Globalization is like a prism in which major disputes over the collective human condition are now refracted: questions of capitalism, inequality, power, developmenaecology, culture, gender, identity, population, all come back in a landscape where “globalization did it." Like a flag word globalization sparks conflict. Globalization crossesboundanes of gov- ernment and business, media and social movements, general and aca- demic interest. As a political challenge, it crosses the ideological spec- trum and engages social movements and politics at all levels. It involves a paradigm shift from the era of the nation state and intemational poli- ties to politics of planetary scope. This chapter gives an overview of -.-globalization debates, to situate questions of globalization and culture in a wider context and to show that major issues come up in other debates as well. Now sortie decades into the sprawling globalization debate, is the literature advanced enough to begin to identify areas of consensus and controversy? This