The most important spatial implication of the transformationalist
perspective is that the global capitalist system forges increased
unevenness. This does not replicate traditional core–periphery patterns
and is not territorial in essence, but rather social in nature and articulated
through networks. However, these divisions are not necessarily locked in
for ever, as radical hyperglobalists argue. Within particular places,
irrespective of where they sit in the world system as measured by
reference to old divisions such as First and Third World, we see ‘new
hierarchies which cut across and penetrate all societies and regions of the
world’ (Held et al., 1999, p. 8). Overall, except in the case of neoliberal
hyperglobalist accounts, each points towards the increased differentiation
of global society, polity and economy as globalization unfolds. The
concluding chapter of this book elaborates this discussion and draws up a
framework for the spatial implications of globalization in the different
spheres of concern (see Table 9.1).