Societal Structures and Practices in the Milieu of Globalization.
Ramiz Culfa
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Abstract
The world, as a product of the Peace of Westphalia, consisting of sovereign states, has undoubtedly changed since 1648. The very essence of sovereignty, ingrained strength of which has so far been considered the determinant pattern of the state-system, has, somewhat, lost its meaning, having turned a whole world into a borderless place. This ongoing transformation of the world is but the process of globalization, whereby individuals are not merely residents of their native countries but the interconnected citizens of a single world. “Gone are accustomed differences in national or regional preference.”1 Natural tendency toward homogenization of the states and their populations through standardization of the approaches to social, economic and political activities is, however, stipulated by the eternal quest for scarce resources that are only to be achieved under the rules set by the international system, to which all the participants are members by consent. Not that all the players of the “world theatre” are equal in terms of the roles assumed, but each actor acts according to scenario prescribed to him within the functional frames of the world system, described neatly by I. Wallerstein.2 “The current processes of globalization, at many levels, have observably diminished, if not complete cancelled, the capacity of the nation state to control the processes of economic, cultural, political and social dimensions.”3 Therefore, logical but contradictive conclusion comes at place suggesting that self-sustainable world system based on and empowered by international relations and international cooperation is to thrive by the increase of relations and cooperation, however, to undermine the very nature of the nation state-the key actor in the system, by diminishing its sovereignty and the importance of territorial integrity. Speculations over the future of the world order is not a simple task, all the more so in the context of rapid economic, political, social and, in some extent, even ideological changes. Thus, the objective of this work is not only to establish that countries are to become similar in their societal structures and practices, but to critically evaluate causes and consequences of this processes. Of no less importance is the attempt of this work to elaborate the assumption that the current process of globalization responsible for homogenization of the world and decline of contemporary world system is an inevitable denouement of artificially created Westphalian sovereign-state system.
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