Global Unification or Global Clash

Assignment 2
Global Unification or Global Clash?

March 22, 2015Ashay Ashish DeshpandeLE201276124March 22, 2015Ashay Ashish DeshpandeLE201276124

March 22, 2015
Ashay Ashish Deshpande
LE201276124
March 22, 2015
Ashay Ashish Deshpande
LE201276124
Introduction:
Genographic studies indicate that the inception of mankind, more or less as it is today was in what is today known as the continent of Africa, roughly 200,000 years ago. Then, around 60,000 years ago, mankind began to migrate to different parts of the world, settling most of the planet around 70,000 years ago. For many millennia, various groups of human beings remained within a radius, and being adaptive as they are, allowed the environment to mould them, both biologically and culturally. Beyond minor biological adaptation, an infinite number of environmental variables now differed between one group of migrants and another, giving rise to diverse civilizations and cultures contingent to their contexts and geographic locations. Since, for most of mankind's history, communication and contact between civilisations were non-existent or intermittent at best.
With the beginning of what is known as the modern era, around 1500 A.D. global influence had two dimensions. The nation states of Britain, France, Spain, Austria, Prussia, the United States and their subsidiaries and protectorates formed a multipolar system within what came to be known as 'the Western civilization' through a period of roughly 400 years. They competed, interacted, warred and traded with each other. Simultaneously, they also conquered and colonised almost every other civilization on the planet, leaving a decisive influence on those they did not reach. Rising tensions between the nations of the Western civilization culminated in WW1 and WW2, setting the stage for some of the bloodiest conflicts in known human history. The human world was then divided into three camps during what came to be known as the Cold War. The first camp comprised of mostly developed, wealthy and prosperous democratic societies led by the United States of America. This camp was engaged in an ideological, economic, political, military and technological competition with the second camp of comparatively less wealthy communist societies led by the Soviet Union, henceforth known as the Eastern Bloc. Despite their enmity, much of the Cold War was fought in the third camp, also known as the third world, countries which were significantly poorer, less politically stable and strove for non-alignment.
By the late 1980's, the Eastern Bloc collapsed, leading to a multipolar and pluralistically multicivilizational global political scenario. In today's post-Cold War world, the distinctions are no longer along the lines of ideology, politics or economics, they are cultural. Nations and their citizens have turned their attention to the more fundamental nature of their own identity, and they attempt to gain this understanding through religion, values, history, language, customs, traditions and institutions and on a broader note, civilizations. Nations and continents still remain principal actors in global events, however, their behaviours and policies are shaped, not just by the pursuit of power and wealth, but also by cultural preferences, commonalities and differences. The third world and other non-Western societies are developing their economic, political and military influences along with their self-confidence. Increasingly, such nations are asserting their won cultural values and rejecting the influences imposed on them during the three camp era. The rivalry of superpowers became the clash of civilizations.
Culture is now both a dividing and a unifying force. Various people separated by ideology but united by culture give more weight to cultural commonalities over long standing ideological conflicts as one can observe from the unification of the two Germanies and the increasing breaking of barriers between North and South Korea. In contrast, societies previously united by ideology and history but divided by culture are coming apart as one may observe from the separation of the Soviet Union, Bosnia and Yugoslavia or the strain in Ukraine. It seems countries and nation transcending organisations such as the European Union, united by cultural affinities, better co-operate economically and politically in comparison to those that attempt to transcend cultures. Therefore, in the current context, where it is possible for cultures to go either ways, it is important to understand both scenarios.
Global Village
Globalisation today, not only denotes structural characteristics but also includes culture. This inclusion would eventually lead to increasing levels of tolerance for difference cultures and garner cultural unification and homogenization. It implies that people will become increasingly aware of their presence within a global world and thus a global identity, mentality and culture.
However, cultural globalisation, embodied in pop culture can also be seen as a perpetrator of a sort of cultural genocide. The largest and most dominant cultures are increasing in power by exerting their influence upon smaller ones. Since the number of people on this planet is limited, the adoption of one culture means the undermining of another. Despite this, globalisation, at least in theory offers to culturally enhance and enrich the human world. Opportunities for cultural exchange brought about through this form of globalisation can boost tolerance and diversity. A multi-cultural 'global village' where ideas and practices can be freely exchanged and appreciated is indeed attractive.
It is also possible that the impact of cultural globalisation extends beyond tolerance, awareness and sympathy for other people and the events that affect them. There is also a diffusion of values on issues such as positive political ideologies and specific concerns such as health. A global network of foundations, academic networks, NGO's and multinational agencies (such as the UN) have already become agents of transmission for one narrative of what they perceive as positive cultural values. This is facilitated in their spread of ideas through educational systems, development projects, legal frameworks, think tanks and massive outreach programs. Examples of such organisations would be Amnesty International, the International Campaign to ban Landmines and the Medicines Sans Frontiers who all won Nobel prizes for their successful efforts to extend their values about wellbeing and health on a global level. Such efforts are influential as the agenda of any individual nation and are in fact more effective than any single nation has ever been at spreading its ideology.
Clash of civilizations
Professor Samuel P. Huntington of the Harvard University produced a famous theory on the concept of culture in a multicultural world. In his article titles "the Clash of Civilizations?" Huntington proposes that culture will be the principal factor of division among people in the world. He uses the term 'civilization' as the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity, defined both by objective elements such as history, language, religion, customs etc. and subjective self-identification. He theorises that the end of global competition over economic ideology (the Cold War) saw the creation of new conflicts in the world based instead on cultural rifts. He sees the notions of cultural identity to be primal enough to hold precedence over the secular and unifying forces of economic globalisation.
Proponents of this theory question the extent to which a common world vision can be developed with the duality of globalisation and cultural relativity. Social inequalities, poverty, discrimination and the inaccessibility to the benefits of globalisation have led to a greater emphasis on cultural values, increasing the gap between cultures with and without globalisation benefits. The attempts at propagating Western values and standards and the difference between the East and the West is centred in the understanding of the place of an individual within a society. The West emphasises on the autonomy of the individual, having institutionalised abstract and mechanistic views of society, whereas the East views the individual as embedded within a community, valuing traditions and hierarchy. A conflict between the fundamental natures of two cultures makes overcoming conflicts and meaningful multicultural dialogue difficult, if not impossible.
Cultural Clashes: the future
The idea that cultural differences produce conflict has its roots in social psychology. The distinctions drawn between group members and perceived outsiders are fundamental to our understanding of identity in the sense that group cohesion is attained through nurturing conflict with outsiders. This way, the boundaries of identity and culture become fields of conflict. Our propensity for war is possibly the outcome of thousands of years of evolution in which cognition and intolerance for those outside one's group have been largely shaped by prioritising genetic and cultural preferences. Thus, the clash of civilizations and hence cultures is perhaps the new central paradigm in our understanding of present world politics.
Post-Cold War politics have seen a reprioritisation of cultural and religious identity over economic ideology. While economic identities such as communism and liberal democracy still exist and are in fact merging, they lack the necessary traction for mobilising political action. This is evident upon the observation of the rise in religious fundamentalism in both Third World as well as Second World, ex-Soviet countries (including Russia itself, the nation once at the forefront of communist economic ideology). For example, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India held a vision of building a secular socialist state with a parliamentary democracy, a vision which dominated India's political and social agenda during the Cold War era. However, post- Cold War India has seen a rise and eventual dominance of Hindu fundamentalism and in many cases, Hindu Fascism which has resulted in a Hindu Fundamentalist Government as of 2014. This is also characterised by a growing rage towards India's Muslim population among middle class Hindus and the BJP's Ghar Wapsi programs which attempt to convert (or as proponents of the program would prefer, 're-convert') Muslims into their understanding of Hindu unity. Another striking example of political mobilisation based on cultural and religious identity would be the tremendous rise in Islamic fundamentalism in the 21st century. Transnational militant religious organisations such as the Al Qaeda ant the Islamic state (a.k.a. ISIS, ISIL) have gradually mobilised immense global grass-roots political support based on religion and the cultural values of Sharia, threatening world peace.
A facet to my belief that cultures will indeed clash instead of merge is the unprecedented rise in information technology. While it might appear that technology such as the internet will generate a global culture and homogenous religious patterns, it seems more apparent that it instead intensifies awareness of cultural differences which ultimately lead to clashes. The democratisation of information through the internet and the media has changed the past dynamics of information transmission. In today's world, foreign policy decisions are driven by televised images which are broadcast globally, displaying a diverse range of topics such as famine, war and atrocities. It also transmits the concepts of wealth and everyday life in various cultures, which may be seen as proof of decadence in other cultures. It allows the humanisation of overseas events in a way which embodies them and places them in one's reality. Viewing images induces a much more powerful emotional reaction in an observer than reading a newspaper. This image can be positive or negative. Given an outsider's perspective and opinion without context can be seen to directly contradict one's cultural values, inciting enmity and conflict among peoples and places which may have no real interaction. This dichotomy can take various forms, the native vs the foreigner, the friend vs the foe, the familiar vs the strange, the East vs the West, the North vs the South, the Developed vs the developing, the religious vs the atheistic and so on. This creates an iron law of duality and a persistent concept of the world contingent among peoples of various cultures, seeking their own identity. Mutual perceptions are largely based on the debate of values, which serves as a platform for conflict, each trying to prove the superiority of their own concepts of morals, ethics and humanity as whole. Those unwilling to fall into the canon of what is considered their culture are marginalised.
On the whole, it appears the human world is headed towards a further separation of cultures, co-dependant on our quest for cultural identity. However, one might argue that a world, even fragmented by cultural differences is at least diverse. A standardisation of culture would eventually lead to something similar to British author E.M. Forster's concept of the 'machine' in his 1909 short story, "The Machine Stops". In it, there is no point travelling anywhere because everything and every place is exactly the same. Conflict, no matter how brutal, is a sort of dialogue that is still more interactive than a stagnant singular narrative and a unified cultural identity which is neither one culture nor many. While unity in diversity for the world may be unachievable, at least diversity sets the stage for new, unmediated experiences which are the fundamental right of every human being.





















References
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Trianni, F. (2015). Inside ISIS and al-Qaeda's Battle for Brand Supremacy. TIME.com. Retrieved 23 March 2015, from http://time.com/3695200/islamist-radicals-connections/


Yadav, Shyamlal, The Indian Express, (2015). Ghar wapsi 'thrust' area: RSS chief says help those who want to 'come back' to Hinduism. Retrieved 23 March 2015, from http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/ghar-wapsi-thrust-area-rss-chief-says-help-those-who-want-to-come-back-to-hinduism/

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Genographic Project,. (2015). The Human Journey: Migration Routes. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
Marxists.org,. (2015). The Theory of Three Worlds. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
Huntington, Samuel P. Hks.harvard.edu,. (2015). Retrieved 22 March 2015.
Huntington, Samuel, Stetson.edu,. (2015). Retrieved 22 March 2015.
Berger, Alan N. Federalreserve.gov,. (2015). Retrieved 22 March 2015.
Kumar, Susmit, Susmitkumar.net,. (2015). Theory of Clash of Civilizations. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
Bekemans, Leonce, Unipd-centrodirittiumani.it,. (2015). Retrieved 22 March 2015.
Li, Chen, Journal.acs-cam.org.uk,. (2015). Retrieved 23 March 2015.
Yadav, Shyamlal, The Indian Express, (2015). Ghar wapsi 'thrust' area: RSS chief says help those who want to 'come back' to Hinduism. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
Trianni, F. (2015). Inside ISIS and al-Qaeda's Battle for Brand Supremacy. TIME.com. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
Hamada, B. Lass.purduecal.edu,. (2015). Global Media Journal. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
Forster, E.M. Archive.ncsa.illinois.edu,. (2015). THE MACHINE STOPS ... E.M. Forster . Retrieved 23 March 2015.
Ashay A. DeshpandeLE201276124Cross-Cultural Psychology
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