ABSTRACT
Globalization has become a defining feature of our times. It is a word used in everyday discourse with variable shades of meaning and a vast number of different connotations. For instance, the future of the European Union and the role of the Economic and Monetary Union are often phrased in globalization terms; the resistance against the policies of the World Trade Organization is related to the globalization debate; and so is ‘outsourcing’ as multinational companies decide to move their headquarters to one of the world’s many global cities. Globalization is not only discussed and conceptualized in economic terms, however. A number of current features such as migration, refugee flows, and the so-called ‘braindrain’ from the developing to the developed world are frequently described as consequences of globalization. The spread of Western (often American) culture in the forms of soap-operas, music, fashions and similar trends is also part of a globalizing reality and we seem to be witnessing an increasing anxiety that the benefits of globalization will disappear if one is not thoroughly embedded in global transnational activities.
