Development Disquisitions 1: Three Main Views on Globalisation

Globalization and its major viewpoints.

The thesis of ‘Globalisation’ is a tricky term to explain due to its elusiveness however, Modelski believes that “globalisation is a historical process which is characterised by a growing engagement between peoples on all corners of the globe” (2003). There are three main views on Globalisation which include Hyper-globalisation, Sceptic and Transformationalist.

Hyperglobalists, also known as global optimists, insist that globalisation is occurring now and local cultures are being eradicated due to the increase of international capitalism. They believe that globalisation is a positive action (hence their given nickname ‘global optimists’) because it is characterised by economic uplift, high prosperity and the spread of democracy. Followers of this view see globalisation as “bringing about a denationalisation of economies through the establishment of transnational networks of production, trade and finance” (Held et al, 2000). The core of this view gravitates towards how the capitalist system invades all corners of the globe in order to spread its influence, therefore creating a world without borders. To extend on the idea of taking away cultural borders, having mass media platforms like the internet and television gives people from one side of the world fast accessibility of content from the other side of the world. Globalisation is undeniably blurring the lines between cultures as we’re witnessing certain social and economic trends forming in Western Europe and then those trends start spreading across the world.

Sceptics, as you can guess, are sceptical about the idea of global economic integration being anything particularly new. They believe that globalisation is exaggerated and as they look back to the nineteenth century, they’re able to draw higher statistical evidence of developed flows of trade and investment which they compared to today’s modern society. The Sceptics insist that their analysis of the nineteenth century demonstrate that instead of witnessing globalisation, the world is going through ‘regionalisation’; to organise a country on a regional basis.

Lastly, are the Transformationalists. According to their view, modern processes of globalisation are historically irrelevant as the government and people across the world believe that there is an absence of clear distinctions between the global and the local. In contrast to the Sceptics and Hyperglobalists views, Transformationalists have made no claims as to the future of globalisation, nor do they vision our current globalisation as a version of a ‘globalised’ nineteenth century.

Table 1: Images of the Three Waves

	Globalists	Sceptics	Transformationalists
Globalisation	Globalisation Globalisation as causal	Globalisation is a discourse Internationalisation as effect of other causes	Global transformations, but differentiation and embeddedness
Method	Abstract, general approach	Empirical approach	Qualitative rather than quantitative approach
Economy	Global economy Integration, open Free trade	Inter-national economy Triadic, regional, unequal State intervention and protectionism	Globally transformed New stratification Globalised but differentiated
Politics	Global governance or neo-liberalism Decline of nation-state Loss of national sovereignty	Nation-states, regional blocs, inter-national Power and inequality Political agency possible	Politics globally transformed Nation-states important but reconstructed Sovereignty shared
Culture	Homogenisation	Clashes of culture Nationalism Americanisation Globalisation  differentiated	Globally transformed Hybridisation Complex, differentiated globalisation
History	Globalisation is new	Internationalisation is old	Globalisation old but present forms unprecedented
Normative politics	Global governance or neoliberalism End of social democratic welfare state	Reformist social democracy and international regulation possible	Cosmopolitan democracy
Future	Globalisation	Nation-state, triad, conflicts, inequality	Uncertain, agency Left or Right Continued, stalled or reversed

BIBLIOGRAPHY-

David Held and Anthony McGrew , David Goldblatt and Jonathan Perraton (1999) ‘Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture’  Available from: http://www.geog.mcgill.ca/documents/Held%20et%20al%201999.PDF [Accessed 24th February 2021]

Matos, C (2012). Globalization and the mass media. In: Encyclopaedia of Globalization. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. [online] Available from: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/5542/1/mass%20media%20entryglobalization.pdf [Accessed 24th February 2021 ]

National Geographic ‘Globalisation’ [Online] Available from: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/globalization [Accessed 24th February 2021]

Martell ,L (2007). The Third Wave in Globalisation Theory [Online] Available from:  http://users.sussex.ac.uk/~ssfa2/thirdwaveweb.htm [Accessed 24th February 2021]