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• Globalization


  The process which embodies a transformation in the spatial/temporal/material/cognitive aspects of social relations (assessed in terms of extensity, intensity, velocity and impact) generaling transcontinental flows and networks of activities and interactions
• Though public references to 'globalization' have become common over the last 3 decades, the concept itself can be traced back to a much earlier period; origins lie in the work of many 19th and early 20th century intellectuals (e.g.: Saint Simon, Karl Marx)
• It was not until the 1980s that the new term 'globalization' was actually used (especially at the hands of Theodore Levitt, who founded new strategies for marketing based on customer needs, not only on a local level but on a 'global' one, the latter to offer a bright opportunity for expanding business) within the context of rapidly expanding political and economic independence (most especially between western states) and growing interconnections of different parts of the world
• Following the collapse of State Socialism in the 1990s and the consolidation of capitalism worldwide, academic and public discussion of globalization intensified dramatically, confirming the belief that the world was becoming a shared social space
• Definitions of globalization


  • An action at a distance (whereby actions of social agents in one locale can have significant consequences for 'distant' others)
  • A time space compression (where instantaneous electronic communication erodes constraints of distance and time on social organization and interaction
  • Accelerator of interdependence (whereas events in one society impact directly on other societies)
  • A shrinking old world (with borders and geographical barriers to socio-economic activities eroding, making way for more integration and reordering of relations)
• In all these definitions, there were emphasis on the spatial-temporal, material, and cognitive aspects of globalization
• Skeptics' arguments regarding the nature of globalization

  • The concept is primarily an ideological construction which helps justify and legitimize the neo-liberal global project, or in other words the new forms of the capitalist project
  • With no identifiable geographical referents, it is not possible to distinguish the 'international' or the 'transnational' from the global
  • The concept is so broad with no analytical capability to understand the contemporary world
• Skeptics' arguments regarding the impact of globalization on power, identity, and culture

  • There is still the persistence of modern states which emerged in the western Europe and its colonial territories in the eighteenth century, and which distinguished themselves from earlier forms of political rule by claiming a distinctive correspondence between sovereignty, territory and legitimacy
  • Members have a common socio-cultural identity
  • An imagined 'community of fate' which connects members directly to a common political project
  • An institutional structure exists (developed or developing) which protects and represents the community and acts on its behalf
  • A symmetry prevail between the governors (determining what is right for citizens) and governed (programming the governors)
  • Members enjoy a common structure of rights and duties
• Globalization states that its ethical discourse can be detached from the 'form of life' of communities, which is incorrect
• The struggle for national identity and nationhood has been so extensive that it cannot be eroded by transactional forces or by so called global mass culture
• Skeptics' arguments regarding the impact of globalization on the economy

  • The present world economy remains far from closely integrated: the magnitude and geographical scale of flows of trade, capital and migrants are of much lower order than –say- what took place between 1890 and 1914
  • Concentration of activities takes the form of 'Triadization: major economic activities take place within three core blocks, namely Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas (each block with its own center and periphery),and interdependence happens within these zones at the expense of integration between them
  • Victory of capitalism shouldn't be read as evidence of a new globalized capitalism that 'transcends' and 'subsumes' national capitalisms' which continue to flourish
  • Contrary to the image of 'footloose capital', all economic and financial activities have to take place somewhere, and the fate of firms is primarily determined by national conditions
• No new pattern of interdependence between North and South: de-industrialization in developed countries doesn't mean an export of manufacturing business to poor countries. Deindustrialization is due to the emergence of new technologies and changes in labor market conditions in developed countries
• Rather than international capital creating 'one world', it has been accompanied by deepening global inequality: trade and investments flow among developed economies to the exclusion of the rest of the globe
• Globalists' arguments regarding the nature of globalization

  • While the discourse of globalization may serve the interests of powerful forces in the West, it reflects real changes in the scale of modern organizations, structures, and relations
  • Globalization is mainly a 'process' which is the product of multiple forces as well as specific conjunctural factors (such as the creation of the ancient silk route or the collapse of state socialism)
• Globalists' arguments regarding the impact of globalization on power, identity, and culture


  • The exclusive link between territory and political power has been broken: national governments are increasingly locked into a multilayered system of governance
  • Shared identities in political communities has never been a given, a singular, or unitary (except in crises or wars): it has been the result of intensive efforts of political construction, and there is a diversity of political communities (thus identities) that individuals may value
  • The fate of a national community is no longer in its own hands: regional and global processes, regional and supranational organizations have diminished the range of political options open to given national 'majorities'
  • The rights, duties, and welfare of individuals can only be entrenched if they are underwritten by regional and global regimes
• Globalists' arguments regarding the impact of globalization on the economy

  • There is a historically unprecedented scale and magnitude of contemporary global economic integration
  • There is an intensification of integration within regions and across them (big regional economic crises had important global ramifications)
  • The present global capitalist economy has undergone a profound economic restructuring from industrial to post industrial economy (or what is referred to as 'global informational capitalism')
  • Domestic economies have to adapt to global competition (transnational production exceeds the level of global exports, multinational banks set benchmarks for financial activities across the globe)
• Globalization is also reordering developing countries themselves into winners (NICs) and losers, and increasingly dividing all nations from within into winners and losers too
• There is also global 'poverty' and not only 'inequality' (within developed countries – for instance- unemployment and social exclusion have increased as many low skilled and semi-skilled jobs have been relocated to more profitable ventures in developing countries
• What is required is a continuous reformation of global governance that combines both human security with economic efficiency. There is also the need to strengthen solidary between social forces in the world that seek to resist the disadvantages of globalization
• Points of agreement between Skeptics and Globalists

  • There has been growth in economic interconnectedness between parts of the world, though with uneven consequences across different communities
  • Global competition challenges old hierarchies (especially the 'State')and generates inequalities of wealth, power, privilege,and knowledge
  • Transnational and transborder problems have become increasingly salient, calling into question the traditional role /functions/and institutions of accountability of national government
  • There has been an expansion of international governance at regional and global levels ,and this expansion poses significant normative questions about the kind of world order being constructed and whose interests it serves