Many Paths to Modernization

A few columns ago, I proposed a different vision of geopolitics based on Manuel Castells' concept of "the space of flows." The main idea was fairly simple: The kind of literal proximities and contiguities that relate the geopolitical entities we call "states" need to be supplemented with another set of relationships -- namely, the ties that bind some locales to others through dense corridors of communication and commerce. With the help of well-known American political scientist Francis Fukuyama, I'd like to explore yet another form of closeness and distance that could further supplement a new, less literal, geopolitics: economic and cultural similarities....