ifda dossier 74 - Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

Groping at a better understanding of what may be underway, one may
distinguish two contradictory processes.
First, there seems to be a shift away, however embryonic, not only from
the bipolar hegemony over the world but, more significantly, from the
ensuing sacralisation of the nation-state to a new awareness of the unity
of the global, that is, of the limited sovereignty of its parts.
Second, simultaneously, with this move towards unity in a geographical
sense, there is a growing rift in a social sense. Gaia may better perceive
itself as a physical whole, the human species is divided as it never was
and progress in geographical globalism often obscures regression in
social globalism. Worse: if the earth is irreplaceable, people are not. It
would be surprising if some of the happy few were not tempted to
preserve the planet for their exclusive use.
Contradictory as these processes may be, they however have at least one
positive feature in common. There is a lesson from the first which may
help re-direct the second: the emerging geographical globalism is not
only the result of objective conditions, it is also that of citizens'
conscicntisation, search for alternatives, organisation, and action.
Similarly, if one is to approach a genuine global civilization, which
would necessarily be geographical and social, it is imperative to become
aware of the social schism, to map out another development, and to get
together and work at it.
A united world: the geographical dimension
For almost half a century, as a consequence of the 1939-45 war, the
earth has been held at ransom by two super-powers fully capable, in
their rivalry/complicity/similarity, of annihilating life on it. Whatever
positive developments there have been, to start with decolonisation and
Bandung, that is the transformation of the world polity from a situation
of domination by a few countries to that of a mosaic of 'independent'
states, the margin of freedom of most remained limited by the
narrowness of most 'national' entities, the continuing economic
dependence, ideology, and the power of the big two.
Somehow, things have started to change with the advent of glasnost and
perestroika. That this may suggest a re-attribution of responsibilities for