Internationalism vs Globalism

Language Policy, 2021

Reflections on International Relations & Politics & History & Law, 2019

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

Our daily lives are governed by products and images originating from all over the world, through the process of globalization. At the same time, however, globalization creates favourable conditions for all sorts of forms of particularization, localization and even fragmentation.

Abstract Language or rather the national language -mother tongue - plays a crucial role in the establishment and preservation of national and group identity as it constitutes the storage area where the social and cultural values and the medium of the historical memory usually crop up. Surprisingly, in response to the crucial imperative demands of the third millennium -communication technologies come first - the prerequisite of the educational processes necessitates the learning of other languages namely French and English. However, learning a second language is not an end in itself, in the sense that it remains confined within the framework of being opened to others languages, but it goes beyond this frontier to assume and integrate the cultures that are affiliated in these languages. Added to the process of learning a second language, advanced communication technologies enhances the dissemination and implantation of Western culture. In accordance with postmodern theorists, the production of information is associated with power benefit. Far from being the outcome of a neutral reality as it was the case of the modern Enlightenment, knowledge has a dynamic and imperative objective that is usually launched by people with more power than other people. In the vein of empowerment, those in power shape the curricular agendas; determine how endowment is allocated, and specify the prospects of the recent and the future hegemony over the subaltern. This paper is an attempt to outline the interconnectedness of the three-pronged relationship between multilingualism, multiculturalism and globalization and the way they affect each other. Keywords: multilingualism, multiculturalism, monolinguilism, monoculturalism, heteronomy, globalization, lingua franca

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2019

Noves SL. Revista de Sociolingüística (Barcelona), 2002

The extraordinary tendency of human beings to think in terms of dichotomies could be the root of the problem. In the past, and even nowadays, this tendency to think in terms of dichotomies seems to have dominated the view of language contact, thus making it impossible for all groups concerned to live in more harmonious contentment. The vast majority of states seem to find it impossible or very difficult to structure themselves politically in a way that would permit both the continuity of the linguistic life of their constituent groups and the intercommunication necessary for common living between these groups. The great majority seem to choose one over the other: they either impose a single official language for all groups, without recognizing the diversity (and often explicitly against this), or the existing linguistic groups are recognised but the matter of intercommunication is not resolved satisfactorily. It is hard to believe that either option can have a future in the current era of mankind: against the background of positive growth of the democratic and egalitarian conscience of human groups and the dignity of each and every one of these,historical groups that have been thus far subordinated will not sit back and allow the introduction of solutions condemning them to a reduced linguistic existence when this could be full and normal. Moreover, a political and linguistic organisation that does not consider the forms of intercommunication between its components in the best possible way is not sustainable.Thus, there is no alternative but to explore imaginatively other forms of political and linguistic organisation that could make the two objectives above compatible: preserving the linguistic diversity and dignity of all historical linguistic groups, while ensuring fluent intercommunication and a feeling of solidarity among our species.

Estudios de Deusto, 2018

Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, once said that "Nothing is possible without men, but nothing lasts without institutions". This is also true for academic initiatives. After more than sixty years of a generalized mutual indifference (although with some notable exceptions) between legal academics from The Philippines and Spain, new links were re-established in the early years of the present decade. The reflourishing was the result of the passionate efforts of two remarkable scholars from both countries, namely professor José Manuel Torres Perea, a promising lecturer of Civil Law at the University of Málaga (UMA), Spain, and the renowned and highly praised maestro of several generations of Filipino jurists, professor Ruben Balane.