Views on the desirability of global trade, investment, conquest and exploitation have always depended very much on the point of view of the observer. European entrepreneurs who benefited directly or indirectly from the voyages of Marco Polo, Magellan, Columbus, Cortez and Captain Cook no doubt saw such achievements as both heroic and noble. The indigenous peoples of Mexico, Cuba and Australia had a very different experience and a very different understanding of the costs and benefits of global exploration. Similarly, the low-paid women working twelve-hour days in the free-trade zones of Mexico and China experience economic globalisation in very different ways from Bill Gates or Rupert Murdoch.

The aim of this chapter is to provide a critical overview of the major themes of economic globalisation in the second half of the twentieth century, as well as to consider various responses to these developments by nation states and private corporations.