What is Globalization?

POWERPOINT PRESENTATION OF GROUP-1

The term "globalization" has several meanings, and it is important to be aware of this. Some scholars
argue that internationalization and multi-nationalization are phases that precede globalization because
the latter heralds end of the state system as the nucleus of human activities. Globalization marks the
increasing irrelevance of the nation-state whose status as the dominant political organization was
acknowledged by the Treaty of Westphalia.

Globalization was first used as a term in the academic circles in the decades of 1960s and 1970s.
Scholars from the traditional disciplines of political science, economics, history, sociology, and
philosophy have examined globalization using the analytical tools and methods provided by their
respective discipline. These diverse focal points and research of interests across disciplines have
resulted in competing definitions of globalization.
GLOBALIZATION AS A PROCESS, CONDITION, AND A IDEOLOGY
In the absence of a generally accepted definition, Steger (2005) explains that
globalization has been commonly understood either as a Process, a Condition, or an
Ideology.

Globalization as a Process
Globalization is viewed as a multidimensional set of social processes that generate and
increase "worldwide social interdependecies and exchanges" (Steger 2005; 13). This view
argues that globalization is about the compression of time and space brought about by
changes in technology and the political, cultural, and economic aspects of human existence.
In short, when did globalization start? Again, looing for an answer to this question is a
difficult task since globalizations scholar disagree on an answer.
 Table 1
Globalization according to Social Science and Humanities
Disciplines.
Disciplines Time Agency/Domain Keywords
Political Science, International 1980 “Internationalization of the Competitor states, post international
Relations politics, Global civil society
State”. INGO’s
Development Studies 1980 IMF, World Bank Debt crisis, structural adjustments
policies
Geography 1980 Space, Place Local Global interaction, Globalization.

Economics 1970 Multinational corporations, Global corporations, world product,

technologies, banks, finance hedge global value chains, new economy,
funds sovereign wealth funds

Cultural Studies 1970 Media, film, advertising, ICT Global village, Mc Donaldization,
Disneyfication, Hybridization

Philosophy 1950 Ethics Global problems, Global Ethics

Sociology 1800 Modernity Capitalism, Industrialism,

Urbanization, nation states
Political Economy 1500 Modern Capitalism Conquest of the World Market

History, Historical 3000 BCE Population movement, trade, The widening scale of global,
technologies, world religions cooperation, Global flows, ecumene.
anthropology
GLOBALIZATION AS A CONDITION

Globalization as a social condition is characterized by thick economic, political, and cultural

interconnections and global flows that render political borders and economic barriers
irrelevant (Steger, 2008). Globalization is also referred to by scholars as globality. In terms of
trans-planetary relations, globality is about the establishment of social links between people
located at different places of our planet.
 GLOBALIZATION AS AN IDEOLOGY

Steger (2005), following the line of reasoning of globalization scholar Michael Freeden, explains that globalization
exists in people's consciousness because it consists of a set of coherent and complementary ideas and beliefs about
the global order. In other words, globalization as an ideology is defined by six (6) core claims.

1. Globalization is about the liberalization and global integration of markets, or as Bill Steger put it in a business week article
published in the late 1990s: "Globalization (is) about the triumph of markets over governments". The decade of 1990s was a
turning point for most globalization because it saw the downfall of communism with the collapse of Soviet Union.

2. Globalization is inevitable and irreversible. State leaders pushing for neoliberal policies have been heard proclaiming that
globalization is happening and cannot be stopped, as it was a global wave that has been sweeping the world. This
determinist language in resembles the words used by Karl Marx and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel when they described
the course of human history.

3. Steger (2005) argues that globalization does not promote the agenda of any specific class or group, but rather follows the
imperatives of a transcendental force much larger than narrow partisan interest. Globalists are not dictating their own
agenda on people; instead, events unfold in accordance with immutable imperatives such as trade, energy, and population
growth.
 4. Globalization benefits everyone in the long run. Free trade and free market, globalists believe, will bring wealth and
prosperity to everyone. This claim is often backed up by several success stories of businessmen from underdeveloped
countries that have embraced globalization. Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of the Alibaba Group, gained fame by
pioneering commerce in China back in the 1990s.

5. Globalization furthers the spread of democracy in the world. Globalists believe that democracy, freedom, free markets and
free trade are not distinct political systems but are actually interlinked. Francis Fukuyama thinks that a certain level of
economic development brought about by globalization would be conducive to the creation of complex civil societies with a
powerful middle class (Steger, 2005).

6. Globalization requires a global war on terror. This belief, which resulted from the 9-11 attack, combines the idea of
economic globalization with American brand of right-wing foreign policy (openly militaristic and nationalistic). The US has
an aggressive, militaristic US foreign policy is a response to protect the gains of globalization. Prior to 9/11 attack,. the
economic globalization dominated by the core states in Western Europe, U.S. and Japan defined a world order, which was
openly challenged by. Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda.
 THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON THE ACADAME

The advent of globalization in the 1970s had affected greatly affected the academic world. The literature on globalization
has been enriched with the inclusion of new research areas and topics, such as studies on transnational sexualities, evolution
of state institutions and transnational crime syndicates. There are two major branches of research studying specific problems
or issues as they relate to globalization.

DOMAIN QUESTIONS

The literature on globalization resulted in the generation of several theories and conceptual frameworks. Given their
contradicting assumptions about the globalized world, it would not be incorrect for us to think that these theories are
engaged in a debate. The subsequent discussion will attempt to cover the major theoretical paradigms that serve the function
of a lens that we can use to get a clear view of globalization.
 GLOBALIZATION AS INTERNATIONALIZATION
The terms globalization and internationalization are two very different concepts, but there is a big difference in their
meanings. Internationalization includes activities by corporations, states, international organizations, private organization and
even individuals with reference to national borders and government; Globalization, on the other hand, includes a gamut of
human activities that do no require reference to a state's national borders. For instance, exchanges of romantic words in a
social media platform such as Facebook between a Filipina located in the Philippines and a German residing in his country do
not need their respective government's permission to do so.

GLOBALIZATION AS LIBERALIZATION
Another misconception in the analyses of globalization is treating it as synonymous to liberalization. Liberalization is
commonly understood as the removal of barriers and restrictions imposed by national governments so as to create an open and
borderless world. In this sense, globalization is realized when national governments "reduce or abolish regulatory measures
like trade barriers" (Scholte, 2008: 1475).

GLOBALIZATION AS UNIVERSALIZATION AND WESTERNIZATION

Scholte (2008) notes that there are issues arising from these misconceptions about globalization. Universalization denotes a
process of spreading various objects, practices, and experiences to the different parts of the planet. If Western modernity
spreads and destroys local cultures, this variant of universalization is known as Westernization, neo-colonialism,
Americanization, or Mc Donaldization.
 THE FOLLOWING ARE THE DOMAIN QUESTIONS:

1. When did globalization begin?

2. Is the core of the process economic, political or a cultural? Is there an underlying material or an ideational determinacy?
Are there multiple determinations and how would they be ordered?

3. Does globalization refer to a process or a condition? How do modernity and post modernity relate to globalization?

4. What is the relationship between globalization and the nation-state? Is the nation-state being undermined or has it retained
its primacy and relevance? Or, has the nation-state experienced unprecedented transformation due to globalization? Does
globalization involve internationalization?

5. Lastly, to what extent is the relationship between social structure and territoriality being redefined by globalization? What
is the relationship between the local and the global? How are space and time being reconfigured?