Friedman’s definition of Globalization (page

9)
[Globalization] is the inexorable
integration of markets, nation states, and
technologies to a degree never witnessed
before –

in a way that is enabling individuals,

corporations and nation-states to reach
around the world farther, faster, deeper,
and cheaper than ever before

and

in a way that is enabling the world to

reach into individuals, corporations, and
nation states farther, faster, deeper, and
cheaper than ever before.

This process of globalization is also

producing a powerful backlash from
those brutalized or left behind by this new
system
The Global System is built around three
balances that overlap and interact:

1) The traditional balance between

nation states

2) The balance between nation states and

global markets

3) The balance between individuals and

nation states
A more sophisticated take on globalization would
begin by realizing that there are multiple patterns,
each of which is often called (either singly or in
some combination) globalization:

1. The emergence of global currency markets

since the deregulations of the 1980s

2. The transnationalization of technology and

the rapidity of redundancy

3. The competitive pressure on corporations to

become global

4. The globalization of political activity and

transnational economic diplomacy

5. The intensification of global cultural flows,

communications, and migration

6. The breakdown of geographical boundaries

and the emergence of new connections
between cities, regions, and governance
structures

7. The loss of faith in the capacity of

governments to manage domestic problems
Globalization is also rife with “claims”:

1. The globe is now a single unit for the purposes

of decision-making

2. Capital, goods, and services move more freely

throughout the world

3. National economies have been opened up to

global markets and are declining

4. The role of the nation-state in shaping

national policies has reduced

5. The rate of economic interaction between

nation-states and national economies has
accelerated

6. Organization of production has changed from

Fordism to post-Fordism or has become
flexible or been internationalized

7. Social relations are acquiring relatively

distanceless and borderless qualities

8. The nation-state has been internationalized

9. Migration patterns have shifted from south to
north
In so far as it is desirable to have a finite definition
of globalization, it is desirable to incorporate both
the 7 patterns and the 9 claims most often
associated with globalization. Attempting to do
this would result in a working definition of
globalization along the lins of:

Globalization is the intensification of

economic, political, social and cultural
relations across borders

This definition invites historical exploration of the

dynamics of social change through which the
porousness of the borders of the nation-state has
become very evident.

This definition also has the advantage of

emphasizing that globalization is not simply an
economic phenomena/problem.
Rudd Lubbers, former Dutch prime minister and
Professor of Globalization at the University of
Tilburg defines globalization as:

“… a process in which geographic distance

becomes less a factor in the establishment and
sustenance of border-crossing, long distance
economic, political, and socio-economic
relations. People become aware of this fact.
Networks of relations and dependencies
therefore become potentially border-crossing
and worldwide. This potential
internationalization of relations and
dependencies causes fear, resistance, actions,
and reactions.” (Lubbers, 1998)
Anthony Giddens (in The Consequences of
Modernity, 1990, p.64) stresses the intensification
of worldwide social relations:

Globalization can thus be defined as the

intensification of worldwide social relations
which link distant localities in such a way that
local happenings are shaped by events
occurring many miles away and vice-versa.
This is a dialectical process because such local
happenings may move in an obverse direction
from the very distanciated relations that
shape them. Local transformation is as much
part of globalization as the lateral extension of
social connections across time and space.
Another entire literature equates globalization
with the triumph of economic liberalism or the
application of economic rationalism to “nation
societies.” This approach assumes that markets
offer, at least in principle, the most reliable means
of setting values on all goods and that economies
and markets can, in principle, deliver better
outcomes that states, governments, and the law.

This view sees globalization as a consequence of

“ideology” and “a bad thing.”
From this discussion it is crucial to decide
whether:

 Globalization is a process of global integration

occurring since the dawn of history, which has
recently accelerated
 Globalization is contemporal with
modernization
 Globalization is a specific phase of capitalism
 Globalization is bound up with post-
industrialization and/or post-modernization
and/or the disorganization of capitalism