Page 73 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

Politics in a Small World 59

possibilities. Most strikingly, Beck argues that the state is currently being
remade completely, behind the fa ç ade of what is still understood as the
modern nation - state. He calls “ the nation - state ” a “ zombie ” category: a

fiction, only apparently a reality. Sociologists have remained focused on
the nation - state, Beck argues, where they have failed to overcome “ meth-
odological nationalism, ” the perspective from which most sociological
concepts have been developed and which took what happened within a
territorial state for granted as the basis of analysis: society was equated
with national society. Such an approach is of no use for understanding
what is happening in the world today. What is needed, rather, is “ meth-
odological cosmopolitanism ” to grasp how dualities of global and local,
national and international are being dissolved (Beck and Sznaider, 2006 ).
Whilst, historically, nation - states were formed and sustained by and for
war, the situation is very different where populations are faced, instead,
with global risks. The state itself must now adapt to the new situation of
the risk society and to the sub - politics of social movements, citizens ’ ini-
tiatives, and professional associations (Beck, 1998 ).

Globalization as w orld c ulture
“ World polity ” theorists, a school of sociologists led by John Meyer, put
the nation - state at the center of their analysis of globalization (Meyer,
1999 ; Meyer et al., 1997 ; Boli and Thomas, 1997 ; Meyer and Jepperson,
2000 ; Lechner and Boli, 2005 : 43 – 7). Globalization is not the result of
capitalism; the changes that are taking place across a variety of different
areas of social life cannot be seen as economically determined. Nor is it
a product of the inexorable logic of modernization. The establishment of

the world polity is due rather to the effective influence of individuals and
organizations since the nineteenth century who have successfully spread
universal ideals around the world. Since World War II, “ world culture ”
has become all - pervasive. There is a “ world society ” of national and
international actors, and the diffusion of norms concerning how political
life should be organized have become part of the practices of every nation -
state in the world. It is the contingent success of this diffusion of cultural
norms that warrants the term “ world polity ” as a description of global
political integration.
Meyer and his associates are very clear about the causes of the world
polity. In terms of actors, world society is made up of what Meyer calls
“ Rationalized Others, ” individuals and organizations that advise nation -
states and others about their responsibilities and true purposes (Meyer,
1999 : 128 – 30). There are four main elements of world society that