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The first part of this article presents a brief analysis of the reasons why the immense amount of technological innovation in (old and new) industrialized countries does not seem to have contributed to any increase in social welfare. It is argued that the support from the political system to multinational firms' strategies for globalization is too affirmative, for reasons that are more of an ideological than of an economic nature. Thus, in the second part of the article the contours of a transnational politics are outlined, in an attempt to show how technological innovation can serve the development of a new social welfare around the globe.

Globalization as a new phenomenon is structurally different from internationalization and multinationalization. It takes multiple forms and encompasses several processes. Four new specific features are discussed: (a) the shift from the history of 'the wealth of the nations' to the history of 'the wealth of the world'; (b) the notion that globalization implies the end of 'nation capitalism' and the gradual emergence of a 'global capitalism'; (c) instead of a truly genuine globalization, one sees a process of 'triadization' of the economy on a world level; and (d) the emergence of the enterprise as the most powerful player. The multiplicity of aspects and novelty of globalization means that there is a need for a 'theory' of globalization. To that end a brief systematic assessment of various major implications and consequences of today's globalization is presented. The fundamental weakness of present globalization is the growing dissociation between economic power organized on a world basis by global networks of enterprises and political power which remains organized at the national level.

An analysis of six possible alternative world scenarios, which might characterize the evolution of our societies in the four decades to come, reveals the need for the development of a Social Global Contract. The most important policy goal does not relate to higher competitiveness in the global economic wars, but should be concerned with creating more common wealth to satisfy the material and immaterial needs of the world's population. The Social Global Contract means the start of a process that favors the establishment of a cooperative system of global governance. To that end a set of practical tasks to be implemented within the framework of four major global contracts are identified and discussed.