What is

globalization?
FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES/LENSES
 Economy – world, regional,
international global economy

Technology - digital age; fourth

industrial revolution
Characteristics of
our “World” Politics – global governance who
are the main actors; how do they
engage
Societies/culture - Values;
cosmopolitanism
TECHNOLOGY AS MAIN ENGINE OF
GLOBALIZATION
- WITHOUT THE INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION,
GLOBALIZATION AS WE KNOW IT NOW
COULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED
- OVERCAME THE CHALLENGE OF SPACE &
TIME
- RESULTED IN MOBILITY & INTEGRATION:
real & virtual
SOCIAL-ECONOMIC SHIFTS
POLITICAL UPHEAVALS
CULTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN
HISTORY WERE CONSEQUENCES OF
TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTIONS:
- AGRICULTURAL
- money; writing; printing press
- INDUSTRIAL
-camera: photography & motion picture
- INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
 GLOBALIZATION AS ECONOMIC MODALITY:
INTEGRATION, CONVERGENCE, GLOBAL MARKETS,
GLOBAL CORPORATIONS
GLOBALIZATION: AIM IS TO ADDRESS THE CAPITALIST
CRISIS; OPEN UP NEW MARKETS
 POLITICAL SPHERE: ERASURE OR REMOVAL OF ‘BORDERS’-
economic protectionism, nationalism, ethnicities, weakening of the state
GLOBAL GOVERNANCE SYSTEM – new global institutions

GLOBAL CORPORATIONS as major actor in global governance: World Trade

Organization, Investor-State Dispute Settlement or investment court system
 HISTORY & CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Globalization as GLOBAL EMPIRE
History of Humankind as history of Empires

“An empire is a political order with two characteristics:

- RULE over a significant number of DISTINCT PEOPLES
- FLEXIBLE borders & a potentially UNLIMITED APPETITE

“THEY CAN SWALLOW & DIGEST MORE & MORE NATIONS & TERRITORIES
WITHOUT ALTERING THEIR BASIC STRUCTURE & APPETITE”
[Yuval Noah Harari, SAPIENS A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND]
“The global empire being forged before our eyes is not governed by any particular state
or ethnic group. Much like the late Roman Empire, it is ruled by a multi-ethnic elite,
and is held together by a common culture & common interests. Throughout the world,
more & more entrepreneurs, engineers, experts, scholars, lawyers & managers are
called upon to join the empire. They must ponder whether to answer the imperial call or
to remain loyal to their state and their people. More and more choose the empire.” (p.232)
 Sources: 2016-17 edition World Politics Trend and Transformation by
Shannon Lindsey Blanton & Charles William Kegley (editors)Published
by CENGAGE Learning (digital copy)
Paper Dragons China and the Next Crash by Dr. Walden Bello. Zedbooks
Ltd, 2019
Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. Vintage,
2011