ABSTRACT
It is extremely difficult for a society to practise free flow of media and enjoy a national culture at the same time - unless it happens to be the United States of America. One of the several weaknesses with the notion of English as an International Language is that not only has there been a tendency to ask rather a narrow set of questions around 'English' and 'language', but much of the work done under this rubric has also failed to give any consideration to what is implied by the notion 'international'. Central to how the world in the late twentieth century is theorized, however, are the European origins of thought on international relations and the predominant paradigms that have informed both academic work and political process as defined by the dominant institutions of the West. Closely associated with this view of the world is a range of assumptions about 'development' and 'modernization'.
