Globalization is one of the most discussed topics among researchers in world politics and, obviously, the main tendency of the world development in the XXI century. It has become the most common term that has no precise definition. There are widely differing views on its interpretation.
Researchers think that the reason of multiplicity of definitions lies in the fact that the phenomenon itself is many-sided. It is the mutual recognition of countless tribal and ethnic communities, scattered by nature or an act of creation on the globe, the increasing exchange of material and spiritual values between them, and interpenetration, «merging» of nations and languages as a result of migration. And as a result, the emergence of certain common rules of life on the planet that are recognized voluntarily or by force, the formation of human civilization and an integrated system of economic and political order (world order) that is adequate to it as a certain end product of a spontaneous process and a conscious purposeful activity [1].
A striking example of the polysemanticism of the concept of «globalization» can be seen in the work «Definitions of Globalization: A Comprehensive Overview and a Proposed Definition». This paper contains the explanation of the process by researchers from different countries and international organizations in chronological order. Also, based on the comprehensive overview of the existing definitions of globalization, the authors of this work Dr. Nayef R.F. Al-Rodhan and Ambassador Gérard Stoudmann introduce their own proposed definition that «Globalization is a process that encompasses the causes, course, and consequences of transnational and transcultural integration of human and non-human activities.» [2].
The concept of globalization is the most popular instrument of modern science for the analysis of social processes. The term «globalization» in sociology refers to a broad range of phenomena and trends: the development of world ideologies; intense struggle for the establishment of world order; a jump in the number and influence of international organizations; the weakening of the sovereignty of nation states; the emergence and development of transnational corporations; the growth of international trade.
The last decade of XX and beginning of XXI century were characterized by major events in international relations, which affected all the European and Eurasian regions. The end of the «Cold War», the formation of a unipolar world and a new world order and the development of globalization by the standards of the United States and other Western countries have brought profound changes in the political situation in Europe and the world in whole.
The main consequence of the globalization is the international division of labor, the international movement of capital, human and industrial resources, the standardization of law, and economic and technological processes, as well as the convergence and merge of cultures of different countries. This is an objective process, which is of systemic character, that is, it covers all aspects of society. As a result of globalization, the world is becoming more connected and more dependent on all its subjects. The number of problems that are common for a group of countries is increasing, and the number and types of integrating subjects are expanding.
As an initial step toward gaining a comprehension of the subject, and with a view to outlining the distinctive claims of the present study, the analysts of globalization can be broadly considered to fall into three groups: the agnostics, they question whether anything new at all has happened by way of a phenomenon such as globalization, believing instead that increased internationalization of the world economy in terms of higher flows of merchandise, capital, and labor has all been seen before, especially in the decades preceding World War I. Indeed, they assert that there was greater integration of the world economy before World War I than at the beginning of the fourth quarter of the twentieth century. Their position on the issue constitutes a fundamental objection, and therefore merits serious attention.
Taking a position diametrically opposed to that of the agnostics, the enthusiasts of globalization underline that it represents the occurrence of a massive change in the world economy, marking the triumph of markets at the expense of states.
The critics of globalization as the third group tend to agree with the enthusiasts on the trends delineated about increasing economic globalization. However, they disagree strongly with the positive interpretation put upon them; instead they deem the consequences of globalization to be malign for the mass of national population [3].
According the author of a monograph on globalization, Prof. A. Arystanbekova, who worked as the first Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations for eight years since 1992, many works of French researchers prove that French scientific school divides the concept of «globalization» into two senses: mondialization of (la mondialisation le monde) and globalization (la globalisation) [4].
The usage of the term «globalization» had been occasional until it was first brought to the center of conceptual study by an American sociologist J. McLean in 1981. Following John Maclean’s early call ‘to comprehend and explain the historical process of the increasing globalization of social relations’, questions of globalization have become a concern across the academic spectrum in the 1990s [5]. However, there is a point of view according to which the process of globalization in modern history is associated with the beginning of the 1960s due to the rapid development of the scientific and technological revolution in information and communication technologies. The first and most famous theorist of the new idea is Marshall McLuhan of the University of Toronto, who was the first to coin the term ‘global village’ [4, p. 10]. This was centered on the expansion of forms of communication since the invention of movable type and then the printing press in the fifteenth century up to global communication via radio and television, but prior to the World Wide Web, the Internet, and other by now commonplace features of the contemporary period of electronic communication [6].
Since that moment, the number of books and articles on the subject has been increasing exponentially, and today the vast majority of scientists believe that globalization is the most important social process. M. Waters wrote, «Just as Postmodernism was the fundamental concept of the 80s, the globalization may become the key idea of the 90s, by which we mean the transition of humanity into the third millennium» [7].
In describing the process of globalization, it is necessary to note Anthony Giddens’s works as one of the main theorists. In his work, Giddens dwells on globalization in the introduction and in the first chapter. The author describes a world in which we live as «elusive world», which is characterized by rapid changes. «In this changeable world, globalization reshaping the way we live, and very thoroughly. It is approaching from the West, has a strong imprint of the political and economic might of America and leads to ambiguous results. But globalization is not just Western domination over the rest of the world; it affects the United States, just like other countries [8].
According to A. Giddens, there are two schools of thought with regard to globalization that assume opposite attitudes. According to the author, the first one consists of those who can be called «hyperglobizers» or radicals; the representatives of the second school are «globalization skeptics». «Hyperglobizers» are ideologically related to business. According to their view, globalization means the expansion of the global market. Some of them believe that many regions, rather than the nation-state will be the key points of the global economy.
In the work «What is globalization?» Beck introduces the category of transnational social spaces, which, by its theoretical sense, is a complete analogue of Robertson’s ‘common place’. According to Beck, globalization is the processes in which nation states and their sovereignty are interwoven into the net of transnational actors and subjected to their power capabilities, their orientation and identity, not limited daily activities related to the various dimensions of the economy, media, ecology, technology, transcultural conflicts and civil society ...»
According to Beck, it is necessary to distinguish between dimensions of globalization. Especially, when asking questions about the scale and limits of globalization, referring uppermost to three parameters: the extension in space; stability in time; and, third, the density of transnational networks, relationships and TV flows. [9]
The term «globalization» was widely discussed by the whole range of actors in international relations in the early 90s of the XX century. In the early 90s, the United Nations began to use the term mostly in an economic context.
In October 1995, at the grand meeting of the UN General Assembly in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Organization, a number of world leaders were paying attention to the growing interdependence of nations in conditions of the process of globalization in the economic and social spheres. The UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, in his opening address, laid emphasis on the fact that the world of the XXI century was characterized with the opposition of two powerful forces – globalization and fragmentation, he also noted that the unknown and dispassionate forces of globalization will entail a variety of new problems [4, p. 8].
Globalization also permits countries to share experiences and to learn from one another’s achievements and difficulties, and promotes a cross-fertilization of ideals, cultural values and aspirations. Furthermore, the global transformations of the world economy are profoundly changing the parameters of social development in all countries. With its universal membership the General Assembly is particularly well placed to serve as a forum for building consensus on how to better manage globalization in order to promote development. Thus, the member states began to attend to the problems of the consequences of globalization at the UN summit meetings and continue doing it
In my opinion, the integration in the economic, political, cultural and social spheres of most of the world is not a new phenomenon, but only in the last two decades, the related processes have acquired pronounced qualitative and quantitative development, and, as a result, the concept content of globalization has become a key one. The world is fusing and moving in opposite directions simultaneously. Globalization is not a linear process; on the contrary, it is a very contradictory, uneven process, constantly changing its forms, methods, and implementation mechanisms, manifestations.
References
- Shahnazarov G. Globalization and the globalistics: a phenomenon and a theory. Pro Et Contra, 2000, Volume 5, № 4. Autumn, pp. 184-185.
- Nayef F. Al-Rodhan, Gérard Stoudmann. Definitions of Globalization: A Comprehensive Overview and a Proposed Definition. June 19, 2006 // Received at: htpp://www.sustainablehistory.com/articles/definitions-of-globalization.pdf
- Balden Raj Nayar. The Geopolitics of Globalization. Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Arystanbekova A. Globalizacija. – Almaty: Dajk-Press, 2007. – P.11.
- Scholte, J. (1996) Beyond the Buzzword: Towards a Critical Theory of Globalization // Globalization: Theory and Practice / Ed. by E. Kofman and G. Youngs. – London: Continuum. – P. 44-45.
- Salvemini N. Globality. Received in https://webspace.yale.edu/anth254/ restricted/IESBS_2002_Robertson.pdf 7Waters, M. Globalization. – London; – N.Y.: Routledge, 1995. – P.
- Giddens A. Uskol’zajushhij mir: kak Globalizacija menjaet nashu zhizn’/ Pe-rev. iz anglijskogo M.L. Korobochkina. – , Izdatel’stvo ‘Ves’ mir, 2004. – P. 19-24
- Beck U. What is globalization? 2001.