Yes, PvP in TSW has wolrdwide consequences.
One of them is the experience gain of a faction, a bit like in AO.
Here you can see that Paladina's faction controls Stonehenge war zone and this grants the whole faction a 3% experience gain bonus. (Experience is used to acquire new powers, not to level up as there is no level in TSW.)
How is PvP organized?
A super-secret-society, The Council of Venice, controls the war between societies and makes the rules. (The CoV is actually more or less the presence of devs in the game, such as ICC is in AO.)
PvP is not an open worldwide PvP. The reason is simple: against the upcoming Evil, all factions are united... but when it comes to get resources and control the world... they fight each other less openly.
This does NOT mean other PvP kinds won't be implemented.
You have 3 persistent war zones at the moment:
El Dorado
Stonehenge
Fusang Projects
Here is the join-PvP interface.
Many explanations in a video by Devs: