Globalism, Localism and Identity

Global 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 a