Globalization and New Socio-political Trends

Globalization studies have, through the years, addressed different fields: communication, economy, citizenship, defense, politics, movements. It is a consolidated field of study although the definitions of globalization can be as many as its various aspect, even if it is generally and primarily referred to the globalization of markets made possible by the development of communication technologies. This book collects essays on the different socio-political aspects of globalization and its effects at the dawn of a financial and geo-political crisis that has invested Europe, as well as other emerging economies. The first part of the book addresses globalization and new socio-political trends both from a theoretical perspective and from that of a series of case studies, whereas the second part addresses some important changes that have occurred in civil society, institutions, and the idea of the common interest. The various parts, although heterogeneus, are interrelated by the common effort of analysis of a rapidly changing world, whose traditional socio-political categories are loosing their consolidated meaning. The very notion of nation state, at the basis of modern politics, is being challenged by supranational forces and dynamics. The globalization of markets and finance, has brought a reconfiguration of the idea of state, institution, politics, power. It has made nation states weaker. Institutions and politics are loosing their credibility and decisional capacity, while the concept and praxis of democracy is shifting towards new meanings. In recent years a vast literature has concentrated on the possibilities of grass roots and informed political participation disclosed by the internet. The first essay presented here addresses the topic by analyzing the content actually searched for and shared by social network users, the consequences of information overload on the type and quality of the decision making process and, more generally, the impact on the democratic fiber of the digital citizens of the world, produced by internet activism. Grass roots participation and the crisis of traditional parties and their form of representations is further discussed by Viviani's and Anselmi's essays on the rise of new forms of populism worldwide. Whereas Arianna Montanari and Vladimir Ilyin, from different perspectives, address the paths undertaken by countries that are undergoing a deep process of changes, whose XXth century legacy seems rapidly fading away: European countries and Russia, the first opting for a yet uncertain and debated federalist model while the latter is shifting towards a conservative turn. European political dynamics are further explored by Sampugnaro's case study addressing 2014 elections and by De Luca's analysis of "vote of exchange" in Italy. The second part of the book addresses innovators ferments resulting form civil society (Sarris, Tsobanoglou, Ruzzeddu) as well as the risks of new obscurantisms brought by the rise of Islamic extremism from the Middle East to the heart of Europe (Saccà). A crisis that fatally invests security policies worldwide (Negri) as well as legality concerns at a more national level (Costabile, Pirni, Raffini). A complex and apparently fragmented picture of how globalization is affecting political change: its dynamics, crossed by often opposing tendencies, are linked together but seem far from being settled.