Final Readings

Baymeh starts off by explaining the key terms related to postnationalism, such as nationalism, transnationalism, and globalization. He then goes on to talk about the progress of postnationalism in Europe, specifying the European Union as the biggest product of postnationalism. The Author goes on to the topic of postnationalism, or rather the lack of it, in the United States, and how it did not follow the European example in the post-nationalist era. He goes on to talk about the features of the postnationalist culture, drawing heavily from the examples of the cold war era. Finally, he outlines the coincepts of the postnational culture by putting it in terms of four types of solidarities:spiritual, material, humanist, life-emancipatory. These have to do with religion, socio-economic classes, global causes, and the spread of and deviation from pop culture, respectively.

Ah...sideways reading is always fun. The article "apprehending transnationalism" focuses on the globalization and capitalism as a factor in the film industry. Particularly, Halle talks about the American domination of the film industry. Halle defends the American "cultural occupation" with his arguments of differentiating it from the military occupation, thus portraying it harmless. He then goes on to talk about the history of the international film, going as far back as the silent era in the film-making. In the end, the author gives the reader "guidelines" for apprehending transnationalism. Overall, this peace seems overly opinionated and, frankly, quite uninteresting.

The main focus of the third article was the "cosmopolitan democracy" and the Mercosur region. The authors also explain such concepts as globalization, neoliberal globalization, and their effects on the Mercosur region. The most interesting part, to me, discusses the possibility of the Mercosur regional integration, similar to the EU's integration in Europe. The authors recognize the implications of such movements. This article is particularly interesting to me, as it touches upon the idea of what is to me the ultimate world society. Even if we can't achieve a "world union", unification by regions would be the next viable option, as it would very likely eliminate, or at least lower the threat of hegemonic states dominating and taking advantage of the smaller states. A question for discussion is then quite consequential from the previous statement: would this kind of world system work? Or would it be impossible to get everyone up to speed in regions such as Africa?