A Critical Methodology of Globalization: Politics of the 21st Century?

With international protests against globalization occurring almost as frequently as the term “globalization” is uttered, the fundamental question of what globalization is seems to have been eclipsed by promulgations of its arrival. Globalization, as proponents and protesters alike proclaim, is upon us, forcing us to determine what, if anything, must be done about it. This article will argue that the debate about what to do about globalization is still very much a debate about what globalization is. My aim is to reflect, from an interdisciplinary perspective, upon the intimate relationship between how globalization is defined and what globalization theorists propose as appropriate responses to its effects, positive or negative. This article is divided into four parts. Part I distinguishes between two uses of the term “globalization,” and articulates the focus of the article in light of that distinction. Part II maps some of the multifarious and, at times, contradictory definitions of globalization articulated by globalization theorists across the disciplines of sociology, law, political science, social theory and economics. Part III analyzes whether a relationship exists between the activities of globalization description and prescription, 2 and Part IV then articulates the need for a critical methodology of globalization that accounts for this relationship.