A Reasoned Definition of the Term Globalisation

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A Reasoned Definition of the Term Globalisation Globalisation is an abstract concept. It does not refer to a concrete object, but to (an interpretation of) a societal process. Therefore the concept cannot be defined easily. For some, globalisation refers to Americanisation, for others it is about the growing importance of the world market, yet others use it to describe a cultural or an ideological reality: globalisation as the victory of 'market plus democracy'. For most authors, globalisation is a complex concept that involves political, economic and social-cultural changes. The events of September 11th instantly ricocheted across the world; this shows that in the fabric of everyday life, as Immanuel Kant said we are all 'unavoidably side by side'. This does not merely apply to moments of catastrophe, but in the trading arrangements, in the nature of financial markets, in the emerging human rights regime, in the nature of environmental change from ozone depletion to global warming, in areas that are fundamental to human health, such as welfare, sexuality and AIDS, etc. Furthermore, in this complex web of 'new agendas', conflict and incompatibility are perhaps inevitable Thus; globalisation is often seen not just as a 'one way process', but also as a dialectal dynamic. This essay seeks to characterize 'globalisation', by investigating issues on the 'new agenda', and anticipating its possible implications, in particular whether or not we are on the edge of a global shift with massive political, economic and cultural insinuations. The term globalisation does however appear to capture elements of a widespread perception that there ... ... middle of paper ... ...despite all the technological support available to it, cannot predict its course. However, these developments pose very significant questions for democracy since the expanding scale of which political and economic power is exercised frequently escapes effective mechanisms of democratic control. Democracy remains rooted in a fixed and bounded territorial conception of political community. Yet globalisation disrupts this neat correspondence between national territory, sovereignty, political space and the democratic political community; it enables power to flow across and over territorial boundaries. If one thing is clear it is this: globalisation is not, as some suggest, narrowing or foreclosing political options and discussion; on the contrary, it is re-illuminating and reinvigorating the contemporary political terrain.

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