How does Historicizing Globalization enable us to Gain a Better Understanding of Globalization in Modern Contexts?
The late 20th century was characterized by nation states opening up their boarders in order for them to compete on a global scale. Later on, multinationals and global companies began to grow and multiply, and with the adoption of free trade, the market economy of the time spread throughout the world in extraordinary proportions leading to a shift from international to a world economy. In modern context, this shift represents globalization. However, it is notable that globalization and trade are intertwined. In as much as trade is almost as old as the people themselves are, globalization is an unending progression that continues to define and redefine itself since the first century. The first form of international trade started with the trade in silk in 1st century BC when the Chinese introduced it to the Roman Empire via the Silk Road that ran from Xian to Mediterranean (Sheffield et al., 2013; Mir et al., 2014). This essay argues that historicizing globalization leads to a better understanding of globalization because it illuminates on the origins of globalization, explores the factors that aided its progression and it reconciles the past and the present to inform the future.
Reading about the history of globalization gives a deeper understanding of the phenomenon for it traces its origins thus, allowing for indulgence into the finer details that brought globalization to being. This identity is important in determining co-existence and mutually benefiting elements of nations and communities’ relation to it, and in the process, people gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon while learning from past mistakes and successes. For example, in the past, trade characterized globalization and this is true especially with the Silk Road whereby the people traded in silk and spices. This understanding allows for the realization that trade has a great significance in the history of globalization. Therefore, it is worth noting that the local and the global must have continually interacted to bring forth globalization. According to Sheffield et al., (2013), seven globalization periods exist and all of them share some similarities especially as regards the spatial links, the political organization, and the level of technology. This revelation means that globalization is a process, and it took off with the formation of the regional-continental links that date back in the first millennium BC. The correlation in the globalization periods is thus quite significant in understanding globalization for it influenced not only the direction of development but also the acceleration of the advancement of the social systems (Sheffield et al, 2013). Initially, government support of trade was missing, but it is worth noting that the trade still existed. However, the benefits of the trade were succeeded by its losses because the systems of the time were not as intricate as the current ones. Later on, the founding of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank ensured that gains and losses were spread across nations (Slobodian, 2018). In this respect, reading about the history of globalization is essential in enabling knowledge of the place in time and in appreciating the gains made since its inception, for it is evident that the world now has built from these pains and gains to enable progression of globalization to its current state.
Historicizing globalization leads to the recognition that the globalization phenomenon took long to establish and thus it is old and it has been defining and redefining itself. Therefore, the current globalization period is a part of the ongoing process and understanding this enables appreciation of the pains and gains reached by different nations. According to Mir et al., (2014), contemporary globalization is as a result of not only incremental changes but also major setbacks with a little bit of nearly complete system-breakdowns. In as much as spatial links in the first century BC had already become continental, globalization did not take off truly until later on when scientific revolution came to happen. This progress shows that a number of factors came into play in bringing about globalization. However, given that different periods of globalization exist, it is notable that for each period, different factors played a role in the propagation of globalization. As of Sheffield et al., (2013), during the first millennium when continental links developed thus, signaling a true take off of globalization, empires were and first developed states were on the rise, and this was a time in history when the final phase of agrarian reproduction was taking place. This realization sheds light on the aspect that, globalization is an old phenomenon that has been in progression, and the current globalization is a product of the many years of continued growth of inter-societal links, which in essence has been a pointer of the level of globalization progress. Additionally, Mir et al., (2014) the gold standard and the commercial treaties were instrumental in founding the world economic order, which means that trade and politics cannot be disengaged, and hence the economy (Slobodian, 2018). It is evident that today’s IMF binds national economies together by way of ordering and bringing stability to the exchange markets. This then implies that globalization is solely not traceable to the technological expansion, which has been perceived to begin in the 1950s, but rather to an accumulation of factors, which established and geared global trade links in a given direction to propagate globalization. Therefore, the history of globalization makes people understand that modern globalization has not yet reached its full potential for it is an ongoing process, and many more gains are expected and to a little extent, some pains.
The past and the present aspects of globalization is a rich history of what sustains global interconnectedness and consideration of these aspects are instrumental in mapping the future of globalization. Globalization has been orchestrated by both national and international economic systems such as the IMF (Gray, 2013). Looking at the ways in which global trade has been administered, it is worth noting that it did not happen on its own, but rather propagated by manmade activities such as introduction of monetary policies. According to Slobodian (2018), to deal with financial crises, the current policy priorities took precedence over the established experiences from the past performance. In this regard, in as much as lessons from the past inform some decisions on the orchestration of global activities, the current policy priorities matter a lot, and this signifies that globalization is ongoing and dynamic in nature thus needing interventionist measures. In this respect, the past and the present are reconciled to inform the future, hence the gist of continued refining and redefining of globalization.
Although globalization has been seen as a pervading force that cannot be stopped thus affecting national economies and states in somewhat the same way, it is worth noting that the outcome of globalization has never been uniform. Different development outcomes characterize different countries. For a long time, people have been engrossed in the fact that much of globalization was aided by technology (Slobodian, 2018). However, historicizing globalization has enabled the understanding that development of spatial links has played a significant role in this progression. Moreover, even though the adoption of a free market system, which characterized globalization largely, meant that protectionist measures are prohibited thus ensuring a uniform path for every nation state, the outcome was surprising (Gray, 2013). This then means that, globalization is not as freely pervading as it has been understood, but requires orchestration by factors such as state capacity. Therefore, reading about the history of globalization enables reconciliation of the past and the present to inform the future and avoid any misunderstandings regarding globalization especially as regards the benefits it brings courtesy of the free market systems to different countries in different periods.
Historicizing globalization is instrumental in enabling the understanding of the gains and pains of the phenomenon while allowing for introspection into the future and reflection of the past. It is evident, that neoliberalism was a significant moderating factor and not a unifying factor of the national and international economies. Getting to know the origin of globalization helps people understand the context of the phenomenon, and thus appreciate its existence. Moreover, history sends people back to the start from which they can now trace the current, which leads to a better understanding of the details thus reducing misunderstanding. Finally, when history is appreciated, then the present is informed and the future is reflected upon, thus ensuring propagation of this unending process of globalization.
