Globalization or globalisation is the process of interaction and integration between

people, companies, and governments worldwide. Globalization has grown due to advances in
transportation and communication technology. With increased global interactions comes the
growth of international trade, ideas, and culture. Globalization is primarily an economic process
of interaction and integration that's associated with social and cultural aspects. However,
conflicts and diplomacy are also large parts of the history of globalization, and modern
globalization

Economically, globalization involves goods and services, and the economic resources of capital,
technology, and data. The steam locomotive, steamship, jet engine, and container ships are some
of the advances in the means of transport while the rise of the telegraph and its modern offspring,
the Internet and mobile phones show development in telecommunications infrastructure. All of
these improvements have been major factors in globalization and have generated further
interdependence of economic and cultural activities around the globe.

Though many scholars place the origins of globalization in modern times, others trace its history
long before the European Age of Discovery and voyages to the New World, some even to the
third millennium BC. Large-scale globalization began in the 1820s. In the late 19th century and
early 20th century, the connectivity of the world's economies and cultures grew very quickly.
The term globalization is recent, only establishing its current meaning in the 1970s.

In 2000, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified four basic aspects of globalization:
trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and movement of people,
and the dissemination of knowledge.[10] Further, environmental challenges such as global
warming, cross-boundary water, air pollution, and over-fishing of the ocean are linked with
globalization. Globalizing processes affect and are affected by business and work organization,
economics, socio-cultural resources, and the natural environment. Academic literature commonly
subdivides globalization into three major areas: economic globalization, cultural globalization,
and political globalization.
DIFFERENT GLOBALIZATION THEORIES

All theories of globalization have been put hereunder in eight categories: liberalism, political
realism, Marxism, constructivism, postmodernism, feminism , Trans-formationalism and
eclecticism. Each one of them carries several variations.

1. Theory of Liberalism:
Liberalism sees the process of globalisation as market-led extension of modernisation. At the
most elementary level, it is a result of ‘natural’ human desires for economic welfare and political
liberty. As such, transplanetary connectivity is derived from human drives to maximise material
well-being and to exercise basic freedoms. These forces eventually interlink humanity across the
planet.

They fructify in the form of:

(a) Technological advances, particularly in the areas of transport, communications and
information processing, and,

(b) Suitable legal and institutional arrangement to enable markets and liberal democracy to
spread on a trans world scale.

Such explanations come mostly from Business Studies, Economics, International Political
Economy, Law and Politics. Liberalists stress the necessity of constructing institutional
infrastructure to support globalisation. All this has led to technical standardisation,
administrative harmonisation, translation arrangement between languages, laws of contract, and
guarantees of property rights.

But its supporters neglect the social forces that lie behind the creation of technological and
institutional underpinnings. It is not satisfying to attribute these developments to ‘natural’ human
drives for economic growth and political liberty. They are culture blind and tend to overlook
historically situated life-worlds and knowledge structures which have promoted their emergence.

All people cannot be assumed to be equally amenable to and desirous of increased globality in
their lives. Similarly, they overlook the phenomenon of power. There are structural power
inequalities in promoting globalisation and shaping its course. Often they do not care for the
entrenched power hierarchies between states, classes, cultures, sexes, races and resources.
2. Theory of Political Realism:
Advocates of this theory are interested in questions of state power, the pursuit of national
interest, and conflict between states. According to them states are inherently acquisitive and self-
serving, and heading for inevitable competition of power. Some of the scholars stand for a
balance of power, where any attempt by one state to achieve world dominance is countered by
collective resistance from other states.

Another group suggests that a dominant state can bring stability to world order. The ‘hegemon’
state (presently the US or G7/8) maintains and defines international rules and institutions that
both advance its own interests and at the same time contain conflicts between other states.
Globalisation has also been explained as a strategy in the contest for power between several
major states in contemporary world politics.

They concentrate on the activities of Great Britain, China, France, Japan, the USA and some
other large states. Thus, the political realists highlight the issues of power and power struggles
and the role of states in generating global relations.

At some levels, globalisation is considered as antithetical to territorial states. States, they say, are
not equal in globalisation, some being dominant and others subordinate in the process. But they
fail to understand that everything in globalisation does not come down to the acquisition,
distribution and exercise of power.

Globalisation has also cultural, ecological, economic and psychological dimensions that are not
reducible to power politics. It is also about the production and consumption of resources, about
the discovery and affirmation of identity, about the construction and communication of meaning,
and about humanity shaping and being shaped by nature. Most of these are apolitical.

Power theorists also neglect the importance and role of other actors in generating globalisation.
These are sub-state authorities, macro-regional institutions, global agencies, and private-sector
bodies. Additional types of power-relations on lines of class, culture and gender also affect the
course of globalisation. Some other structural inequalities cannot be adequately explained as an
outcome of interstate competition. After all, class inequality, cultural hierarchy, and patriarchy
predate the modern states.

3. Theory of Marxism:
Marxism is principally concerned with modes of production, social exploitation through unjust
distribution, and social emancipation through the transcendence of capitalism. Marx himself
anticipated the growth of globality that ‘capital by its nature drives beyond every spatial barrier
to conquer the whole earth for its market’. Accordingly, to Marxists, globalisation happens
because trans-world connectivity enhances opportunities of profit-making and surplus
accumulation.

Marxists reject both liberalist and political realist explanations of globalisation. It is the outcome
of historically specific impulses of capitalist development. Its legal and institutional
infrastructures serve the logic of surplus accumulation of a global scale. Liberal talk of freedom
and democracy make up a legitimating ideology for exploitative global capitalist class relations.

The neo-Marxists in dependency and world-system theories examine capitalist accumulation on

a global scale on lines of core and peripheral countries. Neo-Gramscians highlight the
significance of underclass struggles to resist globalising capitalism not only by traditional labour
unions, but also by new social movements of consumer advocates, environmentalists, peace
activists, peasants, and women. However, Marxists give an overly restricted account of power.

There are other relations of dominance and subordination which relate to state, culture, gender,
race, sex, and more. Presence of US hegemony, the West-centric cultural domination,
masculinism, racism etc. are not reducible to class dynamics within capitalism. Class is a key
axis of power in globalisation, but it is not the only one. It is too simplistic to see globalisation
solely as a result of drives for surplus accumulation.

It also seeks to explore identities and investigate meanings. People develop global weapons and
pursue global military campaigns not only for capitalist ends, but also due to interstate
competition and militarist culture that predate emergence of capitalism. Ideational aspects of
social relations also are not outcome of the modes of production. They have, like nationalism,
their autonomy.

4. Theory of Constructivism:
Globalisation has also arisen because of the way that people have mentally constructed the social
world with particular symbols, language, images and interpretation. It is the result of particular
forms and dynamics of consciousness. Patterns of production and governance are second-order
structures that derive from deeper cultural and socio-psychological forces. Such accounts of
globalisation have come from the fields of Anthropology, Humanities, Media of Studies and
Sociology.
Constructivists concentrate on the ways that social actors ‘construct’ their world: both within
their own minds and through inter-subjective communication with others. Conversation and
symbolic exchanges lead people to construct ideas of the world, the rules for social interaction,
and ways of being and belonging in that world. Social geography is a mental experience as well
as a physical fact. They form ‘in’ or ‘out’ as well as ‘us’ and they’ groups.

They conceive of themselves as inhabitants of a particular global world. National, class, religious
and other identities respond in part to material conditions but they also depend on inter-
subjective construction and communication of shared self-understanding. However, when they
go too far, they present a case of social-psychological reductionism ignoring the significance of
economic and ecological forces in shaping mental experience. This theory neglects issues of
structural inequalities and power hierarchies in social relations. It has a built-in apolitical
tendency.

5. Theory of Postmodernism:
Some other ideational perspectives of globalisation highlight the significance of structural power
in the construction of identities, norms and knowledge. They all are grouped under the label of
‘postmodernism’. They too, as Michel Foucault does strive to understand society in terms of
knowledge power: power structures shape knowledge. Certain knowledge structures support
certain power hierarchies.

The reigning structures of understanding determine what can and cannot be known in a given
socio-historical context. This dominant structure of knowledge in modern society is
‘rationalism’. It puts emphasis on the empirical world, the subordination of nature to human
control, objectivist science, and instrumentalist efficiency. Modern rationalism produces a
society overwhelmed with economic growth, technological control, bureaucratic organisation,
and disciplining desires.

This mode of knowledge has authoritarian and expansionary logic that leads to a kind of cultural
imperialism subordinating all other epistemologies. It does not focus on the problem of
globalisation per se. In this way, western rationalism overawes indigenous cultures and other
non-modem life-worlds.

Postmodernism, like Marxism, helps to go beyond the relatively superficial accounts of liberalist
and political realist theories and expose social conditions that have favoured globalisation.
Obviously, postmodernism suffers from its own methodological idealism. All material forces,
though come under impact of ideas, cannot be reduced to modes of consciousness. For a valid
explanation, interconnection between ideational and material forces is not enough.

6. Theory of Feminism:
It puts emphasis on social construction of masculinity and femininity. All other theories have
identified the dynamics behind the rise of trans-planetary and supra-territorial connectivity in
technology, state, capital, identity and the like.

Biological sex is held to mould the overall social order and shape significantly the course of
history, presently globality. Their main concern lies behind the status of women, particularly
their structural subordination to men. Women have tended to be marginalised, silenced and
violated in global communication.

7. Theory of Trans-formationalism:
This theory has been expounded by David Held and his colleagues. Accordingly, the term
‘globalisation’ reflects increased interconnectedness in political, economic and cultural matters
across the world creating a “shared social space”. Given this interconnectedness, globalisation
may be defined as “a process (or set of processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatial
organisation of social relations and transactions, expressed in transcontinental or interregional
flows and networks of activity, interaction and power.”

While there are many definitions of globalisation, such a definition seeks to bring together the
many and seemingly contradictory theories of globalisation into a “rigorous analytical
framework” and “proffer a coherent historical narrative”. Held and McGrew’s analytical
framework is constructed by developing a three part typology of theories of globalisation
consisting of “hyper-globalist,” “sceptic,” and “transformationalist” categories.

The Hyperglobalists purportedly argue that “contemporary globalisation defines a new era in
which people everywhere are increasingly subject to the disciplines of the global marketplace”.
Given the importance of the global marketplace, multi-national enterprises (MNEs) and intergov-
ernmental organisations (IGOs) which regulate their activity are key political actors. Sceptics,
such as Hirst and Thompson (1996) ostensibly argue that “globalisation is a myth which conceals
the reality of an international economy increasingly segmented into three major regional blocs in
which national governments remain very powerful.” Finally, transformationalists such as
Rosenau (1997) or Giddens (1990) argue that globalisation occurs as “states and societies across
the globe are experiencing a process of profound change as they try to adapt to a more
interconnected but highly uncertain world”.
Developing the transformationalist category of globalisation theories. Held and McGrew present
a rather complicated typology of globalisation based on globalization’s spread, depth, speed, and
impact, as well as its impacts on infrastructure, institutions, hierarchical structures and the
unevenness of development.

They imply that the “politics of globalisation” have been “transformed” (using their word from
the definition of globalisation) along all of these dimensions because of the emergence of a new
system of “political globalisation.” They define “political globalisation” as the “shifting reach of
political power, authority and forms of rule” based on new organisational interests which are
“transnational” and “multi-layered.”

These organisational interests combine actors identified under the hyper-globalist category
(namely IGOs and MNEs) with those of the sceptics (trading blocs and powerful states) into a
new system where each of these actors exercises their political power, authority and forms of
rule.

Thus, the “politics of globalisation” is equivalent to “political globalisation” for Held and
McGrew. However, Biyane Michael criticises them. He deconstructs their argument, if a is
defined as “globalisation” (as defined above), b as the organisational interests such as MNEs,
IGOs, trading blocs, and powerful states, and c as “political globalisation” (also as defined
above), then their argument reduces to a. b. c. In this way, their discussion of globalisation is
trivial.

Held and others present a definition of globalisation, and then simply restates various elements
of the definition. Their definition, “globalisation can be conceived as a process (or set of
processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatial organisation of social relations” allows
every change to be an impact of globalisation. Thus, by their own definition, all the theorists they
critique would be considered as “transformationalists.” Held and McGrew also fail to show how
globalisation affects organisational interests.

8. Theory of Eclecticism:
Each one of the above six ideal-type of social theories of globalisation highlights certain forces
that contribute to its growth. They put emphasis on technology and institution building, national
interest and inter-state competition, capital accumulation and class struggle, identity and
knowledge construction, rationalism and cultural imperialism, and masculinize and
subordination of women. Jan Art Scholte synthesises them as forces of production, governance,
identity, and knowledge.
Accordingly, capitalists attempt to amass ever-greater resources in excess of their survival needs:
accumulation of surplus. The capitalist economy is thoroughly monetised. Money facilitates
accumulation. It offers abundant opportunities to transfer surplus, especially from the weak to
the powerful. This mode of production involves perpetual and pervasive contests over the
distribution of surplus. Such competition occurs both between individual, firms, etc. and along
structural lines of class, gender, race etc.

Their contests can be overt or latent. Surplus accumulation has had transpired in one way or
another for many centuries, but capitalism is a comparatively recent phenomenon. It has turned
into a structural power, and is accepted as a ‘natural’ circumstance, with no alternative mode of
production. It has spurred globalisation in four ways: market expansion, accounting practices,
asset mobility and enlarged arenas of commodification. Its technological innovation appears in
communication, transport and data processing as well as in global organisation and management.
It concentrates profits at points of low taxation. Information, communication, finance and
consumer sectors offer vast potentials to capital making it ‘hyper-capitalism’.

Any mode of production cannot operate in the absence of an enabling regulatory apparatus.
There are some kind of governance mechanisms. Governance relates processes whereby people
formulate, implement, enforce and review rules to guide their common affairs.” It entails more
than government. It can extend beyond state and sub-state institutions including supra-state
regimes as well. It covers the full scope of societal regulation.

In the growth of contemporary globalisation, besides political and economic forces, there are
material and ideational elements. In expanding social relations, people explore their class, their
gender, their nationality, their race, their religious faith and other aspects of their being.
Constructions of identity provide collective solidarity against oppression. Identity provides
frameworks for community, democracy, citizenship and resistance. It also leads from nationalism
to greater pluralism and hybridity.

Earlier nationalism promoted territorialism, capitalism, and statism, now these plural identities
are feeding more and more globality, hyper-capitalism and polycentrism. These identities have
many international qualities visualised in global diasporas and other group affiliations based on
age, class, gender, race, religious faith and sexual orientations. Many forms of supra-territorial
solidarities are appearing through globalisation.

In the area of knowledge, the way that the people know their world has significant implications
for the concrete circumstances of that world. Powerful patterns of social consciousness cause
globalisation. Knowledge frameworks cannot be reduced to forces of production, governance or
identity.

Mindsets encourage or discourage the rise of globality. Modern rationalism is a general

configuration of knowledge. It is secular as it defines reality in terms of the tangible world of
experience. It understands reality primarily in terms of human interests, activities and conditions.
It holds that phenomena can be understood in terms of single incontrovertible truths that are
discoverable by rigorous application of objective research methods.

Rationalism is instrumentalist. It assigns greatest value to insights that enable people efficiently
to solve immediate problems. It subordinates all other ways of understanding and acting upon the
world. Its knowledge could then be applied to harness natural and social forces for human
purposes. It enables people to conquer disease, hunger, poverty, war, etc., and maximise the
potentials of human life. It looks like a secular faith, a knowledge framework for capitalist
production and a cult of economic efficiency. Scientism and instrumentalism of rationalism is
conducive to globalisation. Scientific knowledge is non-territorial.

The truths revealed by ‘objective’ method are valid for anyone, anywhere, and anytime on earth.
Certain production processes, regulations, technologies and art forms are applicable across the
planet. Martin Albrow rightly says that reason knows no territorial limits. The growth of
globalisation is unlikely to reverse in the foreseeable future.

However, Scholte is aware of insecurity, inequality and marginalisation caused by the present
process of globalisation. Others reject secularist character of the theory, its manifestation of the
imperialism of westernist-modernist-rationalist knowledge. Anarchists challenge the oppressive
nature of states and other bureaucratic governance frameworks. Globalisation neglects
environmental degradation and equitable gender relations.

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