A Reasoned Definition of the Term Globalisation

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 ...

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...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.