Provincializing Europe: Postcoloniality and the critique of history

This article begins from a perceived lack of empirical evidence in cultural studies, namely the ethnography of cultural globalization in ‘global cities’ other than those of the West. Youth culture among the upper strata of the South-Indian metropolis Bangalore is taken as an instance of how modernity is experienced and produced in the post-colonial Third World. The focus lies on the reception of Western pop music, but music is treated broadly as a practice situated in, and producing, real and imagined space. Two examples of these musical practices serve to elaborate on Indian power relations, Indian modernity and the critical geography of music.     

Globalization and global identification: a comparative multilevel analysis

This paper focuses on the relation between national and global identification and the impact of globalization on this relation. The multilevel approach drew survey data from 89 countries, country-level measures of globalization enabling an examination of globalization effects on the relation between national and global identification. A negative link obtained between national and global identification in most of the countries, the cross-country variation of this link is related to globalization. Countries characterized by rapid globalization exhibit a lower negative relation between national and global identification than those marked by lower levels of globalization change.     

Administration, Globalization, and the Arab States

Globalization involves risks and opportunities for the Arab world. Realistic knowledge of these possibilities is essential for adaptation of governance and reform of public administration to deal more effectively with the unfolding processes of globalization. To be participants rather than mere subjects, the Arab states have to recognize opportunities and limit potential negative consequences. Success requires good governance and professional public management. Public administration in the Arab world has to transform traditional methods of command and control and nepotism into a more collaborative management that relies on institutional capabilities and practicing managerial values of accountability, performance evaluation, transparency, and ethics.

Comments on globalization, interdisciplinary research, myopia and parochialism, government, convergence, and culture

Globalization presents social scientists with a wide variety of issues and challenges that cut across disciplinary boundaries. Disciplinary boundaries encourage specialization and advances in understanding aspects of social behavior, but specialization also creates barriers to more comprehensive understanding of social behavior such as globalization. Successful interdisciplinary efforts entail gains from trade across disciplinary specializations. The papers in this volume help outline an agenda for interdisciplinary investigation of globalization to knock down disciplinary boundaries and encourage gains from trade that further our understanding of globalization. But much work remains before we see real fruits from such efforts.     

Beyond the Nation State: Social Policy in an Age of Globalization

The paper proceeds from the assumption that globalization has placed significant constraints on the autonomy of nation states in the making of social policy. It argues that the post-World War II welfare state represented a social system highly successful in combining economic efficiency and dynamism with equity and solidarity. This historic achievement at the nation-state level is being undermined by economic globalization. It is both necessary and feasible to recreate and institutionalize this mixed system globally. The paper argues that the concept of social rights, which has served as the basic underpinning of the welfare state, has many weaknesses—logical as well as empirical. While the principles of civil and political rights are being consolidated and extended worldwide the principle of social rights is in decay. The paper presents the case for replacing social rights by social standards as the major concept for buttressing systems of social protection. To be applicable globally a social standard must be conceptualized as a level of social development which corresponds to an appropriate level of economic development. Finally, the paper considers the problems and prospects of developing social standards transnationally. It reviews, briefly, the nature and extent of transnational social policy-making by inter-governmental organizations and concludes that despite difficulties of global action advances towards global social standards remain possible.     

现代“公民文化”对传统“臣民文化”的扬弃与超越

当今中国社会 ,全球化已成为描述民族生存环境的最为重要的术语。受全球化所主导的未来社会必将是一个推崇新“公民文化”及其价值观的公民社会。奠基于生存本位基础上的新“公民文化”及其价值观 ,本质上是一种具有鲜明时代特质的文化形态。它作为一种现代文化观念 ,标志着人由自在自发的自然状态走向自由自觉的主体存在状态 ;而作为对经济全球化的一种理论应对和民族文化可行性发展路径的策略设计 ,其现实践履 ,则离不开对具有现代“世界公民意识”的合格公民主体的培育及其文化创新实践的有效促动     

文化自觉的思想来源与现实意义

经济全球化所带来的不同区域的文化冲突与融合 ,使得“文化自觉”的问题日益紧迫地突显出来。因为只有首先获得了“文化自觉”,才有可能最大限度地避免冲突 ,才有可能最为合理地实现融合 ,才有可能最为持久地推动发展 ,从而逐步达到费孝通先生所倡导的“各美其美 ,美人之美 ,美美与共 ,天下大同”的理想境界。为此 ,本刊创办了“文化自觉与社会发展”学术专栏 ,吁请国内外学者积极参加有关问题的讨论与争鸣     

全球化时代的资本主义和民主斗争路径——艾伦·伍德与哈特、奈格里之争

针对全球化和民主的关系问题,艾伦.伍德采取马克思主义对资本主义的总体性批判方法,沿着政治经济学的进程分析了"新帝国主义"的本质并提出了全球化时代的民主反抗方向;哈特和奈格里则在后现代主义的思维方式下重新定义了"帝国"并构想"全球公民权"以推进全球民主事业。比较而言,伍德的方法和结论对于我们剖析资本主义新阶段的特质和民主事业的前景更具有启发和示范意义。     

产业全球化与战略全球化的有效契合

全球化战略已经成为各国最优秀公司关注的共同焦点,随着各国经济间相互依赖的加强,全球经济一体化的进程将加速前行。互联网时代的到来已经把地球变成了一个村落。而代表各国经济最活跃的支柱性要素——企业,如何在全球化的浪潮中把握机遇更好地生存、发展、壮大,已不仅仅是企业所关心的事务,同时也是整个国家、民族所必须关注的核心问题。因为未来国家民族的兴衰赖系于此。本文论述了产业全球化的动因,全球战略的特征及演进的各阶段, 综合比较了跨国战略和全球战略的差异性,阐述了战略全球化同产业全球化同步协调演进的必要性。     

法律全球化与对话

随着人类公共交往的场域日益超越国家的边界,法律全球化亦成为当今世界法律发展的基本态势。尽管西方国家的现代化范式和法律治理结构在全球化过程中占尽先机,甚或一定程度上掌握了话语霸权,但法律的文化属性决定了法律全球化并不应当是法律的西方化。哈贝马斯把其对话理论作为解决文化冲突的基本方式,这对于如何推进法律全球化极具参考价值。对话,亦应当作为法律全球化的路径倚赖。我国参与全球化对话,要克服法律“失语”现象,从传统中寻找“谈资”,并注重解决当下中国的问题。