Definitions, Approaches to

Globalization

Week 1&2: Introduction

Janice Morales
Defining Globalization
• Some concepts attached to the definition of
globalization:

global dominance of Anglo-American ideas.

fragmented uneven incomplete
Contradictory set of ideas time-space compression
increase global interconnectedness
unimpeded flow of capital, people and ideas beyond borders
Defining Globalization
• Some concepts attached to the definition of
globalization:

GLOBALIZATION AS GLOBALONEY

• Group of scholars who believed that the term is

imprecise could be divided into three camps
based on their arguments: rejectionists,
skeptics, & modifiers
Defining Globalization
• 3 arguments to globalization

1. REJECTIONISTS
q scholars who dismiss the usefulness of the term.
q Craig Calhoun- it is as vague and as complex as
nationalism.
q Susan Strange- it is a vacuous term; “anything
from the internet to a hamburger.”
q Linda Meiss-a big idea resting on slim
foundations.
Defining Globalization
• Solution/remedies of rejectionist to this
vagueness:

q Holton- abandon metatheory and move to

middle range theory
q Stegger- combine social-scientific and
interpretive approach
Defining Globalization
• 3 arguments to globalization

2. SKEPTICS
q scholars who emphasize the limited nature of it.
q Horster Thompson- the world economy is not
global because it only concentrate in Europe,
Eastern Asia, & North America
q economic activity are still national in origin and
scope.
Defining Globalization
• 3 arguments to globalization

2. SKEPTICS
q Without a truly global economic system, there
can be no globalization.
q It is being use to benefit neoliberal interests.
Defining Globalization
• 3 arguments to globalization

3. MODIFIERS
q scholars who believe it is a historically imprecise
concept.
q Wallerstein and Frank (Worlds-Systems Theory)-
modern capitalist economy has been global
since its inception.
q globalizing tendencies have been proceeding
along the continuum of modernization for a long
time. (It is nothing new).
Defining Globalization
• 3 arguments to globalization

3. MODIFIERS
q Wallerstein- “global integration is driven largely
by economic forces”
q Neomarxists/new world system scholars:
criticisms focus on quantitative analyses
(economic) and neglect qualitative shift in social
and political relations.
Dimensions of Globalization
Globalization as an economic process
q Historical development of markets that led to intensified
form of global interdependence.
q The increase linkage of national economies through
trade, financial flows and foreign direct investments by
multinational firms.
q Globalization is a ‘real phenomenon’
Dimensions of Globalization
Globalization as an economic process
q Economic globalization- emerged after PostWWar and the
1944 Bretton Woods Conference. This is the “Golden Age
of Controlled Capitalism”; Creation of the IMF and IBRD
(International Bank for Reconstruction and Development-
a World Bank group).
Dimensions of Globalization
Globalization as an economic process
q 1980s- Neoliberalism- liberalization and
internationalization of financial transactions (Structural
adjustment policies among countries with huge debt-
Liberalization, privatization, deregulation)
q Creation of international financial markets, TNCs (ex.Wal-
Mart, General Motors, etc.). TNCs hold 70% of world
trade.
Dimensions of Globalization
Globalization as a political process
q politics is rendered possible in the face of an unstoppable
and irreversible techno-economic juggernaut
q Kenichi Ohmae- the nation-state lost its role as a
meaningful unit of participation in the global economy; it
limits the political options of states (developing countries)
q Politics mobilized political power and unleash the forces
of globalization.
q Jan Aart Scholte- ‘globalization refers to gradual process
of relative deterritorialization that facilitate the growth of
supraterritorial relations.
Dimensions of Globalization
Globalization as a political process
q Globalization is fueled by a mixture of political and
technological factors.
q John Gray- Trade wars will make international
cooperation difficult.
q Castells- the rise of international capitalism; nation-state
as a bargaining agency.
Dimensions of Globalization
Globalization as a political process
q Global governance- an internationalized, rights –based
Western State Conglomerate
q Wilkinson- state formation beyond the national level.
q John Keane- ‘cosmocracy’- a messy and complex polity; a
conglomeration of interlocking and overlapping substate,
state and suprastate institutions and multi-dimensional
process that interact and have political and social effects
on a global scale.
q Held & McGrew- globalization diminishes the sovereignty
of national governance.
Dimensions of Globalization
Globalization as a cultural process
q Does it increase cultural homogeneity? or heterogeneity?
q How does the dominant culture of consumerism impact
the national environment?
q Tomlinson- cultural globalization is a densely growing
network of interconnections and interdependence that
characterize modern life.
Dimensions of Globalization
Globalization as a cultural process
q Culture is no longer tied with localities
q Some said that there is increasing homogeneity , though
it caters a more Anglo-American values system
q Americanization as a form of ‘cultural imperialism’
Dimensions of Globalization
Globalization as a cultural process
q Mcdonaldization as evident in American society leads to
the ‘eclipse of cultural diversity and the dehumanization
of social relations”
q According to Benjamin Barbers, “McWorld” is a form of
cultural imperialism; “A soulless consumer capitalism that
is rapidly transforming the world’s diverse population into
a blandly uniform market”
Dimensions of Globalization
Globalization as a cultural process
q Other scholars such as Roland Robertson argued that
there is pluralization of the world as localities produce a
variety of unique cultural responses to global forces.
q Glocalization-a complex interaction of the global and local
characterized by cultural borrowing; a complex mixture of
both homogenizing and heterogenizing impulses
Dimensions of Globalization
Globalization as a cultural process
q Hybridization or ‘creolization’-the process of cultural
mixing as reflected in music, film, fashion, language, and
other forma of symbolic expressions.
q Arjan Appadurai identifies 5 conceptual dimensions or
landscapes that are constituted by global cultural flows:
ethnoscape, technoscape, financescape, mediascape and
ideoscape.
Globalization, Globality, Globalism

q Globalization- a set of complex, sometimes contradictory

social processes that are changing our current social
conditions based on the modern system of independent
nation-states.
q Globality-a future social condition characterized by thick
economic, political, & cultural interconnectedness &
global flows that make currently existing political borders
& economic barriers irrelevant.
Globalization, Globality, Globalism

q Globalism- as an ideology, relies on the power of

‘common sense’ (thus difficult to resist)
q Other ideologies of globalization and development are as
follows: Neoliberalism, Structuralism, Interventionism
Ideologies of Globalization
1. Neoliberalism
q also called ‘market liberalism.’
q It is the descendants of the ‘free enterprise’ in the 1950s.
q It became dominant in the 1980s.
q This view holds that intentional development is not
necessary.
q Its underlying theoretical ideas could be traced in the
work of Adam Smith.
Ideologies of Globalization
1. Neoliberalism
q According to this view, there are 3 obstacles to
development, namely:
1. Tradition
2. Monopoly
3. State regulation
Ideologies of Globalization
2. Structuralism
q It views history as a summary of political and economic
struggles between large groups or classes.
q Similarities with neoliberalism: 1) view development in
terms of broad historical/ social change, & 2)
industrialization is favorable to economic growth.
q Contradictions with neoliberalism: The latter emphasis
on the materialist motivations of individual and self-
regulating market while structuralism gives importance
on social solidarity, class and collective forms of action.
Ideologies of Globalization
2. Structuralism
• 2 Models under Structuralism
q Marxism- there is antagonism in capitalism which is a
particular type of class society.
q There are issues on relations of production and means of
production.
q Class exploitation and oppression are essential features of
capitalism
Ideologies of Globalization
2. Structuralism
• 2 Models under Structuralism
q Dependency model-This model is in favor of
industrialization but believe that the southern countries
should not be dependent with the north. Thus, there is a
need to withdraw from the international capitalist system
q It argues that the industrialization of the Northern
capitalist created structures in which Southern
economies were dependent and which tend to lead to
and maintain underdevelopment
Ideologies of Globalization
2. Structuralism
• 2 Models under Structuralism
q Core-Periphery argument of the Dependency Theory
q Based on the observation that within many spatial
systems sharp territorial contrast exist in wealth,
economic advancement and growth between the ‘core’
and ‘periphery’.
(Core- U.S., Japan, Western Europe; Periphery- Latin
America, Asia and the Pacific)
Ideologies of Globalization
3. Interventionism
q It argued that, ‘to regulate the market there is a need for
state intervention.’
q Pertinent questions to answer include, how much
intervention? what kind of intervention?--- answers to
these questions will lead us to the four arguments of
intervention.
Four arguments for Intervention:
1) Keynesian view 2) Protectionism 3) Welfarism 4)Global
environmentalism
Ideologies of Globalization
3. Interventionism
Keynesian view
q Developed during the great depression in the 1930s.
q It argued that there are periodic booms and slumps as
problems of capitalism.
q John Maynard Keynes viewed that the state should spend
to create employment and increase incomes that will
then stimulate demands and restore business confidence.
Ideologies of Globalization
3. Interventionism
Protectionism
q Developed in the 19th century
q Proponents argued that there is a need to protect ‘infant
industries’ of newly industrialized countries (NICs) from
competition to well established industries.
q State protection through tax concessions and incentives
must be done.
Ideologies of Globalization
3. Interventionism
Welfarism
q Development planning should be link to investment and
creation of jobs, eradication of poverty, and improvement
of services such as health.
Global Environmentalism
q Became popular as a solution to the problems discussed
during the Rio De Janiero Earth summit of 1992.
q Agreement between states for global environmental
protection.
Ideologies of Globalization
Globalism
q Globalism- As an ideology it tends to combine traditional
ones (neoliberalism, interventionism, etc.)
q Six core claims of Globalism:
1. Globalization is about the liberalization and global
integrations of markets.
- Globalization and markets are twin concepts.
- a combination of neoliberalism and neoconservatism.
- free-market capitalism
Ideologies of Globalization

q Six core claims of Globalism:

2. Globalization is inevitable and irreversible.
- The belief in extra-human ‘natural’ origins of social order;
‘organic change” (similar to Marxism)
- Presenting it as irreversible/inevitable make it easier for
globalists to convince people that they have to adapt to
the discipline of the market if they are to survive.
Ideologies of Globalization

q Six core claims of Globalism:

3. Nobody is in charge of Globalization
- Globalists are not ‘in-charge’ but they merely carry out
the unalterable imperatives of the transcendental force
much larger that narrow partisan interests.
4. Globalization benefits everyone (in the long run)
-even globalists who consider the possibility of unequal
global distribution patterns nonetheless insist that the
market itself will eventually correct these ‘irregularities.’
Ideologies of Globalization

q Some contradictions of Globalism:

1. Coercive power of the state vs. a self-regulating market
2. Enforcing’democracy’ & freedom at gunpoint vs. liberty
as absence of coercion
3. War on terror as an Anglo-American nationalist
undertone vs. universal spirit, cosmopolitan concept of
globalization
Ideologies of Globalization

q Six core claims of Globalism:

5. Globalization furthers the spread of democracy in the
world
-Globalists tend to treat freedom, free market, free trade
and democracy as synonymous term ( Thatcherism- Thatcher
is an advocate of a free-market model)
6. Globalization requires a global war on terror.