Description
Book SynopsisGlobal economic and social forces are affecting everyone, everywhere. However, their influence is shaped by local communities' interpretation of these forces and responses to them. Social identities provide a guide; they are the product of history, culture, economy, patterns of governance and degree of community cohesion. How the global and the local connect and reconfigure at various scales and through different cultures is explained in this forward-looking volume. The book's thesis, namely that localism is the crucial complement to globalism, is supported by a range of European case studies. Local responses to globalizing forces depend on the nature of the interlinkages in governance from international structures, through multilateral organizations to nation states, regions and localities, as these are mediated through social-local identity. The contributors draw on numerous themes in examining the interaction between the global and the local, such as decay and revitalization, local identity and empowerment, opportunism through sustainability and governance for the transition. This is a pioneering publication utilizing an innovative person-centred methodology. It makes an original and important contribution to the study of contemporary societies and is aimed at anyone interested in the social, economic, political, cultural and environmental implications of any move towards sustainability.
Trade Review'This is an important contribution to the field and of a uniformly high standard throughout.'
Aslib Book Guide
Table of ContentsPreface * Acknowledgements * Part 1: Providing Perspective - Synthesis and Context * Globalization and Localization * Multilevel Governance for the Sustainability Transition * Social-local Identities * Methods of Inquiry * Part 2: The Case Studies - Decay and Revitalization in Two Swedish Communities * Opportunism Via Sustainability in Austria * Coming to Terms with Globalization in Portugal * Local Identity and Survival in Greece * Local Identity and Empowerment in the UK * Taking the Transition Forward
