For example, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster caused environmental contamination throughout northern Europe. All of the aforementioned aspects of globalisation are characteristics of the last few decades. However, people's consciousness and beliefs in religion and affiliation to race has been around for centuries but can also be named as an aspect of globalisation. On the whole, globalisation has seen world affairs acquire a rapidly growing global aspect alongside the traditional territorial framework. However, a state's territory is not irrelevant as we live in a globalising world and not a fully globalised world. Aspects of globalisation such as telecommunications and finance can interrelate with state's individual territories. For example, global businesses have often found that they need to tailor their products to satisfy individual states and localities.
There are many aspects and causes of globalisation but the pursuit of capital has provided one of the most important and powerful spurs to globalisation. In the 1850s Karl Marx claimed that, "capital by its nature drives beyond every spatial barrier to conquer the whole earth for its market".(http://www.wto.org) These words appear to have been borne out as big businesses behave as if the world is a single market and production area. With the global reach created by telecommunications, Internet and modern travel a company can develop a potential market anywhere in the world. Since the 1970s a growing number of companies have also developed transborder chains of retail outlets, for example, Benetton and IKEA. As a result of globalisation consumers from various parts of the world can purchase the same goods at the same time. Indeed, Bill Gates of Microsoft promises a future where consumers can shop in cyberspace where, "all the goods for sale in the world will be available from home via the internet".(http://www.wto.org) Given claims like this many companies believe global marketing is now essential to commercial survival and visions of transborder markets continue to be a major spur to globalisation.