ABSTRACT
Although the term ‘globalization’ has been in academic use since the 1970s, no serious attempts were made to theorize it until the late 1980s. These attempts developed into a stimulating debate, comprising what Held et al., in their influential work Global Transformations, term globalization theory (GT). 1 Examination of what we deem to be the best-known works, and most popular forums on globalization, reveals that foreign policy 2 – the sum of the external relations undertaken by an independent actor (usually a state) as part of IR – is virtually excluded from GT. 3 Similarly, as discussed in the introduction to this book, GT has usually been excluded from the matrix of FPA, which still focuses on state actors, whilst largely ignoring private actors, especially translational ones. 4 In our view, the mutual exclusion of FPA and GT is problematic. Theoretically, FPA scholars could add to our understanding of the construction of globalization as an almost mechanical result of exogenous pressures outside of political actors’ control. 5 In addition, insights from FPA – problem representation (Sylvan 1998), framing (Mintz and Redd 2003), belief systems and studies of small-group dynamics – could help us better to understand which role national governments and other actors play in the construction of the ‘crude “business school” ’ version of globalization that still dominates (Western) governmental discourse.
