Begining

In Armenia’s neighboring countries, two processes typical of globalization have clashed - European enlargement, uniting different countries into one region and, on the other hand, an awakening of forgotten traditions, emphasizing separate identities and differences.  Russia’s counterinfluence is more like an attempt to rejuvenate the ambition which was lost after the Empire fell, rather than a search for a new identity in the current conditions…

Interestingly, the significant role played by religion and religious movements in a globalizing world is not typical only of Islam.  The local response to the influence of globalization and the means of resistance - usually inexorably linked to tradition - end up being presented in a religious context, which also includes Christianity.

A good example of this is a study on Chile, as reported in the book Many Globalizations: Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World by Peter Berger and Samuel Huntington (2002).  This is a country which has seen impressive economic development, thanks largely to the fact that since the 1950s a number of Chilean universities have collaborated closely with the University of Chicago, with many Chilean experts studying there, returning to their homeland, then gaining high positions in the fields of education and the economy.  Despite that, as the study noted, over the past decades, the business elite of Chile do not like only the global world, modernization, ultra-modern technology, traveling and money, but also give great importance to religion and the traditional concept of family.  They are conservative in moral issues, but lean towards free market solutions in the economy.  They remain faithful in religion, but strive to develop technology.  This seemingly incompatible combination of preferences can be explained by the fact that businessmen, who live in an atmosphere of constant risk and uncertainty, unexpected travel, technological changes, heavy competition and constantly changing work conditions need to find a balance in the spiritual and moral spheres, where everything must be constant and remain the same.  Thus, as the study summarized, Latin America’s globalized and competitive businessmen are also participants in the battle to preserve a historical identity and tradition.

The Regional Specifics of Globalization

Religious tradition, for understandable reasons, does not play such a significant role in Armenian society, nor does the Church.  There is also a lot of difficulty in rediscovering traditional identities and values as well as in revitalizing them in new forms.  The philosopher Boris Grois, for example, insisted that the Soviet plan for modernization destroyed and irretrievably erased the cultures and cultural identities of the pre-modernized Soviet nations.  One may not agree with this view, but it is impossible not to accept the post-Soviet identity crisis that has occurred or the lack of capability in these countries to resist globalization through any cultural means.  It is also probably relevant to say that the construction of a socialist society in Soviet times was an early stage of globalization - a unification of nations and cultures - but that was done with much more radical intentions and means.

Therefore, the experience that remains from Soviet times has been critical for the current fate of Armenian society and culture.  In an article on cultural globalization published in 1990, Arjun Appadurai specifically emphasized that globalization is not really Americanization, but rather Japanization for the Koreans, Indianization for the Sri Lankans, Vietnamization for the Cambodians, Russification for the Soviet Armenians and so on.  Now, a decade and a half after the collapse of the Soviet Union (when researchers speak in unison about the Americanization of Russia), this assumption is subject to doubt especially in the case of Armenia.  Of course, in the larger picture, talk about the Russification of Armenia makes sense even now, but one of the problems with this idea is that Russification was one thing during Soviet times and is something totally different today.

Before going any deeper into the “Russification or Europeanization?” choice facing Armenia today, it is worthwhile to briefly consider the conclusions from a study on the globalization of Taiwan (once again from the source cited above).

In Taiwan, as in many other countries in North East and South East Asia, along with the Americanization and Europeanization of the lifestyle and mass culture, there is also a very powerful Japanese influence, because Japanese mass culture has been the means through which those countries have been exposed to modern global culture.  The Japanese have adapted the American Dream to local conditions and have used mass media to redirect this to Taiwan, where this picture of modern Japanese life has become the ideal image of globalization for the young Taiwanese.  This has occurred along with a “repackaging” of culture, adapted to local conditions, due to which many local traditions and local elements of lifestyle have been revitalized and injected into society.

The process of democratization has been characteristic of Taiwanese society since the 1980s.  Along with this, a new perception of national identity began to form and develop here (especially from the position of removing Chinese influence in Taiwan), as did the process of recompiling Taiwanese history and changing its interpretation in political and academic circles.

The intellectuals accepted the role of spreading new ideas which international mass media would play in Taiwan and became the suppliers of foreign ideas to society.  This “brain gain” began in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when an increasing number of young and talented Taiwanese, who had reached academic heights in American universities, started returning to their homeland and working there.  They were the ones who became the transporters and establishers of many Western and global values…  They would read and write about those new ideas and fresh concepts in the lecture halls of universities, in newspapers and journals, translating many classical works (in philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, economics, political science and business).  Those radical changes meant the establishment, acceptance, and development of modern ideas in art, literature, movies, music as well as social sciences.  All this suggested that the intelligentsia were indeed an influential social force.

On the other hand, the role played by differing social movements in the transformation of Taiwanese society.  These are movements where many of the activists have received a Western education and who have helped in the globalization of Taiwan by exposing society to ideas and concepts whose origins lie in the West, although they have been adapted and accepted by the locals.