Contemporary European politics
Week 1
Contemporary meaning modern, now, ongoing
Scholars try to describe the contemporary changes and grasp them in one concept >
- Globalization (Peter Singer)
- Second modernity (Ulrich Beck)
- Living in the end of times (Slavoj Zizek)
- Age of uncertainty (Zy gmunt Baumann)
Globalization: the widening, deepening, and speeding up of worldwide
interconnectedness
Political: political issues are very often global and intertwined
Economic: world economy with huge transnational corporations and global exchange
markets
Communications/technics: new modes of communication and infrastructure
Why does globalization matter?
- Globalization, if we agree it exists, has far-reaching implications that concern
politics and our personal well-being
, Week 2
Changing world – changing governance
What is nationalism?
- What is a nation: a group of people sharing certain features: ethnic, cultural, or
political features
- What is the meaning of identity and loyalty?
- What is national self-determination
Late modernity (20th century): a world order of nation-states, but nation-states were
partly globalized
Dagupta says: does our changing world suggest: ‘the demise of the nation-state?’
Bauman says:
- Moving from modernity to second/modernity/globalization, we see issues that
are global, beyond national boundaries
- The power to approach these issues needs to exceed the national boundaries
too, but politics remain mainly national
- In modernity, power and political were united in nation-state, now power and
politics are separated
- New forms of governance to reunite power and politics
Week 1
Contemporary meaning modern, now, ongoing
Scholars try to describe the contemporary changes and grasp them in one concept >
- Globalization (Peter Singer)
- Second modernity (Ulrich Beck)
- Living in the end of times (Slavoj Zizek)
- Age of uncertainty (Zy gmunt Baumann)
Globalization: the widening, deepening, and speeding up of worldwide
interconnectedness
Political: political issues are very often global and intertwined
Economic: world economy with huge transnational corporations and global exchange
markets
Communications/technics: new modes of communication and infrastructure
Why does globalization matter?
- Globalization, if we agree it exists, has far-reaching implications that concern
politics and our personal well-being
, Week 2
Changing world – changing governance
What is nationalism?
- What is a nation: a group of people sharing certain features: ethnic, cultural, or
political features
- What is the meaning of identity and loyalty?
- What is national self-determination
Late modernity (20th century): a world order of nation-states, but nation-states were
partly globalized
Dagupta says: does our changing world suggest: ‘the demise of the nation-state?’
Bauman says:
- Moving from modernity to second/modernity/globalization, we see issues that
are global, beyond national boundaries
- The power to approach these issues needs to exceed the national boundaries
too, but politics remain mainly national
- In modernity, power and political were united in nation-state, now power and
politics are separated
- New forms of governance to reunite power and politics
