Historians and researchers have documented various changes that have taken place in the world since time memorial. One of the major variations that has occurred over the last century is the change from a local to a global society that has integrated the entire world into one common unit. This essay conceptualizes on the works of various authors who have studied the relationship between a local and global community. The writers under evaluation are Donald Wright, who authored The World a Very Small Place, Ryan Poll of Main Street and Empire, and Hunt of The World Transformed.
Hunt’s book examines the history of the previous century from a global perspective. The author portrays three primary themes: the developing globe, international economy, and foreign relations. The excerpt covers three sections between 1968 and 1991, 1953 and 1968, and 1945 and 1953. The writer looks at the historical events that transformed the United States from a local to a global leader. Hunt addresses the effects of globalization on religious, political, technological, social, and economic unification. The fundamental variations brought by the trend affect trade, laws, labor, resources, and cultures (Hunt, 75).
Based on Hunt’s ideology, the transformation from local to global changed the legal systems by standardizing it to accommodate the views of various international communities. It also resulted in the diffusion of ethnicities and culture from different areas, increase in capital and resources, and shifts in labor. According to Hunt, globalization started way back during the era of antiquity reaching formidable heights in the period of colonization when international firms began to emerge. However, after 1945, the transformation of communities and life aspects from local to international picked up the pace (Hunt, 122).
The First World War encouraged technological advancements that would assist nations to outshine others in combat and national development. Countries invested on superior forms of transport and weaponry. 1945 also marked the formation of global organizations such as the United Nations and World Bank that sought to manage and mend relationships between different regions. The institutions together with several treaties allowed the integration of various regions to facilitate world growth and development. International organizations such as the European Union broke down barriers in the form of borderlines, currency, and duties amongst the surrounding regions (Hunt, 244).
The cultural sphere diffused the small ethnicities under one common and dominant global identity. However, the extinction of culture raised concerns amongst people regarding the loss of traditional values that developed the character of certain communities. More advancement came in after the 1990s with the introduction of social media and the internet as a means of connecting people from various areas. The United States remains at the forefront of the developments that arise from globalization. It has controlled all of the avenues of globalization in entertainment, food and beverage, technologies, etc. (Hunt, 261).
The rise of the powerful nations instigated by globalization has raised weariness amongst critics who view it as their means of controlling other nations particularly those that are underdeveloped or developing. The same concern is translated within the society, where the rich are said to be getting wealthier while poor become devastated on the accounts of the transformation from local to global. The secret; however, lies on the aspect of finding ways to tap the benefits of globalization instead of focusing on the challenges it has brought to the community (Hunt, 298).
Donald Wight also studies the effects of global events and the themes identified by Hunt on a local town called Niumi. The little-known region is found along the banks of the Gambian River hidden from all the international incidents. Donald develops the concept of globalization as the main reason for the transformation of the town from a local to a global area. The author outlines the historical developments that transformed the little-known region. He associated Niumi to the Age of Exploration that led Portuguese sailors to the town, European colonialism, slave trade, and the integration of the town into the world economy (Wright, 46).
The four sections of Donald Wright’s book indicate how external and broad events and forces can affect the lives of local people as well as their initiatives and responses. He links local history to international history by showing the how the peripherals of the region and individuals in Niumi have been affected by foreign investors, world markets, and economies. The book also portrays the limitations that arise from using the world systems model. The approach is reductive and functional because it accounts for all the variations in the dynamics and needs of the larger international system (Wright, 176).
According to the world systems model, Wright’s explanation concerning decolonization should have led him to explore the consequences of global wars, the anticolonial activities of the United Nations, the emergence of Gambian nationalism, and the rise of the Soviet Union and the United States. By doing so, Wright would have lost control over his methodology making the reading process tedious. The historical sweep of Donald Wright’s book identifies the three themes of international relations, a developing world, and integrated economies by creating global awareness and local sensitivity (Wright, 239).
The ideology of a small town is adopted a national icon in politics, culture, and literature as the American community and authentic space. Poll develops the relationship between global and local by evaluating the United States’ imagination and identity. He provokes the reader’s mind to see the perception of a small town as imagery for a Main Street or the projections of American life and stories on an international and national scale. Based on Poll’s analogy the small and innocent region reproduces a country that is focused on building an empire through capitalism and individualism (Poll, 227).
The small city symbolizes modernity as well as the three central themes provided by Hunt. It also acts as the national identity of America. Poll grounds his ideas on cultural criticism and Marxist literacy to develop the concepts of imperialism, landscape intersections, cultural representations, history, literature, and national character. The term the village emerged in the 1980s to stand for a group of individuals who lived a separate lifestyle contrary to the ways of the American values and customs. The autonomous society was not willing to pursue and approve wisdom and new ways (Poll, 243).
Ryan Poll also develops another concept known as the utopian village that symbolizes people who are willing to reproduce and produce power regimes and knowledge. The utopian communities are ready to change and evolve into an advanced society. In doing so, they create a cumulative or universal language that enables them to understand the globe in a better manner. As a result, the utopian village transforms itself from local to global. According to Poll, a cumulative and universal town is grounded on capitalistic means and Marxism to facilitate economic orientation (Poll, 257).
Conclusively, the primary themes that dictate the relationship between global and local are international relations, a developing globe, and a global economy. The community must be willing to accept the incidents and factors that will execute the changes. One of the dominant factors is the concept of globalization that has transformed many local communities into international centers of development and commerce. The period between 1945 to present has been filled with many variations that have changed people’s lives positively regardless of the minor challenges.
Works Cited
Hunt, Michael. The World Transformed: 1945 To The Present. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004.
Poll, Ryan. Main Street and Empire. Rutgers University Press, 2012.
Wright, Donald. The world and a very small place in Africa. M.E. Sharpe, 1997.
