IDEOLOGIES OF GLOBALIZATION
lasts shortly whose changing structure
Michael Freeden - objects to calling “globalism” as an ideology
for it is too early to pronounce on globalism’s status as an
ideology
Manfred Steger- sees “globalism” status as an ideology, for it
not only represents a set of political ideas and beliefs coherent
enough to warrant the status of a new ideology, but also
constitutes the dominant political belief system of our time
against which all of its challengers must define themselves.
 Michael Freeden argues that the current
fragmentation of established ideologies and the
revived uncertainty concerning whether ideology still
exists have highlighted the difficulty of capturing the
changing morphologies of political belief systems
 Globalism is the dominant ideology, yet Freeden states
that it is far too early to pronounce its status as an
ideology
 Yet, contra to Freeden, Steger states that it is not too
early
 Steger’s article seeks to establish that globalism not
only represents a set of political ideas and beliefs
coherent enough to warrant the status of a new
ideology, but also constitutes the dominant political
belief system of our time
To address the problem of the current fragmentation of
established ideologies, British political theorist proposes to two
fertile lines of inquiry:
 To question the implicit holism in the notion of an
ideological family
- This is to question the clear understanding of ideology as
a whole through the impression of ideological family
Examining the first line of the inquiry more closely, Freeden
briefly discusses
“globalism” as a possible “holistic contender” but quickly
retreats to the sceptical view
that it is far too early to pronounce globalim’s status as an
ideology.
- Globalism could be a useful solution as a whole yet still
not evident enough to prove its status as an ideology
 To question the dominant convention of classifying
and categorizing ideologies, with a view to establishing
the degree to which they constitute useful clusters
- This is to question the central deal of classifying and
categorizing ideologies, with the concept of establishing the
level of its usefulness
Pursuing the second line of inquiry, Freeden recommends
imaginative “thought exercise” with the aim of providing insight
into some organizing feature according to
which ideologies can be reclassified
- Giving meaning to ideologies to where it could be
reclassified
Freeden ends his editorial with an experimental reclassification
design based on select features of human behaviour: Pride,
Fear, Gregariousness, Complacency, Vulnerability,
Insubordination, and Self-subordination.
Freeden’s article possesses a number of virtues:
 First, it wisely reminds students of ideology that
political belief systems are ephemeral constellations
whose shifting morphologies demand periodic
scholarly reassessments.
o Political belief systems are a pattern that only
demand reassessments on constant
examining
 Second, it challenges 21’st century analysts of ideology
to reappraise antiquated popular and conventional
classification systems that might obscure more than
they illuminate
o Scholars must evaluate significance of
discredited popular and conventional
classification systems into more immense
idea. They must willingly entertain wholesale
ideological information, and thus be prepared
to rethink, revise and perhaps replace
outdated conceptual morphologies that no
longer capture the dynamics of actually
existing political belief system.
 Third, it displays considerable intellectual imagination
by calling for experimental thought exercises designed
to redraw old ideological boundaries and reclassify
ideological systems.
o It gives us new view of perceptions to
reclassify ideological systems
IDEOLOGY: a system of widely shared ideas, patterned beliefs,
norms and values, and regulated ideals accepted as truth by
some groups
Globalization: Process, condition, or ideology?
 The term “globalization” has been used
indiscriminately and has invited confusion
 Therefore, the term has no definite explanatory
meaning
 Future ideas of a global society produce an
indeterminate number of characteristics/scenarios.
 The term “globalization” is widely decontested
 Globalization (process) leads to more Globalization
(condition)
 Globality should not be an endpoint that prevents any
further development.
 A social process that is changing our current social
condition based on modern system of a state.
 Create, multiply, stretch and intensify worldwide social
interdependencies and exchanges, deepening
connections between local and foreign.
 The process of Globalization may occur quickly or
slowly
 The constant repetition of public discussion of an
ideology's core claims tend to have injected into the
minds of the people.
 As a strong discourse globalism has proven to be
difficult to resist because it relies on the power of
“common sense” , that is, the widespread description
of the real world.
SIX CORE CLAIMS: six particular ways in which globalists
decontest their master concept “globalization”
 These claims absorb and rearrange bits and pieces of
several established ideologies and integrate them with
new concepts into a hybrid meaning structure of
genuine novelty.
1. Globalization is about the liberalization and global
integration of markets
 Presence of free Trade
 Liberalization: a process that lessens the government
restrictions and regulations in an economy
 Three additional factors to consider: the centrality of
the concept “globalization” ;the conceptual shift of
markets from its adjacent or peripheral location in
 liberalism and conservatism to globalism’s core;
formation of six highly original ideological claims.
 Global integration: the process in which certain local
markets open up to the global economy
 Globalization means the spread of free - market
capitalism to virtually every country in the world.
 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-market-liberty-integration; represents an
objective diagnosis of the real world. A chain that
saves as fact on what is actually a contagious political
initiative.
 Single economic strategy; can contribute to the spread
of freedom, choice and openness in the world.
 Globalization represents primarily an economic
phenomenon (Friedman)
 Globalization is about the triumph of markets over
governments.
2. Globalization is inevitable and irreversible
 Globalization turns into concept “historical
inevitability”.
 Protectionism is against globalization, as protectionism
means protecting a country’s own interest over its
neighbors
 As societies continue to interact with each other, ideas
are exchanged, as well as goods and services,
perceptions are changed, and thus globalization is
inevitable.
 The process of Globalization is irreversible means it is
not able to be undone or altered, and inexorable
means impossible to stop or prevent
 We can’t stop globalization to happen.
 “We cannot simply wish away the process of
globalization. It is a reality of a modern world. The
process is irreversible.” - Manuel Villar
3. Nobody is in charge of globalization
 Because of the presence of anonymous stocks, bonds,
and currency traders in the free market
 People are not in charge of globalization; markets and
technologies are
 “It is not controlled by any individual, any government,
any institution.” - Robert Hormats
 “The great beauty of globalization is that no one is in
control. The great beauty of globalization is that it is
not controlled by any individual, any government, any
institution” – Robert Hormats, vice chairman of
Goldman sachs
 it became increasingly difficult to defend the claim
because it became obvious that the survival of
globalization depend on the political leadership of the
US because it stands unchallenged as the world’s
economic leader, a remarkable turnaround from the
1980s when many Americans had doubts about U.S.
“competitiveness” and created the international
monetary fund that provides emergency loans to
countries with temporary balance payment problems
4. Globalization benefits everyone in the long run
 According to John Meehan, periodic problems in
employment and social services might be necessary,
but in the long run, they will benefit society in terms of
productivity
 According to the G-7 Summit, it provides great
opportunities for the future, it has many aspects
including unprecedented expansion of investment and
trade; the opening up to international trade of the
world’s most populous regions and opportunities for
more developing countries to improve their standards
of living; the increasingly rapid dissemination of
information, technological innovation, and the
proliferation of skilled jobs.
 Free trade and free markets have proven their ability
to lift full societies out of poverty
 Despite the irregularities, they insisted that the market
itself will correct it
5. Globalization furthers the spread of democracy in the
world
 Neoliberal claim: freedom, free trade, free markets,
and democracy are synonymous
 Globalization process strengthens the existing affinity
between democracy and the free market
 “Thatcherism” proximity to market and making
economic choices.
 This claim is largely based on a narrow, formal-
procedural understanding of democracy.
 This focus on the act of voting– in which equality
prevails only in the formal sense– helps to obscure the
conditions of inequality reflected in existing
asymmetrical power relations in society.
 The promotion of polyarchy allows globalists to
advance their project of economic reconstructing in a
language that ostensibly supports the democratization
of the world
 “Polyarchy” represents an elitist and regimented
model of low intensity or formal market democracy. It
governs effectively.
 Claim five became firmly linked to the Bush
administration’s neoconservative security agenda
6. Globalization requires a global war on terror
 It combines the idea of economic globalization with
openly materialistic and nationalistic ideas associated
with the American - led global War on Terror.
 Running a considerable risk of causing irreparable
damage to the conceptual coherence of globalism.
 Globalism’s political responsiveness and conceptual
flexibility
 Combines the idea of economic globalization with
openly militaristic and nationalistic ideas associated
with American-led global War on Terror
 Possesses paradoxical character
 Less important than the previous five claims
 Some cultural theorist said that globalization was
actually Americanization or McDonaldization in
Universalist disguise.
CONCLUSION
 Manfred Steger states that with the six core claims as a
new thought system, asymmetrical power structures
would be sustained in society that benefit a loose,
heterogeneous, and often disagreeing global alliance
of those political and economic forces referred to as
“globalists”
 Students of ideology could no longer rely on the
outdated categories of the last two centuries to make
sense of current ideological dynamics
 Everything flows and nothing stays fixed
 There is a need for further assessment on globalism’s
ideological status
 The study of globalism would benefit from creative
interdisciplinary research designs and methodologies
that combine both qualitative and quantitative
approaches.