Key Importance Of Globalization

Globalisation is explained in simplistic terms as ‘the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness’(Held & McGrew, 2007).It has seen considerable intensification in recent decades due to furthering development of technology, such as the invention of the internet and mobile phones, and increasing dependence on the interconnected global financial market. As the globalisation process has grown, academics have offered several differing ideas on the phenomenon and its effects. According to Cochrane and Pain (2004), the viewpoints that attempt to explain globalisation can be defined by four categories, these are positive globalists, negative globalists, inter-nationalists and transformationalists. This essay will critically

Transformationalists believe that while there is a significant shift happening to national cultures; there is evidence that the changes are ‘more nuanced or contradictory’ than believed by inter-nationalists or globalists (Mackay, 2004). Finally, globalists put forward the idea that the process is ‘real and tangible’ and that national boundaries are showing fewer disparities between each other. Globalists point to four key concepts to justify their findings; stretched social relations, intensifications of flows, increasing interpenetration and furthering arrangements of global infrastructure. The concept of stretched social relations suggests that a common cultural, economic and political process is expanding beyond regionalisation and is having, in fact, a significant impact on the entire world. Intensifications of flows suggest networks of interconnectedness have increased. For example, communications have risen due to the advent of the internet; and ‘global infrastructure’ refers to the formal and informal institutional arrangements made between different nations. Globalists have differing beliefs about the long-term consequences of globalisation, however. Pessimistic (or negative) globalists emphasise the assertive dominance countries are imposing worldwide and opine that this is hurting the idea of nationality while positive globalists see the results of globalisation as having provided improvements in