Changing notions of political community through subnational communication

Abstract

This article seeks to address the question whether, in the face of growing dominance of globalisation, political communities will become less nationalistic and state-centric. The focus is on conceptually redefining the traditional notion of political community by looking at how transnational community is formed through social and political communication. After outlining the definitional minefield of concepts three metaphors or images of transnational community-building, namely transactionalism, cosmopolitanism and neo-medievalism are discussed. From there, the dynamics of the subnational external relations of provinces and municipalities are examined. Specific attention is paid to the Free State province and the Local Municipality of Mangaung and the way in which basic political values of citizenship and rights are communicated and inculcated.