Geographical perspectives on mapping globalisation. An introduction to the JEG Special Issue 'Mapping globalisation: geographical perspectives on international trade and investment'

Abstract

Economic globalisation, by its very nature, demands serious attention from economic geographers. The processes that have, over the last few decades, led to dramatic increases in the intensity and extensity of international economic inter-dependence and integration are inherently and unavoidably spatial in character. Any international economic relationship ± be it associated with trade, investment, ®nance, labour, or technology ± is a re ection of, and partly constituted by, spatial di€erence. Hence in this special issue we coin the metaphor `mapping globalisation' to highlight what we see as a pressing need for globalisation studies that analyse the phenomenon from theoretically and empirically rigorous geographical perspectives. We suggest that the four papers that follow this introduction are exemplars of the critical geographical research to which we allude. In speaking to an audience of both geographers and economists, we hope that this special issue will showcase the importance of exploring the complex and uneven geographies of economic globalisation, and indicate some ways in which such research can usefully proceed. We would argue that the ®rst step towards undertaking e€ective mappings of globalisation is to be explicit about how the phenomenon is being conceptualised and delineated. We are thus in strong agreement with Dicken et al. (1997, p.158) when they state that `de®nitions are not mere semantic peccadilloes; they remain crucial not least because they caution against the kind of caricaturing of globalisation which has become all too common'. The tendency in the media and certain political and academic circles to simply label any kind of `international' economic relation as indicative of globalisation quite simply destroys its usefulness as an analytical category. In other words, we simply have to be clear about what we mean by `economic globalisation' and how it relates to, and contrasts with, other forms and processes of international economic restructuring. This is of course not a new argument ± although we would argue it is still not made forcefully enough ± and there is now a wealth of critical literature that can help in formulating e€ective and usable de®nitions of globalising processes. What we discern from this literature to be the most e€ective characterisation of economic globalisation can be summarised by the following set of inter-related assertions. This conceptual mapping of economic globalisation places us unequivocally