Globalization in a Middle Eastern Regional Perspective

Abstract

After two decades of scholarly debates, “globalization” continues to be a “hotly contested concept” (Steger 2004, 1). Other than the general recognition that it refers to multiple and multidimensional processes that can only be studied by multidisciplinary approaches, the growing literature on its economic, political, and cultural dynamics reflects significant disagreements on its nature and outcomes. For example, economic globalization is frequently identified with a new stage in the development of the capitalist world economy. From that perspective, transnational capital dominates the global and national arenas. There is a spread of neoliberal market economies associated with privatization and deregulation and increased levels of global integration of national economies fueled by information technologies and the movement of people across national boundaries (Mittelman 1997, 1–6). It is also accompanied by a wide debate on whether or not it is leading to growth everywhere or intensifying economic and social inequalities.