Review article
Globalisations: Traditions, Transformation, Transnationalism
Indraneel Sircar
; University of Wales — Aberystwyth
Abstract
“Globalisation” has permeated across disciplines, starting with literature focusing on financial interconnectedness, but spreading to work on culture, philosophy and international relations. Despite the challenge from realists, the political, financial and cultural traits of an interconnected world cannot be denied. The globalist literature is not homogeneous, but rather, draws from different traditions. The following discussion divides the literature into two main traditions. The “liberal” tradition draws on liberal and neoliberal institutionalism, which gave rise to transnational relations and complex interdependence theories in the 1970s. Although there are many parallels between current notions of “globalisation ” and earlier notions of “complex interdependence”, the fragmentation and reconstitution of space is where “globalisation ” diverges from the earlier literature. However, much of the world does not have this access to technologies that facilitate this “spatial compression ”, and is thus neglected by this “liberal” literature. This critique is put forward by the second tradition in the “globalisation” literature, a “historic-materialist” or “critical” tradition originating with Marx and Engels. Influenced by formulations such as Wallerstein’s “world systems” theory, this critical literature highlights examples of the ills of “globalisation ”. It characterises "globalisation ” as “marginalisation” and “exploitation”, and also reveals the discourse and ideology' behind the term. The word “global” connotes all that is universal and natural, so that the processes of the market seem to be irreversible, inevitable, and beyond human agency. However, by taking a transformative perspective on “globalisation”, it is possible to demystify the concept, and bring back human agency. One opportunity to do this is with a reassessment of transnationalist literature, such as Risse-Kappen’s framework that lays bare the interplay between domestic, international and social forces. Thus, the “subject” is brought back in, empowering individuals to transform current notions of “globalisation ”.
Keywords
globalization; trans-nationalism; transnationalization
Hrčak ID:
154062
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2001.
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