As he was sworn in for another four years as United States President, Barack Obama devoted much of his speech to the unification of nations and foreign policy. Obama declared that, “We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity.” Even though he doesn’t specifically mention globalization, he goes on to touch on the many fights America and her people are facing in this present day, – climate change, poverty, energy, human rights, immigration – all of which can only be tackled with a unified global effort. A collective response is needed on an international level to fight these large fights that affect the entire world.
Within Roland Robertson’s theory of globalization he defines it as, “the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole” (Lechner and Boli 88). Globalization unifies societies and brings about an increased level of societal consciousness. Obama in many ways has become the face of the globalization effort, declaring himself a citizen of the world in his campaign for the 2008 presidency and widely supported worldwide. Will the world follow Roberton’s theory and come together through a common consciousness to follow in Obama’s words?
