What is Globalisation?

About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about ways of conceptualising globalisation and Jan Aart Scholte’s four types of definition, focusing in particular on: (i) internationalisation – the intensification of interactions between nation states; (ii) liberalisation – the removal of barriers to free global trade; (iii) universalisation – the emergence of shared global cultural practices and commodities; (iv) westernisation – the global spread of western culture and ideas; (v) Scholte’s own preferred definition, centred on the rise of supraterritoriality, or the decreasing importance of territory and spatial distance in social, political and economic interactions.

About the lecturer

Professor Rafal Soborski is Professor of International Politics at Richmond, The American International University in London. His research focuses on the ideological, political and social dimensions of globalisation, including on globalism, anti-globalism and environmentalism. He is author of Ideology and the Future of Progressive Social Movements (2018) and Ideology in a Global Age: Continuity and Change (2013).