Globalization: An Overview

In these pages the author has mapped out the main issues generally dealt with under the term 'globalisation'. His reason for doing so, quite simply, is that, with certain provisos, he believes this is a useful and important term that is all too often subject to rhetorical and ideological misuse. By analysing the concepts involved and clarifying some of the theoretical issues, he hopes to contribute to curbing such misuse.

At a more profound level, the author would like to help readers make acritical appraisal of the vast array of books that take 'globalisation' as aparadigm for the contemporary human situation. Globalisation is often used as an extremely general ordinative and explanatory concept, able on its own to give meaning, whether positive or negative, to the current transition to the third millennium. In reality, the processes involved in globalisation are highly complex and affect clearly differentiated social spheres, including the economy, mass communications, domestic and international affairs, ecology, law and military strategy.

Danilo Zolo (born Rijeka, Croatia, 1936) is professor of Philosophy of Law and Philosophy of International Law at the University of Florence. Hehas been Visiting Fellow at the universities of Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton and Oxford, and has delivered courses of lectures at universities in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. In 2000 he founded Jura Gentium, the Journal for Philosophy of International Law and Global Politics. His present research concerns the theory of rule of law, the doctrine of human rights and the processes of global integration. Publications include Reflexive Epistemology, Boston: Kluwer, 1989; Democracy and Complexity, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992; Cosmopolis: Prospects for World Government, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996; Invoking Humanity: War, Law and Global Order, London: Continuum International, 2001; The Rule of Law: History,Theory and Criticism (co-edited), Dordrecht: Springer, 2007.