ABSTRACT
Until relatively recently, ‘the world’ has been discussed largely as either an aspect of international relations or in what is termed world systems theory. The former focuses on the relations between nation states, the latter on capitalist economic relations. Each has been subject to the criticism that their particular foci marginalise and exclude large and important trends in the world, in particular the cultural dimensions and the impact of information and communication technologies on space-time compression. In response to these limitations, different conceptions of globalisation have emerged that have stimulated debate about its nature, extent and novelty as a phenomenon, particularly in relation to the economy (Hirst and Thompson 1996a and b) but also in relation to politics and culture (Waters 1995).
