ABSTRACT
One of the most fundamental ethical concerns in the recent discussions of globalization is the increasing power of the global system in all walks of life – control exercised on a global level. Saskia Sassen’s description of the emergent system of global control is one based on the symbiosis of the global and the national, which makes citizens of different nations comply with the rules of the new global order (1991, 1994, 1996, 1998). Sassen’s works demonstrate that the concept of “national” sovereignty remains valid in the “globalizing” world, but it changes forms to fashion a new geography of power that facilitates the penetration of global finance through national infrastructure. Through her careful readings of the various movements of humans and capital across nations, Sassen identifies three mechanisms that consolidate this new geography of power, which not only traverses but also reinforces national borders: the globalization of new territories materializing in specific institutions and processes, such as the offshoring of labor and clerical work; a new legal regime that governs cross-border economic transactions; and the growing number of economic activities taking place in electronic space (1996: 5). Sassen’s work on globalization has had a broad-ranging impact on the discourse on globalization across disciplines, because her models help us understand how existing national interests and international relationships do not reject but rather facilitate the new global system, which not only continues to protect but also reinforces existing hegemonic powers.
