Globalization

Globalization is a historical process of transnationalization, denationalization, and deterritorialization that encompasses different arenas, such as the economy, society, politics, culture, academia, and so on, with varying intensities and geographical differences. Loosely defined, it involves an increase in the scope, volume, and velocity of transactions across national borders, not all of which occur on a worldwide basis.

It is misleading to speak of globalization as a linear development, a fixed situation, or an undifferentiated worldwide phenomenon. Certain processes are, depending on world regions, globalized (such as trade, production, and labor and financial markets in the industrialized world), while others are constrained by local, regional, and national identities and policies (such as identity and border politics in sub-Saharan Africa; Central, East, and southeast Asia; and large parts of the greater Middle East). However, this status changes over time because the process of globalization is historically contingent. To take account of geographical differences, geographers have found the idea of globalizations (in the plural) increasingly relevant in recent years. Therefore, careful observation is necessary both to identify globalized arenas and to recognize the existence and assess the continuing relevance of national(ized) politics and (re)asserting statehood. Thus, the idea of a “borderless world” signifies some of the tendencies of contemporary hyper-globalization; depending on an individual's standpoint, such globalization may be seen as either a positive or a negative development. Those arenas that can be made out as globalized, however, are characterized by three single, though interconnected, processes: transnationalization and, in its consequences, denationalization and deterritorialization. These processes are not linear but are contested and resisted by governments, regional organizations, and nonstate antiglobalization movements. Such resistance is directed at all kinds of globalizations, but it typically emphasizes economic issues such as labor rights, economic injustices, environmental degradation, and human rights violations. This entry examines these processes and their implications for local places.

The most far-reaching impacts of those transformations relate to (a) shifts in the structure of time and space; (b) conceptualizations of human agency, including power; and (c) political and geographical imaginaries of statehood. Although those impacts appear to be historically novel, they are comparable with earlier historical periods of social and political upheaval, including their geographical distinctiveness and impacts and their complexities.