ABSTRACT
Earlier glowing accounts of the global village have been too simplistic and superficial. They underestimate the power of history, tradition, language, and autonomy. In the age of mergers and buyouts, global corporations and global advertising agencies are changing the way we receive news and entertainment. Is there life after the fading of global village optimism? There is nothing new about global thinking and model building. Global consciousness flourished in the Age of Imperialism, when European nations carved up much of the non-Western world. Perhaps later historians will tell sad tales about the global village. Might a global village create global slums? The global village is a utopian vision; the reality is the nation, region, and locality, which still control and sustain us. As for the global village, perhaps it was—to use the title of a movie about the Allies’ unsuccessful effort to rush prematurely into Germany—a bridge too far.
