ALBERTO SCHEPISI

My current posting as Italian Ambassador to Ireland offers me a privileged viewpoint to understand how globalization is transforming the meaning of concepts such as the State, the Nation, the identity of individuals and peoples. In the new global scene created by the whirlwind progress in technology, communications, transport and computer science, Ireland matters so much more than the limited size of its territory and its population of only four million inhabitants might lead one to believe. The tens of millions of people of Irish origin (living above all in the United States, Canada and Australia) are in fact no longer isolated and separated from their homeland, whence their ancestors had fled out of hunger and desperation over a century ago. Globalization has created a network of relationships, of economic, cultural, social and even political opportunities which are a clear proof of the real size of Ireland in the world.

The two communities, the local community enclosed within the State of the Republic of Ireland and the global community scattered in the Irish collectives throughout the world, have become welded and have formed a single unit defined by the term "Irishness". It is almost as if the narrow confines of this small island in the Atlantic slowly expand and mix with the world, until they identify themselves with the world and intertwine with the boundaries of other peoples, other States, other Nations.

By studying the effects of globalization on the roles of States and of Nations, one can now understand how a country which up until a few years ago was very poor, like Ireland, has become, in a very short space of time (which more or less coincides with the time of globalization) one of the richest in Europe, with a "pro capite" income which is even higher than that of its ancient coloniser, the UK.

On a planet where space and time, the traditional and concrete points of references within which human life has been always organized, have now become relative and almost abstract concepts because distances are shortened and time is reduced to the point of disappearance, the political boundaries of States are changing in meaning, are becoming weaker and at the same time are spreading out. States are no longer the only subjects of international law: above and below these, new subjects are being born. These are the supranational and transnational public and private bodies, the international organisations, both of universal and regional nature, the ethnic minorities, the regions, the local bodies, and even the individuals themselves, who acquire an international legal personality when their right to turn to the International Courts of Justice, independently of their nationality, is recognised.

It is as if international law is slowly rotating on an axis which, moving away from its traditional horizontal plane, tends towards a vertical position until it forms a pyramid, (with similarities to the medieval world) in which variable, mobile and intersecting institutional geometric units are present. In this new order of international society produced by globalization, it becomes more and more important for individuals to feel they belong culturally and spiritually in the sense of nationality, rather than legal and formally in the sense of citizenship.

Besides a passport, which is issued on the basis of precise formal prerequisites, the cultural choices, the style of life and the constantly developing identity of an individual in fact acquire importance in order to define him/her. In a world where the reality of life does not coincide with the abstract borders of politics, and in which concrete interests unite all men in the perception and awareness of a shared destiny, the identity of peoples, nations, and individuals transcends and exceeds the size of a State’s territory.

The space of States, freed from the artificial boundaries marked by politics, is spreading; it, therefore, becomes an open place, a place for dialogue and comparison where belonging does not derive from formal prerequisites of a juridical nature. In such wider spaces, on the contrary, the sense of belonging rather stems from the consciousness and perception of a shared past (history, traditions, customs handed down throughout the centuries); but also, and above all, it derives both from sharing, in the present, the same values, ways of life and cultural models, and from a common vision of one’s future destiny and one’s role in the world.

In this more open world, real identities, not anymore strictly linked with their territory (which were the almost exclusive source of protection and survival of men when agriculture constituted the greater portion of national income), constantly interact with each other, free from conventional limits. They become, like a kaleidoscope in continuous movement, more exposed to comparison, dialogue, and change. In our time of globalization they live no more in the isolation which anchored and tied them to an idealized past for fear of facing the realities of the present and the uncertainties of the future. As a matter of fact this isolation gave them the illusion (that they felt could be granted by a rigid territorial protection) of escaping the dangers of external contamination, and made them unnecessarily aggressive against anything "new" and "different".

The new identities of peoples and individuals have, in the pluralistic and global village, become factors of reciprocal enrichment, of comparison and dialogue, in the same way as spoken languages are constantly transforming and changing ("panta rei") in order to survive, like the very nature of living creatures. In a globalized world, the equal dignity of all citizens and every nation must coexist side by side and be in harmony with pluralism, with the diversity of cultures, identities and the ways of life of " the others". In a world without boundaries, "local" and "global" are no longer in antithesis. The particular and the universal become the two sides of the same coin: one cannot be apart from the other. In a world of territorial divisions, of traditional identities, threats came from outside. In order to protect oneself, it was necessary to erect frontiers, to build walls (as happened not only in the Middle Ages but even in our days; just think of the Berlin wall), physical and legal obstacles against the contaminations and dangers from anything "different" and "new". In the world of new identities, originated by globalization, threats to the existence and the survival of human beings no longer arise from a space which is external to one’s own territory.

The new identities of individuals and peoples in the third millennium, untethered as they are from territory and constantly exposed to new contacts and changes, are therefore subjective and not objective; they are variable, they are mobile: they are not crystallised; they are inclusive and not exclusive; peaceful and not aggressive and violent: they have to co-exist in a pluralistic, open society which is constantly evolving and must be tolerant and respectful of the diversity of others in order to survive.

Similar to Ireland, Italy too has known the tragedy of emigration in its history, the difference being that its citizens did not know—like the Irish—the language of the new world where they went to start a new life. And just as for Ireland, the tens of millions of Italians (with or without a passport: this difference, as I mentioned before, is no longer so fundamental) who are living in the five continents—their "diaspora"—now constitute a great resource. Not only for their homeland but for all human kind. They are an asset for their land of origin because these millions of people constitute, through their choices, their style of life, the continuing affirmation of their own identities, an outstanding contribution to the economic, cultural and linguistic development of our country. Before globalization, their identity remained detached from their previous homeland, therefore losing the capacity for comparison, for growth, for renewal and therefore risking - as often happens to identities deprived of connections—the loss of the sense of their own origins, thus becoming a kind of a "caricature" of the reality which has long since gone.

Globalization has, instead, made it possible for these identities to reconnect with the reality of their Italian origins and therefore to live, not just in the memory of a distant past, in an unreal present and with the perspective of a future where, in their new homeland, they will be assimilated, and therefore disappear. On the contrary, globalization allows these identities to live in a present and real world, where it is possible to find a new equilibrium and harmony between a nostalgic past and a hopeful future.

I believe that Italians, more than any other people, are particularly fit and ready for the experience of globalization. Their weak sense of belonging caused by the tormented events of history which only over a century ago brought political unity to the nation; their local and particular cultures which are the products of the history of a land divided for centuries into small political entities, constantly dismembered and then recomposed under different foreign dominations; and, moreover, the knowledge of being, despite extreme political and territorial fragmentation, part of universal entities (like the Empire and the Church); all of these elements, together with a flexible character which is generally open to foreigners, make of the Italians a people whose characteristics seem ideal to tackle this new phase in the history of the world.

It is not by chance that the Italian way of life, which places greater emphasis on quality rather than on quantity, is spreading ever more throughout the world. In a society where the concept of the property of goods and services (which is mainly related to an idea of territory and of quantity), is slowly being replaced by the idea (tied more to the quality of life, which knows no territorial limits) of temporary access and availability to goods and services (I am thinking of Rifkin’s book, The Civilisation of Access), Italian culture is becoming an example that is increasingly appreciated in many fields: in fashion, in music, in art, in design and in gastronomy.

With its position in the Mediterranean, Italy has always been, by necessity if not by choice, a land of networks, of links, marked by a universalistic vocation which attempts to respond to the conflicts and divisions of the world with a push for unification which goes beyond its boundaries. This universality, whose heritage has been the cause of delays and weaknesses for our country for an entire phase of its history, can today be transformed into an advantage, and that is to say, into a capacity to see more freely beyond the narrow confines of the State. Lets think, in this respect, to the construction of Europe. Whilst the stronger countries will be hesitant to free themselves from the constraints of their State, Italy will be burdened by a lesser load and, in this new era of globalization, its weakness, precluding any imperialistic or neo-colonial connotation (or temptation…), can rather become a force in the service of peace and international co-operation.

Yes, Italy can be a force in the service of the progress of nations in order to build a pluralistic and democratic world, free from the barriers of fundamentalism and nationalism,—a new world where goods and services will be accessible and guaranteed to everyone. Yes, Italy can be a force for a safer and more peaceful world, enriched by its different identities, but at the same time a world united in the knowledge of the shared destiny of present and future generations.