Globalization is a contested concept and phenomenon. At its most basic it refers to increased interconnection between places or the increased stretching of social relations over distance, as mediated through, for example, flows of goods, finance, people, ideas, and forms of social organization. However, the precise content, nature, and impacts, of this phenomenon are highly debated. Africa is often conceived of as a recipient of globalization, rather than a source region of the phenomenon. However, accounts which critique the “impact model” of globalization on the continent have recently become more influential as have those which emphasize its recursive nature. There are a variety of channels through which globalization is constituted and expressed. These include economic, political, and social.