Globalization as A Trend in The Development of The Modern World

Understanding Globalization in Contemporary Sciences

One of the defining characteristics of modernity is globalization. Globalization is an objective social process characterized by the economic and political interdependence of countries and regions of the world to such an extent that the establishment of a unified global legal framework and global economic and political governance becomes possible and necessary. This phenomenon is an objective process, spawned by the onset of the information technology revolution, and has become feasible following the resolution of the binary opposition between the capitalist and communist systems.

The term "globalization" was introduced into academic discourse by American economist R. Robertson in 1985, whom defined it as a historical process that enhances contacts among various parts of the world, leading to an increasing uniformity in the lives of the planet's peoples. Its widespread usage emerged in the 1990s and is derived from the English word "globe," meaning the Earth. The term is applied not only in economics but also in politics and in all matters concerning global processes that have spread, and continue to spread, in some regions today.

Despite its popularity, the understanding of this process remains one of the most debated topics in the social sciences. Interpretations of the concept in dictionaries and encyclopedias, as well as in individual studies, greatly depend on the specific field of knowledge within which it is considered, as the phenomenon it denotes is so universal that it evidently necessitates an interdisciplinary approach.

Let us begin with cultural studies, where globalization is understood in very diverse ways:

• As a tendency to create a kind of unified global culture/civilization;
• As an increasing interrelation of diverse cultures that does not give rise to a new culture but leads to the dominance of one among them;
• As a complex process of forming a shared consciousness that encompasses projections of the global world produced by local civilizations (M. Castells).

Understandings of this theme also vary within economic disciplines. In these fields, the "images" of globalization are similarly diverse but are grounded in different foundations—specifically, the ideas of post-industrialism and the information society. Here, the concept of an information economy, which seemingly crowns the process of globalization, remains extremely vague. This type of economic organization is represented as a kind of dematerialized or virtual economy, which embodies the detachment of the financial sector from real production, presented in various interpretations: either as the overcoming of value-based relationships (V. Inozemtsev), or as their modification, resulting from the combination of economic and non-economic relations (E. Kocheto).

In contemporary economic theories, globalization signifies the emergence of a form of alienation not from material, materialized wealth, but from intellectual and spiritual resources, which fundamentally distinguishes the global form of alienation from that of a capitalist type. Essentially, this involves a historically novel means of production, within which monetary or financial capital operates, that is, capital beyond the boundaries of the capitalist means of production. In this light, globalization appears almost symmetrical to the process of transforming capital into a capitalist means of production, albeit with an inverted sign (O. Buzgalin, A. Kolganov).

In the theory of international relations, there is an increasing call to analyze not only "trans" and "cross" phenomena but also the global social sphere. Alongside this, concepts of a global or cosmopolitan civil society are emerging.

Meanwhile, within sociological disciplines, globalization is interpreted as:

• A multifaceted process of interlinking structures, cultures, and subjects on a global scale (M. Ercher);
• A process that erodes geographical boundaries of socio-cultural norms, accompanied by an increasing awareness of this (M. Waters);
• A process that signifies the intensification of social relations on a global scale, such that events in various remote locations prove interdependent (E. Giddens);
• Globalization appears as a consequence of compressing the world into a single whole, almost to a single point, with this entirety simultaneously recognized by local parts (R. Robertson).

The spatial and even spatiotemporal aspects of globalization are illuminated in geographical disciplines, particularly in their historical branches. In Francophone literature, "mondialisation" (the equivalent of "globalization") is understood as a transactional process born from various exchanges between different parts of the globe, or as a kind of general exchange on a scale of humanity. This process, initiated in the 15th century, assumes modern forms by the late 19th century, creating a metaspaces—both a distinctive system and an environment for diverse geographical spaces (O. Dolfus). This portrayal of globalization is not confined solely to the discipline of geography, as it involves a metaspaces and a process that encompasses humanity and our entire planet.

In economic geography, attention is drawn to two phenomena of modernity: glocalization (from "glock"—the bell, referring to a limited space where the sound of the bell is heard) and transnationalization, understood as the establishment of systems of control and governance capable of combining centralization with local economic interests, and the creation of "economic archipelagos," specifically associations of the largest megacities.

Historians emphasize the concept of globalization as one of the few stages in the centuries-long development of capitalism.

Finally, philosophy has also actively engaged with these questions, discussing the universalization of human qualities and recalling that I. Kant proposed the idea of perpetual peace and the establishment of a single global government. As there is no singular understanding of the globalization process, many researchers delineate three dimensions of this concept:

• Globalization is a historical process that has developed over many centuries.
• Globalization is a homogenization of the world, living by unified principles, adherence to singular values, observance of common customs and behavioral norms, and a quest for universality.
• Globalization is the acknowledgment of interdependence, primarily driven by the erosion and disintegration of national states under the pressures exerted by new actors on the global stage—global corporations, religious organizations, and transnational management structures (networks) that interact on equal terms not only among themselves but also with the states—traditional active players in international relations.