Types of globalisation

There are three main classifications of globalisation for the A-level politics student: political, social and economic.

Political globalisation

Political globalisation refers to the amount of political co-operation that exists between different countries.

This ties in with the belief that “umbrella” global organisations are better placed than individual states to prevent conflict. The League of Nations established after WW1 was certainly one of the pioneers in this. Since then, global organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), United Nations (UN), and more regional organisations such as the EU have helped to increase the degree of political globalisation.

Social globalisation

Social globalisation refers to the sharing of ideas and information between and through different countries.

In today’s world, the Internet and social media is at the heart of this. Good examples of social globalisation could include internationally popular films, books and TV series. The Harry Potter/ Twilight films and books have been successful all over the world, making the characters featured globally recognisable. However, this cultural flow tends to flow from the centre (i.e. from developed countries such as the USA to less developed countries). Social globalisation is often criticised for eroding cultural differences.

Economic globalisation

Economic globalisation refers to the interconnectedness of economies through trade and the exchange of resources.

Effectively, therefore, no national economy really operates in isolation, which means national economies influence each other. This is clearly evidenced by global recession from 2007 onwards. Economic globalisation also means that there is a two-way structure for technologies and resources. For example countries like the USA will sell their technologies to countries, which lack these, and natural resources from developing countries are sold to the developed countries that need them.