Military globalization is defined by David Held as "the process which embodies the growing extensity and intensity of military relations among the political units of the world-system. This perspective captures both the growing web of global military connections and the effect of key military technological innovations (from steamships to satellites), which have gradually reshaped the world into a unified geostrategic space.David Held, Anthony McGrew, David Goldblatt & Jonathan Perraton. (1999). Global Transformations; Politics, Economics and Culture, Cambridge Polity Press, p 88. For Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, military globalization entails 'long-distance networks of interdependence in which force, and the threat or promise of force, are employed".Robert Keohane & Joseph Nye. (2002). Power and Interdependence, Boston: Little, Brown and Co, p 196. For historians Ángel Alcalde and José Escribano, war is "an intrinsic element of globalization".
Held divides the military globalization into three distinct phenomena:
The globalization of the war system. This refers to the "geopolitical order, great power rivalry, conflict and security relations". The global system of arms production and transfers, reflected in the global arms dynamics. The geo-governance of violence, "embracing the formal and informal international regulation of the acquisition, deployment and use of military force".Global Transformations, p 89.
All three processes above "are connected to technological development, which made them possible in the first place. The result is increasing global interdependence and complexity".Armin Krishnan. (2008). Wars as Business: Technological Change and Military Service Contracting, London & New York: Routledge, p 158.
The process of military globalization starts with the Age of Discovery, when the European colonial empires began military operations on the global scale. Their "imperial rivalry led to the First World War, which was the first global conflict in world history".Wars as Business, p 158. Keohane dates military globalization at least from the time of the conquests of Alexander the Great.Robert Keohane. (2002). Power and Governance in a Partially Globalized World, London & New York: Routledge, p 195.
As of 2025, only one book was devoted completely and explicitly to the subject. The author tells in "Preface":
See also List of countries with overseas military bases International relations Global policeman Power projection
World government World war World War III Criticisms of globalization
References