Faced with popular demands for greater self-determination, national governments, around the world are under pressure to devolve power to the local level. In this context, globalization is like a giant wave that can either capsize nations or carry them forward on its crest. With the Internet, modern transportation systems, incentives for foreign companies financial instruments such as municipal bonds, and other measures at their disposal, cities and subnational governments are marketing their jurisdictions abroad, trying to attract innovative joint ventures with potential partners. Today more U.S. states operate trade offices in Tokyo than in Washington. Given that cities account for an ever increasing share of national incomes, in addition to soon becoming home to most of the world's population, the stakes for getting these two forces working at the optimal pitch are high.
Cities can become their own strategic brokers.
Shanghai, Singapore, New York, Sydney, Barcelona, London and Buenos Aires are examples of entrepreneurial cities or city-states which frequent the global stage, drumming up business and influence for themselves. Localization can also take the form of a general demand for broader popular participation in politics - see the democracy movements in Poland and Brazil in the 1980s, South Korea in the 1990s and Indonesia today. Or it can take the form of demands for greater local autonomy, which may lead to decentralization or official recognition of a local cultural identity, as in Canada, Spain and Uganda. Either way, localization can be a mixed blessing. When it works, decentralizing power to the provincial and local level can result in more responsive and efficient local government.