The geographies and politics of globalization

Recent debates on globalization have tended to be polarized between those w ishing to 'unthink' the broad set of economic, political and cultural proce sses it encompasses and those who enthusiastically embrace them. This artic le maps out the recent geographical literature on the politics of globaliza tion as an idea, and suggests some of the directions in which less polarize d and more sophisticated interpretations of globalization are heading. The focus of the article is on globalization as a political discourse, which is addressed through ideas on the production of scale. The problematic associ ation of globalization with neoliberalism is also explored. Five 'counterdi scourses' of globalization are then identified which attempt to rethink the political orthodoxy of neoliberal globalization. The article concludes by arguing for a 'relational' view of scale and suggesting some of the promise s, and pitfalls, of rethinking the global scale.