Jan Aart Scholte's five broad definitions of Globalization

Question 1

Globalization as Liberalization

Answer 1

‘globalization’ refers to ‘a process of removing government-imposed restrictions on movements between countries in order to create an “open”, “borderless” world economy’ (Jan Aart Scholte). Those who have argued with some success for the abolition of regulatory trade barriers and capital controls have sometimes clothed this in the mantle of ‘globalization’. (Jan Aart Scholte’s Globalization).

Question 2

Globalization as Universalization

Answer 2

Here, ‘global’ is used in the sense of being ‘worldwide’ and ‘globalization’ is ‘the process of spreading various objects and experiences to people at all corners of the earth’. An example of this would be the spread of television etc. The notion of globalization as universalization also fails to provide new insight. (Jan Aart Scholte’s Globalization).

Question 3

Globalization as Westernization

Answer 3

Here ‘globalization’ is understood as a dynamic, ‘whereby the social structures of modernity (capitalism,swiss replica watchesrationalism, industrialism, bureaucratism, etc.) are spread the world over, normally destroying pre-existent cultures and local self-determination in the process. (Jan Aart Scholte’s Globalization).

Question 4

Globalization as Deterritorialization

Answer 4

offers a clear and specific definition of globalization. The notion of supraterritoriality, or trans-world, or trans-border relations, Scholte argues, provides a way into appreciating what is global about globalization.(Jan Aart Scholte’s Globalization).With growing flows of trade and capital investment there is the possibility of moving beyond an inter-national economy, where ‘the principle entities are national economies’, to a ‘stronger’ version - the globalized economy in which, ‘distinct national economies are subsumed and rearticulated into the system by international processes and transactions’ (Hirst and Peters 1996).