ABSTRACT
Globalisation' stands out for quite a large public, spread across the world, as one of the defining terms of contemporary social consciousness. Perhaps it is even, as one writer has suggested, 'the concept of the 1990s'. Discussions of globalisation tend at the same time to be explorations of social change. Many commentators have drawn causal connections between the spread of global relations and purported far-reaching transformations in structures of knowledge, authority, geography, community, ecology, time, and production. Any discussion of globalisation must indicate how that notion is being conceived. Much unnecessary confusion and the acrimony has arisen in debates concerning globalisation because people have been insufficiently explicit, precise and consistent about definition. Prima facie it is sensible to presume that globalisation poses a challenge to the state. Indeed, states have often played an indispensable enabling role in respect of globalisation.
