Introduction: Introduction to Globalization

  At the end of this module, the student should be

to:
1. Describe globalization as contradistinguished
with the following related
terms:liberalization, internationalization,
universalization, and westernization.  
2. Explain the basic difference between
globalization, globalization, and globality.
3. Understand that globalization is a multi-
dimensional phenomenon.
4. Develop one's own definition of
globalization. 
5. Exhibit understanding of globalization by
relating it to Covid-19 pandemic.

Module Overview
Ideas are abstractions of realities. Their
meanings can hardly be grasped independently of
the reality they seek to represent. Arguably, the
best way to understand abstract ideas is to relate
them to the concrete realities they tend to
portray. 
 

In this module, let's attempt to grapple with the

idea of globalization by treating it as a process
or phenomenon, which we all experience during this
time of the pandemic. Yes, let's talk about the
Covid-19 Pandemic--what it is and how it continues
to change our individual, economic, cultural,
social, and political lives.
Lesson: Covid-19 Pandemic and Globalization
GLOBALIZATION IS DEAD AND COVID-19 HAS KILLED IT?[1]
In its May 14, 2020 issue, The
Economist  featured
[2]
a provocative article
entitled “Has Covid-19 killed globalization?” The
article argued that the global restrictions on the
travel of peoples, goods, and capitals (brought
about by lockdowns implemented in different
countries in the world due to COVID-19), have
affected the economic activities of both the poor
and the rich countries, putting them in
challenging situations. It claimed that the global
economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic has brought
the greatest era of globalization to its demise.
It then sounded a dreadful alarm:
 

Wave goodbye to the greatest era of globalisation—and worry

about what is going to take its place. (emphasis supplied)
 
Based on your idea of globalization, is COVID-
19 capable of killing globalization?    
 
Think about it!
 
You can definitely answer this question based
on the information you have about COVID-19 and
based on your pre-conceived idea about
globalization. Academically, however, dealing with
questions like this requires that you to suspend
judgement until you have a better understanding of
the concepts involved. There are two concepts
involved in the question: COVID-19 and globalization.
Let’s talk about them first before we attempt to
answer the question towards the end of this
module.
 
TIMELINE OF THE GLOBAL SPREAD OF COVID-19[3]
We review the following timeline to show the
breadth and the speed of the spread of COVID-19,
which caused the World Health Organization (WHO)
to declare a Global Health Emergency and to
consider COVID-19 a pandemic. 
December 31, 2019. The Chinese government informed
the WHO about the existence of unusual pneumonia
cases in the City of Wuhan, the cause of which was
unknown.  
January 7, 2020. The Chinese officials announced
that the cause of the said pneumonia cases had
been identified, which was said to be similar to
the virus that caused SARS and common colds. The
virus was named 2019-nCov. 
January 13, 2020. The first 2019-nCov infection
outside China was reported in Thailand. Following
this, positive cases had been announced in US,
Nepal, France, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea,
Vietnam, and Taiwan.
January 30, 2020. As the rate of confirmed cases
and death toll continued to increase and spread to
other provinces in China,  the WHO declared a
global health emergency. After which, new cases
were recorded in India, Philippines, Russia,
Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia,
Canada, Germany, Japan, Singapore, the UAE and
Vietnam.
February 11, 2020. The WHO officially named the
coronavirus SARS-COV-2 and the disease COVID-19.
February 14, 2020. Egypt recorded its first
confirmed case, the first in the continent of
Africa.
February 21, 2020. Israel announced its first
confirmed case.
February 24 - March 1, 2020. Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq,
Oman, Qatar, Norway, Romania, Greece, Georgia,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, North Macedonia, Brazil,
Estonia, Denmark, Northern Ireland, the
Netherlands, Lithuania, and Wales had their first
confirmed cases.
March 5, 2020. Saudi Arabia announced its first
COVID-19 case.
March 11, 2020. Turkey, Ivory Coast, Honduras,
Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Panama and Mongolia reported their first cases. On
the same day, the WHO declared the coronavirus
outbreak a pandemic.
Fast forward... 
August 31, 2020. As of this date, there have been
25, 226, 437 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 846, 448
deaths all over the world[4]. From only 40 cases in
Wuhan City on January 1, 2020 to more than 25
million in at least 214 countries all over the
world at the end of August 2020—a big leap in just
a matter of 8 months. Note that except for
Antarctica all continents in the world have been
infected by the coronavirus.[5] This breadth and
speed of the spread of the disease is
unprecedented in human history.
Now, more than two years after the first
official report of the existence of the dreaded
virus, what is the status of the pandemic?
As of August 22, 2022, Johns Hopkins
Coronavirus Resource Center records
596,034,263 confirmed cases and 6,453,453 deaths
worldwide. (For live update
visit https://coronavirus.jhu.edu)  
  
Think about it: Has Covid-19 pandemic killed globalization? Or from the foregoing,
would you consider COVID-19 pandemic as the strongest proof of the
intensification of globalization? 

Again, suspend your answer. We have yet to

understand what globalization is.

Lesson: Globalization and other "Izations"

WHAT IS GLOBALIZATION?
One way to understand a concept is to relate
it with the concepts associated with it. In the
case of globalization, it is associated—and
sometimes erroneously taken synonymously—with the
following terms: internationalization,
liberalization, universalization, and
westernization.
 

Internationalization
“[It] involves the growth of transactions and
interdependencies between countries” (Martell
2010, 9). When the Philippines, for instance,
conducts economic activities with other countries
it engages in internationalization. From the word
itself, internationalization is the process
whereby nation-states “inter-act” with one another
economically, politically, socially, and
culturally. “Inter” signifies an act happening
between two or more players. Thus, the inter-
action happening in internationalization involves
nation-states, which are entities defined by
political and geographical borders. Nation-states
are prime movers in internationalization. Unlike
internationalization, which is defined by national
and geographical boundaries, globalization refers
to the integration of the global economy whose
main actors need not be the nation-states but the
transnational corporations, international
governmental and non-governmental organizations,
civil societies, and the peoples themselves.
 
Istvan Benczes (2014) best puts it when he
says that internationalization refers to the
extension of a nation-state’s economic activities
to other nation-states while (economic)
globalization refers to the organic integration of
the global economy. In that integration, the
active role of the nation-state is diminished.
Hence, the difference between the two processes,
according to him, lies not in the quantity, but in
the quality, of the economic relations involved.      
 

Liberalization
“[It] refers to the removal of constraints on
movements of resources between countries—an open,
borderless world. Liberalization involves
abolishing regulatory measures such as trade
barriers, capital controls and visa requirements,
and is linked in part with
neoliberalism”  (Martell 2010, 9). Liberalization,
then, is an economic philosophy or a policy which
advocates the lifting of trade barriers such as
tariffs and quotas imposed on imported products
intended to create global market where the prices
of commodities are dictated by the invisible hand
of global competition and not by state policies
adopted by nation-states. While liberalization may
be the economic philosophy or policy underlying
the prevailing form of economic globalization,
another philosophy or policy may be adopted.
Hence, liberalization is not an equivalence of
globalization in the sense that (a) the latter
cannot be reduced into simply an economic
philosophy or policy advocating how national and
global economy should work—it is essentially
multi-dimensional; and (b) the former is not the
only economic philosophy or policy which may be
adopted to advance the interests of globalization.
 
Universalization
“[It] involves the dispersion of objects and
experiences to all parts of the earth…” (Martell
2010, 9). Universalization intends to build a
homogenized world where truths, beliefs, values,
morality, and the way of doing things are held to
be valid in all places at all times. In other
words, universalization is a system of thought
where claims to truth, morality, values, and
practice by those who are in power are imposed as
valid across the world. Take democracy, for
instance. It is believed to be not only the best
form of government in countries they are adopted
but they are claimed to be the right form of
government which should be adopted by countries in
the world so that non-democratic countries are
urged, nay forced, to adhere to democratic
principles of rule of law, due process of law,
equality, liberty, justice, and human rights.
Religion is another example: Those who didn’t
believe in the religion of the ruling power were
condemned as heretics!
Universalization rests on the philosophy of
rationalism which claims that since the world is
rational, humans who are rational themselves,
should relate to the world rationally. As a
policy, universalization is carried out through
global policies and practices that uphold
accreditation and standardization. Accreditation
conducted by the International Standardization
Organization (ISO) is one way by which this policy
of universalization is carried out. 
 

Westernization
“[It] is a particular type of universalization
of Western structures such as capitalism,
industrialism, rationalism, urbanism,
individualism, and democracy, or put more
critically, colonization” (Martell 2010, 9-10). In
other words, westernization is the imposition of
western values to the rest of the world. It is a
kind of universalization in the sense that only
western values are held to be right. If you don’t
adhere to these values, beliefs, or practices,
you’re considered uncivilized, undeveloped, or
whatever derogative words used to describe non-
subscription to whatever ideals of the Western
world. Westernization as a policy was implemented
by the colonizers in the Philippines. Spain, on
one hand, forced the Indios in the name of
salvation to believe in Christianity and to
relinquish their indigenous beliefs. The
Americans, on the other hand, brought to the
country the values of democracy and rationality. 
Globalization is definitely not
westernization. Globalization is not a social
process whereby only western values are given
primacy in the global discourse. Rightly
conceived, globalization may refer to the social
process whereby the world becomes a marketplace of
ideas, beliefs, and values, where people are free
to exchange and engage in dialogue. The East meets
the West as they poetically call it.  
Internationalization, liberalization,
universalization, and westernization are terms
which had already been used even before the term
globalization was made popular recently. If
globalization according to Aart Scholte referred
to any of these terms, then to use globalization
to refer to the same idea would be redundant. But
globalization, according to him, is not synonymous
to any of these terms. Hence, as a concept
globalization must be defined and understood
separately from—and not taken synonymously with—
any of these terms (Martell 2010).     

Lesson: Globalization, Globalism, and Globality

Another way to understand globalization is to
distinguish it from the terms it is usually
confused with, namely, globalism and globality.
Confused with these terms, globalization is
sometimes referred to as an ideology that
advocates the opening up of the national economic
borders or a condition characterized of intense
worldwide interconnectedness. While these
characteristics are related to globalization, they
are rightly understood as  descriptive of
globalism and globality, respectively.
 
Globalism
 
    Globalism is the underlying philosophy—Manfred
Steger (2005) calls it ideology—behind the
prevailing form of economic globalization. It is a
normative philosophy that tells us the imperatives
of globalization. According to Steger (2005),
globalism advances six core interrelated claims.  
 
First, “[g]lobalization is about the
liberalization and global integration of markets”
(Steger 2005, 16). As already mentioned,
liberalization refers to the free flow of peoples,
goods, and capital worldwide accomplished through
the abolition of economic barriers such as visa
requirements, tariffs and quotas. Liberalization
implies integration of world economies for the
purpose of creating a global market. According to
Thomas Friedman “[t]he driving idea behind
globalization is free-market capitalism—the more
you let market forces rule and the more you open
your economy to free trade and competition, the
more efficient your economy will be. Globalization
means the spread of free-market capitalism to
virtually every country in the world” (in Steger
2005, 17). We can argue on the defensibility of
free-market capitalism as the philosophy behind
liberalization and global market integration but
let’s reserve that in the latter sections of this
course. For our purposes in this particular
module, suffice it to say that globalization—the
prevailing one—is based on a particular philosophy
on how local and global economy should work. 
  
The second claim of globalism is that
“[g]lobalization is inevitable and irreversible”
(Steger 2005, 18). It is inevitable because no
matter what we do, just like water finding its way
down the sea, the wave of globalization will
certainly hit the shores of all countries in the
world. Even if we adhere to different philosophy
of development or even if we adopt a different
economic and political policies—that is, even if
we change the course of history, globalization
will surely happen. It is pre-determined to
happen. It is as if a dictate of law of nature.
It’s irreversible; we can no longer go back! The
egg of globalization has been hatched and there’s
nothing we can do about it. It is here with us and
it will continue to be with us no matter what we
do.  
 
Think about it: What do you think is the implicit command in
the second claim of globalism?
 
Again, we can be critical about this second
claim, exposing the hidden agenda behind it, but
let’s reserve that in the coming days. 
 
The third claim of globalism is: “Nobody is in
charge of globalization” (Steger 2005, 20). Robert
Hormats  says the good thing about globalization
is that no particular individual, government, or
institution is in control of globalization (in
Steger 2005). For the globalists, the global
market is a rational machine operating in
accordance with economic laws. It is self-
regulating. Nothing but the invisible hand of
competition regulates the operation of the global
market. No state or international organization has
the power to control its operation. The World
Trade Organization (WTO) and other economic and
financial organizations are there to serve simply
as umpires of the global economic competition.
 
Think about it: Globalism states that no one is in control of
globalization. Is it the case in reality? Or, globalization has
effectively transferred the control from nation-states to
transnational corporations, so that “no control” actually
means “no control” of the nation-states?
 
Fourth, “Globalization benefits everyone”
(Steger 2005, 21). This is good news! Not really,
perhaps! But this seems to be the most attractive
feature of globalization—at least this is how its
advocates advertise it to the world. The point is
that if you want to liberate your people from
unending poverty, join the bandwagon of
globalization. If you don’t, you’ll be left out of
the global competition. This is clear in the
rhetoric of the globalists. Take the statement of
former President George W. Bush, for example. He
says:  “Free trade and free markets have proven
their ability to lift whole societies out of
poverty—so the United States will work with
individual nations, entire regions, and the entire
global trading community to build a world that
trades in freedom and therefore grows in
prosperity” in Steger 2005, 22). The United States
is said to be taking the leading role of
globalizing the world not only for its own
benefits but for the good of all. But is this
really the case?
 
Think about it: Is free trade good for developing
countries like the Philippines?
 
Fifth, “Globalization furthers the spread of
democracy in the world (Steger 2005, 22). How do
you understand this? How does globalization
promote democracy?
 
You may have already learned that democratic
society is one in which sovereignty resides in the
people and all government authority emanates from
them. It is a form of society that recognizes the
liberty and equality of the people. It is one that
adheres to the rule of law and one that resolves
issues by way of public discussion. Essentially,
democracy is about people empowerment.
 
Think about it: How does globalization promote
democracy in the world?
 
Well, here’s a hint:  “[G]lobalists tend to
treat freedom, free markets, free trade and
democracy as synonymous terms” (Steger 2005, 22).
 
The sixth claim of globalism, is that,
“Globalization requires a global war on terror”
(Steger 2005, 24). Do you have any idea why a
global war on terror is an imperative of
globalization?
 
Of course, there cannot be global economic
development unless there is global political
stability and peace. No matter what you do, no
matter what you build, everything will come to
naught if it is destroyed by those who wreak havoc
to the status quo. Global economic development
requires conformity to the rules of globalization
(for its undisrupted operation depends on them).
But terrorist networks ignore, disregard, and
trample upon these rules. They are considered the
anti-thesis of the globalists. Hence, they must be
destroyed and they must be destroyed with the
participation of all countries in the world.    
 
Globality
 
If globalism is the philosophy or ideology
that seeks to justify the prevailing form of
globalization, globality refers to
the condition brought about by the process of
globalization. In other words, globality is the
effect of the globalizing process, which process
is justified by an underlying philosophy or
ideology called globalism. But what kind of
condition is globality?
 
For Steger (2005: 7) “[g]lobality…signif[ies]
a social condition characterized by the existence
of global economic, political, cultural, and
environmental interconnections and flows that make
many of the currently existing borders and
boundaries irrelevant.” The key term here is
interconnection. Globality, in short, is the
condition of world-wide interconnectedness.  
  
Globality, according to Steger (2005), should
not be understood as the final stage of the
development of globalization. Globality is not
static. Similar to globalization, globality is
dynamic which changes its form depending on the
level of global interconnections. As a by-product
of a historical process, it transforms itself into
another condition which, according to Steger, may
be called planetarity.  

Globalization defined
 
Having clarified the notion that globalization
is not synonymous with liberalization,
internationalization, universalization, and
westernization and having pointed out that it
should not be confused with the two closely
related terms—globalism and globality—we are now
in better position to look at the concept itself.
To guide us in our understanding of the concept,
let’s consider the definitions of globalization
given by some globalization scholars. Let’s try to
discover the elements of globalization common to
all these definitions and eventually come up with
a synthesized definition.  
 
For Anthony Giddens, “Globalization can […] be
defined as the intensification of worldwide social
relations which link distant localities in such a
way that local happenings are shaped by events
occurring many miles away and vice versa.” (in
Steger 2003, 10; emphasis supplied). The key
phrase here is “intensification of worldwide social
relations.” It is not the worldwide social relations
that characterizes globalization; it is rather the
intensity of that social relations. Globalization
is characterized of that strong interconnection
facilitated by economics, politics, culture,
technology, and various global concerns. 
 
According to Fredric Jameson, “The concept of
globalization reflects the sense of an immense
enlargement of world communication, as well as of the horizon
of a world market, both of which seem far more
tangible and immediate than in earlier stages of
modernity” (in Steger 2003, 10; emphasis
supplied). The key phrase is “immense enlargement of
world communication.” Jameson must have in mind the
development of information and communication
technology which makes intense worldwide
communication possible. Globalization has made the
world so small that communicating to another
person in another continent is just like
communicating to someone in neighborhood.
Globalization, brought about by the development of
information and communication technology, has
indeed tremendously increased the level of
communication, and hence the level of global
awareness, occurring among peoples of the world.      
 
Another definition of globalization worth
considering is that of David Held. According to
him, “[g]lobalization may be thought of as a
process (or set of processes) which embodies
a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations
and transactions – assessed in terms of their
extensity, intensity, velocity and impact -
generating transcontinental or interregional flows
and networks of activity, interaction, and the
exercise of power.” (David Held in Steger 2003,
10; emphasis supplied). What Held means by this,
is that, the social relations and interactions
among peoples in the world has become much broader
in reach (worldwide) and much deeper and stronger
in connection, transcending time and space.       
 
Roland Robertson has similarly interesting
definition of globalization: “Globalization as a
concept refers both to the compression of the world
and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a
whole.” (Roland Robertson in Steger 2003, 10;
emphasis supplied). This definition offers two
elements of globalization, namely, compression of
the world and intensification of consciousness of the
world as a whole. To compress means to make it
smaller. It could also mean to reduce the widely
dispersed world into a unified whole. Of course,
compression here should be taken literally. It
refers to the transcendence of space and time made
possible through the development in transportation
and information and communication technology. You
can give various examples of this transcendence.
To give one: it only takes us some hours to reach
the continent of Europe or Africa via jet planes,
something impossible during the time of Rizal.
Another example is that we can communicate with
anyone in any place in the world in real time. All
of these developments in science and technology
have compressed the world which results to the
intensification of our consciousness of the world
as one we all inhabit. In other words, this
compression of the world has made us realize that
we belong to the same world, a world of
challenges.    
 
James Mittelman offers a similar conception of
globalization when he says:
“Globalization compresses the time and space aspects of
social relations” (in Steger 2003, 10; emphasis
supplied).
 
Lastly, Aart Scholte (in Martell 2010, 10)
defines globalization as
“supraterritorialization.” The term may sound
heavy but Scholte gives a clue:
supraterritorialism includes jet planes,
telecommunications, global media, finance,
ecological problems and global consciousness
(Martell 2010, 10). Supra means over or beyond.
Literally, supraterritorialization means going
over, or going beyond, national and regional
territories. It is the removal (metaphorically) of
the difficulties imposed by physical space.  It is
the removal of territorial boundaries, which
Friedman in his book The World is Flat (2007)
poetically calls the flattening of the world.  The
world is flat; meaning, the barriers imposed by
space and time have been removed, thus opening up
limitless opportunities for everyone.
 
Now, given the definitions of globalization
above, let’s try to find out the elements of
globalization common to all these definitions. 
 
 Let’s analyze the definitions above by showing
them on the table below.
 
Process (What's happening) Human Activitie
Intensification Worldwide social
World communicat
Enlargement
World market
Transformation Social relations
Compression World
Intensification Consciousness of
Compression Time and space o
Supraterritorialization [Human activitie
 
    On the one hand, the terms on the left column
all signify a process, a historical process.
Globalization, then, is an on-going event, which
started in the past, happening at present, and
will continue to happen in the future. Friedman
(2007) claims that globalization has three eras,
namely: globalization 1.0 (1492-1800),
globalization 2.0 (1800-2000), and globalization
3.0 (from 2000). (Friedman’s book was originally
published in 2005. With the unimaginable speed of
technological transformation, we can only imagine
that we are now living in the age of globalization
4.0 or 5.0.) 
           
On the other hand, the terms on the right
column refer to the relations, conditions, or
activities being transformed by various
developments in the world. These are social
relations, world communication and world market,
and world consciousness. Here, we see that
globalization as a historical process has multiple
dimensions, namely: political and economic (world
communication and world market); social (social
relations and transactions), and cultural
(consciousness of the world).
 
Now, based on our analysis above, we can come
up with a synthesis of the definitions of
globalization, thus:
 
Globalization is a historical process characterized of the
compression of the world, enlargement of world
communication and world market, intensification of social
relations, and intensification of the consciousness of the
world.
 
Is it a good definition of globalization, or
can you think of a better one? Well, give it a
try!  
 
 
HAS COVID-19 KILLED GLOBALIZATION?
 
           After defining globalization, you are now,
hopefully, in a  better position to answer the
question we posted in the introduction: “Has
COVID-19 killed globalization?”
 
 

References Cited
Benczes, Istvan (2014). The Globalization of
Economic Relations. In The Sage Handbook of
Globalization. Eds: Manfred Steger, Paul
Battersby & Joseph Siracusa. London: Sage
Publications Ltd.
 
Freidman, Thomas (2007). The World is Flat: A
Brief History of the Twenty-first Century: New
York: Picador.
 
Martell, Luke (2010). The sociology of
globalization. Cambridge: Polity Press.
 
Steger, Manfred (2003). Globalization: A Very
Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford Press.
 
Steger, Manfred (2005). Ideologies of
globalization, Journal of Political Ideologies,
10:1, 11-30, DOI:10.1080/1356931052000310263.
 
Steger, Manfred (2014). Approaches in the Study of
Globalization. In The Sage Handbook of
Globalization. Eds: Manfred Steger, Paul
Battersby & Joseph Siracusa. London: Sage
Publications Ltd.
 
 
Endnotes
 

Inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s statement,

[1]

“God is dead and we have murdered him.”

 (For
[2]
the full article, please
see https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/05/14/h
as-covid-19-killed-globalisation)
[3]
Data taken
from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/timeli
ne-china-coronavirus-spread-200126061554884.html
 
[4]
 For live updates on the confirmed cases and
death toll, please see https://coronavirus.jhu.edu
 
[5]
 (please
see https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2020/healt
h/coronavirus-maps-and-cases/
Suggested Readings

For a deeper understanding of the concept of

globalization, read the following articles:
 
Steger, Manfred (2014). Approaches in the Study of
Globalization. In The Sage Handbook of
Globalization. Eds: Manfred Steger, Paul Battersby
& Joseph Siracusa. London: Sage Publications
Ltd. /files/602722/Approaches_to_Globalization(4)
(7).pdf
 
Steger, Manfred (20145). Market Globalism. In The
Sage Handbook of Globalization. Eds: Manfred
Steger, Paul Battersby & Joseph Siracusa. London:
Sage Publications Ltd.
/files/602722/Market_Globalism(4)(7).pdf