Le temps mondial. Enchaînements, disjonctions édiations

World time represents a special moment in history when human societies experience the common feeling that they are renegociating at an accelerated pace their relationship with both time and space. The overriding impression is encapsulated in the idea that a new global dynamic exists consisting of intertwined events and unprecedented situations which prompts us to believe and to think collectively that nothing will remain as before. This situation can be conceptualized as the interaction of, on the one hand, the geopolitical and cultural consequences of the post Cold War environment and, on the other, the speeding up of globalization processes at the economic, social and cultural levels. In the post Cold War context the collective imagination is impinged upon by the loss of communal points of references, of the alignments, dogmas and tne diplomatic/strategic conflicts enscribed within a State-centred framework. Secondly, the imagined world of globalization involves a broadening of the referential space for individuals, companies and social actors generally. Finally world time both links and merges two fundamental dimensions, namely globalization and the end of the Cold War dichotomy, thus producing an articulation between a borderless world and a world without clearly defined reference points.