Globalization has been characterised as the inexorable integration of markets, transportation systems, and communication systems to a degree never witnessed before – in a way that is enabling corporations, countries, and individuals to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before (Friedman 1999). Similarly, major strands of contemporary Globalization research have been permeated by geographical concepts (“space-time compression”, “space of flows”, “space of places”, “de-territorialization”, “glocalization” the “global-local nexus”, “supra-territoriality”, “diasporas”, “trans-localities”, and “scapes” among many other terms). Meanwhile Globalization researchers have begun to deploy a plethora of distinctively geographical prefixes (e.g. “sub-“, “supra-“, “trans-“, “meso-” and “inter-“), to describe various emergent social processes that appear to operate below, above, beyond, or between entrenched geopolitical boundaries. The objective of this paper is to assess these trends in relation to the evolution of the space industry. It emerges that the evolution of the industry is driven by an ongoing process of “de-territorialisation” (which started during the Cold War era and was mainly fuelled by the Space Race) and “re-territorialisation” (mostly featuring in the Globalization era).
Conceptualising the business of space: A globalisation perspective
Vecchi A;
2010
Abstract
Globalization has been characterised as the inexorable integration of markets, transportation systems, and communication systems to a degree never witnessed before – in a way that is enabling corporations, countries, and individuals to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before (Friedman 1999). Similarly, major strands of contemporary Globalization research have been permeated by geographical concepts (“space-time compression”, “space of flows”, “space of places”, “de-territorialization”, “glocalization” the “global-local nexus”, “supra-territoriality”, “diasporas”, “trans-localities”, and “scapes” among many other terms). Meanwhile Globalization researchers have begun to deploy a plethora of distinctively geographical prefixes (e.g. “sub-“, “supra-“, “trans-“, “meso-” and “inter-“), to describe various emergent social processes that appear to operate below, above, beyond, or between entrenched geopolitical boundaries. The objective of this paper is to assess these trends in relation to the evolution of the space industry. It emerges that the evolution of the industry is driven by an ongoing process of “de-territorialisation” (which started during the Cold War era and was mainly fuelled by the Space Race) and “re-territorialisation” (mostly featuring in the Globalization era).I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
