A) Introduction
Globalization is not a new historical phenomenon, it has been present and active in various forms through many parts of the world , at different epochs. Today’s Globalization, was established after World War II by the United States and International American Corporate Interests, as America became the only World Super Power, politically, militarily, economically and culturally. The United States and American Economic Interests were now able to exercise political, economic and cultural dominance over all the countries attached to the international capitalist economic system or “the liberal” world market system. These countries were spread all over the world and in all continents, ranging from the developed industrialized nations like Great Britain, France, Japan and Germany, to the developing countries like India, Brazil, Argentina and the Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa(due to their oil resources), and finally, to the underdeveloped nations, especially in Central Africa and in Central America, like Somalia, the Sudan, Nicaragua and the Honduras. All these countries , are “the playing turf ” of American Globalization!!!
We shall now examine some historical examples of Globalization which reflect the spectrum of the types of Globalization which were preponderant and dynamic in the past.
We will start with the political, economic and cultural Globalization, established by Alexander the Great and his key Macedonian military officers, during the end of the 4th century B.C.. They founded the Hellenistic Kingdoms which endured for more than three centuries, while historians have named this historical epoch, “the Hellenistic Age”.(http://herculean-wordpress.com/2007/04/12/hellenistic-kingdoms-)
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323B.C., his Universal Empire was divided up into the Hellenistic kingdoms, ruled by his most intimate and trusted military officers.
The most important Hellenistic kingdom was the Kingdom of Egypt, established by Ptolemy in 305B.C., and it was the Ptolemaic dynasty which ruled Egypt until the death of Cleopatra in 30B.C., the last Egyptian ruler of this Macedonian dynasty.
Second in historical and political importance was the Seleucid dynasty, founded by Seleucus in 305B.C., in Syria and in Mesopotamia. The Seleucid Empire is considered by many historians as one of the greatest in human history, while at the peak of its hegemony, its territory included Asia Minor, Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Turkmenistan and the Indus Valley. The Seleucid Empire was finally defeated by Rome in 60B.C., as it later had occurred with the Egyptian kingdom of the Ptolemies .
The next Hellenistic dynasty in historical importance was the Antigonid dynasty within Greece , initiated by Antigonus in 306B.C., ruling most of the Greek Mainland with its Greek islands in the Aegean and Ionian Seas. The Antigonid dynasty was defeated by the Roman military forces in 146B.C., and became the Roman province of Macedonia.
Finally, we have the Attalid dynasty established by Philetaerus in 282B.C., in Asia Minor, with Pergamon as their capital. This Hellenistic kingdom was bequeathed to Rome in 133B.C.!!!(http://herculean-wordpress.com/2007/04/12/hellenistic-kingdoms-)
After these Hellenistic kingdoms were established and organised by Alexander’s military elite, their ruling classes and their main administrators, both the political and the military ones, were chosen from the ranks of Alexander’s Macedonian military officers and military personnel. Greek was the official language of the Hellenistic World, an important cultural factor which facilitated the exchange of goods and services, as well as the communication of ideas and technical knowhow.
The Hellenistic world evolved into a vast , dynamic, efficient and prosperous “ world market place”, a Globalized market place, which ensured its stability and its expansion, politically, economically and culturally. The main driving and unifying forces of the Hellenistic kingdoms were not only political and economic , but also cultural. Their rulers promoted the political-culture and the civilization of Ancient Greece, they modernised all the economic and administrative institutions, they expanded trade between the various territories of the Hellenistic world, but they also integrated into the indigenous cultures Greek culture, assimilating Greek religious beliefs to local religions, as well as preserving some of the traditional administrative positions with its local administrators.(http://ancient-greece.org/history/hellenistic.html)
Within the Hellenistic World, the most critical Globalization factor uniting it, was the cultural societal component, which had very little to do with the Ancient Greek religious beliefs or with the Ancient Greek Pantheon.
Two very important religious characteristics of Ancient Greek Culture was first , the fact that since ancient times, the Greeks had the propensity to adopt many of the indigenous divinities and the indigenous religious rituals of the territories they had migrated to , as Arian tribes coming from north-central Europe. For example, Aphrodite and Dionysus , two of the major Greek divinities making up the Greek Pantheon of the Olympian gods and goddesses , were indigenous dieties. Aphrodite was worshiped by various races residing in many of the regions of the Eastern Mediterranean, while Dionysus was a diety originating in Asia Minor.(http://www2.clarku.edu/departments/foreign/pdf/Olympians-PB.pdf)
The second religious aspect in Ancient Greek Culture is that of “religiosity” or personal religious piety, which was never a major factor in its societal unity or its social cohesion, since it was considered “ a private affair” and not “a communal policy” , as with Christianity, Judaism and Islam. At every geo-political region within the Greek mainland, there was a major Greek divinity which represented the inhabitants as a community or as a society!!!
Therefore, the “cultural banner” of the Hellenistic kingdoms was not their religion or the Pantheon of the Greek Divinities, but their “philosophy of life” and their “mode of thinking”, which affected the quality of their everyday life, their creativity and their socio-political institutions. Human Knowledge and Human Creativity were uppermost as life’s priorities . That is the reason why in all of the major urban centers or cities of the Hellenistic kingdoms, they built many large theaters where Greek plays could be presented to the “general public”, they erected many libraries where “all human knowledge” could be stored and “all scholars” could undertake their research work and teach. They also constructed many stadiums and gymnasiums so that all athletes, irrespective of their ethnic background, could compete in the various Athletic Games dedicated to major Greek divinities, like the Olympic Games and the Panathenaic Games.
It is no wonder that when the Ptolemies established their Hellenistic kingdom in Egypt in 305B.C., they adopted the royal title of Pharaoh , which to the Egyptian peoples personified a major Egyptian divinity. The Ptolemies also preserved the Pharaonic Social Institution of compulsory incestuous royal marriages, father-daughter, mother-son, brother-sister, so that they could legitimize their position as authentic Egyptian rulers.
In Ancient Greek Tradition, incestuous sexual relations were forbidden by law and were considered a major societal taboo, nevertheless, the Greeks easily adopted foreign religious and cultural institutions as long as this did not affect their “existential identity” , which was based on personal initiative, personal creativity and personal thinking!!!(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_dynasty)
Finally, in order for the Greek rulers of the Hellenistic kingdoms to create a Universal Political Culture, they promoted the physical integration and the intermarriage of the indigenous populations with the Greeks , by encouraging and facilitating the immigration of large numbers of Greeks from the Greek mainland.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic-period)
We shall now examine another historical paradigm of Globalization, that of the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire represents the historical geo-political entity whose political authority was centered in the city of Rome, and was personified by the Emperor, who had absolute political control over the enormous territories under Roman rule. These Roman territories are well described by the famous English historian Christopher Kelly, in his book devoted to every aspect of the Roman Empire. He writes the following: “….Then, the empire stretched from Hadrian’s Wall in drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria; from the great Rhine-Danube river system, which snaked across the fertile , flat lands of Europe from the Low Countries to the Black Sea, to the rich plains of the North African coast and the luxuriant gash of the Nile Valley in Egypt. The empire completely circled the Mediterranean- referred by its conquerors as ‘mare nostrum’-‘our sea’….”.(p.1, Kelly, Christopher, ’The Roman Empire: a Very Short Introduction’, Oxford University Press, 2007)
The above imperial geo-political entity, contained a population of 60 to 100 million people, representing a societal mosaic of different ethnicities, different races, different cultures and religions, and of different historical backgrounds.(http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/)
Historically, the Roman Empire begins in 27B.C., when Augustus(63B.C.-14A.D.), grand- nephew of Julius Caesar(100B.C.-44B.C.) and one of his lovers, was declared the First Emperor of Rome, and ends in 476A.D., when Romulus Augustus(461A.D.-476A.D.) , the emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was deposed by the German tribe leader Odoacer(433A.D.-493A.D.), who became the first Germanic king of Italy.(http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/)
The Roman Empire lasted for almost 500 years due to its extensive, effective and efficient system of imperial administration which had maintained the Pax Romana(Roman Peace) throughout the empire, while “….from approximately 27B.C. to 180A.D. – the reign of Augustus through that of Marcus Aurelius-the Roman Empire enjoyed relative peace, the longest such period in Western history before or since…”.(http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/)
The “historical hallmark” of the Roman Empire and its type of Globalization was its extensive system of imperial administration, with all the novel institutional inputs, all the socio-political reforms and all the organizational initiatives which were activated as Imperial Policy , to promote economic prosperity, cultural development and political stability. We shall therefore examine all aspects of human activity which ensured the viability, the dynamism and the longevity of this Roman system of Imperial Administration.
In order to maintain a stable and an efficient complex system of imperial administration, there had to be in place an institutionalized hierarchy of social classes, as well as an institutionalized hierarchy of political responsibilities, assigned to specific social classes and societal interest groups.
Within the Roman Empire, the term “political” as applied to public life today, meant more “politician” than “politics”, since there was no question of “politicking” , the moment that the Roman Government was monolithic, autocratic and self-contained. Any type of political activity in the modern sense of the word, would entail conflicting societal interests and a lack of political discipline and political loyalty towards the Roman State by its citizens, thus undermining the political legitimacy and the historical identity of Rome’s authoritarian regime!!!(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire)
The social hierarchy of Imperial Rome was the following: On top, we have the Patricians, members of the wealthiest families of Rome, naturally including the emperor, his family and his clan, and of course the imperial court. Next, were the Senators, whose privileged position was due to their political influence and wealth. This class was dominated by the nobility and were families whose ancestors included at least one ambassador. Down the class pyramid were the Equestrians(Knights) , whose political superiority was because of their wealth, their administrative and military services to the State, as well as their direct involvement with enterprising ventures, contrary to the Senators, who were excluded by law to function as entrepreneurs.
Following, were the Commons who were all freeborn Roman citizens, and if during their active years they acquired wealth and distinguished themselves in the Roman administration or the Roman military, they could move up the ladder to the Equestrian Social Class and later on, even to the Senatorial Class. This meant, that there was a certain degree of “social mobility”.
Next were the Freed people, who were once slaves but they had recovered their freedom. These people were allowed to work but were not permitted to hold positions within the civil services. Finally, we have the Slaves, who did not exercise any freedoms and were the sole property of their masters or owners.(www.hierarchystructure.com/ancient-rome-social-hierarchy)
Therefore, the social classes who were responsible for maintaining and coordinating the Empire’s extensive system of administration were the Patricians, the Senators and the Equestrians
The first societal components in maintaining this Imperial Administrative System in good order was naturally, a centralized and hierarchical formation of its centres of decision making and political control, a variety of socio-political “checks and balances”, and finally, a certain amount of “social mobility” to guarantee innovation and social development!!!
The emperor was known as the “princeps”(first citizen) during the first two centuries of the empire. The emperor had assumed the political powers of several offices which had existed under the Roman Republic:”…He took on the executive functions and “imperium”(absolute authority) of the consul(chief magistrate),as well as the religious authority of the “pontifex maximus”(high priest). Additionally, the emperor was invested with two other types of absolute authority, ”imperium proconsulare”, governorship and command of the provinces, and “imperium proconsulare maius”, the power to trump any magistrate anywhere in the empire. Over time, the emperor took on all lawmaking authority…”.(http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/)
The emperor’s advisory committee, the “Consilium Principis”(Imperial Council) was composed of consuls, magistrates and fifteen senators chosen by lots every six months.
The Senate acted as the governing council and the dominant institution of government. It was responsible for mediating with foreign embassies, formulated binding decrees, represented Rome’s highest court , and elected magistrates.
During the Roman Republic(510B.C.-27A.D.), the Senate represented an important political institution and was the only governing body which could influence the policies of the central government and monitor it. Under Augustus and the Roman emperors who succeeded him, the Senate was stripped of any real political power, while its numbers was reduced from more than 1,000 to 600. Senators were now appointed solely by the emperor and were not elected.(http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/)
Senators nevertheless, exercised great influence on Roman society and on Rome’s administration due to their enormous inherited wealth and their historical role as defenders of Roman traditions and Roman culture!!! Many Senators played a vital role in every aspect of Roman Imperial Administration, this being reflected in the context of their revenues and salaries. Through centuries of capital accumulation, mostly in the form of vast landed estates(latifundia) throughout many provinces, produced a lot of wealth for most senators, greatly increasing the economic gap between the very few within the privileged classes and the Commons, the average freeborn Roman citizens.”…Many(senators) received annual rents in cash and in kind of over 5,000 lbs of gold, equivalent to 360,000 solidi, at a time when “a miles”(common soldier) would earn no more than 4 solidi a year in cash. Even senators of middling wealth could expect an income of 1,000-1,500 lbs of gold…”.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equites)
During the late Roman Republic, a special social class was installed to counterbalance the political and social influence of the Senate and allow for greater “social mobility”, permitting the elevation of a Roman citizen to a higher social level. This was “the equestrian order” or “the equestrian class”(ordo equester), whose members could achieve important positions within Rome’s imperial administration and within the military. In practice, it was more difficult for a Roman citizen to rise from the Equestrian class to the Senatorial rank, than for a commoner or even a plebeian to reach the Equestrian class.
Wealth and social status played a very important role to “social mobility” within Roman society.”…Augustus for the first time set a minimum property requirement for admission to the Senate, of 250,000 denarii, two and a half times the 100,000 denarii that he set for admission to the equestrian order… Senator’s sons followed a separate “cursus honorum”(career –path) to other equities before entering the Senate, such as minor administrative functions…while a family’s senatorial status depended not only in continuing to match the higher wealth qualification, but on their leading member holding a seat in the Senate…”(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equites)
Therefore, it was the wealth and the social status of a Roman citizen which qualified him to serve in the most important administrative positions and in the most important military posts, whether he came from the Senatorial Order or the Equestrian Order. Military service was compulsory for every Roman citizen, for a minimum of 10 years.
The fact that for the Equestrians(knights) there wasn’t the prerequisite of heredity like for the Senatorial Order, valuable administrative, bureaucratic and military service to the Empire, as well as the maximum property requirements, allowed these persons (equestrians) to hold very high administrative functions, like the position of governor or military commander, while at the same time they could occupy themselves with their own private commercial enterprises. These business ventures by Equestrians , were linked to their bureaucratic positions as civil servants, magistrates or even as governors , responsible for maintaining public records, overseeing the provincial finances and tax collection.
The status of the Equestrian class was therefore mainly economically derived.”…The equestrians, a class that had emerged during the late Republic, were businessmen who had profited from the manufacturing and trade; this class came to dominate the imperial bureaucracy…”.(http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/)
The Senators were forbidden by law to take part in any form of business venture. For example, it was made a rule that a member of the Senate group could not own a cargo ship.(www.hierarchystructure.com/ancient-rome-social-hierarchy)
The sons of Senators and their further descendants, technically retained equestrian rank unless and until they won a seat in the Senate. As a consequence, there was an institutional overlap between the Senatorial Order and the Equestrian Order, permitting Rome’s central government to assign the most important administrative positions to members of both of these Societal Orders. Nevertheless, most of the top posts in the imperial administration were reserved for Senators, who provided the governors of the larger provinces(except Egypt), the legion commanders(legati legionis) of all the legions outside Egypt, and the prefect of the city of Rome (praefectus urbi) who controlled the public order battalions(cohortes urbanae), the only fully armed force in Rome apart from the Praetorian Guard. Augustus had created a wide range of senior administrative and military positions reserved for the Equestrians , yet these ranked below the senatorial posts.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equites)
It was accepted by ancient writers, and certified by many modern historians, that Roman emperors trusted the Equestrians more than the men of the senatorial rank, and that they used the former as a political counterweight to the Senate. This was a socio-political mechanism of “checks and balances”, in a highly hierarchical administrative system. Senators were often seen by the Emperor and Rome’s central authorities as potentially less loyal and correct than the Equestrians; that they could become powerful enough , through their command of provincial legions to launch military coups. As a consequence, the Equestrians were appointed to the most sensitive and critical military commands, that is the reason why in Egypt, the Roman province which supplied most of Italy’s grain needs, the governor and the commanders of both provincial legions were drawn from the Equestrian Order.
With the same logic , the commanders of the Praetorian Guard, the main military force close to the Emperor in Rome, was also usually drawn from the Equestrian Order. There was also the appointment of “equestrian” fiscal procurators, reporting directly to the emperor, alongside senatorial provincial governors. The “equestrian” procurators were responsible for supervising the collection of taxes and acted as inspectors to limit any type of corruption by the governors, while also managing the imperial estates in the provinces.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equites)
Because the Senate was limited to 600 members, while the Knights in the public service(equites equo publico) numbered several thousands, the last, greatly outnumbered the men within the senatorial rank. Even so, Senators and Equites together represented a very small elite group in a body of Roman citizens of about 6 million, and in an empire with a total population of 60 to 100 million. This immensely wealthy elite monopolized the political, military and economic powers within the Roman Empire. It controlled the major offices of the state, the commands of all military units, the ownership of an important proportion of the empire’s arable land, and most of the large commercial enterprises. To a great degree, Senators and Equites cooperated effectively in the running of the Roman Empire.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equites)
The third societal factor in maintaining an immense administrative imperial system was naturally the strength and the efficacy of its military complex. Historians, have evaluated the Roman military as the most successful and powerful in human history. Roman society was a “militaristic society” like in the Hellenistic kingdoms. It was a militaristic society during the Roman Republic and of course during Imperial Rome. The Romans believed that they were descendants of Mars, the Olympian Greek God of war, Ares. The Roman army in the beginning, was made up of citizen soldier farmers which through time, evolved into the first professional army of Roman citizens, coming from all walks of life, but especially from the Roman inhabitants of Italy’s agricultural rural regions.(http://www.ancientmilitary.com)
Since the beginning of Roman history in the 5th century B.C. , all of Roman society was geared towards supporting their military before anything else. Women were encouraged to have many children in order to reinforce the manpower needs of the state. Like in the Hellenistic kingdoms, Rome’s leaders were men with military experience, and were obliged to command their legions in time of war. Some of these famous Roman political leaders were Julius Caesar(100B.C.-44B.C.), Mark Anthony(83B.C.-30B.C.) and Augustus(63B.C.-14A.D.).
As it had occurred historically in the Hellenistic kingdoms, there was a transfer of large numbers of Roman citizens throughout the Roman provinces of the empire, representing the many legions of Roman citizen soldiers and numerous Roman citizen administrators. Their role was to secure and oversee Roman Peace(Pax Romana), as well as the military readiness and the economic stability of the Roman Empire. All of these Roman soldiers and administrators in the various Roman provinces , intermingled with the indigenous population and became a permanent societal element in their social landscape. As time evolved, the legions of the Roman Empire were still largely filled by Roman citizens who had to serve continuously for 20 years, before being discharged and awarded a plot of land.(http://www.ancientmilitary.com)
What distinguished the Roman military was not only the fact that their soldiers were Roman citizens, mostly farmers, but that these regional forces of citizen soldiers evolved into a massive and well organised professional army which eventually conquered the Mediterranean world from Mesopotamia to Scotland. “…The core of Rome’s military strength lay in the professionalism of their heavy infantry. A force that was organised and reorganised as it evolved and adapted to survive the assaults of its mortal enemies, and conquer the Western world…”.(http://www.ancientmilitary.com)
Military duty was compulsory for all Roman citizens, whether rich or poor, politically powerful or less powerful. Regular soldiers were required to equip themselves and were organised according to the military hardware they could afford to purchase. For most Roman soldiers, their standard military equipment were the spear, the shield and the helmet.”…Scipio(235B.C.-183B.C.) also introduced a deadly new short sword that he had come across in the Spanish theatre of war, “the gladius”. Crafted by Celtic , Iberian and Celtiberian tribes, these swords were the best in the world and would become the main weapon of the legions…”.(http://www.ancientmilitary.com)
Since the early Republic, the Romans had used auxiliary troops, non-Romans, who served with the Roman legions in roles that the heavy Roman infantry could not fill effectively, such as light skirmish troops and heavy cavalry. In time, these auxiliary troops increased in members and by the late Empire they, along with foreign mercenaries , had become the main body of the Roman armies. These Roman army mercenaries came mainly from central European warring tribes such as the Goths, the Lombards, the Franks and the Vandals. This last information, is a very good indication that the Roman State was Cosmopolitan and Multiethnic!!!
The next Roman contribution to maintaining a well organised administrative system and a well integrated empire , politically , socially and economically, was the creation of a permanent “universal legal code” which was strictly applied in all the Roman provinces by their Roman magistrates, judges and administrators. This “universal legal system” was primarily laid out by Gaius(130A.D.-180A.D.), a famous Roman jurist whose texts became authoritative in the late Roman Empire.
The Law of Citation, issued by the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II in 426 A.D., named Gaius as one of the 5 jurists whose doctrines were to be followed by judges in deciding cases. The Institutions(Institutes) of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (527A.D.-565A.D.), famous for his contribution in formulating state laws, such as the Justinian Legal Code, which were intended to supersede Gaius’s legal treatise of the same name, were modeled on the older work in style and content, word by word.(http://www.britannica.com/biography/Gaius).
The Justinian Code is the basis for the law of many countries and the American political leaders who wrote the Bill of Rights, used the Justinian Legal Code as the basis to write it.(http://medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/justinianscode.html)
The Institutions(Institutes) of Gaius were written around 161A.D., and comprised four books. The first concerns the legal status of persons, the second and third, property rights, including inheritance; and the fourth, forms of legal actions.(http://www.britannica.com/biography/Gaius)
The Roman legal system compiled by Gaius “… is still the basis for most European legal systems and laws. In these systems , laws are listed by crimes in a series of books. In the U.K. and the U.S.A., Common Law is an evolved variant of the original Roman Law. In Common Law, judgements and punishments are based on precedent; the rulings made by previous judges and juries…”.(http://www.illumine.co.uk/2017/01/what-have-the-romans-)
In order to make a vast and complex administrative system function constructively, both politically and economically, there had to be in place a well developed and a well balanced “universal language”, which would facilitate the clear cut communication of political orders and guidelines, as well as a practical and simplified compilation of specialized information concerning “state affairs” in all sectors of the Roman provinces, e.g. population census, tax collection, internal social climate, provincial military needs, etc.
These are the existing imperial preconditions which prompted the Roman administrative and political power centres then, to develop the most widely used alphabet and writing in the known world. The Roman alphabet or the Latin alphabet is considered by many historians, as probably the most widely used of the Roman contributions to the modern world, representing “…the official script of nearly all Western European languages, some Eastern European languages, and also some non-European languages…The alphabet was borrowed from the Greeks by the Etruscans before being developed further by the Romans…”.(http://www.illumine.co.uk/2017/01/what-have-the-romans-)
Of course with a universal or international language, the Romans also created a universal but also viable system of time calculation, extending for the whole calendar year. This Roman innovation and Roman contribution was a necessity concerning every aspect of Roman public and economic life, from organizing military campaigns to organizing public festivals which glorified their gods, their emperors and their national heroes. Therefore , the Julian Calendar which was developed and introduced then, is being used today by most of the countries around the world, including the names of the months.(https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-greatest-)
The Roman religion was not a universal religion celebrated identically everywhere by everyone. There was no Roman religion in the singular!!! The state did not interfere in the private religious practices of its citizens, whatever their religious beliefs or cults!!! For the Romans, Humankind was not god’s creation, and the idea of a Creator did not even play any part in the religion. The Roman gods were created like human beings and, like them, were to be found in this world, but they also do not appear anywhere as their creators. Roman religion was an adaptation of the “religiosity” as it was practiced by the Ancient Greeks.
There was no State sponsored religion in the Roman Empire, therefore, in order to maintain the cohesion and the unity of a multiethnic and a multidenominational State, laws were passed protecting the “religious freedom” of all of its citizens, including the rest of the inhabitants on Roman territory.
At that time, there were specific religions or specific religious cults which were identified with specific ethnicities, as in the case of the Jews with their Hebraic Religious Tradition and the Greeks who worshipped the Olympian Pantheon. The fact that the Roman political authorities at times persecuted their Jewish citizens and their Judaeo- Christian citizens, was because both of these religious societal groups (the great majority of early Christians were Jews) had tried to proselytize Roman subjects to their own religion, since they considered the religion of the Romans and the religion of the Greek Ethnics as pagan, practicing idolatry!!! These Jewish religious cults wanted to undermine the stability, the viability and the legitimacy of the Pax Romana(Roman Order) for their own personal political, social and economic interests!!!
Imperial Rome’s state policy of “freedom of religion” for all of its citizens as well as the tens of millions of its subjects residing throughout the Roman Empire, reinforced social order and political loyalty, while also enhancing “social mobility” and the constructive use of all human talent, whether it be in the military, in the bureaucracy, in the enterprising world or in the technical sector . For example, Saint Paul(5A.D.-67A.D.) who was a Pharisee, meaning a member of the Jewish Religious Aristocracy of Palestine, was a Roman citizen like his father, becoming an important military officer, assigned by the central government of the Roman province of Syria -Palestine to maintain social order and political control over the Jewish population of Jerusalem.(http://www.fourwinds 10.com)
In a similar historical case, we have Alexander, the older brother of Philo the Alexandrian(20B.C.-45A.D.), the most famous Jewish theologian of his time, who came from a wealthy and aristocratic family of Alexandria, and whose Jewish family and clan were all Roman citizens.
Alexander held the high administrative post of General Customs Officer of Alexandria, the most important commercial port of the Empire, especially for its grain exports to Rome, while at that time , he was considered as the richest Roman citizen of Alexandria and one of the richest Roman citizens in the Hellenistic world!!!
Alexander , exercised great political influence within the Roman state apparatus due to his high economic and social affiliations with Rome’s political power centres, while he was also a very intimate friend of Roman Emperor Claudius(41A.D.-54A.D.), taking upon himself the role of “protector” of the Emperor’s mother!!!(http://www.britannica.com/biography/Philo-Judaeus)
The third historical type of Globalization we shall examine is the Christian religion, through its many independent churches and denominations around the world. This “religious globalization” has been active and expanding since the time of Saint Paul , during the 1st century A.D., the true founder of Christianity as an “organised religion”!!!
The number of Christian followers today around the world is indicative of Christianity’s success as a globalizing socio-cultural force. The main denominations of Christianity at the present time have the following number of followers. The Catholic Church represents 1.285 billion people, the Protestant Church 800 million people, the Eastern Orthodox Church 270 million people, the Oriental Orthodox Church 86 million people, and the Anglican Church 85 million people.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of _Christian_)
From the total number of Christian followers we have just enumerated, it is easy to conclude that Christianity as an “organised religion” functioned as a very dynamic globalizing historical force, considering the fact that during the time of Saint Paul(5A.D.-67A.D.), Christians represented a very small social minority of mainly Jewish Roman subjects who resided in Palestine, in Asia Minor and on the Greek mainland.
The first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included Saint Peter, James, the brother of Jesus Christ, and John the Apostle.”…The first Christians, as described in the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, were all Jews , either by birth or conversion, for which the biblical term “proselyte” is used, and referred to by historians as Jewish Christians…”.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christianity)
Therefore, the success of Christianity as a Universal Religion can best be understood if we examine the historical foundations of this religion as it was constructed by Saint Paul and his Judaeo-Christian followers , at that time, and later on.
Early Christianity as an “organised religion” with its centers of worship, its primitive churches and its monasteries, had very little in common theologically and philosophically with the Word of Christ, who preached for an Ideal Human Being within an Ideal Earthly Kingdom!!!
Christianity was a socio-political movement initiated by Saint Paul in the name of Jesus Christ, the “resurrected” Son of God, to transmit the Traditional Jewish Political Culture to Roman society “through the back door”, thus elevating the socio-cultural status and the historical legitimacy of all Jews within the Roman Empire.
Saint Paul was a cunning, ambitious, charismatic and opportunistic “Jewish politician”, who declared himself “an apostle” of Christ , and according to him, this was a “divine appointment” to fulfill a “sacred mission” , commanded and enabled by God and governed by the Spirit of God through Revelation.(http://matthiasmedia.com/briefing/2014/02/paul-and-leadership)
Saint Paul’s teachings and writings in the New Testament represent and reflect “an ideology”, the Christian Ideology, like Liberalism, Conservatism, Capitalism, Socialism and Nazism, while Christ’s teachings as described by the Evangelists in their Gospels, pertain directly to a “new philosophy” of Life based on the universal tenets of the Old Testament and the Jewish Prophets.
Jesus Christ through his teachings wanted to rejuvenate a socially decadent and culturally stagnant Jewish society, as well as communicating to the rest of the people living in Palestine his concept of Universal Love, which for Him was the key to Human Salvation here on Earth!!!
In order to better comprehend the vast human differences separating the personalities of Jesus Christ and Saint Paul, we should first clarify the conceptual and schematic dissimilarities between the term “philosophy” and the term “ideology”.
Philosophy concerns a well – defined thought process which aims at examining human existence in a pragmatic and objective way, so as to fix and understand the human variables and attributes affecting the quality of Life. Ideology on the other hand , represents a set of beliefs and doctrines that support a certain societal institution or a particular societal organization.(http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-philosophy-and-ideology/)
An ideology communicates a dissatisfaction towards the established socio-political and economic system, promoting some future ideal state of affairs, while the main focus of philosophy is to comprehend the current state of affairs in a dialectic and universal manner.
The prime incentive of an ideology is to change the present world, that is why it is dogmatic and rigid. Once its main terms of reference(doctrine) have been defined, it doesn’t change or evolve, whatever the historical or societal developments. The fact that philosophy seeks universal truths, it encourages and prescribes dialectic thinking and knowledge, while ideology discourages any type of thinking and any kind knowledge which question the basic tenets of its doctrine, thus in a sense ,promoting dogmatism and orthodoxy.(http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-philosophy-and-ideology/)
These differences between ideology and philosophy are basic conceptual factors which did not allow for any substantial progressive change in Christian doctrine, responding to the different historical epochs, the different cultures and the different socio-economic realities of the nations, societies and communities which experienced in a very authoritarian and totalitarian manner, Christianity’s Ideological Globalization!!!
Therefore, the most important globalizing factor in Christianity as in all “organised religions” throughout human history is its “ideology”, since its main aim initially , is to found and establish a “particular” or an “exceptional” socio-political association, which in the course of time, will evolve into a socio-political organization. The final goal of this “exceptional” and “radical” social movement is to construct an independent or a semi-independent socio-political entity or a political state which would expand continuously, territorially and socio-culturally. Two of the best historical examples for this inherent globalizing dynamic of organised religions is the Christian Religion and the Islamic Religion!!!
In the historical case of the Christian religion , one begins with the Theocracy of the Byzantine Empire(330-1453), then the Theocracy of the Vatican City State(326-till today) and then the Holy Roman Empire(800-1806). Later on, we witness the Colonial Empires which Western European Powers established around the world, like Spain, Portugal, England, France and Holland after the 16th century , all in the name of Christendom!!!
Now in relation to the Islamic Religion, we observe at first, the Islamic Empires whose territories extended from Central Asia, the Middle East to Africa, as well as within the Mediterranean Basin. Initially, these Islamic Empires were founded during the 7th century A.D. by the Arabo-Islamic Umayyad Dynasty(661-744) with its capital in Damascus and then by the Arabo-Islamic Abbasid Dynasty(750-1258) with its capital in Baghdad . Today, the world’s muslim population as recorded in 2015, numbered 1.8 billion believers, representing 24% of the world’s population.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_by_country)
We shall now examine briefly how Saint Paul distorted the Word and the Philosophy of Christ as Messiah, in order to create an organised Christian Religion, through his Judaeo-Christian churches and his Jewish Christian apostles or proselytizers, aiming for social, economic and political power and dominance in an ever expanding territory, starting from the Middle East, Asia Minor and the Eastern Mediterranean world.”…Early Christianity spread from city to city in the Hellenized Roman Empire and beyond, into East Africa and South Asia. Apostles traveled extensively, establishing communities in major cities and regions throughout the Empire. The original church communities were founded by apostles and numerous other Christian soldiers, merchants and preachers in northern Africa, Asia Minor, Armenia, Arabia, Greece, and other places. Over 40 , were established by the year 100…”.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christianity)
Saint Paul or Saul of Tarsus(5A.D.-67A.D.) belonged to the Jewish religious aristocracy of Palestine, the Pharisees. He was born in the city of Tarsus, the most cosmopolitan city of Asia Minor at that time, situated in the Roman province of Cilicia. Saint Paul was a member of the Jewish ethnic community of Galilee, becoming an important Roman military officer ,appointed by the central government of the Roman province of Syria-Palestine to supervise the Jewish population of Jerusalem.(http://www.fourwinds 10.com). According to his writings in the New Testament, prior to his conversion , Saint Paul as a Roman officer was dedicated to persecuting the early disciples of Jesus Christ within the vicinity of Jerusalem!!!(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Apostle)
Through his own accounts in the New Testament,”…Paul was an orthodox Jewish Pharisee, who was born a citizen of Rome but who was called from his mother’s womb to serve God(Acts 23:6, 26:5,Gal 1:15). Paul’s father must have provided some important service to the Empire to be granted Roman citizenship(Acts 22:27-28). His wealth and influence probably contributed to Paul having the opportunity to receive a good education…”.(http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/documents)
Saint Paul is considered as one of the most important religious figures of the Apostolic Age, while he founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe. Saint Paul being both an educated Jew and a Roman citizen, fluent in Aramaic , Latin and Greek, was able to minister to both Jewish and Roman audiences.
Now, the philosophic message of Jesus Christ was simply the word “love”(agape in Greek) in all of its existential and spiritual dimensions. The love of God or of the Divine, the love of one’s fellow human beings, the love of nature and of its animal kingdom, the love of Truth and the love of Oneself!!! He was the first Scholar and Sage in human history whose whole philosophy was based on the human sentiment and feelings of love and empathy!!!
Christ was a very wise and analytical person, who knew very well that Love is a radical human potential on a personal but also on a collective level!!! He was conscious and understood that Love is a type of human behaviour which cannot be directed or controlled, since it is an instinctive human expression through the Human Conscience and the Human Spirit!!!
All of Christ’s students had abandoned Him at the end of His short existence, ignoring the depth and the degree of His spiritual and social contribution, as well as his everyday Acts of Human love!!! The students of Jesus Christ did not have the rich cultural background(philosophy, dialectic thinking, aesthetics) to appreciate His philosophic ideals as had the Greek students of Socrates with their Teacher and Mentor, almost 350 years earlier in Athens!!!!
Within the Traditional Jewish Culture, there are “divine” laws, tenets, and regulations, originating from the Old Testament and the sayings of the Jewish Prophets. These religious parameters , defined the entirety of the Jewish socio-political culture, and no human initiative is permitted to question or interpret this “divine construct” through a dialectic mental process!!! Saint Paul instilled this “static” and “absolutist” mental process into the Christian Religion through his concept of “absolute human faith”, which had nothing in common with the Philosophy of Christ and everything to do with the “orthodox ideology” of Traditional Jewish Religion!!!
I personally believe, that the students of Jesus Christ or the Apostles, after their Teacher’s death, felt very guilty for abandoning and betraying their Mentor. Therefore, they decided to follow his example and spread his message of Love to their Jewish public, while two of them, Matthew and John, wrote about the life and the teachings of Christ in their gospels, which was emulated a little later on , by the Evangelists Luke and Mark!!!
God’s Law of Love as pronounced by Jesus Christ and not by Saint Paul, is explained in Matthew 22:35-40, a Law which should govern every aspect of a Christian’s life and relations with his or her fellow human beings.”…An expert in the Mosaic Law tested Jesus with this question: ‘ Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him , ‘ You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great commandment . And the second is like it :’ You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets…”.(http://www.thefamilyinternational.org/en/about/)
Let us now examine how Saint Paul transformed Christ’s Philosophy of Love and Earthly Salvation, into a strategic ideology for Social, Political and Economic Influence centred on the Religious Institution of the Christian Church, while also enhancing the societal status of Jews within the Roman Empire. Through his Christian Church, Saint Paul provided the Jews with a socio-cultural base which was an essential part of their religious and historical heritage through the Jewish ethnic identity of Jesus Christ and Christ’s religious identification with the Old Testament and with the Jewish Prophets!!!
Saint Paul in his letters in the New Testament mainly talks about organising the various Christian communities and churches within the Roman Empire, about his visits to these locations, directions for the public reading of his letters, arranging the collection of financial aid for Christians and disciplining his Christian followers, than about the Life and the Philosophy of Christ as a Messiah!!!(http://matthiasmedia.com/briefing/2014/02/paul-and-leadership)
For Saint Paul, God’s kingdom as related to the Embodiment of Christ was “heavenly” and wholly different from the “earthly kingdom” proclaimed by John the Baptist, Jesus and the Twelve Apostles.”…The message John the Baptist, Jesus and the Twelve preached was that the King of Israel had arrived and that the kingdom of heaven was near. This kingdom was an earthly , political kingdom in which the Messiah would reign as king…The primary beneficiaries of the “kingdom of heaven” were Jews, not Gentiles, since God’s covenant promises focused upon Jews…”.(http://doctrine.org/jesus-vs-paul)
Saint Paul or Saul of Tarsus, who yearned for political, economic and cultural hegemony for himself and his Judaeo-Christian followers within the Roman Empire, preached that his church as the Body of Christ would be defined by a Universal Religion which would ensure its followers, the Grace of God and of Jesus Christ, his resurrected Son, and a “secure place” in Heaven!!!
Saint Paul preached justification by “faith” to his own Revealed Tenets and Commandments, following the ideological religious tradition of the Old Testament. On the other hand, Jesus Christ did not espouse faith related to his philosophic ideals, but a “dialectic thought process” and “human understanding” through his parables, his empathy towards the downtrodden and through his philanthropic action in healing the sick.
The fact that the 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ glorified the work of Christ as a Messiah and as a Social Philosopher, essentially for the Jews, forced Saint Paul after his conversion, to distance himself from the Apostles, while”…he did not speak of the life of Christ nor did he quote our Lord or promote His message. Saul delivered his own gospel , built his own foundation and asked the crowds to emulate him…”.(http://doctrine.org/jesus-vs-paul)
Now, we come to the question as to how the Christian Religion spread so quickly throughout the Roman Empire after its activation by Saint Paul during the 1st century A.D.!!!
Saint Paul metamorphosed Christianity as an “organized religion”, from being a “primitive church” and a “marginal religious sect” to becoming the center of political power and influence, consolidating its societal status as a religious institution, starting dynamically within the Eastern Roman Empire(Byzantium) after the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great(306A.D.-337A.D.) and after the First Religious Council of Nicaea in 325A.D. , when Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman Empire(380A.D.).
Then, the Christian clergy acquired a senior civil status within the empire and the Christian Church as an arm of the state, became wealthy.”…The church dominated economic activities for over a thousand years. When it comes to economics, the church therefore was in there the first and has been there the longest…”.(www.global-directions.com/articles/religion/Church and Economics.pdf)
The key to the rapid expansion of the Christian Church from the time of Saint Paul lies within the Roman socio-economic system of “patronage”, which had existed and functioned actively during the Roman Republic and afterwards, within the Roman Empire.
In Ancient Rome, “clients” were plebeians or Roman commons who were bound in a subservient relationship with their patrician “patrons”. Many “clients” were freed persons who had once served their masters as slaves. They still belonged to the family of their old master and they still owed him services as part of their liberty.”…This system of patronage offered real benefits to its clients. Loans, food and legal advice were theirs for the asking, in fact, patrons were required to feed their clients in times of want. What’s more, clients shared in the status of their patrons; the higher the rank of the patron, the higher the rank of his or her client…”.(https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2002/07/patrons-and-patronage)
There were two types of patronage, there was “public patronage” in which a patron became the protector and benefactor of a group, such as a craftsman’s guild, a religious association or even an entire city. Public patronage involved large grants for public buildings and philanthropic institutions such as old age homes and hospitals, but it could also entail various forms of protection and advocacy. Then we have “personal patronage”, where a patron aids an individual of lower status through money, gifts, help with lawsuits or business affairs. Generally , patronage relationships were maintained through several generations of the same families.(http://www.vroma.org/)
Saint Paul utilized this Roman institution of patronage to found and consolidate his first Christian communities and churches throughout the Eastern Mediterranean regions. Nevertheless , there were critical historical preconditions at that time, which made Saint Paul’s patronage system work effectively, realizing his ambition for a Universal Religion based on Traditional Jewish Culture.
First of all, and as we have already mentioned, the great majority of the early Christian communities were made up of Judaeo-Christians, representing an ethnic minority, the Jews, which was very active in all sectors of Roman society, especially in politics, in business and in the military.
Second, a powerful Judaeo-Christian patron would also entail a great number of important clients, since as we have already mentioned, the higher the rank of the patron, the higher the rank of his or her clients!!! The Judaeo-Christian patron had the “legal prerogative” to impose the Christian religion on his or her clients through baptism. A very good historical example of such a patron or patroness, to be more exact, was Lydia, mentioned in the Acts 16:14,15 of the New Testament. Lydia was a wealthy merchant of purple cloth from the city of Thyatira in Asia Minor. Once Lydia converted to Christianity, she had her whole household and all her clients baptized.
Saint Paul , in the New Testament mentions other powerful Christian followers who also served as patrons, such as Phoebe(Rom. 16:2), Jason(Acts. 17:8,9), Aristobulus(Rom. 16:9,10), Philemon(Phil. 2) and Stephanas(1 Cor.1:16).(https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2002/07/patrons-and-patronage)
Third, and against the moral and philosophic premises of Jesus Christ concerning the negative role of wealth in defining a person’s character and social behaviour(Matt.19:21, Matt.19:24,Mark 10:25), within the early Christian churches , we witness few patrons who included the poor as clients, since they wanted clients of a higher socio-economic background whose social status would enhance theirs.
These mostly Judaeo-Christian patrons were very critical societal factors during the early beginnings of Christianity as an “organised religion”, since most of them were Roman citizens who provided for the accommodation and the expenses for the various churches, where Christians would meet and pray.”…In fact, for the first 200 years of the Christian church, believers met almost exclusively in ‘house churches’, probably most of which were the homes of Christian patrons…”.(https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2002/07/patrons-and-patronage)
As a consequence, we see the first Christian churches organised like “primitive masonic lodges”, whose “masonic emblem” was the Christ Crucified or the Christ Resurrected, but whose real “amalgamating social stigma” was not Christ’s Great Commandments of Love, Empathy, Social Justice and Equality, but the human passion for economic affluence, political power and social status. Today, all Christian Churches of all denominations, are very powerful and influential societal institutions, directly in a cultural and a social context, and indirectly in an economic and political context!!!
Almost 300 years after Saint Paul’s apostolic work, we witness in the Western Roman Empire, Saint Ambrose(340A.D.-397A.D.), who at first was the Roman governor of Liguria and Emilia, headquartered in Milan, becoming bishop of Milan by popular acclamation in 374A.D.!!! Saint Ambrose exercised great influence on state policies of the Roman Emperors during his time.”…From 361 until 375, paganism was relatively tolerated. Three Emperors- Gratian, Valentinian II and Theodosius I-came under the influence of the Bishop of Milan. At his suggestion, state anti-paganism policies were reinstituted…”.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_pagans)
In the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire, we have the historical cases of the Three Great Fathers of Christian Orthodoxy or the Three Great Hierarchs of Christian Orthodoxy, who lived during the 4th century A.D. , in Asia Minor. All three of them were friends and collaborators, but also functioned as “patrons” to their Christian clients, eventually becoming important bishops. These Three Hierarchs were able to influence the Byzantine Emperors in many of their policies, especially those ones related to the persecution of Roman pagans, who in Byzantium were represented by the Ethnics or those of Greek ethnic heritage. The Ethnics were attached to the Polytheistic religion of Ancient Greece and defended all Institutions which were creations of Ancient Greek Culture and Civilization.
First, we have saint Basil the Great(329A.D.-379A.D.), who became Bishop of Caesarea, a major urban and cultural center in Asia Minor because of its position on the military road linking Constantinople to Antioch. His family had been Christian since the days of the persecutions of Christians, which had ended in the 4th century A.D.. He came from a rich and aristocratic Greek family, while one of his uncles was a bishop and two of his brothers, Gregory and Peter, became bishops later on. One happy family of religious Christian entrepreneurs!!!
Saint Basil coming from a rich and politically powerful family, received a classical education at the highest educational institutions of the Byzantine Empire. He studied at Caesarea and Constantinople, and finally at the Greek Academies of Athens, where he developed a “very close” friendship with Saint Gregory the Theologian(329A.D.-390A.D.), the second Orthodox Hierarch who became Archbishop of Constantinople in 381A.D.!!!(http://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Basil-the Great)
Saint Gregory the Theologian was born of Greek parentage in the family estate of Karbala, near Nazianzus in southwest Cappadocia, in Asia Minor. His parents , Gregory and Nona, were wealthy landowners. In 325A.D. , Nona converted her husband to Christianity, who was ordained bishop of the city of Nazianzus in 329A.D.. Saint Gregory studied advanced rhetoric and philosophy in Nazianzus, in Caesarea, in Alexandria and in Athens. In Athens , Saint Gregory began his long friendship with Saint Basil, while in this same Athenian Academy , he made the acquaintance of Flavius Claudius Julianus, who would later become Byzantine Emperor Julian(361A.D.-363A.D.).
This last historical fact is a good indication and proof as to how economically and socially powerful were the families of Saint Basil and Saint Gregory, later on acting as important Christian patrons with bishoprics and many churches in Asia Minor. Saint Gregory the Theologian was appointed Archbishop of Constantinople in 380A.D.!!!(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_of_Nazianzus)
The Third Hierarch of Christian Orthodoxy is Saint John Chrysostom(349A.D.-407A.D.), who was ordained Archbishop of Constantinople in 397A.D.. Saint John was born in Antioch in 349A.D., to Greek parents from Syria. His mother was a Christian and his father was a “high-ranking military officer”. As a consequence of his mother’s influential connections in Antioch, Saint John began his education under the most famous pagan teacher of that time, Libanius. From Libanius he received his skills in rhetoric, as well as a love of the Greek language and Greek literature. He was baptized a Christian in 373A.D..
Saint John as Archbishop of Constantinople, the most powerful clerical position in the Byzantine Empire, as an influential and dynamic Christian patron and political ally of Byzantine Emperors, founded a series of hospitals in Constantinople to care for the sick and the needy, while around 405A.D.,”…John began to lend moral and financial support to Christian monks who were enforcing the emperors’ anti-pagan laws, by destroying temples and shrines in Phoenicia and nearby regions…”.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John__Chrysostom)
Returning now to American Globalization, we could say , that it essentially began after World War II, when the United States came out of this major military conflict , as the most powerful military, political and economic nation in the world. This hegemonic world status of the United States still remains intact, even though in the course of time, various power centers have been brought to the forefront around the world, such as the European Community, Japan, a conglomeration of southeastern Asian states, and naturally the rapid rise of China during the last 20 years, which is being predicted to become the next World Super Power!!!
In American Globalization there are three dynamics which we have described in the three differing historical cases of Globalization, nevertheless , these dynamics have been adapted to today’s cultural, political and economic circumstances around the world.
The cultural parameter which has been identified with the Hellenistic kingdoms, in American Globalization is represented by the “culture of mass consumption” of goods and services produced by the very powerful multinational corporations, dominated by American transnational economic interests.
The administrative globalizing determinant which we described in the historical context of the Roman Empire, presently, is represented by the more than 1,000 American military bases around the globe, the most powerful industrial-military complex in the history of mankind, and the enormous influence the United States exercises on non-governmental world organizations, such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization(WTO).
Finally, the historical ideological world power force of the Christian Religion through its various Christian Churches and Denominations , in American Globalization is represented by “capitalism” with its modern neo-liberal ideology of “controlled market forces”, not the ideology of “free market forces” of traditional capitalism.
Therefore, in examining American Globalization, we shall devote 3 analyses which they shall first clarify the cultural input of American Globalization, then the political input, and finally, the economic input !!!!