Is Globalization Presently Being Governed To the extent that it is, how is it been done - Essay Example

It is argued, that although pluralism is not a conventional method of understanding governance, it is a new and effective method for responding to the exigencies of the multi-layered nature of globalization. This research study is therefore divided into two parts. The first part of this paper defines globalization as a means of presenting the multi-layered nature of globalization. The second part of this paper describes and analyses the global legal pluralism in terms of the governing of globalization.

Globalization: Definition and Concepts Globalization is typically attributed to changes occurring in the international political and economic arena in the second half of the 20th century.5 The domestic economies have become progressively integrated via trans-national trade, finance and investment activities. Advances in technology have also eliminated a number of obstacles related to time, space and distance which in turn have accelerated and facilitated market integration of domestic economies.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the world stage has been dominated by a single “political ideology”, namely; capitalism.6 Snyder conceptualizes globalization as: .an aggregate of multifaceted, uneven, often contradictory economic, political, social and cultural processes which are characteristic of our time.7 Governance of globalization necessarily means methods by which these aggregate and often conflicting forces are reconciled to respond to the challenges of globalization and to ensure that the political and economic benefits of globalization are realized.

Another conceptualization of globalization identifies changes in the world political economy. In this regard, it is recognized that the world is no longer specifically organized around the idea of state sovereignty as the primary determinant in inter-state relations. Moreover, we “no longer live in a world of stable and predominantly self-contained national political economic systems.”8 This reality arises out of the nature of globalization. Globalization essentially connects people in diverse ways across spaces so that borders become less significant.

In this regard a generic definition of globalization is entirely useful in that it consists of four essential elements: interdependence, organization, culture and diffusion.9 Scholarly definitions of globalization also capture the interdependence of states within the international community. For instance and Harvard Professors Nye and Keohane refer to globalization as “globalism” which in turn is: A state of the world involving networks of interdependence at multi-continental distances. These networks can be linked through flows and influences of capital and goods, information and ideas, people and force, as well as environmentally and biologically relevant substances (such as acid rain or pathogens).

10 ` Nye and Keohane also argue that while the term globalization became popularized during