The process of globalization, although impelled by economic factors, has to be analyzed also in its political, historical and spatial dimensions. Contrarely to the idealized vision of a linear progress from regionally integrated markets toward a unique and global society, reality evidences an increasingly fragmented political space, with new barriers and protected markets. Within this scenario of contradictory trends, the essay endeavors to analyse the role of the main actors - the rise of powerful organizations operating on transnational scale and the declining power and influence of the nation-state.