continuing the discussion...

hmm..we seem to be getting somewhere with this one...i am going to post the comments that i received for the previous post here and post my response in the form of a blog post.

Alex says "It depends on what connotation one gives to Globalisation. The middle class tend to gain from this integration. Creative destruction is an inevitable by product of this phenomenon. National identities are compromised with. It results in a dilution of identities.

shreya says "kinda ironic, coz there is another theory (hypothesis?) going around about how it (globalisation)actually results in a sharp delineation between ethnic (not necessarily national) identities, and leads us deeper into a religious fundamentalism...
in my experience, there is more to be said of that theory than the dilution one...
perhaps later in the cycle (i see it as a cycle), there will be a dilution of national/cultural/ethnic (in that order)identities, but for now, no...
case study in question (again, in my opinion) would be the caribbean, especially trinidad and tobago...
and then of course you may be talking from a solely indian perspective, and i dont think i can comment on that...
hmmm...."

well, shreya...even if we are talking in the indian context..we are seeing an upsurge in an assertion of a very perverse kind of nationalism...for example the VHP kind of naitonalism...which in one sense is an assertion of one's ethnic identity...now obviously we cannot equate this ethnic identity with a national identity...

again we have examples of a greater assertion of one's ethnic or religious identity in countries other than india...case in point being the london bombings...

or for that matter the French protesting against the Arcelor bid...

alex..if we are talking about dilution of identities...well, yes..one can talk about the increasing demand for dual citizenship as an example of dilution of identities...it's national identity for convenience...the LN Mittal brand of national identity...

but then again..here is a question that i raised in the debate..can globalisation be necessarily held responsible for the dilution of national identities? (remember.. i had to speak against the motion, "globalisation has diluted unique national identities)if we are to define national identity as the sense of belonging to a nation and striving towards its spelt out goals...then there are enough and more instances wherein we can say that the State itself has been responsible for alienating its citizens and hence diluting their sense of national identity. there are enough and more examples of seperatist movements both in and outside india which prove this. and then of course how do we define national identity...if that itself is defined by a narrow section or class, then how do we even expect the term national identity to hold good for the whole country? for example, the naxalite movement is still seen as a law and order problem..the Narmada Bachao Andolan was dubbed by a wide section of the media as going against the national interests...

can we see it as a class assertion which might be finding vent in the form of ethnic or religious assertion as well?...but am not entirely sure...sir could you help??