Author(s): Gills BK
Abstract: The central thesis of this article is that, rather than a transition to a 'new' empire, there is a strong case to be made for the thesis that we are living in a long established 'global' or American imperial structure, which however is now past its historical apogee and has in fact started on a long decline phase. The principal problem for world order is how to respond to this decline and the renewed tendencies to rivalry it may engender in the international system. The social forces arising inthis context are extremely various but some elements of these are striving to move global governance towards 'cosmopolis'- a new realm for the practices of a 'global citizenship' and an historical alternative to empire and war. Both 'Empire' and 'Cosmopolis' are used here as archetypal concepts that represent opposing forms of world consciousness and practice of global politics. Humanity faces a stark choice- will it be 'Empire' or 'Cosmopolis as the future of globalization?
Notes: Forthcoming as a book, The Clash of Globalizations: Empire or Cosmopolis? published by Routledge, in the series Rethinking Globalization, 2006/7 This article is in ninth position overall for all downloads from the journal Globalizations as of October 2006, with 272 full downloads.
Keywords: empire globalization cosmopolis
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Professor Barry Gills
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