Globalisation and cultural nationalism 337
tyranny of distance. Through advances in computer technology, financial
services have become fast, easy and cost-efficient. Between 1985 and 1986,
for the first time in human history, the amount of currency trade surpassed
the amount of goods and services. Since 1986, currency trade has been
more or less 50 to 100 times as large as that of goods and services world-
wide. Thomas Friedman characterises globalisation as a flattening force of
the earth.
2
McDonald’s and Starbucks are everywhere. Breakfast served in
hotels increasingly tastes the same no matter where you are. But, at the same
time, globalisation is a most discriminating force. It highlights competitive-
ness. Profitability and efficiency are discriminatingly favoured, whereas
non-profitable and non-efficient enterprise is marginalised. All matters
being equal, individuals without good command of English and good com-
puter skills earn much less in a globalised world than those equipped with
such skills. Firms with direct access to well-connected and well-serviced air-
ports do much better than those without such airports. Business flourishes
wherever financial professionals form organisational clusters.
A key aspect of globalisation is that it is often subversive of much-
vaunted organic national unity. In a sense, globalisation undermines the
self-contained unity and standing of nation-states. It subverts conventional
ways and means of getting things done within time-tested national ter-
ritorial boundaries. Cultural nationalism arises today in situations where
national boundaries and unity are confronted by globalisation’s penetra-
tion and/or subversion. Cultural nationalism responds through defensively
and aggressively making use of what remains: national memory and iden-
tity. That is why for Jean-Marie Guehennot globalisation means la fin de la
democratie.
3
Globalisation fragments the citizenry and diminishes democ-
racy within national boundaries. This is very serious, especially when capital
resources fly fast and large around the globe with the sole aim of gaining
further profits without due consideration to the ‘nonsense’ of the national
boundary. Globalisation fragments national economies.
The Toyota motor car that you or your neighbour drives is designed
mostly in Tokyo, but it is manufactured everywhere in the world. Parts
are manufactured in Japan, China and Brazil. The cars are assembled in
Hanoi, Memphis and Rio de Janeiro, and are sold globally. As recently
as two decades ago, Japanese car makers thought that their manufacturing
should remain in Japan for a number of reasons: (1) Japan’s national indus-
trial infrastructure – electric power, transport, communications and parts –
worked well; (2) The quality of well-trained labour was high despite high
wages in Japan; (3) Language posed a formidable barrier to the Japanese