World Economic Development∶ Globalisation and Regionalisation.ppt

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Globalisation, simply put, denotes the expanding scale, growing magnitude, speeding up and deepening impact of transcontinental flows and patterns of social interaction… * It refers to a shift or transformation in the scale of human organisation that links distant communities and expands the reach of power relations across the world’s regions and continents… * But it should not be read as prefiguring the emergence of a harmonious world society or a universal process of global integration in which there is a growing convergence of cultures and civilisations… * For not only does the awareness of growing interconnectedness create new animosities and conflicts, it can fuel reactionary politics and deep seated xenophobia… * Since a substantial proportion of the world’s population is largely excluded from the benefits of globalisation, it is a deeply divisive and, consequently, vigorously contested process… * The unevenness of globalisation ensures it is far from a universal process experienced uniformly across the entire planet. Held, D. and McGrew, A., Globalisation/Anti-Globalisation, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2002, p.1. * The debates among international political economists are over the ultimate goals of globalisation and the extent to which the ‘costs and benefits’ of rapid change are experienced proportionately and fairly. * Whatever may be said about globalisation, and just about everything has been said, human activities that transcend the traditional constraints of national border frontiers pose a direct challenge to the territorial principle (sovereignty) which underpins the modern nation state system. * Social, economic and political activities no longer must coincide with national territorial boundaries. * They are reinvented in new regions,