Multinationalism and Globalization in Britain

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Britain is widely regarded as a Postmodern society, and if this is the

case must be subject to two of the central issues of this

circumstance: those of first globalisation, then multinationalism.

What is it that these concepts constitute that affects contemporary

British society? The academic, David Held describes globalisation as

"the increasing extent, intensity, velocity and impact of world-wide

interconnectedness" - that is the growing extent to which societies,

more local groupings and indeed individuals are interdependent, and

can be affected by events well outside their immediate sphere of

concern. Put simply, it is the decreasing importance of the nation

state and its boundaries. It is as a result of this, most would say,

that communities external to the nation state, and particularly other

nation states, are able to have increasing influence over each other,

in a process described as multinationalism.

In order to consider multinationalism, we must first seek to

understand its prerequisite in globalisation. It is generally regarded

as having initially been an economic phenomenon, brought about by both

an increase in world trade and an accentuated recognition of the

necessity of international co-operation in the wake of World War One.

Its earliest effects may perhaps be demonstrated by the foundation of

the League of Nations, the predecessor in many ways of the UN, in 1919

with the aim of promoting internationalism to prevent a further war.

This however, was just a shift in governments' perception of the

nation state, and the most telling demonstration must surely be in the

world-wide effects of the Wall Street Crash in ...

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a truly Postmodern sense begin to break down boundaries. Perhaps this

compacted world situation and the increasing freedoms that closer

international co-operation bring have led to the development in turn

of multinationalism, across the world. More and more TNCs place us in

competition and economic union with the rest of the world, and the

flow of individuals and communities from nation to nation has

developed an increasingly free exchange of culture, heritage and

faith, with the sharing of traditions and customs now embraced in the

West at least. Globalisation and multinationalism are indeed key to

Postmodernism, in that they have broken down the once constricting

boundaries of the nation state and of government and traditional

institutions, placing choice of cultural identity in the hands of the

individual.

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