Thirteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

After the end of the Cold War, the phenomenon of globalization was witnessed by the modern world as the free movement of goods and capital was emphasized through increased international trade through opening up of national economies and relaxation of national barriers and tariffs on foreign trade and investment. Globalization was also a cultural phenomenon as it led to the rapid export of Western values and culture to the non-Western societies as well as contributed to the spread of the political values and institutions of the West as the system of liberal democracy became popular in the authoritarian States of Central Asia and the Middle East leading to the rise of popular pro-democracy people’s movements through the Color Revolutions and the Arab Spring respectively. However the rise of the anti-global sentiment as an anti-thesis also begins to take root in the popular imagination particularly with the rise in popularity of right wing populist movements that seeks to protect the native residents of the States who are affected by the economic impact of globalization as well as seeks to protect the traditional culture from foreign influences. In fact many non-western societies view Globalization as an attempt to strengthen the cultural hegemony of the West and pervert the culture of these societies. This paper seeks to map the patterns of violent as well as non-violent anti-globalization social movements in Western as well as non-Western societies and identify the patterns inherent to these movements.