Globalization and the Specialist

Over the past two decades or so ‘globalization’ has acquired a hegemonic status as the all-embracing formulation of what is now evolving on a planetary scale. It simultaneously embodies the grandeur of the scope of undertaking and the compression of time and space which modernity has wrought, while also suggesting representations of how such a world is to be organized and sustained. The message it imparts is that economic, social, cultural and political change can no longer be understood as isolated phenomena. Moreover, these domains are increasingly less constrained by territorial and jurisdictional barriers (Olds et al, 1999). In other words, hitherto conventional terms of reference, geographical boundaries, and legal frameworks are being contested. A world regime which has hitherto been predicated on more or less sovereign states interconnecting with each other as their individual strengths and weaknesses dictate is now conceding ground to a diffused global order where the rules of governance are as yet in their early stages of germination. However, this evolution of circumstances, notably the compression of time and space, is to the advantage of the equipped specialist manufacturer. Globalization and the specialist are natural allies.