Globalization refers to the worldwide connections linking peoples, economies, cultures, and politics. A globalized world today means a world without borders, in which human activities flow without—or in spite of—official restrictions. The current definition of globalization includes economic policies such as free trade and outsourcing of work, collective security mechanisms such as the United Nations, and environmental agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol. Flows of information, migration, disease, and fashions also make up globalization.

When globalization began is a matter of opinion. Commonly the idea is that globalization began some twenty years ago when the Internet allowed economic activity to operate more globally. The rise of economic competitors to the West is seen as a recent phenomenon. This view also holds that the fall of the Soviet Union contributed to globalization because it stopped the division of the world into two competing spheres of influence. The cold war blocked the free exchange not only of ideas but also of goods and services. It hindered cooperation in politics as well as effective activity by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the United Nations.

Historians, however, tend to date globalization in the distant past: some put it in the fifteenth century when Europeans crossed the Atlantic and began exploiting their new connections with the Western Hemisphere. Other historians look back further, to large-scale regional exchanges: the Indus Valley civilizations, the Hellenistic Age, the Islamic Golden Age, and the reign of the Mongol khans have all been cited as examples of globalization. In both these longer views, large-scale, high-speed exchanges are not defining factors in globalization; rather, constant dealings outside of a specific political and economic center are key.

In the broadest definition of globalization, the phenomenon has had mixed results for the West. Early globalization promoted enriched diets and biological diversity as plants and animals spread from the Middle East and North Africa to Europe. Goods traveled across Asia to Europe via the early Silk Road, and Christianity and Judaism were notable non-Western religions that changed European culture. Migrants from Asia and Africa also appeared in the West before European pathfinders set out on their voyages. In fact, knowledge of African gold and Asian riches inspired those voyages in the first place. On the negative side, plagues also traveled these routes before the age of Columbus, devastating populations in and beyond Europe. Groups of Asian nomads often wreaked havoc on European centers, and Europeans later brought devastation to them.

Globalization even in ancient times included attempts to see the world as a whole. From the ancient Hellenic author Polybius, who traveled the Mediterranean, to the English scholar Arnold Toynbee, historians have tried to write universal history and to rise above the parochial, local, and temporary with the goal of viewing humanity altogether. The end of the cold war provided the most recent incentive to achieve a universal perspective. For some thinkers, the search for a broader view seems part of a new millennium aiming toward cosmopolitanism, as expressed in the slogan “Think globally, act locally.” Globalization is founded on the condition of plural and often conflicting values, aims, and outcomes. Whether in debates over outsourcing, migration, or the role of the World Bank, globalization means complexity, contradictions, and a willingness to deal with the advantages and disadvantages of relationships at a great distance. It is a difficult concept, but one that appears permanently to be with us.