ABSTRACT
Globalisation is a term not only continually contested but also accompanied by processes undergoing constant transformation. This enables proponents, as well as opponents, to refine and redefine the terms of reference, factors and forces seen to propel such change. Studies of globalisation increasingly emphasise the interconnections and multifarious linkages according to which the local becomes an important focal point for social, political and cultural mobilisation against perceived and present global threats. Changing power structures have provoked debate about the ramifications of globalisation and the value, nature and future of nation-states. The present increase in the extent and impact of global interconnectedness, its new intensity and instantaneity inevitably brings about a compression and significance of space and time. The political rationale for new localism is not based only on community values, nor even necessarily on a locational logic. It also includes the instrumental use of localism as a political strategy to circumvent or replace the outmoded structures of central bureaucracies.
