Globalization in its widest definition is the increase of international relations and flows in all kinds of fields: capital (investments, transfer of funds), people (migrants, tourists), goods (cars, clothing, food, semimanufactures, raw materials), ideas (knowledge, education, science) and cultures (film, music, lifestyles, consumption patterns).

Through globalization, more and more people, areas, countries and businesses have become linked and form part of a coherent global system. Transnational organizations have started to play a larger part in the international issues related to globalization, such as the organization of free trade and combatting climate change. In order to understand this world and function in it, one needs to be aware of the global patterns of exchange, of the interdependence of people in this world, of the complexity of all these relations and the corresponding balance of power.

Acquiring some insight into globalization processes and the consequences of these for citizens of various countries is therefore an essential part of global citizenship education. In debates on globalization, fundamental values are often brought up, such as justice, equality, openness and tolerance, solidarity and ecologically sound action. Some historical knowledge is also important for the global citizen: how the relationships in the world developed from the colonial and imperial era to the present age of free trade and a new global order.

Globalization poses many challenges to the international community, but it is also a process that has brought more prosperity to millions of people and that has fascinating consequences, such as technological progress and cultural exchange.

Three aspects have been selected to illustrate the theme of globalization:

• The increasingly intensive worldwide economic relations with multinational concerns, trade flows, international transfer of funds, and metropolises manifesting themselves as economic hubs. Window chosen: Shanghai.
• Global migration streams, their effects in areas of origin and destination and the laborious debate on the canalization of international migration. Window chosen: Ceuta, the Spanish exclave in Morocco.
• Cultural exchange on a world scale, leading to the development of enriching new patterns and hybrids in music, art, food and fashion. Window chosen: the djembé.