Key Points

  • Globalisation is seen by its proponents as the intensification of world-wide social, political and economic relations, such that these are disembedded from their territorial surroundings.
     
  • Critics argue that globalisation explains too much as well as too little, and makes arguments about society, culture and politics well beyond its economic remit.
     
  •  ‘Globalisation’ is the latest in a long line of social theories presuming the homogenisation of the world.
     
  • The links between globalisation and neo-nationalism are complex, the state remaining an important platform for social change.
     
  • The concept of the ‘national economy’ is not outdated in an era of globalisation, and is a catalyst of neo-nationalism in Scotland and elsewhere.