What is "globalization"?
The word seems to be on every new book jacket. It is a word that seems to some to account for every upward or downward trend in the stock market. It is a term which to Christians has some religious resonance, after all, is not the command of the Lord to go out to the world to preach the good news? "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew, 28:19).
How does the globalizing process of discipleship within Christianity coincide with the globalization process? If some elements of globalization are as old as Christianity, what might be new today about the process? Why might it be on so many lips? Some commentators claim that globalization is an old dynamic: "Globalization (is) the joining of all people the planet over into a single interrelated system of economic and cultural ties, increasingly mediated by the computer and above all by the Internet. The conventional wisdom holds that globalization is a new and unique condition, ... but conventional wisdom is wrong." (America magazine, February 19, 2000 "Globalization Myth, Reality, Problems, Victor Ferkiss, professor emeritus of government at Georgetown University in Washington, DC)
Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells’ three volume, The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture (1998), states: "A new world is taking shape in this end of millennium. It originated in the historical coincidence around the late 1960s and mid-1970s of three independent processes, the information technology revolution, the economic crisis of both capitalism and statism, and their subsequent restructuring; and the blooming of cultural social movements, such as libertarianism, human rights, feminism, and environmentalism...the interactions between these processes and the reactions they triggered brought into being a new dominant social structure, the network society...and the new information/global economy and a new culture." (Hazel Henderson, Beyond Globalization...Shaping a Sustainable Global Economy. Kumarian Press, 1999, West Hartford, CT.) p.2)
While some claim that globalization is primarily an economic phenomenon, some, such as the British social theorist Anthony Giddens, claims otherwise:
"Globalization is not only, or even primarily, an economic phenomenon; and it should not be equated with the emergence of a ‘world system’. Globalization is really about the transformation of space and time. I define it as action at distance, and relate its intensifying over recent years to the emergence of means of instantaneous global communication and mass transportation.
"Globalization does not only concern the creation of large-scale systems, but also the transformation of local, and even personal, contexts of social experience. Our day-to-day activities are increasingly influenced by events happening on the other side of the world. Conversely, lifestyle habits have become globally consequential. Thus my decision to buy a certain item of clothing has implications not only for the international division of labour but for the earth’s ecosystem." (Anthony Giddens, Beyond Left and Right, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1994, p. 4,5)
Theologian Robert Schreiter suspects that for the poor local inhabitant of a third world country who may wear an icon of an American sports team (Michael Jordan T-Shirt) or eating at McDonald’s such behavior reflects "a desire to participate in the mystique of something distant and powerful." Giving concrete significance to Gidden’s notion of "action at distance". (Robert J. Schreiter, The New Catholicity, Theology between the Global and Local, Orbis Books, 1998, p. 10.) Popularists of globalization such as Benjamen Barber (Benjamen Barber, Jihad vs McWorld, How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World, Ballentine Books, New York, 1996 ) and Thomas Friedman (The Lexis and the Olive Tree) find language that captures the two strands of a single dialectic.
Barber details the social and political forces making for the defense of tradition over against the challenge of modernity. Friedman’s book is really a celebration of American capitalism in its new global form. The olive tree is the symbol of localist concerns, it symbolizes tradition, culture and identity, but it gets short shrift in his book by comparison to the extremely positive support he provides for American dominance. Speaking of it as a force coming almost like the Gospel should come, from people’s very souls and from their deepest aspirations. "I believe that for globalization to be sustainable America must be at its best--today, tomorrow, all the time. It not only can be, it must be a beacon for the whole world." (Thomas L. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, understanding Globalization, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, New York, 1999, p.378)
Giddens captures this dialectical process when he writes: "Globalization is not a single process but a complex mixture of processes, which often act in contradictory ways, producing conflicts, disjunctures and new forms of stratification. Thus, for instance, the revival of local nationalisms, and an accentuating of local identities, are directly bound up with globalizing influences, to which they stand in opposition." (Anthony Giddens, Beyond Left and Right, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California (1994, p. 5) Globalisation can thus be defined as the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. This is a dialectical process because such local happenings may move in an obverse direction from the very distantiated relations that shape them.
Local transformation is as much a part of globalisation as the lateral extension of social connections across time and space. In circumstances of accelerating globalisation, the nation-state has become "too small for the big problems of life, and too big for the small problems of life." At the same time as social relations become laterally stretched and a part of the same process, we see the strengthening of pressures for local autonomy and regional cultural identity. (p.64, Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1990)
As part of its conscious response to the environmental and cultural issues created by globalization, the Roman Catholic Church in its educational agenda for the coming millennium has called for efforts at the university level within different regions for regional concerns to have serious intellectual engagement: "In its service to society, a Catholic university will relate especially to the academic, cultural and scientific world of the region in which it is located. Original forms of dialogue and collaboration are to be encouraged between the Catholic universities and other universities of a nation on behalf of development, of understanding between cultures and of the defense of nature in accordance with an awareness of the international ecological situation." (Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Vatican Press, 1996, #37)
Saskia Sassen has written extensively on the spatial significance of globalization. Just as there are some who would think that globalization takes place in some abstract "market" so then, in a dialectical fashion, Sassen locates significant effects within locales, places, especially in cities. "To a large extent, global processes materialize in national territories. This leads to a need for deregulation and the formation of regimes that facilitate the free circulation of capital, goods, information, and services. Global cities are one example of how global processes extend into national territories and national institutional arrangements. I argue that globalization under these conditions has entailed a partial denationalization of national territory and a partial shift of some components of state sovereignty to other institutions, from supranational entities to the global capital market. (Saskia Sassen, Losing Control? Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization. Columbia University Press, New York 1995) p.xii)
While Sassen focuses on the impact of globalization on cities, Wendell Berry has done so by focusing on the countryside: In Wendell Berry’s essay, "Conserving Communities," which appears in his collection of essays, Another Turn of the Crank, Berry analyzes the forces at work in our globalized economy. He sees a split between "locals" and "globals" or a movement toward a two-party system which divides over the fundamental issue of community. On one side is the party of the global economy; on other side is the party of local community. Regarding the party of local community, he writes:
"The natural membership of the community party consists of small farmers, ranchers, and market gardeners, worried consumers, owners and employees of small shops, stores, community banks, and other small businesses, self-employed people, religious people, and conservationists. The aims of this party are only two: the preservation of ecological diversity and integrity, and the renewal, on sound cultural and ecological principles, of local economies and local communities." (Wendell Berry, Another Turn of the Crank, Counterpoint Press, Washington, DC, 1995, p.18)
In Mexico City, in January of this year, Pope John Paul II clearly allied himself with the "community party" when it comes to the support of local cultures and the environment against the forces of "neoliberalism" and "homogenization." In his Apostolic Exhortation, The Church in America, which the Holy Father promulgated at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, he states:
"However, if globalization is ruled merely by the laws of the market applied to suit
the powerful, the consequences cannot but be negative. These are, for example, the
absolutizing of the economy, unemployment, the reduction and deterioration of
public services, the destruction of the environment and natural resources, the
growing distance between the rich and the poor, unfair competition which puts the
poor nations in a situation of ever increasing inferiority." (No. 20)
The Holy Father underlined the moral responsibility of the Church before the growing phenomenon of glolabization:
"The Church in America is called ... to cooperate with every legitimate means in
reducing the negative effects of globalization, such as the domination of the
powerful over the weak, especially in the economic sphere, and the loss of the
values of local cultures in favor of a misconstrued homogenization." (No. 55)
He goes on to indicate clearly the erroneous view of man which underlies certain social and political structures in our day:
"More and more, in many countries of America, a system known as ‘neoliberalism’ prevails; based on a purely economic conception of man, this system considers profit and the laws of the market as its only parameters, to the detriment of the dignity of and the respect due to individuals and peoples. At times this system has become the ideological justification for certain attitudes and behavior in the social and political spheres leading to the neglect of the weaker members of society. Indeed, the poor are becoming ever more numerous, victims of specific policies and structures which are often unjust. (The Church in America, Pope John Paul II, 1999, No. 56 ).
Ecumenicity
An alternative view of the human project casts ecumenicity as an alternative vision to dominance by economic globalization.On February 2, 1999 the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, spoke to the annual Davos, Switzerland meeting of the World Economic Forum. His theme was "The Moral Dilemmas of Globalization." He presented a moral framework for the world’s leading economists, politicians, dignitaries to consider:
... when ranking values the human person occupies a place higher than economic
activity; neither is there any doubt that economic progress, which is present when
there is growth in economic activity, becomes useful when—and only when—it
serves to enhance the non-economic values that make up human culture. The
advance of humanity towards globalization is a fact arising primarily out of the
private sector, in particular they are the desires of multinational economic giants.
This fact finds support in the incredible development of communications. Already
the role of states is being constantly downgraded, with few exceptions; whereas the
role of the economically powerful is growing in magnitude, even among the larger
states.
Christian ecumenicity differs substantially from globalization. The former is based on love for one's brother and sister and respects the human person whom it also seeks to serve. The latter is primarily motivated by the desire to enlarge the market and to merge different cultures into a new one, in accordance with the convictions of those who are in a position to influence the world-wide public.
Unfortunately, globalization tends to evolve from a means of bringing the peoples of the world together as brothers and sisters, to a means of expanding economic dominance of the financial giants even over peoples to whom access was denied because of national borders and cultural barriers.
It is not our intention or responsibility to suggest ways and means by which this danger can be contained or eliminated. We do, however, have a duty to point out and proclaim that the highest pursuit of humanity is not economic enrichment or economic expansion.
The Gospel saying, "Man shall not live by bread alone" (Mt. 4:4), should be more broadly understood. We cannot live by economic development alone, but we must seek the "word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4); that is, the values and principles that transcend economic concerns. Once we accept these, the economy becomes a servant of humanity, not its master ( http://www.patriarchate.org)
The Patriarch indicates that the Christian faithful should seek an alternative path for the new global village, one that works for a world cultural community which respects the human person, the environment and seeks a value rather than a profit oriented standard for global integration. For some globalization is the economic and communications process being driven by multinational companies through nation-state subordination for global economic integration and restructuring.
It should be known that among the participants of the recent WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle were many faith-based non-governmental organizations. I met participants from the Quakers United Nations offices, the World Council of Churches Urban Rural Mission, the Vatican, to name a few. The major day-long meetings and prayer experiences of the NGO community were housed in the Plymouth Congregational Church, St. James Cathedral, First United Methodist Church, The United Methodist Church, Gethsemane Lutheran Church. On November 29 at 7:00 p.m. in the evening the Jubilee 2000 Northwest Coalition held a prayer service and planned to form a human chain around the exhibition center. This protest was calling for the cancellation of debts owed by the poorest countries of the world by the end of the year 2000. It was a peaceful prayer service which then had the licensed line of march broken up by tear gas.
When I attended a USDA-sponsored listening session in preparation for the WTO held in Des Moines, Iowa, I learned first hand how the world of globalization has been structured for the powerful. The orchestration of the listening session in Des Moines reflected the attempted orchestration of the WTO. While giving some limited structural attention to democratic processes, the format made clear who was in charge, what the politically correct lines were, and a grudgingly acknowledged limited role for citizens. The session included Secretary Dan Glickman, Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa, Patty Judge (the Secretary of Agriculture), U.S. government trade officials and the secretaries of agriculture from Kansas and Missouri. These were the official listeners. They were on one side of the stage in the lights, with signs in front of each of them identifying their names and official positions; each had a microphone.
On the other side of the stage, with five minutes each to speak, were three panels of four representatives of agribusiness: such as Monsanto, IBP, Pioneer HiBred. They each had a sign and a microphone in front of them, and were seated under the lights.
In the audience were persons like myself, representatives of organizations which had long experience working on the issues and agenda of the WTO. We sat in the dark. Our names were listed on the handouts, but without designation clarifying who we represented. We had microphones placed on the floor in front of the stage in the dark. No light over our places to speak, and a limit of three minutes was to be observed.
The voices of the government representatives and of corporations were the same: forcing Europe and Asia to accept biotechnology; forcing the rest of the world to remove any subsidy; getting rid of state market boards; pushing hormone beef on the Europeans; liberalizing trade everywhere to free markets from any so called "distortions." The challenges to these perspectives came from the "peanut gallery" of groups which took the time to be present in the room, but for whom the hosts provided little light and minimal identification. Insiders and outsiders were clearly distinguishable. At some point, the outsiders were to have their say: their day came in Seattle.
Seattle was a turning point in global solidarity. It provided a new opportunity for a new consciousness to be developed, one which places the human global and biotic community in its richness and diversity above economic forces which would destroy nature human cultures. The Gospel has to find a voice in this new epoch. The voices of the Pope, of Patriarch Bartholomew, and of the World Council of Churches have encouraged a vision of faith as related to the project of globalism. Perhaps, in this new age, we will rediscover the Pentecostal vision of many different languages abiding in a common space sharing a vision of peace and love.
If such an attitude finds general acceptance, we’ll be celebrating less under golden arches or by wearing Mickey Mouse ears in the new millennium; perhaps we can continue to commit ourselves to our fundamental project as Christians today as always: to build the kingdom, to shape a world cultural community which includes quite diverse local communities and to defend nature’s integrity and biodiversity.
