Globalization Centralization not Globalism

Abstract

The term globalization often is used to describe the global nature of
capital and the emergence of a single global economy in the contemporary
era. The term also suggests certain homogenizing tendencies in the
social as well as political realms. These homogenizing tendencies may
refer to something as banal as the ubiquitous acceptance of denim jeans
or to something as profound as the globalization of the democratic processes.
In this brief discussion, we shall limit our comments to the realm
of normative values. However, this does not mean that culture and the
globalization of cultural practices is not important. Culture is important,
but the basic normative values that underpin culture, as well as the political
and social arenas, are more profound, and it is these upon which I will
focus my attention.
We shall use the term globalism to describe the current on-going
global convergence of values. Globalism can be best understood by contrasting
it with the idea of centralization. Centralization conceives of the
world as one, but clearly identifies what is the center and what constitutes
the periphery. In a system undergoing centralization, a global
power asserts its domination over “others” by locating itself as the normative,
political, and economic center of the universe. It marginalizes
the rest of the world, and simultaneously assumes, often through coercive
means, the role of leader in moral as well as material terms. There
is a clear hierarchy in the system, and the center is the undisputed “hegemon.”
Thus when the periphery emulates the center, it often does so out
of fear or insecurity, and the resulting homogenization is actually hegemonization.
The centrality of the hegemon is based on an anthropological view of
the universe, which distinguishes-or rather discriminates-behvxn the
good/powefil and the badweak. The centrality of the hegemon is a
manifestation of its egocentric nature and its sense of superiority over
others. It sees itself as advanced, rational, creative, democratic, and
peaceful, and constructs others as underdeveloped, traditional, lazy,
authoritarian, and therefore inferior. It assumes that it is the best and that
the rest must emulate it in their political, socioeconomic, and cultural
constitution. Early attempts at global conquest, such as those by ...