Few global studies scholars would object to the proposition that their field is significantly framed by ‘critical thinking’. Indeed, global studies constitutes an academic space of tension that generates critical investigations into our age as one shaped by the intensifying forces of globalization. The young field both embraces and exudes the global imaginary—those largely pre-reflexive convocations of the social whole within which the very problematic of globalization is continuously produced and contested. But if global studies scholars claim to analyze globalization processes through a critical prism, then they need to be prepared to respond to a number of obvious questions regarding the nature of their critical enterprise. What, exactly, is ‘critical thinking’ and how is it linked to global studies? Do globalization scholars favor specific forms of critical thinking? If so, which types have been adopted and for what purposes? Finally, what forms of internal and external criticism have been leveled against the field and how have these objections been dealt with? These four questions provide the guiding framework for my exploration of the significance of critical thinking in global studies