Globalization: A contested concept, both analytically and normatively

Essay from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, grade: 1,8, University of Warwick (University of Warwick, UK, Dep. of Economics), course: Making of Economic Policy, language: English, abstract: 'We don't know what globalization is, but we have to act.' This sentence, from a peasant activist in North East Thailand interviewed in Bangkok on 10 June 2002, makes clear why 'globalization' is still one of the most contested concepts in recent international political economy. Global media has raised people's awareness of the fact that 'the world is moving faster than ever'. Reduced formal barriers to commerce (e.g. import tariffs) have helped world trade to grow faster than output and foreign direct investments faster than trade . Multi-national corporations with a global target market have entailed the threat of off-shoring and outsourcing, which exerts a constant downward pressure on wages in developed countries. The information and communication technology revolution as well as the decreased transportation costs due to the airplane and containerization have accelerated a new division of labour. Moreover non-economic issues as the change of the nation-state role and the growing importance of transnational institutions are feeding the talks about globalization. Yet, just as the interviewed peasant above, nobody really knows what the exact topic is.