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There
are many suggestions and debates on the question of how to define
the concept of 'globalisation'. Here are some few definitions
commonly used:
"Globalisation
is a multi-dimensional process characterised by:
- The
acceptance of a set of economic rules for the entire world designed
to maximise profits and productivity by universalising markets
and production, and to obtain the support of the state with a
view to making the national economy more productive and competitive;
- technological
innovation and organisational change centred on flexibilisation
and adaptability;
- the
expansion of a specific form of social organisation based on information
as the main source of productivity and power;
- the
reduction of the welfare state, privatisation of social services,
flexibilisation of labour relations and weaker trade unions;
- de
facto transfer to trans-national organisations of the control
of national economic policy instruments, such as monetary policy,
interest rates and fiscal policy;
- the
dissemination of common cultural values, but also the re-emergence
of nationalism, cultural conflict and social movements."
R. Urzua, 2000*
'Globalisation
can be thought of as a process (or set of processes) which embodies
a transformation of the spatial organisation of social relations
and transactions.'
David Held et al. 1999
'Globalisation
refers to all those processes by which the peoples of the world
are incorporated into a single world society, global society'
Martin Albrow, 1990
'Globalisation
can…be defined as the intensification of worldwide social relations
which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings
are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa.'
Anthony Giddens, 1990
'The
characteristics of the globalisation trend include the internationalising
of production, the new international division of labour, new migratory
movements from South to North, the new competitive environment that
accelerates these processes, and the internationalising of the state…making
states into agencies of the globalizing world.'
Robert Cox, 1994
'Globalisation
can be defined as a set of economic, social, technological, political
and cultural structures and processes arising from the changing
character of the production, consumption and trade of goods and
assets that comprise the base of the international political economy.'
Globalisation and Governance Home Page
*
International Social Science, September 2000, Vol. 165. Blackwell
Publishers/UNESCO, p.421.
For
more on globalisation, please see UNESCO-MOST, 'Globalisation
and Governance'
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