Globalization

Centuries hence, when future historians look back upon our era, surely globalization will stand out as one of its defining trends. Technological advances have resulted in ever-accelerating levels of travel, trade and communication. Human ties (e.g., cross-border marriage and adoption) and population movements have followed, challenging various regional and cultural identities. Transnational institutions and agreements have gained new importance. Integration into global markets has brought routine contact with “foreigners,” whether in the form of competition or alliance, and imitation is widespread. Elements of a common culture can be identified in our business practices, choice of languages, clothing and hairstyles, consumer products, entertainment, education, military affairs and politics, among other spheres. We may even speak of a certain “global consciousness,” a reflexive awareness of our growing interconnectedness.

Scholars and public intellectuals disagree as to how far back to trace this process. Thomas Friedman (1999, 2005) focuses primarily on the end of the Cold War, and the technological and managerial developments of the 1990s. Benjamin Barber (1992) looks to the post-World War II rise of multinational corporations and international trade regimes (such as the Bretton Woods institutions and the various common markets). Paul Hirst and Grahame Thompson (1996) liken this to earlier cycles of internationalization, such as the period between 1870–1914. William H. McNeill (1963) emphasizes the period of European industrialization and colonialism from 1750 to 1950. Immanuel Wallerstein (1974, 1980, 1989) begins with the great age of European exploration and the intercontinental maritime empires established in its wake.