What is globalism?

Definition

Globalism is a term used to describe the idea that the world is—or should become—organized around trans-national flows of goods, ideas, people, capital, and rules rather than around the sovereign nation-state. Joseph S. Nye distinguishes it from globalization by calling globalism “the underlying networks of interdependence” and globalization “the dynamic increase or decrease of those networks” [1]. In short, globalism is the worldview or ideology that treats the planet as a single, interlinked system.

Historical Development

• 19th- to early-20th-century free-trade advocates already spoke of “the global economy,” but the concept became more systematic after 1945 with the creation of the UN, the IMF, and the GATT, institutions meant to manage cross-border interdependence [2].
• In the 1970s–1990s a group of neoliberal thinkers—Friedrich Hayek, Wilhelm Röpke, the “Geneva School,” and others—argued that democratic states could threaten market openness; they promoted supranational legal shields for capital mobility. Quinn Slobodian calls this project “globalism” and its architects “globalists” [2].
• Since the 1990s the term has migrated from academic usage into everyday politics, often as a label—sometimes pejorative—for elites who favor open borders, multilateral governance, and cosmopolitan cultural norms [3].

Ideological Dimensions and Variants

• Liberal-cosmopolitan strand: Sees globalism as an ethical commitment to universal human rights, rule-based trade, and shared cosmopolitan culture. Manfred B. Steger calls this “market globalism,” which links consumer choice to freedom [1].
• Neoliberal-institutionalist strand: Emphasizes binding international rules (WTO, investor–state arbitration) that insulate markets from domestic politics [2].
• Critical or nationalist strand: Critics on the right depict globalism as an ideology that dissolves national sovereignty and empowers unaccountable technocracies [3].
• Left-wing anti-globalists charge that globalism entrenches corporate power and constrains democratic regulation on labor, environment, and public services [4].

These strands often talk past each other, leading to sharply conflicting characterizations of the same policies.

Public Discourse and Controversies

Globalism has become a flashpoint in debates over trade agreements (e.g., NAFTA, TPP), migration, climate accords, and pandemic governance. National-conservative commentators argue that what they call “globalist” policies privilege mobile capital and cosmopolitan elites over local industry and cultural cohesion [3]. Progressive critics likewise question whether global supply-chains and investor protections undermine labor rights and democracy [4]. Supporters reply that coordinated global rules are necessary for prosperity and to tackle problems—climate change, pandemics—that no state can solve alone [1].

Because the same word is deployed by academics as a neutral analytic concept and by activists as an ideological epithet, discussions frequently suffer from equivocation. Recognizing whether the speaker is describing a factual condition of interdependence (globalism as “connectedness”) or advancing a normative program (“we should be globalist”) is essential for clarity.

Relationship to Globalization

Globalization is the measurable process—the widening, deepening, and speeding-up of worldwide interconnectedness. Globalism is the idea or ideology that gives meaning and direction to that process [1]. One can therefore study periods of high or low globalization while still debating the merits of the globalist project.

Sources

1. “Globalism versus Globalization,” Joseph S. Nye Jr., Michigan State University (PDF). https://www.egr.msu.edu/aesc210/topics/resources/Globalism%20Versus%20Globalization.pdf
2. Slobodian, Quinn. Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism. Harvard University Press, 2018. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674244849
3. Cunningham, Graham. “Globalism vs National Conservatism.” Substack, 2023. https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/globalism-vs-national-conservatism
4. Quantus. “From Protest to Parrot: How the Left Became the Bodyguard of Global Capital.” Substack, 2022. https://quantus.substack.com/p/from-protest-to-parrot-how-the-left

Suggested Sources

• https://www.egr.msu.edu/aesc210/topics/resources/Globalism%20Versus%20Globalization.pdf
• https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674244849
• https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/globalism-vs-national-conservatism
• https://quantus.substack.com/p/from-protest-to-parrot-how-the-left