Invisible Borders: Economic Liberalization and National Identity

Abstract

Various developments in the post-WWII global economy have led many scholars of international relations to contend that borders are eroding. My argument takes issue with this, suggesting that borders are not becoming increasingly meaningless; instead, some states are working to endow them with meaning in innovative ways. Specifically, I examine the trade disputes over culture industries during recent GATT and NAFTA talks to demonstrate that some states are shifting their attention from territorial borders to conceptual or invisible borders. Many governments support the removal of borders that serve as barriers to the movement of goods, services, capital, information, and, in some cases, people. Nevertheless, these same governments resist the increasing permeability of borders that provide the boundaries of political community.In recent decades the expansion of transnational links between states has prompted a debate in international relations over the significance of national borders. Many argue that the increase in the volume of trade, migration and cross-border financial transactions, the emergence of regional trading blocs, and the global reach of multinational corporations signal the erosion of national borders. No longer barriers to the movement of goods, services, information, and people, national borders may be an archaic remnant of a bygone Westphalian era.I argue that it is too early to sound the death knell of the national border. Some states are responding to the permeability of their territorial borders by reinforcing the invisible or conceptual borders held in place by cultural particularity, by collective identity, and by the common understandings that underpin a distinctive political community. Governments willingly open the territorial borders of the state in order to reap the economic reward that accompanies participation in a global marketplace. Nevertheless, they resist the concomitant cultural homogenization-the dilution of national identity-by simultaneously fortifying the nation. States are responding to globalization by attempting to restore meaning to national borders, not as barriers to entry, but as boundaries demarcating distinct political communities.The binary choice between the presence or absence of borders common in international relations debates is insufficient to capture the complexity of the changes taking place in the international arena. Instead, it seems more accurate to posit an intermediate position that suggests that borders are present but permeable; they are disappearing but still discernible, and the degree to which

The World Cup, Nationalism, and International Trade

“…Building on sociological and social psychological theories of identity, we theorize why nationalism triggered by the World Cup depresses trade. We argue that nationalism can cause people to suffer from cognitive dissonance for buying imports from rival countries, which would contradict the nationalist view that such foreign goods are inferior and that individuals are obligated to uphold the well-being and distinctiveness of their national community (Goff 2000;Balabanis et al 2001). For instance, if France and Germany play against each other in the World Cup, the resulting nationalism could make people in Germany less likely to buy French wine and people in France less likely to buy German beer.…”

The European Union, the World Trade Organization and Cultural Diversity

“…The European Commission, headed at the time by Jacques Delors, acted as a strong policy entrepreneur, reflecting as well as shaping the views of the member states (Ross, 1995: 115;Levy, 1999;Singh, 2008: 127). The framing of the audiovisual services matter as giving a particular behavioural profile for the EU on the international scene has had a positive feedback effect and boosted European cultural identity (Goff, 2000(Goff, , 2007Singh, 2008: 133-134). It is also to be acknowledged that the institutional design of the EU has had a clear impact on international trade negotiations designed to change the European policy status quo -Meunier argues that in such 'conservative' cases, unanimity voting and restricted delegation make the EU a tough bargainer, so 7 Failures typical of markets for cultural goods and services are: a) failures due to economies of scale in production and distribution; b) failures due to the nature of competition in products with substantial public goods aspects; c) failures due to the impact of externalities on the pricing of cultural products; and d) failures due to collective action problems (Sauvé and Steinfatt, 2000;Baker, 2001).…”

A Global, Community Building Language?

“…Thus verbs borrowed from English, when used in Holland, pick up the Dutch ‐en ending: to download in English becomes downloaden in Dutch, to log in becomes inloggen , to e‐mail becomes mailen (Booij 2001). Patricia Goff has written extensively about still other methods and action that have been or can be taken to protect local cultures, primary languages included (Goff 2000:533–562).…”

“…Companies from many nations have learned to include English manuals with the equipment they sell, thus pre‐empting at least some of the language advantage of corporations from English‐speaking nations. In the market of English‐reading clients, movies are dubbed with particularistic languages which reduces the temptation to watch them in English; local cultural products (such as plays, movies, novels) are subsidized (Goff 2000). Other measures draw on translations produced by automated means (e.g., Google translator, Altavista Babel Fish).…”