State and Society in the Age of the Global Economy
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209805300312 |
| Author | Mark S. Worrall |
| Published date | 01 September 1998 |
| Date | 01 September 1998 |
| Subject Matter | The Readers' Column |
THE
READERS'
COLUMN
State
and
society
in
the
age
of
the
global
economy
A
response
to
Daryl
Copeland
Mark
S.
Worrall
S
ince
the
end
of
the
cold
war,
no
single
question
has
rivalled
that
of
globalization
in
its
ability
to
galvanize
debate
in
the world's
indus-
trial
nations.
Indeed,
'globalization'
has
become the
touchstone
for
a
vast
constellation
of
issues
which
continues
to
determine
the evolution
of
the
international
system
and
of
national
societies.
These
issues
include,
in
no
particular
order,
multinational
strategy,
state
sovereign-
ty,
territoriality,
nationalism,
capital markets,
individualism,
con-
sumerism, technology,
security,
international
regimes,
and culture.
Making
sense
of
these
related
issues
is
a
great
challenge,
and
Daryl
Copeland
is
right
to warn
at
the
outset
of
his
essay,
'Globalization,
enterprise,
and
governance'
(winter
1997-8),
that
it
is
'extremely
diffi-
cult
to
assign precise
cause
and
effect
to
the
various
impacts
of
global-
ization.'
The
collapse
of
the
Soviet
empire
released
these
cross-cutting
forces
into
an
international
environment
which had
long
functioned
as
an
historical anomaly.
The
bilateral
balance
of
terror
which
was
the defin-
ing
feature
of
the
cold
war
not
only
assured
the
enduring
division
of
the
world
into opposing
blocs,
it
also
slowed down
the
natural
pro-
gression
of
history.
As
long
as
the
world
remained
divided
along
ideo-
logical
faultlines,
the
shift
to
fully
globalized
production, although
technologically
possible,
could
not
be
realized.
If
we
are
troubled
by
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Summer
1998
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