious necessity to Indians’ success in the local–global economy. Globalization also coincides with the emergence of new nationalist or eth- nonationalist movements underpinned by a mix of political, economic, and cultural motivations (e.g., Scottish nationalism, and Catalonia’s pursuit of independence from Spain). Indeed, there is irony, or sociological complexity, in the fact that globalization, celebrated in part as the triumph of the decreased relevance of borders (e.g., in economic trade, Internet communication, the free movement of people), also coincides with the drawing of new territorial borders that undermine the societal cohesiveness of an established national identity. This is part of a postcolonial legacy whereby previously colonized or subordi- nated states, regions, or ethnic groups reclaim an identity that is no longer defined solely in terms of a dominating Other (Said 1978; see chapter 12). This process is evident in the relatively rapid transformation of Ukraine and Georgia (former Soviet republics) into politically and economically independent coun- tries; e.g., Georgia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2000, and Ukraine in 2008, and did so against the objections of Russia (which became a member in 2012). The creation of new nations, such as the split of Czechoslovakia, for example, into Slovakia and the Czech Republic, or Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia, points to the reclaiming of territory, and of a national and cultural identity, that can stand alone without being defined by its relation to the dominant country.

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  Changing Europe

  Identities, Nations and Citizens

  • David Dunkerley, Lesley Hodgson, Stanislaw Konopacki, Tony Spybey, Andrew Thompson(Authors)
  • 2003(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The ‘electronic revolution’ has produced a plethora of communications and a dramatic expansion of access to knowledge of all kinds. The impact of this has caused people to be more reflexive about their situation and their relationships with others. Communication is information and information tends to cause questions to be asked. In turn this contributes to the undermining of traditional forms of authority. In Europe and the West, globalisation has been associated with the decline of the state and state authority. In the former communist countries of eastern Europe the impossibility of restricting or censoring the electronic media was associated with the demise of the Soviet Union and the pulling down of the Berlin Wall.

  The consequences of globalisation

  According to Robertson (1992: 62), globalisation produces outcomes that are ‘up for grabs’. Europe may have begun the process of globalisation with its intercessions into other parts of the world and the implanting of European institutions. European culture has proved attractive to most of the people who have come into contact with it. However, having begun the process, having created a global culture, neither Europeans nor their cousins in North America necessarily continue to dominate globalisation. If it means anything, globalisation means that the whole world participates. This cannot occur on such a scale without continuous changes in the process as the result of the sheer extent of participation.

  Another of Robertson's principles is that globalisation consists of a process of interpenetration between the global and the local. He states this in the rather difficult language of Talcott Parsons’ structural functionalism: ‘we are, in the late twentieth century, witnesses to – and participants in – a massive, twofold process involving the interpenetration of the universalisation of particularism and the particularisation of universalism’ (Robertson 1992: 100).

  The most important point here is that this is a principle of the continuing globalisation process. It is the way in which the global culture is reproduced. The local is as much a part of the process as the global. In fact, in order for globalisation to exist at all it must by definition be reproduced in all the localities that exist. Expressed this way, the conclusion is unavoidable that the reproduction of globalisation in local milieux must have significant effects on the continuing process.

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  The Economics and Politics of European Integration

  Populism, Nationalism and the History of the EU

  • Ivan T. Berend(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  4 The new challenges of globalization and global political disorder — Europe's answer

  Regionalization (the 1980s—1990s)

  As discussed in Chapter 1 , significant American contributions enabled the changing global economic and political order to emerge on the road towards integration in the immediate postwar period. However, a third of a century later, during the 1980s and early 1990s, the world’s economic and political systems reached another major turning point. Both the international capitalist world economy and the world political order radically changed once again.

  European integration essentially stagnated for two decades between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s, and – in contrast to the original aim – became unable to move forward on the road towards “ever closer union.”1 What were the change in the economic and political environment, what was the impact of these changes, and what kind of adjustment were needed to cope with the European Community’s new situation?

  The globalized capitalist world economy and the technological revolution

  One of the main new challenges was the new trend towards globalization. In reality, it was not an entirely new development. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the international economy shifted markedly towards global integration. Two of the best experts on the subject, Kevin O’Rourke and Jeffrey Williamson, introduced the term “first globalization.” They realized that because of a strong backlash against that trend, “The world economy had lost all of its globalization achievements in three decades, between 1914 and 1945. In the half-century since then, it has won them all back in every market but one.”2

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  The New World History

  A Field Guide for Teachers and Researchers

  • Ross E. Dunn, Laura J. Mitchell, Kerry Ward, Ross E. Dunn, Laura J. Mitchell, Kerry Ward(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • University of California Press

    (Publisher)

  Diasporic imaginations go well back too; the importance of deterritorialized conceptions of “Africa” to African Americans from the 1830s is a case in point. What stands against globalization arguments should not be an attempt to stuff his-tory back into national or continental containers. It will not fit. The question is whether the changing meaning over time of spatial linkages can be understood in a better way than globalization. Globalization is itself a term whose meaning is not clear and over which substantial disagreements exist among those who use it. It can be used so broadly that it embraces everything and therefore means nothing. But for most writers, it carries a powerful set of images, if not a precise definition. Globalization talk takes its inspiration from the fall of the Berlin Wall, which offered the possibility or maybe the illusion that barriers to cross-national economic relations were falling. For friend and foe alike, the ideological framework of globalization is liberalism—arguments for free trade and free movement of capital. The imagery of globalization derives from the World Wide Web, the idea that the web-like connectivity of every site to every other site represents a model for all forms of global communication. Political actors and scholars differ on “its” effects: diffusion W H A T I S T H E C O N C E P T O F G L O B A L I Z A T I O N G O O D F O R ? • 519 of the benefits of growth versus increasing concentration of wealth, homogenization of culture versus diversification. But if the word means anything, it means expanding integration, and integration on a planetary scale. Even differentiation, the globalizers argue, must be seen in a new light, for the new emphasis on cultural specificity and eth-nic identification differs from the old in that its basis now is juxtaposition, not isolation.

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