Nation-State

Intensifying processes of globalization have led to a series of tensions around the way in which even the most cosmopolitan democracies now treat people who move across their borders. Non-citizens have become problems. The postcolonial settler nation-states—Australia, Canada, the United States and others—were ‘founded’ by immigrants and refugees who moved globally to become citizens in these ‘new lands’. Such countries were made by migrants displacing indigenous others. However, in a conflict-ridden world in which the displacement of persons has become endemic—and in a media-connected world where the possibility of finding a better place to live has become increasingly imaginable and desired—these countries are now attempting to manage that global flow of people by stringent homeland security measures that are becoming increasingly problematic. While they are constituted through the modern imaginary of liberal democratic norms, human rights and rule of law, in each country over the last few years, rules have been bent, breached or bolstered in order to keep people out. The essay argues that given the globalization of people-movement, the nation-state has reached the limits of responding though unilateral or even regional multilateral arrangements.

The tornado of globalization has taken economies, societies and entities by storm and the lag between developed and underdeveloped economies has turned out to be financial rather than political. Most of the nations round the globe are running their political offices under the patronage of large, financially stable and strong business organizations. This influence is not within a well-defined geographical entity but it travels across borders in the form of transnational organization. The hands behind the whole game are the financial stalwarts who rock the cradle in the very right perspective of their well-defined, well perceived and well-conceived interest and their interest is most of the time linked with ROI (return on investment). This study is an intimal attempt to show how transnational capitalist class (TCC) fits into the global system in terms of its economics base (transnational practices), its leading institutions (global TNCs, World Bank, IMF, BIS, State TNCs), and its integrating agents (global business elite, global political elite, global cultural elite).

Milestone changes are taking place in Europe in which the rights of territories to determine their own future and make democratic choices for devolution are becoming key issues. The referenda in Scotland and Catalonia, in September and November, respectively and – presumably, in the near future - in the Basque Country, bring into are question the issue of democratic representation beyond the level of the nation-state, while legitimating the territories as unique actors by activating city-regional (Herrschel, 2014) devolution processes. Thus, 2014 seems to appear to be a turning-point year regarding city-regional devolution. Here, the author suggests and develops  an original concept of post-independence in reference to a strategic scenario of city-regional devolution aiming at the right to decide for this hypothetical independent territory of tomorrow and the need to thus prepare, research, implement and disseminate territorial strategies and policies. As Michael Keating (2001) argues, globalisation and European integration have encouraged the re-emergence of nationalisms within established nation-states, a notion that connects directly with strategic city-regional devolution scenarios, to which city-regions are contributing through their own self-governance responses to contemporary global developments. Presenting a comparative analysis of the three cases mentioned, Scotland, Catalonia and the Basque Country, the main conclusion of this paper lays in the importance given to anticipating for a better understanding and implementation of the city-regional governance, regardless of whether or not these city-regions do, in fact, finally gain full independence.

""In this short but all-encompassing account of multiculturalism, Multicultural Controversies studies the emergence and development of multiculturalism as a concept mapped out through a variety of controversial discussions. Arguing that multiculturalism cannot be reduced just to the issues of emigration and religion, the author pursues a comprehensive approach reflecting a trans-disciplinary interest in the intersection of critical social theory and radical political philosophy with post-colonial studies, and examines the overall contexts (historical, socio-political, cultural and philosophical/speculative) in which multiculturalism emerges and develops as a concept.

"Multicultural Controversies offers a totally fresh look at a complex subject. Imanol Galfarsoro views multiculturalism along three dimensions: struggle and society, consumption and the market, management and the state. It is an original and illuminating approach. This book, with its broad coverage and incisive analysis, is essential reading for anyone grappling with the question of multiculturalism today."

Dr Brian KLUG

Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy,  University of Oxford


"Galfarsoro contributes with an unparalleled genealogy of the problem of multiculturalism. At a time when intellectual discourse tends to forget yesterday’s debates and, consequently, keeps “reinventing” the same problems, Galfarsoro offers a 40 year history on the debates about the problem of cultural/racial/ethnic difference. Moreover, he masterfully waves this history with the more general philosophical debate of universalism / particularism in a very synthetic way. Finally, Galfarsoro reminds us that the debate on difference remains unsolved in times of neoliberalism and globalization."

Dr Joseba Gabilondo
Associate Professor
Department of Romance and Classical Studies
Michigan State University, US
""

Stella Ghervas (Harvard), ‘The Ghost of Empire? Reinterpreting the European Union’

Abstract

"The definite resurgence of interest in empires as political entities is in our Zeitgeist; indeed, a wide range of authors (such as Zielonka, Zaki, Beck, Grande, Engels) have recently compared the European Union to an empire. There is however another, darker, aspect to the notion of empire: as a “historical ghost”, it feeds nationalist and Eurosceptic attitudes; as a foil to liberties and the rule of law, it also contributes to shaping the policies of the EU itself. More generally, the idea of a continental empire has long been considered antithetic to the European order. So how can we resolve the striking paradox of this twenty-first century resurrection of empire in a peaceful context?

By taking a historical perspective, this paper will define three key markers that apply to all continental empires in modern Europe (the “universal” mission of ruling, the providential figurehead, and the legitimate use of military force). From there, we will proceed to illustrate how a number of recent comparisons of the EU with an empire have led to a number of contradictions. By contrast, we will argue that a way forward for interpreting the nature of the Pax Europeana might instead lie with another trend of political thought tracing back to the “plans of perpetual peace” of the early eighteenth century, from Abbé de Saint-Pierre to Immanuel Kant.

This essay will argue that Nation Branding as monocausal, autarchic and unrelated neo-liberalists’ concept is misjudged, overrated and, in some extent, even dangerous since it lacks of democratic participation on the one hand and is often without any sustainable long-term influence on the public sphere on the other hand, as the examples of India (Bolin/ Ståhlberg 2010) and to some degree, albeit not that dramatically, Germany (Varga 2013, Aronczyk 2013) indicate in nowadays’ perspective. The text will furthermore present the intersection points of active Nation Branding and passive Nation Branding – Robert A. Saunders would rather call it national image - and put them into relation to concepts like target groups, national identity and democratic legitimacy. Finally, it will be suggested that (active) Nation Branding should better be considered in future not only as
“brand management applied to a country’s national image” (Saunders 2011: 51) but rather as part of and in respect to ongoing reputation management - which itself is part of inner and outer policy and diplomacy - since nation-states are not simple brands but democratic negotiated, albeit artificial, constructs of a social entity – namely the public sphere or the nation. (Calhoun 2007, Varga 2013, Bolin/ Ståhlberg 2010)
The example of the 2014 FIFA World Cup BrazilTM will, summarising, be discussed in relation to the more theoretical claims of the first part since media events like the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups or the Eurovision Song Contests can be considered as some of the strongest tools of image communication by nation-states (Bolin 2006)

Тъй като не съществува единно определение за нация, за целите на дадено изследване би могло да бъде възприето работно определение, което да съчетае положителните страни на различни концептуални представи. Такова работно определение съгласно предварително (!) възприет епистемологически подход следва да изгради знание за нацията (Ux∆P) и да пригежава на четири основни характеристики...

Australia, since the early 1980s, has been a leading advocate and practitioner of the
neo-liberal economic model, also known as the Anglo-Saxon (or Anglo-American) model due to its
geographical origins in the UK and the US, and its subsequent ascendancy in Australia, New Zealand
and Canada, prior to its global hegemony (Bayari 2012a). A major component of this model has
been the deregulatory market policies that have come to dominate all aspects of life. There are prior
discussions of Australia’s deregulation dogmas and practices that this paper does not cover (Bayari
2012c, Bayari 2012d). Interestingly, Australia was a pioneer of a proto-regulatory economic model
at the turn of the twentieth century. The emergence of the federal state in Australia in 1901 led to a
level of hitherto unseen level of intervention in the market. Australia, like Canada, the US and New
Zealand inherited the political, legal and other institutions of the UK. However, the Australian state
followed a different path by regulating capital and labour relationship through the enforcement of
compulsory conciliation and arbitration, which eventually led to the creation of a continuous system
of minimum wage determination for unskilled labour, and skilled occupational categories (Bayari
2012b). This proto-regulatory state model of the Antipodes preceded the post-Second World War
regulatory state in the West by decades. This paper does not argue that a proto-regulatory model of
state continued to develop which is a question that is outside the discussion here, however the
1941-1949 Labor governments, under John Curtin and Ben Chifley, created new institutions for
welfare, and health care provision, and attempted to create a new society, such as in terns of defining
the content of citizenship, and creating the notion of entitlement to non-market wage, while the
governments of the period from thereafter until 1972 can be characterised as calculatingly inert. This
paper however focuses on the period ending with the1907 Harvester judgment.