Globalization Overview

Principles

Definition

Globalization is an academic concept and field of study that examines the accelerating interconnectedness and interdependence of world societies, economies, cultures, and political systems. It investigates the complex processes driving cross-border flows of goods, services, capital, information, and people, characterized by their multidimensionality and dynamic nature, and is significant for analyzing their profound and transformative impacts on local, national, and global scales.

Ontological type

Key theories

Historical development

Narratives of globalization

Key developments

Key Figures

MNC-Centered Globalization era

Robert O. Keohane [1] is a political scientist affiliated with Harvard University [3] and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [4] during this era. His key contributions in this era center on the 1984 work After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy [6], which reframes international political economy under anarchy and explains why institutional arrangements mattered for global governance. William Diebold [2] is associated with Nyack College [5] during this era. His key contributions in this era come from the same After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy [6], illustrating how cooperation and discord in the world political economy shaped cross-border investment and policy diffusion, which was important for the MNC-centered globalization trajectory.

Networked Governance and Production era

Arjun Appadurai [1], with affiliations including University of Pennsylvania [3] and University of Chicago [4], is a central figure in this era. In Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization [7], Appadurai reframes globalization as cultural flows that reorganize urban networks and cross-border exchange, a perspective that deeply informs how polycentric governance and production emerged in this era. George Thomas [2], with affiliations including University of Massachusetts Amherst [5] and Arizona State University [6], offers a complementary perspective on state formation in the era. His World Society and the Nation-State [8] reframes global politics by treating the world society as the scale beyond the nation-state, elucidating how cross-border knowledge and institutional diffusion shape governance in polycentric production networks.

Digital Global Production Networks era

Detlef P. van Vuuren [1] is associated with Imperial College London [3] and the University of Copenhagen [4] within the Digital Global Production Networks era (2008–2023). His key contributions in this era, exemplified by The roads ahead: Narratives for shared socioeconomic pathways describing world futures in the 21st century [7], advance scenario-based thinking on world futures and the role of digital-enabled governance, shaping policy and corporate upgrading in a connected global economy. Neil M. Coe [2] is affiliated with National University of Singapore [5] and the University of Manchester [6] in this era. His contributions, through Global production networks: realizing the potential [8] and Global Production Networks: Theorizing Economic Development in an Interconnected World [9], illuminate how digital architectures reconfigure global production and upgrading and reframe economic development within digital global production networks.