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Embracing the global–local debate, this study examines how cities configure their global connectedness and local embeddedness attributes in order to achieve the high performance of urban creative economies in Europe. Using the configurational approach, a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is undertaken to investigate urban creative economy performance in a sample of 168 European cities from 30 countries during the period 2000–17. The findings reveal a taxonomy of four distinct types of cities with the high performance of the creative economy and the contingent effects of cultural vibrancy and industrial diversity. This study provides novel insights into the variations among creative cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite rapid globalization, various countries witnessed a rise of social movements based on local identities in the past decade. Drawing reference from theories of cultural identity, this essay first establishes a discursive understanding of local identity, in which the local is relationally articulated against the non-local. Second, this framework of local identity is applied to a particular case—the Hong Kong localist movement. This essay investigates the discursive construction of a Hong Kong local identity through analyzing the social media postings by localist advocacy groups. It is argued that the local identity articulated in the localist movement is a fluid, contested construct situated within specific regional geopolitics and colonial legacy. A branch of the localist movement, as represented by Youngspiration and Demosisto, navigated the contestation among the triad of local, national, and global identities by contriving the trope of the "local youth." This trope, while efficiently embracing the global identity and distancing the local identity from the national identity, creates a purist narrative that hinders the institutionalization of the localist agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Congolese writer In Koli Jean Bofane's most recent novel Congo Inc. (2014) explores various inflections of African participation in contemporary globalization. Bofane embarks on a dialectical undertaking, debunking globalization-hype as it de facto impacts Africa and showing in reverse that globalization means the participation of African subjects in the global economy as commodities rather than as actors. This reduction of African producers to the level of the raw material they produce in the extractive economies culminates in a negative biopolitics: a necropolitics embedded within economy-as-warfare. By contrast, Bofane suggests a mode of participation in globality (rather than globalization) that stresses an 'affirmative biopolitics' of cosmic or planetary dimensions-a form of participation that outstrips and confounds all the pseudo- or semi-participatory sops that are thrown to the inhabitants of the African continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western Australia (WA) has recently assumed an unaccustomed centrality in the minds of Australian policymakers. The recent resource boom briefly propelled WA to the forefront of national economic affairs. While this proved a relatively short-lived prominence, the emergence of WA at the centre of a putative ‘Indo-Pacific’ region promises to give it a more enduring strategic significance. This paper details how geopolitical and geoeconomic forces have shaped WA’s developmental history, and why they are likely to do so in the future as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a case study of the exploitation and experience of Disney’s animated feature films from the 1930s to the 1980s in Ghent (Belgium). It is a historical study of programming practices and financial strategies which constructed childhood memories on watching Disney. The study is a contribution to a historical understanding of the implications of global distribution of film as cultural products and the counter pull of localism. Using a multi-method approach, the argument is made that the scarce screenings were strategically programmed to uplift the moviegoing experience into something out of the ordinary in everyday life. Programming and revenue data characterize the screenings as exclusive and generating high intakes. Consequently, the remembered screenings did not exhale an easy accessible social status nor an image of pervasiveness of popular childhood film, contradictory to conventional accounts of Disney’s ubiquity in popular culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper starts with the link between contemporary globalisation and processes of de-territorialisation and re-territorialisation of society, which helps understanding the separation of social from state territoriality and increasing importance of other territorial scales (both sub national and supranational) in a numerous social issues. The paper aims to analyse identity dimension of these processes in two aspects. Firstly, it focuses on changing territorial identity of individuals regarding the weakening of their attachment to the nation-state and strengthening of their attachment to other territorial scales, primarily to the immediate local environment and then to supranational one (as EU). Secondly, re-territorialisation of citizens' identity (increasing attachment to place of living in an open and relational manner) is analysed as potentially valuable local developmental resource within globalising societies, as emphasized in EU territorial agenda. Both issues are important for Serbia, as well as for other European post-socialist societies, whose globalisation and recent de-re-territorialisation take place under the significant influence of EU. The analysis relies on empirical data obtained through questionnaire research conducted on a representative sample (N=2557) of citizens in Serbia by Institute for Sociological Research at the Faculty of Philosophy University of Belgrade, in spring 2012. The research findings show that territorial identity of citizens in Serbia develops in accordance to the principles of selective associations and multiple loyalties, but that new localism and glocalism as desirable development resources still have not been sufficiently profiled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proceeds from two theses: that the protection of local cultural identities and heritages as a method for maintaining and even enhancing local (and also national) cohesion in the face of globalizing challenges is sensible and justified only under the condition that the cultural heritage is constructed on the basis of multiculturalism, and the intertwinement and interaction between diverse various local lifeworlds; and that (re)constructed local (territorial) cultures and identities cannot be completely captured by binary and oversimplified definitions of old and new localisms. Both of these theoretical premises are with the help of structured and semi-structured interviews applied to a case study of the cultural, potentially economic, political, and social transformation of specific local, territorial, and cultural identities in the town of Idrija, Slovenia, as a geographically remote and delineated "hill" town with a specific cultural, natural, and technical (industrial) tradition and heritage. The value of its very specific heritage was recognized by its successful inscription in 2012 to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites as an example of institutional and symbolic global proximity and presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alongside 'Dig for Victory', 'Make Do and Mend' is a well-known ideology from the austerity campaigns unleashed on Britain's home front in the Second World War. Less well known are the post-war prosperity campaigns. These campaigns mutated the moral economy created by wartime propaganda to encourage the British to become reacquainted with geographies of manufacturing and to focus again on imports and exports. Post- Second World War consumers were entreated to forego localism, embrace the global and 'export or die'. That the drive for the global was showcased in an equally compelling political campaign is particularly poignant. This article examines the processes by which the British were made to become part of the complex, distributed and far-spanning geographies of manufacturing prevalent today. It sheds light on a brief lapse from globalisation and addresses a critical need in geography for a historical survey of the making of present global production networks and global cultures of consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These two special issues ofPolicy Studiesinvestigate various aspects of localism and draw insights from a broad range of different academic disciplines; which illustrates how ubiquitous the issue has become, both in the academy and in political discourse, particularly in the UK and increasingly in Australia. In this introduction, we begin by outlining three different types of localism – managerial, representative and community – which have underpinned both debates in the area and policy developments, before outlining our definition of the term. Subsequently, we introduce the theoretical and empirical contributions that this issue makes to understanding localism in Westminster-style democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines how arbitration, as a semi-formal dispute resolution institution, gradually took root in China and how it interacted with the Chinese non-confrontational legal tradition. Based on the experience of arbitration transplantation in China, the article argues that local culture and traditions still have a strong role to play in the process of legal globalization. On the one hand, global scripts are localized when domestic actors translate and conceptualize the borrowed concepts in accordance with local norms--'localized globalism'; on the other hand, local ideas, practices and institutions may be globalized when they are projected to the global arena--'globalized localism.' The author argues that the development of transnational arbitration will be a process of 'glocalization,' which reflects the combined impact of the globalization of both law and local culture and traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question of how cosmopolitan consciousness coexists with persistent banal nationalism or localism. The argument put forward is that these two phenomena are reinvigorated by a single process, here called the domestication of transnational models. The newspaper media coverage of an R&D project aimed at developing local government cultural activities in Finnish towns and cities is the object of a case analysis. The results show that although the project contributed to standardizing local government cultural activities and spreading the idea of cities as strategic actors, through the way in which the project was covered in the local media, it strengthened a local viewpoint on the whole process. It drew on and constituted residents’ identification with their local domicile and the idea that local government citizens are members of a team that has to do well in global competition. Second, the comparative data made available was capitalized in local politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently observed changes identified with such processes as globalization influenced all areas of human life and concern all operators in practice. Changing development conditions cause that the problems become more complex and more difficult to predict. They also influence the structures of public administration and force changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on possibilities of emergence of new world order on the basis of rise in globalization and localism in the world economy. It offers a brief history of development of new world order as well as contradictions and ambiguity that have arisen on the way of transition. The author also discusses the dynamics of self contradictory global changes in the associated process of modernization.

The territorial development of post-communist Romania claims the integration into the territorial planning process of some principles that regard a balanced and rightful evolution of the total components of this area. Territorially, the communist heritage is seen as a particular pattern of land use, in which gigantic economic structures, oriented towards heavy industry, dependent on one another and the collective habitat dominated the urban environment while intensively mechanized agriculture, opposing the traditional customs, was imposed in the rural areas. Mentally, this heritage is responsible for the development of resilience to some concepts such as free association, heritage nationalization and resource rationalization that raise suspicions due to their forced and wrong implementation into the recent past. If we add the limited experience of the administration, the incomplete legislative framework and the lack of specialists, one has an overall view of the issues of the East-European territories. All these issues raise a series of challenges whose answers seem to be linked to the integration of the sustainable development principle into the process that coordinates the territorial development. The "land" type areas are specific geographic regions of Romania with deep roots in the historical past of Romania and with features of regional mental areas. The identity marks of these areas are given by the high degree of ruralism, conservatism and the tradition, customs and traditional activities preservation. Once more, from post-communist transition to the rigours of joining the European Union, the course of these areas towards sustainable development must pass through the planning process. The Land of Beiuş is one of the 18 "land" type areas of Romania, located in Western Romania (at the foot of the Apuseni Mountains), identifying itself with the mental area polarized by the town of Beiuş. The total population is approximately 80,000 inhabitants. The aspects related to the resilience of this area are given by the rural component, extensive traditional agriculture and crafts, preservation of ethnic-folkloric traditions and the existence of some traditional areas, etc. Opposed to this, there are areas that underwent complex transformations due to the decline of the communist economic structures, which adapted themselves to the market economy and thus became global. In this regard, the Land of Beiuş integrates in the same territorial system both dynamic areas, with mutations of the traditional features, and resilient conservative areas. Thus, although the Land of Beiuş has no administrative significance, due to its mental area features it represents a living organism in the collective mentality of its inhabitants. The evident resilience of this type of area is completely unexploited, at least until now. The present study is suggesting the integration of these resilient features of this area into a strategy of sustainable local development where the regional peculiarities and the local identity should become landmarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the "Foodshed Model" of food system in the U.S., and its use in food system reform. It also discusses the effect of globalization, federalism, regionalism and localism, and various governmental structures and the Food Safety Modernization Act on the food system of the country. The Model integrates the local, regional and national food policy counsels. A feasibility study of this model in the next Farm Bill is suggested.

The Slow Food movement promotes itself as supporting ethical modes of food production and consumption. This article reports on research that investigated the representations of the movement in the Australian print media, exploring the discourses relating to Slow Food and examining whether the media exposure is positively or negatively framed. A content and discourse analysis was undertaken of articles on Slow Food over a three-month period. The analysis aimed to provide a contextual basis for how Slow Food is perceived, the messages it conveys, and the activities it undertakes. Major themes arising from the data were ‘conviviality’ (social pleasures of sharing ‘good food’), ‘localism’ (social, health and environmental benefits of local produce), and ‘romanticism’ (of idyllic rural lifestyles as an antidote to the time-poverty of urban life). The findings shed light on the role played by the print media in reproducing and creating public understandings of the Slow Food movement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author analyzes the role of human rights concepts, values and movements within the framework of: globalization, localism tendencies, ethnic nationalism, and explains the influence of religion on those phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines whether the cosmopolitan–local continuum is present among advanced industrialized world regions. Strictly comparable factor analyses show that its nation-based and place-based variants are observable across world regions. Results indicate that, from 1995 to 2003 among the regions analyzed, place-based localism is declining everywhere. This finding suggests that globalization’s effects on personal lives are consequential in terms of decreasing people’s attachments to their traditional locales. From 1995 to 2003 nation-based localism has been increasing in most world regions. This finding suggests that nation-based localism – often under the guise of revamped nationalism – is a reaction to globalization’s effects on personal lives. But unlike the citizens of other advanced industrialized countries, Europeans have been reducing their own attachment to national societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Sociológicos is the property of El Colegio de Mexico AC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the connection between Taiwanese sites of memory and the development of localism in Taiwan. Related to this, the author also analyzes the links between Taiwan's cultural policy, modernity, and globalization. The relationship between Taiwanese collective memory and sites of memory attached to the nation's colonial history is detailed. The rise of localism is examined in relation to the Japanese concept of machizukuri, or neighborhood-making, and community-building, with an emphasis on the role of propaganda in these developments. These issues of collective memory and localism are strongly intertwined with notions of Taiwanese identity and nationalism.

The influence of new informational technologies, especially the wireless ones (laptop, mobile phones) is more and more felt from day to day. Due to the fact that the mobility of the population is highly expanded, especially in urban areas, the notion of space, localization and time is getting new meanings. In a ways, nobody is «somewhere« if he or she could not be seen «there«. So, even we live in a deterritorialized world more and more, in a way we should to come again back to some older concepts when the time and space had been overlapped which means that somebody was «somewhere« only if he or she could be registered and seen «there«. Today's concept of time and space compression, new thinking on places and spaces (flows of spaces - Castells) as well as new notions of cosmopolitism and globalization and localism and localization and calling upon social scientists to try to provide contemporary explanations. In a way, contemporary inhabitant of the urbanized world, and especially under the influence of modern communication technology is more and more «globalize«, but at the same time he or she is also oriented to select and bring closer to his home the parts of the global world that she or he prefers (home cinema, for example). The most important sociological aspects will be expanded and explained in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National states were born out of the gradual dissolution of the medieval society and ended up as a paradigm of the modern system of thought. Nonetheless in the XXI Century there are crises factors present. The new "local" reality discovers many factions assumed as truths not subject to discussion during the last 500 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the significance of the government regulation of civil society organisations. The definition of civility used by organisations supporting democratisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is considered. The importance of local culture in determining the characteristics of civility in a given society is addressed. Local regulations of associations and foundations in Bosnia are considered. The relationship between the use of the English language, compliance with professional standards established by the government, and approval as a registered civil society organisation in Bosnia is noted.

The article discusses anti-globalization tendencies to counter homogenization of global goods, services, and culture. Trends include localization of products and consumer organizational initiatives not to become passive victims of global marketing. Local cultural communities are said to be acting in an era of post-developmentalism toward communitarianism, by which internal local development is preserved in part insulated by high tariffs on foreign goods.

The ability of political parties in advanced industrial democracies to maintain the traditional linkage between voters and their governments by making and attempting to fulfill policy promises is potentially being challenged by emerging social, political, and economic forces of the 21st century. Parties may become less meaningful to the electorate as they deal with the cross-pressures created by the forces of Europeanization, globalization, localism, and the increasing independence of central banks. These factors have the potential to make parties in government, at the national-level, marginally less able to fulfill the promises they make to voters. The review of literature presented here regarding these challenges indicates that although the risks to parties are very real, the effects of these emerging forces have yet to substantially diminish the primary roles and functioning of national parties in government. Those most at risk of being affected in the future are parties who rely strongly on economic appeals and promises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about the potential and limits of community control and development (community-building) in the developed world, but most of the references are to the USA. There is a paradox in the contemporary political economy. As the level of the social, political and economic relationships at which communities and cities are embedded has become increasingly globalised – and thereby remote from people in cities and communities – there has been a substantial turn towards the community level as the domain and level at which social, political and economic problems should be solved. The article explores this paradox, beginning with a detailed explanation of contemporary political economy – the increasing economic globalisation existing side by side with political devolution at the community level. This is followed by a discussion of the growth of community-based organisations in the USA, their activities and their histories. From there, the article shifts gears to critique the theories of community that guide most mainstream practices. The article ends with a discussion of alternative forms of community organising and development that lead towards greater community control in the context of capital mobility and economic globalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irish environmentalism has frequently been described as characterised by 'localism' and compared with similar patterns in Southern Europe. Used thus, localism carries a negative connotation, suggesting that such activism does not reflect pure or genuine environmental commitment. Irish environmental activism is indeed predominantly local but these 'defences of place' may be far more socially and politically significant than is generally recognised. The concept of place constructed and advanced by local activists combines concerns about perceived threats and risks arising from specific projects with claims, both implicit and sometimes explicit, regarding human well-being and the quality of the natural environment. Thus, 'place' can act as a holistic concept encompassing notions of the good life. In this way, local-level activism can be linked to emerging political conflicts over the direction and character of modern society and gobalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to empirically test Roudometof's suggested one-dimensional operationalization of transnationalism, from cosmopolitanism to localism, and compare it with an alternative two-dimensional operationalization. The study uses Swedish survey data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), for 1995 and 2003. The results indicate that a two-dimensional, rather than a one-dimensional, solution fits the data better. Transnationalism can therefore be seen as one dimension ranging from local to global and one ranging from protectionism to openness. The same result was obtained for both 1995 and 2003. The results also show that people with different attitudes differ socioeconomically and that there is a trend over time towards more protectionist, rather than open, attitudes among the Swedish public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the impact of globalization on land peripheral to large cities of the south. It identifies such land as providing major arenas for contested claims between the requirements of international firms and those of local inhabitants and businesses, entailing both threats and opportunities in terms of local economic development. Much depends on the urban governance and institutional processes surrounding the use and allocation of land that are themselves directly influenced by the globalization process. In many cities national, state or provincial governments have set up special parastatal organizations with substantial funding and significant decision-making powers over infrastructure development and land use to facilitate the rebirth of their cities as havens for international investment. In the process local municipalities and the local population are often excluded from the decision-making process, while being left to cope with the aftermath and maintenance of the grand projects. The essay identifies weaknesses in elite governance models usually centred at the state or national levels, and asks if a better alternative may be a local government-led ‘inclusive leadership’ model capable of clear leadership, greater coordination of different governance layers and inclusion of local actors. Résumé Cet essai étudie l’impact de la mondialisation sur les terrains situés à la périphérie des grandes villes du Sud. Il identifie ces terrains comme des scènes majeures de contradiction entre les besoins des multinationales et les revendications des entreprises et habitants locaux, ce qui créent à la fois menaces et opportunités en termes d’expansion économique locale. Le résultat dépend largement des processus institutionnels et de gouvernance urbaine qui entourent l’utilisation et l’affectation des terrains, processus eux-mêmes directement influencés par la mondialisation. Dans de nombreuses villes, les organes de gouvernement nationaux, étatiques ou provinciaux ont créé des entités para-étatiques spécialisées, dotées de fonds et de pouvoirs décisionnels considérables en matière d’aménagement des infrastructures et d’occupation des sols, afin de réinstaurer leur ville en terre d’accueil de l’investissement international. Or, les municipalités et populations locales sont souvent exclues du processus de décision alors qu’on les laisse assumer les conséquences et la maintenance des grands projets. L’article repère les faiblesses des modèles de gouvernance par les élites, généralement centrés aux niveaux de l’Etat ou de la nation, et se demande si un modèle de ‘leadership inclusif’ sous la houlette du gouvernement ne serait pas une meilleure alternative, permettant un leadership clair, une meilleure coordination des différentes strates de gouvernance et l’intégration des acteurs locaux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the effects of economic and cultural globalization on local communities? This research proposes that economic globalization does not lead to homogeneity of culture, but to heterogeneity. I analyse quantitative and qualitative data for Leixlip, the strongest globalized village in the Republic of Ireland, one of the world's most globalized economies. Dominant economic globalization causes a resurgence of local identity, a reinvention of local history and a revival of the indigenous language. An expansive global identity both provokes and facilitates an explanatory local identity. The results confirm that globalization of culture creates heterogeneity, but within the context of one world culture, namely as local adaptations of world cultural forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We live amidst competing claims about change and transformation, especially claims about globalisms, localisms, regionalisms and multiple challenges to the authority of the modern state. These challenges are intricately entwined with claims about new engagements with, and legitimations of, mass violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a paper on Ekistics grid and the attributes of local identity with regard to globalization and localization discussed at a symposium sponsored by the World Society for Ekistics is presented. It is assumed that a neighborhood has all the elements that can be considered a feature in certain locality. Moreover, other information included in the research and its corresponding results are also presented.

This article explores Thomas Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge." In today's society, there is often discussion about globalization and its detriments, but others argue that globalization is not a modern construction. But in studying global policies, there has been a growth in recognizing what it means to be local. Hardy's novel emphasizes this, and through it, Hardy offers his criticism of England trading with North America.

The objective of this essay is to explore how literary texts negotiate the juncture between ecological globalism and localism and how, from a comparatist viewpoint, they link issues of global ecology with those of transnational culture. The analysis will focus on a novel "Through the Arc of the Rainforest" by Japanese American writer, Karen Tei Yamashita whose narrative material as well as storytelling strategies situate it at the intersection of several national and regional literary traditions.

This paper refers to the establishment of the Great Limpopo on the South Africa-Mozambique-Zimbabwe border and the Kgalagadi on the South Africa-Botswana border to illuminate the involvement of actors under conditions that cannot more appropriately be captured by analyses that place emphasis on particular scales. It reaffirms the view that the global-local infusion involves actors at multiple levels. To that end, the paper uses the debate about global-local connections as an interpretative framework for understanding various actors involved in the creation of transfrontier parks in southern Africa. Drawing from case study material in the Great Limpopo and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Parks, the paper shows that changing conservation philosophies, the socio-political environment, economic imperatives and conditions in and around national parks combined to make the region favourable to the new nature conservation schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government of cities and of metropolitan areas, on one hand, and local autonomy, on the other, are very distinct concepts at the analytical level. However, they are tightly interwoven in terms of a topic discussed in the article. Globalization underlines the need for substantive changes in the division of competence between central and local governments in big urban areas. The trend of development is turning most big cities into global centres promoting research and innovation while preserving their historical past: these cities must be efficiently and cost-effectively administrated. At the same time, in a democratic context, the political participation of citizens also needs to be guaranteed. In this sense the changes at the level of the metropolitan administration must inevitably involve the structure and the functioning of local government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the article is to analyse and describe the recent development in the ways politics is thought of and enacted. The hypothesis is based on the idea that the recent course has been influenced by changes in the relationships between politics and economy, which contribute to shape social interactions between States, organizations and individuals. The article is divided in three pans: in the first some of the meanings of globalization are discussed; in the second, the idea that the meanings of politics depend on the spatial and historical context is illustrated by an example drawn from a modem Western European country; in the third pan the issue of the relationship between politics and social regulation is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the issues related to the world culture. The world culture is created through the increasing interconnectedness of varied local cultures, as well as through the development cultures without a clear anchorage in any one territory. These are all becoming sub-cultures, as it were within the wider whole; cultures which are in important ways better understood in the context of their cultural surroundings than in isolation. But to this global interconnected diversity people can relate in different ways. For one thing, there are cosmopolitans, and there are locals. The cosmopolitan-local distinction has been a part of the sociological vocabulary for close to half a century now, since sociologist Robert Merton developed it out of a study, during the Second World War, of patterns of influence in a small town on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. At that time the distinction could hardly be set in anything but a national context. The cosmopolitans of the town were those who thought and who lived their lives within the structure of the nation rather than purely within the structure of the locality. Since then, the scale of culture and social structure has grown, so that what was cosmopolitan in the early 1940s may be counted as a moderate form of localism by now.

The article offers information on the concept of globalization and localization. Topics covered include the search for ways of understanding globalization, the contributions of local communities to global society and the response of people from various parts of the world to global changes. Also mentioned is the call for democratization of knowledge production and application.

The article presents a speech by Suzanne Keller, president of the World Society for Ekistics (WSE), delivered at the international symposium "Globalization and Local Identity," organized jointly by the WSE and the University of Shiga Prefecture in Hikone, Japan held on September 19-24, 2005, in which she discussed the relationship between globalism and localism.