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Globalization and Democracy 235

their own way of life, and that women should enjoy the same conditions
and rewards as men.
It is important to note, however, that cultural politics is not necessarily
democratizing in this respect. Right - wing social movements have not been
as much studied in political sociology as those to which sociologists are
sympathetic, and I have followed this tendency in this book. They include
nationalist, racist movements like the National Front in Britain, and the
White Supremacy movement in the US. All those movements that militate
for a return to the pre - 1960s morality of the “ permissive society, ” like
the “ moral majority ” in the US, and fundamentalist movements of all
kinds are also to be included in this category. Such movements engage in
cultural politics, though they attempt to close down rather than to open
up the contestation of fundamental questions, trying to end personal
decision - making and pluralism. The paradox, of course, is that, in order
to do so, they have to engage in constructing new identities and transform-
ing ongoing social practices. Arguably, it is for this reason that such
movements cannot ultimately succeed. The fact that they have to engage
in cultural politics to bring about a re - traditionalization of society makes
their very project self - defeating (Giddens, 1994 ). Nevertheless, the way
in which right - wing social movements engage in cultural politics to limit
individual freedom and equality makes it evident that, although cultural
politics is inherently democratic in promoting contestation, it is not neces-
sarily democratic in terms of aims, nor, possibly, of effects.
In general, the emphasis of global social movements tends to be on the
democratization of civil society, but I have argued in this chapter that the
internationalizing state is also vital. Tolerance of diversity and respect for
participation in the contestation of fundamental issues depend, in part,
on a rule of law properly and impartially enforced by states; and urgent
problems raised by global social movements concerning violence, envi-
ronmental damage, and injustice require regulation. On the other hand,
it is important to understand that state formations are as much a product
of cultural politics as any other slice of social reality. Study of the accel-
erating development of the internationalizing state of global governance
over the last few decades makes the contingency of state formations very
evident. In fact, it is this sense of the fundamental contingency of social
life that is perhaps the most important contribution of contemporary
political sociology. Another world is not only possible; some other world
is always in the making.