pols 374 foundations of global politics lecture 3: defining globalization october 3, 2006 professor...

POLS 374 Foundations of Global Politics

Lecture 3: Defining Globalization

October 3, 2006

Professor Timothy LimCalifornia State University, Los Angeles

E-mail: [email protected]://instructional1.calstatela.edu/tclim

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Defining Globalization

Main points of chapter General notions of global-ness have a long history, but talk of

“globality” (the condition) and “globalization” (the trend) has arisen manly since 1980

A clear and precise definition of the global is crucial to advance both knowledge and policy in contemporary society

When taken to mean internationalization, liberalization, universalization or westernization, ideas of globalization reveal little new and can have objectionable political implications

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Defining GlobalizationMain points of chapter Important new insight is provided when globalization is understood in

spatial terms as the spread of transplanetary—and in recent times more particularly supraterritorial—connections between people

Globality in the sense of transworld connectivity is manifested across multiple areas of social life, including communication, travel, production, markets, money, finance, organizations, military, ecology, health, law and consciousness

Notions of globalization as the rise of transplanetary and supraterritorial links between people need to be carefully qualified in order to avoid globalist excesses

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The importance of a clear definition A clear and precise definition of the global is

crucial to advance both knowledge and policy in contemporary society

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A clear and precise definition of the global is especially important given the plethora of confusing conceptions …

… such as internationalization, liberalization, universalization or westernization

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• To put it simply, existing conceptions of globalization reveal little new and can have objectionable political implications

• Put another way, coining new terms for old phenomena is just like “putting old wine in new bottle”

"Old wine in a new bottle won't sell, friends, unless we value-add with a new bottle-cap."

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Defining Globalization By contrast, important

new insight is provided when globalization is understood in spatial terms as the spread of transplanetary—and in recent times, supraterritorial—con-nections between people

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Defining GlobalizationGlobalization as transworld

connectivity Globalization in the sense of

transworld connectivity, or globality, is manifested across multiple areas of social life, including communication, travel, production, markets, money, finance, organizations, military, ecology, health, law and consciousness

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Globalization as transworld connectivity

The notion of globalization as the rise of transplanetary and supraterritorial links between people needs to be carefully considered and qualified in order to avoid globalist excesses

Before the author does this, however, he takes a short, but important detour …

To the importance of definition(in general terms)

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The importance of definition: Main point

Definition is not everything, but everything involves definition.

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Defining GlobalizationThe importance of definition If your first step is misplaced, you may never get on the right path; worse still, you may not even realize you’re headed in the wrong direction The first step is understand the origins of the “g-word”

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Defining GlobalizationThe “G-Word” Origins of the word global go back at least to the 17th century, but it was only until the 1800s that the

meaning, “on a planetary scale” began to be clearly associated with the concept

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Defining GlobalizationThe “G-Word” In the 1940, “global” started to be used as a verb, as in “globalize,” and the term “globalization,” as a process, first

surfaced in 1959. Another related concept, “globality,” which refers to a condition, began to circulate only the 1980s

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Defining GlobalizationThe “G-Word” Today, the g-word (or some variant of it) is used throughout the world in almost all languages. It has

become ubiquitous concept in global society.

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Defining GlobalizationThe “G-Word”: Some questions Does the evolution and spread of the word “globalization” itself indicate a significant development? Does it mean something, in other words, that everyday conversation in virtually every society on earth incorporates regular references to

global markets, global communications, global conferences, global threats, global environment, and so on?

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Starting Premises for Definition: Five Points

First, definition serves or should serve to advance knowledge Second, no conceptualization is normatively and politically neutral Third, every definition is relative to context Fourth, no definition is definitive Fifth, the variability of definition means that each formulation should be as clear, precise, concise, explicit, consistent and cogent as possible.

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Defining GlobalizationStarting premises for definition

Not all definitions are equal: there are good definitions, and bad ones. A bad definition is one that (following point five) lacks clarity, is implicit, inconsistent, and weak (in terms of relating convincingly to empirical evidence and policy needs)

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Defining GlobalizationRedundant concepts of globalization

What’s wrong with existing definitions?

Short answer: They’re all redundant. That is, they refer to preexisting processes or conditions

The problem? Sort of like call the Angels the Los Angeles Angels. But, in the case of globalization, the implications are a bit more serious.

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Internationalization The problem here is clear: internationalization—defined as increasing transactions and interdependence between countries—has been going on for a long time, centuries

really. It is significant, but it is not new; therefore, it’s redundant.

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Liberalization As the author writes: “the language of globalization is unnecessary to rehearse arguments for and against laissez-fair economics. People have debated theories and

practices of ‘free’ markets for centuries without invoking talk of globalization”, so there’s no good reason to start now.

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Universalization Universalization is an important process, but it’s not new: it is an age-old feature of world history (consider the spread of Christianity and Islam)

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Westernization The problem here is not with the concept of westernization per se—the world is certainly become more westernized. But as the author notes, “it is one thing to assert that

globalization and westernization have had interconnections and quite another to equate the two developments.

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More about westernization The bigger problem is that defining globalization as westernization suggests that there are no alternatives: that, in principle, there cannot be non-western alternatives such

as Buddhist globalization, Confucian globalization, Islamic globalization, or some other as-yet unidentified type of globalization

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The basic problem with existing conceptions of globalization, to repeat, is that they are redundant: they refer to historical and ongoing processes that predate contemporary processes.

The main point the author wants to make is that we need to understand what is new in order to move forward.

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Defining GlobalizationA way forward

To repeat: the way forward is to conceptualize globalization as the spread of transplanetary and supraterritorial connections between people.

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What is a global or transplanetary social relation?

Short answer: It is a social relation that can link persons situated at any inhabitable place on the earth, such as an Internet chat room.

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Globalization, therefore, involves reductions of barriers to transworld social contacts. With globalization people become more able—physically, legally, linguistically,

culturally, and psychologically—to engage with each other wherever on planet Earth they might be

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In short, globalization refers to shift in the nature of social space: this is what is new about globalization

Think of this concept as a little (a very little) like the movie, The Matrix: If everything about the nature of time/space changes, our world would be a very different place

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Defining GlobalizationSocial Space: Short Discussion

Author tells us that “space matters” That is where we live our lives has a profound impact on how we live our lives. Space

is a core feature—as both cause and effect—of social life. Or, as they like to say in real estate …

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Defining GlobalizationLOCATION,LOCATION,

LOCATION

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Defining GlobalizationSocial Space

Space (or location) affects the ways people formulate knowledge, construct identities, form collectivities Spatial considerations also affect economic arrangements, political relations, culture, and even

psychological states Given all this, a reconfiguration of spatial structures is bound to have a profound effect on society as a

whole

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The nature of social space, however, is changing. It is as if real estate no longer has a fixed geographic point: “location”

still matters, but it matters in a profoundly different way

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This brings our focus back to the concept of globality

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Defining GlobalizationSocial Space and Globality

Globality has two qualities: The more general feature is transplanetary connectivity, which has figured in human

history for a long time The other, more specific quality is supraterritoriality, which is relatively new

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Transplanetary connectivity: Even though this is not a brand new phenomenon, it is much stronger than its ever been:

“More people, more often, more extensively and more intensely engage with the planetary arena as single social space. Volumes of transworld associations, communications, diseases, finance, investment, travel and trade have never been as great”

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Supraterritoriality: Supraterritoriality refers to social connections that substantially transcend territorial geography

In a sense, supraterritoriality means that (physical) space matters less and less, and in some domains (such as global finance) it matters almost not at all

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At the extreme, supraterritoriality has two perfect qualities: transworld simultaneity (that is, the ability to extend a connection across the planet at

the same time) and transworld instaneity (the ability to move anywhere on the planet in no time)

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An example of transworld simultaneity and transworld instaneity: the Internet

pols 374 foundations of global politics lecture 3: defining globalization october 3, 2006 professor...

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