Definition of globalization,

patterns & major issues

BDS 2417: International Trade and globalization

Manila Khisa
Lecturer, Department of development Studies
Faculty of arts and social sciences
Bangladesh university of professionals
8 July 2019
What is globalization?
Globalization to Students around the world
• McDonald’s and Starbucks
• The sharing of new technologies with the aim to make life easy
and better
• Increased communication, transportation of goods, services,
people and ideas around the world
• The gradual disappearance of the illusion of space
• Adventures led us to where we are in the world today
• Not often well defined or critically appraised
Defining Globalization

“Contested term relating to the transformation of spatial

relations that involves a change in the relationship between
space, economy and society”
- Daniels et al. 2001
“Information, capital and innovation flow all over the world at
top speed, enabled by technology, and fuelled by consumers’
desires for access to the best and least expensive products”
- Ohmae, 1995
“A situation involving a “state of economic development where
geographical location no longer matters’ – (O’Brien, 1992, p. 1)
Globalization= Interconnectedness
Strands of globalization

• Economic globalization
• Political globalization
• Cultural globalization
Homogenization of the whole world
 Economic Globalization: The defining characteristics

• The integration of all national economies into one global market, with
one set of rules
• Global market takes precedence over national autonomy
• Supporting institutions are IMF, World Bank, World Trade Organization
(WTO), etc.
• Economic growth and increasing material consumption
• International trade and privatization
• Commodification of public services
• Unrestricted capital market flow across borders
• Diffusion of technology
Political Globalization: The defining characteristics

• Stretching of social relations across the space

• Rise of new networks through which political demands and
powers are transmitted
• Rise of the transnational governmental institutions and the
rise of global governance
• Contested roles of the nation states
Cultural Globalization: The defining characteristics
• Cultures became less spatially bounded than they once were
• Global consumer society and cosmopolitanism
• More cultural diffusion: the process of spreading of cultural traits
from one place to another
• The age of migration and diaspora
• Visible cultural imperialism
• Localized hybridity
• Commodification of culture
Discourses of globalization

• Pro- globalization
• Anti- globalization
• Alter- globalization
Discourses of globalization: Pro Globalization

• Globalization is an important progressive trend

• Capitalism promotes economic growth and efficiency
• A continuation of modernization and progress
• Technology is the driving force of the progress
• There is no alternative
 Discourses of globalization: Anti-Globalization

• A threat to local society

and environment
• Creation of marginalized
groups
• It is made seem
inevitable
Anti- Globalization Movements
Discourses of globalization: Alter- Globalization

• A consequence of human actions and particular political

choices
• Reformist point of view
• Outcomes depend on how it is constructed
• Change the nature of globalization
Globalization and the shrinking world

• The relative distances between some people and places

have become greater
• Globalization processes are facilitated by technological
changes but are driven by much more fundamental
forces
Globalization today: Is globalization dead?
References
• Chapter 1, Murray, WE 2006, Geographies of Globalization,
Routledge, New York.
• Desai, V & Potter, RB 2014, “Globalization: An Overview’, The
Companion to Development Studies, 3rd edtn, Routledge, London &
New York, pp. 245- 251.