difine globalization civilization democracy
Answers
Globalization, Civilization and World Order
A World-constructivist Approach
Why are the three concepts of globalization, civilization and world order relevant?
How are they related to each other? This chapter seeks to answer these questions.
Answering the first is simple. Obviously, the current world order cannot be fully
understood without taking ‚globalization‛ into consideration. The effects of
Globalization reach every corner of the world in different scope and degree. Why is
‚civilization‛ important? It is important because civilization incorporate the essence of
world order. Civilization as we will see later on, contains and reflects both economic,
social, cultural and political aspects and dimensions of the world order. We define a
great civilization as a junction between a world vision and a historical formation. The
answer to the second question constitutes the main subject of this chapter. We will (1)
analyze the relations between civilization and world identity; (2) explain how
globalization is related to world economy; and finally (3) we will bind the three
concepts (globalization, civilization and world order) together by proposing three
models on world order.
Before going through our study, our theoretical approach will be outlined in brief.
There is a general consensus among scholars that globalization is first and foremost of
economic character. The advanced technological progress contributes largely to the
acceleration of economic globalization as well as globalization of certain sets of values;
e.g. human rights. In this respect, the world system theory may be applied to explain
the evolution of parochial economic systems to the rise of capitalism and the world
economy. The world system theory – especially in its Braude-Wallerstein ramification –
goes even further and deals with questions related to civilization, culture, democracy
etc. (Braudel 1979, 1993; Wallerstein 1992, 1995). However, the primary focus remains
on economy without paying much attention to the international system, to phenomena
such as anarchy, polarity, international law, international ethics, and in general to
questions about the identity of the world. A main part of these aspects of the
problematic enter within the field of social-constructivism which focuses sufficiently
on the interaction between international actors as well as on the quality of anarchy and
the identity of states. However, the sphere of economy does not represent a priority for
the school of social-constructivism. Therefore, a synthesis of these two approaches is
assumed to make a useful theoretical explanatory tool to clarify relations between
globalization and civilizations, the rise of a new standard of civilization, and also the
question about the new identity of the world. These two different sets of theories will
be operationalized without entering into a theoretical discussion on the selected
Civilisations and the New Identity of the World
The axial question concerns the compatibility/non-compatibility of the current
unprecedented global system with a world made up by a plurality of civilizations. In
other words, can the world become economically global without having any
substantial impact on civilizations? Such crucial and complex questions require
profound and detailed investigation which is outside the scope of this chapter.
However, two elements of this problematic must be mentioned. First, as a general rule,
trade will automatically increase the intensity of cultural exchanges. Trade carries
along the culture of the traders. The history of humanity stands as proof for the
importance of cultural exchange through trade. Secondly, what is valid for traditional
and primitive trade, is a fortiori valid for a highly sophisticated system such as
capitalism. Capitalism does introduce profound structural transformations in a society.
Capitalism requires division of labor, networks of distribution, banking systems, etc.
Such transformations entail social and hence mental and cultural changes. A deep and
constant implementation of capitalism in a society will shape the world vision of the
people. When a global economic system (capitalism) functions through a system
experiencing technological revolution, the mentality and attitude of the people on
existential questions (life and death, conflict and co-operation, time and space, etc.) will
consequently be influenced. To continue this discussion, the problematics of
civilization as a phenomenon must be addressed.
There are small civilizations and great civilizations depending upon their scoop, length
and depth. There are abortive civilizations (e.g. the Nestorian Christian civilization in
the past, and the Soviet civilization in modern times). Cumulative civilizations are
longue durée stretching over many centuries (e.g. the Roman and Islamic civilizations).