Conceptualizing Politics

THE GLOBALISED WORLD
A challenge to politics

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Globalisation is of interest to us in as much as it influences politics, not as an eco-
nomic, social, cultural event; nonetheless it is useful to establish a couple of basic 
points that clarify what we are talking about.
1.   What is globalisation?
The globe has become the easily accessible dimension of many economic activi-
ties thanks to technical and policy factors. The first include the invention and rapid 
spread of both IT (information technology) and containers and container ships, 
which have hugely increased the size of communication and trade among societies, 
enterprises and individuals; by the second, the policy factor, I mean the tearing-
down of protectionist trade barriers and the opening of more and more free mar-
kets, not just for commodities and financial capital, but wage-labourers as well 
(the latter with limitations to migrations, and a low level of social protection for 
migrants). What defines globalisation is, however, not just the planetary dimension, 
but likewise the growing level of interdependence among its participants.
The main areas of globalisation are:
•  the economy, as already seen; this area relies on highly innovative and easily 
available technology.
• 
culture, in the broad sense, with the creation of a ‘global village’ and the local 
integration and modification of cultural patterns coming from far away – the 
‘glocal’.
• 
the sphere of social and interpersonal relations, in which formal and informal 
transnational networks – from photography clubs to mafia-like associations – 
facilitate previously unthinkable exchanges.
• 
politics, to be examined in detail.