Defining Globalisation

Abstract

A clear and precise definition of globalisation is crucial to advance contemporary knowledge and policy. When taken to mean internationalisation, liberalisation, universalisation or westernisation, ideas of globalisation reveal little new. Important novel insight is opened when globalisation is understood as the spread of transplanetary - and in recent times also increasingly supraterritorial - connections between people. That said, this conception needs to be carefully qualified in order to avoid globalist excesses. Copyright 2007 The Author. Journal compilation Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2007.

Globalization and Religion in Historical Perspective: A Paradoxical Relationship

“…Speaking in hyperbole, Friedman asserts that "because globalization as a culturally homogenizing […] force is coming on so fast, there is real danger that in just a few decades it could wipe out the ecological and cultural diversity that took millions of years of human and biological evolution to produce" ( [2], p. 278). Scholte points out that indigenous people's heritages are being erased, and that languages are dying at a rate as alarming as animal extinction ( [22], p. 1495).…”

Spatial misfits in multilevel governance - impacts on the small island state of Malta

“…The interactions of policy actors transcend territorial geography. In other words, spatial boundaries are regarded as less important because actors now create dynamic networks which are independent of place (Amin, 2004;Scholte, 2008). A good example is EU egovernance, the European online government system which provides EU citizens with access to services and information, as well as giving them the opportunity to directly participate in democratic processes.…”

“…The meaning of scale is, however, relative to the context and the users, even though definitions state that scale involves criteria, measurement and judgement. Levels are relative positions on a scale (Gibson et al, 2000;Scholte, 2008). In the geographical sense, scale refers to the spatial extent of phenomena.…”

Connectedness in times of ecological overshoot

“…In addition to our trans-dimensional and trans-scalar conception, the term has attracted multiple divergent definitions, including internationalization, liberalization, universalization, westernization and deterritorialization (Scholte, 2008). Clearly the adoption of different definitional starting points results in different -potentially radically different -measurements of 'globalization'.…”

“…Also, contemporary history may have witnessed significant deterritorialization while the country contexts continue to shape social life, and global dynamics have differential effects depending on country locations. Globalization can furthermore involve reterritorialization processes that give new life to country borders, national identities and state power (Scholte, 2008). …”