ABSTRACT
Globalization is currently the catchphrase for the perils and promises facing humanity in the 21st century (Giddens, 1999; Gilpin, 2000; Held and McGrew, 2000; Nye and Donahue, 2000).1 Globalization is generally understood as economic, political, and social integration of states and societies, both horizontally and vertically, in tighter webs of interdependence. Globalization is a process and not a qualitatively different endstate, where politics and the state have become superfluous and the market has taken over. Horizontal and vertical integration of states in the global economy is currently taking place through at least two major visible and measurable processes-the rapid spread of foreign capital, trade, and the spread of the ideas of political democracy and market principles to an extent never before witnessed in modern history. The debate on the desirability of globalization takes place between those who see this trend as mutually beneficial and those who see this as the intensification of exploitation by the so-called international capitalist forces exemplified by global transnational corporations. Most governments in the developed and developing worlds and many international organizations such as the IMF, World Bank, and UNCTAD are generally favorable to the idea of international integration (UNCTAD, 1998; UNDP, 1999).
