Globalization and Self-Government

Abstract

Two broad international trends have dominated the last quarter of the twentieth century and the initial years of the twenty-first: globalization and democratization. Although both globalization and democratization have long and complex histories, each was greatly accelerated by the collapse of Soviet communism in the revolutions of 1989–91. These two trends have been interrelated and, for the most part, mutually reinforcing. That is to say, globalization has fostered democratization, and democratization has fostered globalization. Moreover, both trends generally have furthered American interests and contributed to the strengthening of American power. Yet while the impact of globalization on democracy has been largely positive until now, this will not necessarily be the case in the future. As the new century unfolds, globalization may come to pose a threat to democracy and a set of difficult dilemmas for the United States. Globalization is probably the most prominent social science “buzzword” of our day, having recently wrested that distinction from the term “civil society.” Having by now read literally dozens of attempts to fix a precise definition for “civil society,” I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to establish an exact, let alone consensual, meaning for such buzzwords. They simply are used and misused by too many different authors in too many different ways. On the other hand, if we are seriously to discuss the nature and potential consequences of globalization, it will hardly suffice to apply to it U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s famous pronouncement about obscenity: “I know it when Marc F. Plattner is coeditor of the Journal of Democracy, codirector of the International Forum for Democratic Studies, and vice president at the National Endowment for Democracy. This essay is based on a lecture that he delivered on March 20 as part of a series on “Globalization, Americanization, and American Hegemony” sponsored by the LeFrak Forum at Michigan State University.