In order to understand 'Empires' and the changes they have undergone due to the advances of media and globalised technologies, it is crucial to understand the movements that have led up to such changes.
As described by Giddens, A 1998, 'Modernity' and 'Modernism'(1875-1975) originally expressed as an art theory, brought up new attitudes towards the world, and how society's should progress. Moving away from the 'Enlightenment' to a time where thought was governed by rationality and reason, with a strong push for technological innovation, creating a culture aimed at the future unlike any other. These pushes then led to Constructivism, which linked these science and technological advances to the media, which developed Fordism and Consumerism.
source; http://www.sauer-thompson.com/junkforcode/archives/Japanese%20Modernism1.jpg
However, Post-modernism, was built up on thoughts which were against those of Modernism, believing the ruling and the dominant were exploiting and oppressing other people and countries, often through slavery, in an attempt to progress themselves.
The term 'Colonialism' refers to the expansion of nation states through the use of colonies. A prime example is the expansion of the British empire through the colonisation of Australia. Colonialism also depicts the transplantation of culture from one part of the globe to another.
source; http://antinuclearinfo.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/nuclear-colonialism-2.gif?w=432&h=445
However, Post-Colonialism, refers to the destabilizing of these powers. For example, the British royal family has very little influence over the everyday happenings of the average Australian in today's age. Post-Colonialism also allows for the growing acceptance of other forms of culture, a kind of hybridization.
Through globalisation certain empires have diminished while others have flourished. In the time of Modernism and Colonialism, Western Empires were the dominant entities that ruled the globe.The difference comes in today's age, that empires which rely on physical boundaries of nations and laws, lose their power to the Media Empires, who do not have such limits and can cross internationally, to any part of the globe, in seconds, a kind of 'borderless world' (Nederveen, P 2004).
The growth of these technologies allows for the globalisation of finance, mobility of capital and exports, transnational communication, travel and migration, and general civil society interactions through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.
Perhaps the Modernists did not perceive the new ways in which this technology could be used in the future, in a way that perhaps overthrows the power they once held, and is instead put into the hands of the people.
source; http://www.pammarketingnut.com/wp-content/uploads/like-me.jpg
References; Nederveen Pieterse, J 2004, ‘Globalization: consensus and controversies’,Globalization and culture: global mélange 2004, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, Md, pp. 7-21
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