Globalization

- Globalization is described as a transplanetary process characterised by increasing

liquidity and multi-directional flows of people, objects, places, and information. It also
involves the structures that either facilitate or hinder these flows.

Key Concepts

1. Globalization vs. Transnationalism

- Globalization: Broader and encompasses various transplanetary processes, not
restricted to geopolitical borders.
- Transnationalism: Focuses on connections across specific geopolitical borders (e.g.,
Mexican immigrants sending remittances). It is more limited compared to globalization.

2. Solidity vs. Liquidity:

- Solidity: Represents the past when people, information, would “harden” overtime thus
becoming immobile (e.g., people, objects, information).
- Liquidity: Refers to the present state where things are more fluid and capable of moving
easily (e.g., information via the Internet).

3. Heavy vs. Light:

- Heavy: Refers to earlier forms of goods and systems that were cumbersome and difficult
to move (e.g., large books, industrial machinery).
- Light: Represents more modern, easily transportable items and systems (e.g., digital
content).

Key Metaphors

- Solid to Liquid: Metaphor for the transition from a world with rigid structures and limited
mobility to one with increased fluidity and interconnectedness.
- Heavy to Light: Illustrates the shift from physical, bulky items to more easily transferable
digital and lightweight entities.

Additional Concepts

- Globality: The omnipresence of globalization's effects.

- Flows: Movement of people, goods, information, and places that illustrates the increasing
ease of global interconnectedness.
- Weightlessness: The trend toward lighter, more easily transferable digital forms of
information and goods.

Impact and Challenges

- Opportunities: Enhanced connectivity and mobility (e.g., global communication,

international trade).
- Dangers: Issues like border security, digital divides, and the challenges of managing rapid
global flows.

Conclusion

- Globalization is marked by increasing liquidity and the movement from solidity to

fluidity, with the rise of digital technologies contributing to the weightlessness of
information and goods. Despite this, barriers still exist and continue to be erected in
response to the challenges posed by rapid global changes.

Heavy Structures that Expedite 'Flows

1.Overview: The text discusses how globalization involves both fluid, weightless elements
(like information) and solid, material structures (like infrastructure). Understanding
globalization requires examining both the things that flow easily and the structures that either
facilitate or obstruct these flows.

2. Examples of Structures Facilitating Flows:

- Transport Routes: Defined airline routes and smuggling paths.
- Supply Chains: Goods move through established supply chains from production to
market.
- Bridges: Formal and informal pathways that expedite legal and illegal flows, such as
migration and trade.

3. Networks:
- Types: Global networks (transnational, international, national, local) facilitate information
flow.
- Internet: It has revolutionized global communication, enabling movements like the
alter-globalization movement and influencing political campaigns.

4. Formal and Informal Networks:

- Global Cities: Cities like New York, London, and Tokyo are interconnected financially,
promoting rapid flow of financial products.
- Social Structures: Institutions such as banks and cities enhance global connectivity.

5. Barriers to Flows:
- Material Barriers: Borders, customs, and trade regulations can hinder global flows.
- Structural Challenges: National and corporate policies may block or redirect flows to
serve specific interests.
- Frictions: Global flows face interruptions due to friction, which can both slow down and
sometimes enhance movement.

6. Critique of Flows:
 - Limitations: The concept of flows often overlooks structural barriers and the uneven
benefits of globalization. Not all regions experience the same level of connectivity.
- Structural Inequities: Social and economic inequalities influence how flows are
managed and who benefits from them.

7. Examples of Barriers and Challenges:

- Nation-State Barriers: Tougher border controls and trade restrictions.
- Subtle Barriers: Social structures and economic systems that disadvantage certain
groups.

8. Changing Organizations:
- Openness: Some organizations are becoming more open (e.g., open-source software),
but significant barriers remain, particularly for those with fewer resources.

9. Historical Perspectives on Globalization:

- Hardwired: Globalization as an inherent human drive for improvement. For example: the
initial globalization of the human species, when in the late Ice Age, a tiny group of our
ancestors walked out of Africa in search of better food and security. In fifty thousand years of
wandering along ocean coasts and chasing game across Central Asia, they finally settled on
all the continents. Other examples include trade, missionary work, etc.

- Cycles: Historical cycles of globalization. this suggests that there have been other global
ages in the past and that what now appears to be a new global age, or the high point of such
an age, is destined to contract and disappear in the future. Eventually, it, too, will be
replaced by a new cycle in the globalization process.

- Epochs: Distinct periods in globalization history. Therborn sees six great epochs, or
“waves,” of globalization, that have occurred sequentially, each with its own point of origin

1. The fourth to the seventh centuries which witnessed the globalization of religions (e.g.
Christianity, Islam).
2. The late fifteenth century highlighted by European colonial conquests.
3. The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries during which various intra-European
wars led to globalization.
4. The mid-nineteenth century to 1918; the heyday of European imperialism.
5. The post-World War II period.
6. The post-Cold War period.

From this, Therborn concludes that globalization today is not unique. However, his historical
or epochal view also rejects the cyclical view of globalization. Past epochs are not returning,
at least in their earlier form, at some point in the future.

- Events: instead of cycles or great epochs, one can point to much more specific events
that can be seen as the origin of globalization; Key events (e.g., exploration, technological
advancements) shaping globalization. Examples include:

• The Romans and their far-ranging conquests in the centuries before Christ (Gibbon 1998).
• The travels of the Vikings from Europe to Iceland, Greenland, and briefly to
North America in the ninth through the eleventh centuries as examples of, and landmarks in,
globalization.
• Trade in the Middle Ages throughout the Mediterranean.

Overall, the text emphasizes that globalization is influenced by both facilitating and
obstructing structures, and understanding these dynamics requires recognizing the interplay
between flows and barriers.

BROADER MORE RECENT CHANGES

This text explores the significant changes in globalization that emerged in the latter half of
the twentieth century. It identifies three major catalysts for modern globalization:

1. The Emergence of the United States as a Global Power:

Post-World War II, the U.S. became a dominant global force militarily, economically, and
culturally. Its economic strength and global influence facilitated the spread of American
culture and media, contributing to a global sense of Americanization.

2. The Rise of Multinational Corporations (MNCs):

Companies like Ford and General Motors expanded internationally, marking a shift from
national to global operations. This trend of globalization in business became more
pronounced as companies sought new markets and production sites worldwide.

3. The Demise of the Soviet Union and the End of the Cold War:

The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 dismantled the division between capitalist and
communist spheres, leading to greater global integration. This event accelerated the flow of
economic and cultural exchanges between previously isolated regions and the rest of the
world.

The text concludes by framing globalization as a relatively recent phenomenon, heavily

influenced by these key events, and outlines how the concept of globalization has evolved
over time, emphasizing the transition from solidity to fluidity and weightlessness in global
interactions.