The problem of globalization: multi-discourse formation

The problem of globalization discourse is discussed. The main trends of issues on globalization are researched. This paper mainly focuses on one dimension of globalization: globalization as discourse. In the first part of the paper some of the key debates and themes that exist within the discourse of globalization are investigated. In the second part multi-discourse of globalization is presented. The main author's deductions and prospects of development of globalization issues are outlined in the conclusion. The pinnacle concerning discourse of globalization is registered in the 1990s. Globalization enters the agenda of writers, politicians, social leaders, representatives of corporate organizations and academic sciences. Theoretical debates in the period have different appraisals: from a negative definition of globalization as a global babble to a wide spread fascination of globalization. In spite of innumerable debates and boom of the literature, the theorizing of this problem is only partially developed. Economics, international relations, political sciences, sociology, etc. are all concerned with the analysis of the phenomenon of globalization, though globalization remains a pretty marginal topic for other disciplines. In the most recent theoretical debates, depending on the character of the process of globalization (homogeneous or fragmentary), two trends of investigation of this process arise: (i) globalization on the basis of the idea of progress which leads to a homogeneous world (universalism); (ii) globalization on the basis of the representation of the world's real diversity (multiculturalism). Multicultural concepts of globalization, based on the recognition of the world diversity, are popular because of their non-repressive and tolerant form. Theorists of globalization stress the fact that modern globalization process includes many instances of globalization. From my own point of view, various interpretations of globalization can be fit (to a certain extent) into a conceptual frame which includes the following main concepts: historical, geopolitical, economic, social, political, legal, and informational globalization. Historically the process of globalization is connected with the evolution of the global world community. This consideration brings us to the global Enlightenment problem, which excels the narrow context of the Enlightenment of the 18th c., which was mainly inspired by national and historical narratives. Interpretation of globalization as a stage in the development of the world community, which comes after modernization, is a topic of wide discussion. In social analysis one finds three theoretical positions about the interpretation of globalization: radical globalism, moderate globalism, anti-globalism. Political theorists have been busy addressing the normative implication of globalization; they also discuss the change of nature of contemporary power. In contemporary legal theoretical debates discussions are centered on the interpretation of globalization from an isolated individual through a national state to a global state. Some theorists investigate globalization as a process of global network formation. So, discourse of the problem of globalization has a multi-disciplinary character.

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