Time Differences and International Interaction
| Author | Nils Petter Gleditsch |
| DOI | 10.1177/001083677400900105 |
| Published date | 01 March 1974 |
| Date | 01 March 1974 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Time
Differences
and
International
Interaction
NILS
PETTER
GLEDITSCH
Department
of
Sociology,
University
of
Oslo
International
Peace
Research
Institute,
Oslo
Gleditsch,
N.
P.
Time
Differences
and
International
Interaction.
Cooperation
and
Con-
flict,
IX,
1974,
35-51.
Physical
distance
appears
to
act
as
a
restraint
on
interaction
at
all
levels
of
social
organization.
However,
there
is
one
specific
problem
connected
with
high-speed
in-
teraction
over
great
distance
in
the
international
system -
that
of
time
differences.
In
international
travel
the
’jet
lag’
causes
fatigue
and
related
phenomena.
(The
problem
of
a
sudden
change
of
climate
associated
with
rapid
North-South
movements
has
not
been
studied
to
the
same
degree,
but
appears
to
be
less
serious.)
In
attempting
to
cir-
cumvent
these
unpleasant
effects
by
interacting
through
telecommunication
(moving
information
rather
than
moving
people),
one
runs
into
a
related
problem -
that of
non-overlapping
office
hours.
Informal
data
from
several
organizations
with
interna-
tional
activities
are
cited
as
examples
of
how
these
problems
are
dealt
with.
Technologi-
cal
and
social
’solutions’
to
the
problem
of
time
differences
are
discussed.
Several
of
these
raise
new
problems,
among
them
the
possibility
of
an
emerging ’time
imperialism’ -
with
dominant
nations,
organizations,
and
individuals
imposing
their
own
time
cycles
on
their
dependent
individuals
and
groups -
seems
particularly
ominous.
Nils
Petter
Gleditsch,
Department
of
Sociology,
University
of
Oslo
and
the
Interna-
tional
Peace
Research
Institute,
Oslo.
1.
INTRODUCTION
To
winter
sports
enthusiasts
in
Norway,
the
XI
Winter
Olympic
Games
in
Sapporo,
Japan
in
February
1972
provided
a
free
introduction
to
the
’Brave
New
World’
in
one
interesting
respect:
Televising
of
the
events
started
at
5.25
in
the
morning.
This
is
interesting
for
two
reasons:
First
of
all,
it
was
the
first
time
since
the
Second
World
War
that
the
Winter
Olympic
Games
had
been
held
outside
Europe
or
the
US -
yet
there
was
no
question
of
Europe-
an
viewers
not
getting
their
full
share
of
’instant’
news.
Ten
years
earlier
this
could
not
have
been
done -
fifteen
years
earlier
the
whole
idea
would
still
have
been
science
fiction.
Secondly,
the
transmissions
could
have
been
instantaneous
but,
in
fact,
were
not.
This
was
not
because
of
any
technical
limitation
of
satellite
communica-
tion ;
it
must
have
been
a
conscious
decision
on
the
part
of
the
Norwegian
broadcasting
corporation
(NRK)
that
5.25
was
the
earliest
time
one
could
decently
shake
Norwegian
viewers
out
of
bed.
(For
some
reason,
radio
transmissions
started
at
5
a.m.)
The
reports
were
seen
or
heard
by
hundreds
of
thousands
of
Norwegians -
according
to
a
poll,
21
1 °/o
of the
population
heard
at
least
one
early
morning
radio
report
and
33%
saw
at
least
one
TV
program
between
5.25
and
6.00.1
For
all
these
people,
the
NRK
decision
determined
their
daily
sleep
cycle
for
at
least
a
day,
in
many
cases
for
the
best
part
of
two
weeks.
A
technological
breakthrough
led
to
a
temporary
change
of
life-style.
Just
as
remarkable
as
these
two
points
are
in
themselves
is
the
fact
that
all
this
occasioned
very
little
comment.
It
was
not,
of
course,
the
first
time
that
a
major
sports
event
had been
televised
world-wide.
For
that
matter,
Norway
had
only
had
tele-
vision
for
a
little
over
a
decade.
But
ad-
justment
to
the
technological
breakthrough
had
been
so
rapid
that
the
changes
in
life-style
that
they
required
were
hardly
remarkable
any
more.
This
example
may
serve
as
an
intro-
duction
to
the
more
general
problem:
What
are
some
of
the
consequences
of
a
rapid
increase
in
the
speed
of
communication?
These
consequences
are
often
discussed
36
under
the
heading
of
’the
shrinking
globe’
or
’the
decreasing
significance
of
distance
in
the
international
system’.
We
turn
first
to
an
examination
of
the
concept
of
distance.
II.
GEOGRAPHICAL
DISTANCE:
HORIZONTAL
AND
VERTICAL
At
all
levels
of
social
organization,
physi-
cal
distance
has
a
restraining
impact
on
interaction.
In
a
cafeteria,
you
may
more
easily
-
everything
else
being
equal
-
fall
into
conversation
with
someone
who
shares
your
table
than
with
someone
across
the
room.
In
an
apartment
building,
you
will
more
easily
get
to
know
those
who
pass
by
your
door
on
their
way
in
or
out
(Festinger
et
al.
1949).
That
a
similar
relationship
holds
for
the
international
system,
should
come
as
no
great
surprise.
In
recent
years,
it
has
become
fashion-
able
to
proclaim
the
shrinking
world
and
the
decreasing
importance
of
distance
in
the
international
system.
However,
con-
trary
to
common
thinking
(and
my
own
initial
expectations),
I
found
in
a
previous
study
that
distance
had
increased
its
cor-
relation
with
one
form
of
international
interaction
(scheduled
international
flights)
over
the
period
1930-65
(Gleditsch
1969).
Clearly,
geographical
distance
itself
is
not
the
mechanism
at
work.
Straight-line
distance
does
not
necessarily
equal
func-
tional
distance.
First,
the
actual
impedi-
ment
to
interaction
may
be
time
or
eco-
nomic
cost
and
these
may
depend
on
a
route
structure
in
an
existing
interaction
network
or
on
physical
factors.
For
pedes-
trians
in
a
city,
cityblock
distance
is
a
more
realistic
measure
of
travel
time
than
bee-line
distance.
For
international
air
travellers,
the
belated
introduction
in
1967
of
an
air
link
across
the
Soviet
Union
cut
travel
time
between
Europe
and
Japan
by
as
much
as
25
°/o.
But
distance,
and
de-
mand
on
facilities
in
turn,
influence
the
route
structure.
pedestrian
passageways
can
be
constructed
through
buildings
in
extremely
busy
sections
of
a
town.
When
in
1965
Western
Samoa
was
not
linked
to
Australia
except
via
American
Samoa
or
the
Fiji
Islands,
it
was
presumably
because
the
demand
was
not
heavy
enough
to
justify
a
direct
link
across
2,847
miles.
Quite
apart
from
the
problem
of
de-
fining
and
measuring
functional
distance
in
any
social
system,
there
is
a
specific
peculiarity
about
distance
in
the
inter-
national
system:
This
is
the
basic
distinc-
tion
between
vertical
distance,
or
North-
South
distance,
and
horizontal
distance,
or
East-West
distance.
Travelling
in
an
East-West
direction
one
has
to
overcome
a
difference
in
local
time.
In
the
North-
South
direction
the
difference
in
local
climate
is
a
corresponding
hurdle.
Table
1
spells
out
in
detail
some
salient
character-
istics
of
the
two.
The
impact
of
vertical
distance
on
inter-
national
interaction
will
not
be
extensively
discussed
here.
This
problem
occurs
only
when
persons
or
goods
are
moved,
not
with
the
movement
of
information.
In
some
cases
it
can
be
quite
serious.
A
sudden
change
in
climate
(temperature,
humidity)
or
in
vegetation,
can
have
a
marked
physi-
cal
effect
on
general
well-being
or
specific
diseases
(such
as
allergy
conditions).
For
the
community
which
receives
the
travel-
ler,
it
also
increases
the
risk
of
spreading
epidemics.
While
a
Near
Eastern
cholera
epidemic
a
few
decades
ago
could
only
have
spread
to
Scandinavia
via
the
inter-
mediate
European
countries
(and
probably
would
have
stopped
or
have
been
stopped
on
its
way),
it
can
spread
today
via,
e.g.,
tourist
charter
flights.
Since
a
flight
is
completed
much
faster
than
the
incubation
period
for
a
disease,
isolating
the
infected
traveller
at
the
point
of
destination
is
no
longer
a
viable
solution.
However,
there
are
other
effective
mea-
sures
for
the
prevention
of
epidemics,
e.g.
mass
inocculation.
Also,
the
increased
speed
of
communication
has
been
accom-
panied
by
an
improvement
in
medical
skills
and
(for
the
developed
world,
at
least)
an
increase
in
the
general
health
level
to
a
point
where
epidemics
are
no
longer
so
serious.
More
drastic
and
spe-
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