Globalization, Antiglobalization, and Deglobalization: Conceptual Issues and Empirical Reality

Globalization emerged as a solution to the crisis of modern capitalism in the last quarter of the 20^th century. Most developing countries adopted the LPG policy and made structural reforms to integrate with the global economy. This had transformed the bipolar world of the Cold War into a unipolar world led by America and its allies with the fall of the USSR and the Communist bloc in Eastern Europe. Apart from the economic aspect of globalization, transformations in political, cultural, communications, and environmental spheres have also taken place. Increasing worldwide connectivity in all aspects of social life resulted in profound changes. The nation-states lost their power to transnational regional governance instruments, such as the European Union and various country alliances. At the conceptual level, globalization initiated a modernity debate among hyperglobalizers, sceptics, and transformationalists. However, in the last two decades, the anti-globalization movement posed a challenge to globalization at the theoretical and action levels. More recently, the unipolar world order has been challenged by Russia, China, and India. The COVID-19 crisis, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the Gaza conflict have serious consequences for the world order. Two important consequences of these profound changes can be seen in the emergence of a multipolar world order and the efforts for deglobalization, both by the developed and the developing countries today.