Name : Jaideep Singh

Class : B.A. (H) political science , Section - A

Roll no. : 2020/psci/0211

EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF GLOBALISATION, BRIEFLY DISCUSS ITS ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES.

Today, we live in an interconnected world where the fate of entire nations is bound together
through a complex network of global flows. These flows which involve the movement of goods,
capital, people and ideas across continents have caused the destinies of people across nations to
become closely intertwined. It is becoming increasingly clear that the effects of domestic events are
not local but rather they transcend national boundaries – the covid 19 pandemic being a prime
example. Thus, in recent decades it has become fashionable to say that we live in a ‘globalized’
world- a world of widening, deepening and accelerating interconnectedness across all spheres of life.
However, globalization, as a concept is an essentially contested one, so much so that some scholars
like the skeptics deny its very existence. The following paragraphs will seek to clarify the concept of
globalization and to explain why it is so significant for understanding contemporary world politics.
Further, certain alternative perspectives regarding globalization will be discussed.

The term globalization is immensely contested such that it has always eluded a simple definition. It
has variously been defined as a process, a condition, a policy and even an ideology. While most
scholars agree that such a thing as globalization has occurred, there is much contestation over its
origins ,its nature, its extent and its dimensions. The reason why such myriad explanations for
globalization exist is that it is not a single process but a complex of processes which are often
overlapping and multifaceted due to which it is difficult to reduce globalization to a single theme.

However, regardless of its form or impact, globalization forges connections between previously
unconnected , communities, institutions and societies, in other words INTERCONNECTEDNESS is the
very essence of globalization. Therefore Anthony and Mcgrew defined globalization as ‘the widening,
intensifying, speeding up, and growing impact of world-wide interconnectedness.’ The form of
contemporary globalization is best captured by Anthony Mcgrew according to whom contemporary
globalization is characterized firstly by the STRETCHING of social, political and economic activities
across national frontiers such that events occurring in one part of the world have the potential to
impact individuals, communities and countries in distant regions of the globe. For instance Covid-19,
which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan as a local epidemic soon assumed the form of a
worldwide pandemic, the repercussions of which are still being felt.

Secondly, it involves the INTENSIFICATION i.e. the growing magnitude of interconnectedness in

almost every sphere of modern life, from the economic to the ecological, from the global reach of
big tech companies to the spread harmful pathogens like COVID.

It also involves the acceleration of the pace of global flows and processes as the velocity with which
ideas , news, goods, information, capital, and technology circulate the world increases. For example
it is not uncommon to see stock markets around the world crashing synchronously, thanks to the
rapidity with which financial information flows from one part of the world to another.
And lastly it involves the deepening enmeshment of the local and global such that the domestic and
international start becoming indistinguishable. For example, reducing carbon emissions in Mumbai
and Glasgow can help moderate the impact of climate change on the Pacific Island thousands of
miles away.

The biggest transformation that globalization has brought about is the process of ‘time-space’
compression which implies that the development of new technologies have revolutionized
communication, such that large distances and time spans have been rendered meaningless.
Whether somebody is next door or a thousand miles away matters little since they’re just a click
away.

For some scholars globalization is associated with ‘deterritorialization’ which means that as social,
political, or economic activities are organized at the global or transnational levels, they become in a
significant sense disembedded or detached from their place or locale. For instance, property prices
in the most expensive places of the world’s major global cities are more highly correlated with each
other than with prices in their respective national real estate markets.

The interconnectedness that globalization has spawned is multidimensional and operates through
distinctive economic, cultural and political processes. In other words, globalization has a number of
dimensions or faces. Scholars have mainly highlighted three dimensions of globalisation viz.
economic, political and cultural.

Economic globalization refers to the process whereby all national economies have, to a greater or
lesser extent, been absorbed into an interlocking global economy. It involves a shift from a world of
distinct national economies to a global economy in which production is internationalized and
financial capital flows freely and instantly between countries. It is the most extensive and also the
most visible dimension of globalization. In the past century or so, especially in the post World War 2
period we have seen the emergence of global economy where goods produced in one corner of the
world often find their buyers in another corner , halfway across the globe. An enormous volume of
goods and capital flows across the markets each day, having a direct impact on economies across the
planet. The global financial and economic regime including the IMF, World bank and WTO among
others is a manifestation of this facet of globalisation.

Political globalization implies the growing importance of international organizations in world politics.
These are organizations that are transnational in that they exert influence not within a single state,
but within an international area comprising several states. However, the nature of political
globalization and its implications for the state varies depending on whether the organisation is
intergovernmental or supranational. Intergovernmental international organizations provide a
mechanism that enables states to take concerted action without sacrificing their sovereignty for
instance the IMF. Supranational bodies, on the other hand, are able to impose their will on states,
for example the European union. Most scholars opine that political globalization lags wellbehind
economic and cultural forms of globalization.

Cultural globalization is the process whereby information, commodities and images that have been
produced in one part of the world enter into a global flow that tends to ‘flatten out’ cultural
differences between nations, regions and individuals. Cultural globalization is closely linked to
economic globalization and the communication and information revolution. However, cultural
globalization is a complex process that generates both homogenization, or cultural ‘flattening’, and
polarization and diversity. Polarisation may occur because the perceived domination by foreign
ideas, values and lifestyles can create a cultural backlash, fuelling the rise of ethnic, religious or
national movement.

As discussed above, there is a sharp difference of opinion among scholars when it comes to debating
the form and content of contemporary globalisation, as a result there are three main alternative
perspectives - the hyperglobalists, the sceptics and transformationalists, each with its own position
on the subject. The hyperglobalists are the ones who have a particularly positive view of
globalisation, which according to them is a series of radical social, economic and political shifts that
have occurred in the past few decades mainly since the 1980’s, facilitated by the revolutions in
information technology and communication. They strongly believe that the ascendance of markets
over states is both inevitable and leads to economic prosperity and thus resisting market forces is
futile. While politically they talk of a ‘borderless world’ where national boundaries are increasingly
becoming irrelevant and are giving way to the formation of a global order shaped by transnational
forces. The hyperglobalists paint a highly positive picture of globalisation and thus they’ve have
been criticised for exaggerating and having a unbalanced view of reality. For one , their claims about
the inevitability of economic forces seem quite far fetched. Secondly, although it is possible to say
that we live in an interconnected world, to claim that the nation-state itself has become irrelevant
seems a little unconvincing.

The sceptics, on the contrary, maintain that globalisation and an integrated global economy are no
more than mere fantasies by pointing out there is nothing profound about the world economy today
as a bulk of the trade happens within national boundaries and not between them. They also believe
that globalisation is an ideological tool used by those politician and scholars who wish to advance a
market oriented agenda. While the sceptics have rightly criticised the hypergloablists and kept their
over-boiled enthusiasm in check, it is difficult to believe that no transformation has occurred in
world politics and things are the same as usual.

The transformationalists have a taken a middle road view of globalisation, falling between the earlier
two positions. They believed that although fundamental shifts have indeed occurred in world
politics, these developments have not swept away its traditional features altogether. In short while
while hyperglobalists claim that ‘ everything has changed ‘ and sceptics claim that ‘ nothing has
changed’, the transformationalists maintain that ‘ much has changed but not everything’.

Thus we have attempted to answer a thorny question- ‘ what is globalisation’ – its nature and extent
and have also looked at its various political, economic and socio-cultural dimensions. However there
still remain several areas of contestation and understandably so, as the process of globalisation
affects people living in different parts of the world in different ways , it is bound to generate a host
of viewpoints. Be that as it may, understanding and analysing globalisation remains essential to
comprehending and explaining twenty first century world politics.