Understanding Globalization: A Transplanetary Perspective

1. What is Globalization According to A. Scholte?

Giddens aptly observed that „there are few terms that we use so frequently but which are in fact as poorly conceptualized as globalization‟ (Giddens, 1996).

Various Interpretations of Globalization

Let's delve into different understandings of globalization:

• Internationalization:

  This refers to the growth of transactions and interdependence between countries. A more globalized world, in this sense, witnesses increased cross-border flows of messages, ideas, merchandise, money, investments, pollutants, and people.

• Liberalization:

  Globalization, from this perspective, is the process of removing officially imposed restrictions on resource movements between countries. It aims to create an „open‟ and „borderless‟ world economy by reducing or abolishing regulatory measures like trade barriers, foreign-exchange restrictions, capital controls, and visa requirements.

• Universalization:

  This interpretation views globalization as the dispersion of various objects and experiences to people across the globe. For instance, the Gregorian calendar, tobacco, business suits, and even Barbie dolls have become globally ubiquitous. This view often implies homogenization, leading to worldwide cultural, economic, legal, and political convergence.

• Westernization:

  Considered a type of universalization, Westernization spreads social structures of modernity (capitalism, industrialism, rationalism, urbanism, etc.) throughout the world. Critics often interpret it as colonization, Americanization, or westoxification, potentially destroying pre-existent cultures and local autonomy.

A Way Forward: Global, Transplanetary, and Transworld

This approach defines globalization as the expansion of transplanetary – and increasingly, super-territorial – connections between people. It emphasizes reduced barriers to transworld social interactions, enabling individuals to connect physically, legally, linguistically, culturally, and psychologically, regardless of their location. This perspective highlights a shift in the nature of social space.

• Transplanetary Relations:

  These are social links between individuals located anywhere on Earth. This concept distinguishes between international relations (exchanges between countries) and global relations (exchanges within a planetary realm).

• Supraterritoriality:

  This refers to social connections that significantly transcend territorial geography, becoming delinked from territory. These global connections often exhibit transworld simultaneity (extending across the planet concurrently) and transworld instantaneity (moving anywhere instantly). Examples include telecommunications networks, global mass media, and the instantaneous global circulation of the US dollar and Euro. Ecologically, climate change, ozone depletion, certain epidemics, and biodiversity loss also unfold simultaneously on a global scale.

Addressing Objections to Transnationality

Some argue that the concept of transnationality still uses the nation-state as a reference point, retaining elements of methodological nationalism and statism. However, globality avoids domestic/foreign and internal/external dichotomies, fostering a significant methodological shift.

Conclusion

Defining globalization as the spatialization of social life unlocks new understanding and critically engages with key policy challenges of our time. The concepts of „globality‟ and „globalization‟ effectively capture the ongoing large-scale growth of transplanetary – and often supraterritorial – connectivity.

It's crucial to distinguish the trans-territorial connections of globality from the inter-territorial connections of internationality. Similarly, the transborder transactions of globality differ from the open-border transactions of liberality. The transplanetary simultaneity and instantaneity of supraterritoriality are distinct from the worldwideness of universality. Lastly, globality's geographical focus contrasts with the cultural focus of Western modernity.

While globalization, as defined here, overlaps with and connects to internationalization, liberalization, universalization, and Westernization, it remains a distinct concept, reflecting the evolving nature of our interconnected world.