COURSE: LAW & JUSTICE IN A

GLOBALIZING WORLD
NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY TOPIC: GLOBALIZATION OF LAW AND
ODISHA LEGAL THEORY (WEEK 2)
INSTRUCTORS: PROF. RAO

GLOBALIZATION: AN INTRODUCTION

1
World Citizen Flag

“Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam - the belief that the entire world comes together to be one family”

The summer of 2018 witnesses Dhruv (14 years old), a US citizen of Indian origins residing
in California and Skandh (13 years old), also a US citizen of Indian origins residing in
Georgia spending their summer vacations in Bangalore playing online video games with
Brian (25 years old) from Rio, Brazil.

So what is globalization? We see high scale industrial activities undertaken by the developed
economy's MNCs operating in the territories of developing countries. Is this globalization?
The world is coming together to address issues like climate change, terrorism, global poverty
etc. If the world comes together to address any issue, is that globalization?

This is our reality today, that people, places, institutions are now vulnerable to be affected by
a greater number of factors than ever before and this is a result of a process/condition of
what?

This globalization phenomenon can be said to be a result of the technological advancements

made by the world in the past, the major outposts of the same can be aptly traced from the

1
Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=547647
 COURSE: LAW & JUSTICE IN A
GLOBALIZING WORLD
NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY TOPIC: GLOBALIZATION OF LAW AND
ODISHA LEGAL THEORY (WEEK 2)
INSTRUCTORS: PROF. RAO

times of better navigation of the seaways, then to the telegraph and aeroplanes, and then to
the ultimate big bang by which the multiverse of the internet was brought into existence.

The destruction that followed the two consecutive world wars, imposed the fact that the
Nation States need to increase their interdependencies on each other so as to create a selfish
interest in the welfare of all Nation states.

DEFINING GLOBALIZATION

How do we define this term? Various scholars have attempted to define this term. However,
everyone has defined it from the perspective of his or her respective field of study- some have
defined it in terms of world economy, some have defined in terms of cultural exchanges,
some have defined it in terms of changing international relations, others have defined it in
terms of expanding articulation of human rights etc.

Also, the G-word signifies a force, a process, a condition (an end result) which gives rise to
the risk of developing circular definitions which would have little elucidatory power.2

William Twining refers „Globalisation‟ to those processes which tend to create and
consolidate a unified world economy, a single ecological system, and complex network of
communications that covers the whole globe, even if it doesn't penetrate to every part of it.3

ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GLOBALIZATION

The numerous definitions of the phenomenon of globalization have highlighted four major
characteristics found common in them all, which are as follows:4

1. It necessitates the conception of novel social networks and activities. It is also

responsible for the proliferation of such activities that have the tendency to break the
stereotypical boundaries of tradition, politics, economy, culture and geography;
2. It is discerned that social relations, interdependencies and actions now have expanded
and stretched across the globe;

2
Manfred B. Steger, GLOBALIZATION: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION, (3rd ed. 2013).
3
William Twining,GLOBALISATION & LEGAL THEORY, (2000).
4
Id.
 COURSE: LAW & JUSTICE IN A
GLOBALIZING WORLD
NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY TOPIC: GLOBALIZATION OF LAW AND
ODISHA LEGAL THEORY (WEEK 2)
INSTRUCTORS: PROF. RAO

3. This process is resulting in the intensification and expedition of social exchanges and
activities;
4. The three features given above are not only observed on an objective, material level
but also on the subjective plane of human consciousness.
Globalization is a phenomenon that is to be understood through the lenses of economics,
politics, culture and institutions. In this course, we will be focusing on not only the
emergence of Globalization but also its impact on the diktats of the laws and how the laws
have undergone changes because of this chimerical force.

SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTION

What is globalization according to you? (maximum 300 words)

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ACTIVITY

Read a newspaper and mark all the passages that you think deal with ‘law and globalization’.
This exercise will illustrate the point that legal lenses are essential to understanding society as
much as non-legal lenses are necessary to understanding law.

REFERENCES

1. Manfred B. Steger, GLOBALIZATION: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION, Oxford

University Press(3rd ed. 2013)
2. William Twining, GLOBALISATION & LEGAL THEORY, Cambridge University Press
New York (2000)

FURTHER READINGS
 COURSE: LAW & JUSTICE IN A
GLOBALIZING WORLD
NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY TOPIC: GLOBALIZATION OF LAW AND
ODISHA LEGAL THEORY (WEEK 2)
INSTRUCTORS: PROF. RAO

1. George Ritzer, GLOBALIZATION: THE ESSENTIALS, Wiley-Blackwell Chichester (2011)

2. George Ritzer, SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY, (8 ed.) McGraw Hill New York (8thed 2011)
 COURSE: LAW & JUSTICE IN A
GLOBALIZING WORLD
NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY TOPIC: GLOBALIZATION OF LAW AND
ODISHA LEGAL THEORY (WEEK 2)
INSTRUCTORS: PROF. RAO