PR 1450 Introduction to Globalization

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PR 1450Introduction to Globalization

• Lecture 6
• Theories of globalization II
• historical perspectives
• Chris Rumford

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The origins of globalization

• No one can say exactly when globalization began
• But most social scientists agree that processes
  of globalization have been going on for a long
  time, many centuries in fact
• Thinking about the history of globalization is
  important, not least because it challenges the
  idea that globalization must be very recent and
  driven by economic and technical developments

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Global moments

• Alex MacGillivray (2006 15-21) identifies five
  key moments (key decades) over the past 500
  years. At these moments globalization took a
  great leap-forward
• the Iberian carve up (1490 1500)
• the Britannic meridian (1880-90)
• Sputnik world (1955-65)
• the global supply chain (19952005)
• thermo-globalization

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Iberian carve-up (1490 1500)

• Spain and Portugal dominated long-distance trade
• backed up with support of the Pope
• start of colonial competition in the world
• spread of printed word

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Britannic meridian (1880-90)

• British Empire leading imperial power
• enforced global Gold Standard
• international meridian created possibility of
  modern time zones and round-the-world shipping

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Sputnik World (1955-65)

• Sputnik 1 first artificial satellite
• Cold war world
• decolonization in Third World led USA and Soviet
  Union to struggle for influence throughout the
  world
• period of rapid economic growth
• birth of Green Movement

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Global supply chain (19952005)

• supply-chains of multi-nationals connect East and
  West
• the world is interconnected by mobile phone and
  internet like never before
• world-wide social movements question the free
  global market
• hottest decade since records began

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Thermo-globalization Twenty years in the future?

• climate change leading to rising temperatures
• first four planetary contractions not predicted
• the fifth is predictable in its impact on
  economics and society (e.g. Stern Review)
• Read a summary of the Stern Review on the BBC
  website http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/609836
  2.stm

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Roland Robertson

• Now we can turn to the work of Roland Robertson,
  one of the most influential thinkers on
  globalization
• Robertsons work emphasises the historical
  dimensions of globalization
• He traces the existence of global consciousness
  back to the ancient world of the Romans

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Romans go global

• The Romans understood the interconnected nature
  of the known world
• The Roman historian Polybius saw that by
  conquering vast portions of the world Rome had
  created complex interrelations between hitherto
  unconnected people, events and places (Robertson
  and Inglis, 2004 41)
• According to Polybius, the affairs of Italy and
  Africa are connected with those of Asia and
  Greece and constitute an organic whole

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Rome global city

• Like global cities of today, Rome contained
  peoples from all over the world
• By the first century AD Rome had trade links
  with China, India, Malaysia
• Rome was the emporium of the world

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Is globalization really ancient?

• Robertson and Inglis aim to show that a global
  consciousness developed very early in history
• Not everyone would agree with this historical
  account of globalization
• For example, Wallerstein draws a distinction
  between the world empires of the ancient world
  (based on military domination) and the more
  recent capitalist world system (Holton, 2005 34)

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Robertsons five phases of globalization

• Phase 1 Germinal
• C15th mid C18th
• centring on Europe voyages of exploration and
  colonialism
• growth of nation-state challenges pre-modern
  world of empires
• development of Gregorian Calendar

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Phase 2 - Incipient

• mid C18th 1870s
• rapid spread of nation-state and system of
  international relations
• admission of non-European world to international
  system
• International exhibitions e.g. Great Exhibition
  at Crystal Palace 1851
• International Red Cross established 1863

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Phase 3 Take-offWhen did the Olympic Movement
adopt this familiar flag?

• 1870s 1920s
• crystallization of international system of
  nation-states
• growth of global communications telephone,
  telegraph, radio, aeroplane
• global competitions e.g. Olympics, Nobel Prizes
• World War I
• world time Greenwich meridian and 24 time zones
  (1884)

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Phase 4 Struggle for hegemony

• 1920s 60s
• globe-wide conflicts (WWII and Cold War)
• potential for global catastrophe (nuclear war)
• League of Nations (1910) UN (1945)
• increased interest in humanity holocaust and
  Hiroshima
• development of superpowers and Third World

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Phase 5 - Uncertainty

• 1960s present
• end of Cold War
• global consciousness one world, fragile
  earth
• space flights and moon missions
• development of global communications technology
• environmental movements
• role of IMF and World Bank

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Concluding comments

• According to Robertson and others globalization
  is a long-run process of diffusion across
  borders and boundaries, moving outward from
  multiple sources and centres (Holton, 1998 49).
• Scholte (2005 117) emphasises that when
  conceived as the rise of transplanetary and
  supraterritorial social connections,
  globalization is mainly new to contemporary
  history.
• It is easy to see that the debate on the
  origins and history of globalization is very much
  alive.
• The debates are not just relevant to our
  understanding of the past - looking at the
  history of globalization also encourages us to
  think about the future
• Is further globalization inevitable?
• Can globalization be reversed?
• What forces of de-globalization exist?

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References

• Holton, R. 1998 Globalization and the
  Nation-State (Palgrave)
• Holton, R. 2005 Making Globalization (Palgrave)
• MacGillivray, A. 2006 A Brief History of
  Globalization (Robinson)
• Robertson, R. 1992 Globalization Social Theory
  and Global Culture (Sage)
• Robertson, R. Inglis, D. 2004 The global
  animus in the tracks of world consciousness
  Globalizations 1(1)
• Scholte, J.A. 2005 Globalization A Critical
  Introduction (2nd Edition) (Palgrave)