The concept of globalization means different things to different people. Yet this concept tends to make available new and interesting possibilities. To talk about things global might mean to provide a simple enumeration of phenomena that span the globe. Globalization, however, also denotes a process—a process that makes for a problematic analysis and discussion of things on the move, such as the opaque but gigantic webs of political, economic, and social interaction, that knit humans together on an intercontinental scale. Furthermore, the notion of globalization as a process makes it possible to discover and unpack the strategies of different actors, both public and private, and to discuss issues of sustainability. To imbue the concept of globalization with ideological standpoints or to reject it outright because it is too encompassing to make any sense would therefore seem premature. According to one analyst, the word globalization does not even appear in any dictionaries before 1961, which indicates that it is related to contemporary thinking and to those unprecedented technological and economic advances intertwined with the later stages of industrialization and the emergence of postindustrial economies in many parts of the world.