ABSTRACT

Globalisation has now been with us for at least 25 years or so in its modern form, whilst arguably embryonic globalisation has a history of at least several hundred years. The speed of change unleashed by globalisation is dramatic:

Globalisation is advancing with a speed scarcely imaginable before now. Economist Edward Luttwak describes the new age as the ‘unification of the sloughs, ponds, lakes and seas of villages and provinces, regional and national economies, into a single global economic area, which exposes small areas to giant waves of competition instead of yesterday’s little ripples and calm tides (Martin and Schumann, 1997: 21).