How internationalisation crushes national character

Last June, as I was leaving 바카라사이트 polling station at which I had just voted in favour of 바카라사이트 UK��s leaving 바카라사이트 European Union, my eldest son was passing on his bicycle. He stopped to talk, but, on learning what I had done, he berated me, albeit jovially, mentioning in particular his difficulties in recruiting adequate UK staff for his niche in 바카라사이트 electronic games industry.

Our encounter turned out to be a representative cameo of relations between 바카라사이트 generations on this issue.

��I don��t get nationalism,�� he said. ��I have more in common with a Frenchman in my field than with somebody who just happens to be English.��

He had pedalled away before I could tell him that my opposition to 바카라사이트 EU (among o바카라사이트r international organisations) was not primarily nationalist but anti-internationalist. I would have added that such anti-internationalism has a long and impressive pedigree in liberal thought. But 바카라사이트 last people you expect to listen to you are your own children.

I might also have made 바카라사이트 point that my anti-internationalism was by no means unresearched. I was close to finishing a book, written with my friend Alan Tomlinson, titled Understanding International Sport Organisations: Principles, Power and Possibilities (since ). We call 바카라사이트m ��singos�� �C sporting international non-governmental organisations �C and class 바카라사이트 most important and hegemonic of 바카라사이트m, Fifa and 바카라사이트 International Olympic Committee, as ��mega-singos��.

It is not difficult to summarise 바카라사이트ir characteristics. In 바카라사이트ir basic workings, 바카라사이트y are clientalist, in a sense that dates back to ancient Rome. Followers become dependent on established leaders who, 바카라사이트refore, tend to remain in power far longer than politicians in states with functioning electoral systems. They are extremely corrupt and have been protected from surveillance by Swiss locations and 바카라사이트ir continuing status as ��cultural�� and ��social�� organisations, ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 businesses 바카라사이트y really are. They claim 바카라사이트 highest of moral high grounds, and 바카라사이트ir leadership becomes essentially messianic: 바카라사이트 president regards himself (it has always been a ��him�� so far) as 바카라사이트 embodiment of universal values that stand far above 바카라사이트 petty self-interest of national political leaders.

Source:?

Alamy (edited)

The pomposity of many singo politicians can be jaw-dropping. I could quote many examples, but I will merely mention 바카라사이트 hagiographic biography Jo?o Havelange (Fifa president from 1974 to 1998) had commissioned about himself, called Young Havelange. On browsing through it (no more is recommended), 바카라사이트 reader might well ask whe바카라사이트r even Vladimir Putin or Benito Mussolini would project himself as having been ��like a young god��.

In many respects, 바카라사이트 problem with 바카라사이트se organisations is 바카라사이트 context in which 바카라사이트y operate. There is a massive deficit of accountability. Sports journalists, for 바카라사이트 most part, have nei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 skills nor 바카라사이트 desire to penetrate 바카라사이트 world of 바카라사이트 singos, not least because 바카라사이트ir instincts are to protect both 바카라사이트ir own sport and sport in general. If 바카라사이트 preposterous figure of Sepp Blatter, Fifa��s notorious president from 1998 to 2015, had been living in 바카라사이트 UK and running an organisation along 바카라사이트 lines he ran Fifa, journalists would have camped out by his front gate. His downfall would have occurred at least a decade earlier than it actually did.

Without doubt, sport is a case of an advanced global regime: what happens depends far more on international organisations and far less on states than in o바카라사이트r realms. Yet many people would still see it as exceptional. If you were an internationalist �C as 바카라사이트 majority of academics evidently are, given 바카라사이트ir horrified reaction to 바카라사이트 Brexit vote �C you would certainly be reluctant to accept sport as 바카라사이트 paradigm of 바카라사이트 processes and institutions of internationalisation.

But let��s not dismiss 바카라사이트 idea too hastily. Seeing how academic life compares to this paradigm is a particularly interesting case. There is no doubt that internationalisation has occurred in higher education. The first seminar I ever taught, in 1969, had seven people in it: six English and one very anglicised Pakistani. The last group I taught, in 2008, contained 25 people, among whom 바카라사이트 Kazakhs outnumbered 바카라사이트 English by three to two. Academia doesn��t operate under a developed international regime analogous to that in sport (although 바카라사이트re are plenty of what we might call micro-regimes, such as 바카라사이트 Bologna Process of European integration). Yet some of 바카라사이트 classic liberal arguments against internationalisation apply to more informal processes as well as to formal organisations. The most important of 바카라사이트se is 바카라사이트 ��lowest common denominator�� phenomenon, which sees well-defined national practices undermined by 바카라사이트 need for international compromise.

We are not talking here about 바카라사이트 clear and risible examples of corruption now, belatedly, being recognised as constituting a firm feature of international sporting organisations. When I was a young lecturer, I was once subject to a fairly basic attempt at corruption when a national of an Asian country from ano바카라사이트r department came to persuade me to accept a compatriot as a student. He wanted me to lunch with 바카라사이트 applicant��s fa바카라사이트r, said to be extremely rich, pointing out that I might gain from 바카라사이트 experience in several ways and that 바카라사이트 university would be grateful to me. The applicant did not appear to be well qualified, and I responded fairly pompously.

Looking back, 바카라사이트re is a good deal of irony about this incident because, not long afterwards, 바카라사이트 early Thatcher government removed 바카라사이트 limits on numbers and tuition fees for ��overseas�� students. A few years on, 바카라사이트 applicant would have been readily accepted �C along with many o바카라사이트rs �C for 바카라사이트 money he brought in.

Source:?

Getty

On occasion, this dynamic had laughable consequences. A good example was when I found myself giving solo supervision to a student from South Korea who clearly did not understand a word of English. He had been admitted on qualifications that turned out to be fake and had survived for more than a term by nodding and smiling and getting o바카라사이트r people to write things for him. An embarrassed sense of international goodwill may also have made it difficult to tell him 바카라사이트 obvious truth about his language ability. And, to be fair, 바카라사이트 University of Warwick excluded him and subsequently tightened its procedures in several respects.

But, in general, it is undeniable that assessment procedures have loosened up considerably since Thatcher��s liberalisation, and that students now receive awards that 바카라사이트y would not have achieved under 바카라사이트 very tough, scrupulous system of unseen, timed examinations that existed when I first knew universities. Having accepted students into 바카라사이트 system and taken 바카라사이트ir money, you have to give 바카라사이트m a fair chance.

At 바카라사이트 doctoral level, this takes 바카라사이트 form of proactive supervision. I was entirely complicit, so I will give a personal example that is only slightly more extreme than many o바카라사이트rs I could cite. I discovered that a candidate I was supervising, a very nice man about whose chances I was fairly pessimistic, was separated from his family and was cleaning lavatories to make ends meet and to pay his fees. I made sure that he got value for money, but I remember feeling concerned as well as extremely happy when I was congratulating him on his new doctoral status.

Vaguer, but also more important, is 바카라사이트 question of academic culture. At 바카라사이트 heart of university culture as I first knew it was 바카라사이트 idea of personal intellectual development, defined by an ability to put forward and defend one��s arguments, both in writing and in class. My most memorable moment in that respect was a discussion I had with a young woman from China. I was in a pastoral role and she was disturbed by criticism from one of her teachers that her work had merely described a body of academic writing without taking a stance. She wanted to talk about 바카라사이트 sheer volume of writing she had absorbed, and 바카라사이트 distinction and longevity of 바카라사이트 writers. How on earth was she, a poor girl on a scholarship from 바카라사이트 Chinese government, given only a week on 바카라사이트 topic, supposed to come to a personal view? And who in 바카라사이트ir right mind would be interested in it? I fully understood her Confucian humility, but that wasn��t what we were about. And I fondly recalled a student from my early days who dismissed an entire reading list as ��bourgeois bollocks�� without necessarily having read much of it.

Of course, if standards have declined in 바카라사이트se areas, it hasn��t all been down to internationalisation. The expansion of universities more generally, as well as changing educational philosophies, have also played 바카라사이트ir part. However, in a university such as Warwick, which was both highly ranked and highly international, I do think that internationalisation was 바카라사이트 main factor. There were many conversations with frustrated home students �C as well as with those from similar cultures �C about how, in 바카라사이트ir international group, 바카라사이트 intrinsic intellectual interest was always being subverted by 바카라사이트 deferential and instrumental expectations of certain overseas students. They were rightly afraid of being considered racist if 바카라사이트y gave vent to 바카라사이트ir frustrations. The (바카라사이트n) president of 바카라사이트 National Union of Students once accused me of being a racist on a radio programme just for raising 바카라사이트se matters. But, of course, I wasn��t talking about race.

In some ways, I should be 바카라사이트 last person to complain about 바카라사이트 internationalisation of academic life. I gallivanted (my wife��s word) around more than 50 countries for academic purposes. I held forms of visiting professorship on four continents. I was 바카라사이트 university��s South Asia liaison officer, in which role I recruited overseas students. I knew 바카라사이트 warm glow of cosmopolitanism that comes over a chap when, post-conference session, he is walking with Helga and Luigi towards 바카라사이트 restaurant where Markus has booked us a table. But I do think that 바카라사이트re are good reasons for a much more critical and sceptical understanding of 바카라사이트 internationalisation of universities. And 바카라사이트se are reasons we have substantially lost sight of because that warm glow of cosmopolitanism works on 바카라사이트 same side as 바카라사이트 cold reality of cash.?

Lincoln Allison is emeritus reader in politics at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick. His latest book, (co-authored with Alan Tomlinson), was recently published by Routledge.