Las paradojas de la globalización

Abstract

The contemporary debate on globalisation is restricted by approaches that tend to limit the range and depth of analysis, impeding a proper clarification of its basic elements. Several attitudes toward globalisation can be observed in the debate: demonisations and mystifications; positive and negative value judgments, respectively, as well as the withdrawal into the intimacy of small-scale decision-making in the community. However, beyond the variety of possible reactions to the phenomenon, at the heart of the debate looms yet another antinomy (and an even more resilient and relevant one at that): globalisation versus democracy. The objective of this article is to show that this juxtaposition is not for real, since local and global dynamics are responsive to one another. The article also shows that globalisation drives different social systems to compete with one another, thus opening up new options for life and reducing the capability of elites to fully control society. The article provides a critical analysis of the three basic elements of the globalisation debate, namely: the selection of the terms used to describe the phenomenon; the arguments that define and limit the debate; and its effects on the exercise of liberty in democracies.