Visualizing Globalization
Title
Visualizing Globalization
Author
Mahutga, Matthew C.
Nash‐Parkera, Robert
Research Area
Social Processes
Topic
Globalization
Abstract
This essay reviews current approaches to visualizing globalization. We give special attention to relational data‐analytic approaches that implement social network analysis and geographic information systems, and emphasize the social structure of globalization as revealed in cross‐national and city‐to‐city relations. Cross‐national relations include international trade, comemberships in international governmental organization (IGO) and international nongovernmental organization (INGO), and other kinds of cross‐national relations. City‐to‐city relations include air‐passenger flows, transnational corporation (TNC) headquarter–subsidiary relations, among others. We conclude by discussing future directions in visualizing globalization. The analytical frontier in visualizing globalization lies squarely in statistical/model‐based approaches to spatial and social network analysis. While these analytical approaches hold much promise for visualizing globalization, the dearth of geocoded subnational relational data and the complexity inherent to modeling them create significant obstacles.