Contested clocks: uniformity and resistance in global time zone standardization

Abstract

This paper analyzes the political processes by which time zones are locally managed and changed, and how these are converted into global standards in the absence of an international time zone standardization body. We argue that the persistence of a singular global time zone standard depends on technical infrastructures operating largely independently of state and non-state actors. The apparent neutrality of time zones as technical artifacts supporting international coordination required for economic globalization obscures locally negotiated practices shaped by social, biological, political, and economic rationales. The study highlights how globally uniform technical systems can coexist with locally differentiated yet politically contested practices.