The historical pedigree of globalisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

The historical pedigree of globalisation - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that for many, globalization has been a defining characteristic, or even the defining characteristic, of the post-war period. However, as we will see, it is not so easy to rope off globalization as an exclusively post-war, or even exclusively modern phenomenon. Furthermore, it has been a Eurocentric phenomenon, as reinforced by Marxist and Classical Liberal theories, with the Eastern peoples merely the passive objects in the story. For many scholars in recent centuries, the global narrative since Columbus reached the Americas in 1492 has been one of the steady growth of Western power and influence across the world, culminating in a Western dominance of a globalized economy after the Second World War. Such theories have also worked on the assumption that Europe, uniquely, always had the potential to take the lead on the global stage, and to develop further and faster than other regions, largely because of its native urge towards a Capitalist economy, and liberal institutions. We shall see that this is not only not the full picture, but that it is a deeply flawed and misleading picture. Globalisation is not new, but Western dominance in globalizing processes is new. While Eurocentric theories were once the norm in academic discourse, they have undergone serious challenges in recent decades. Edward Said’s â€Å"Orientalism† shook historians’ complacency about the European boundaries of their work.... Notably, Abu-Lughod (1989) argued for the centrality of the Middle East in world history and global exchange, while Gunder Frank (1998) posited the importance of East and Southeast Asia in truly global trading networks. Notions of globalisation which played up the importance of the Western world were generally focused on the post-1945 era, but much of the above literature has rethought globalisation as a much longer-term phenomenon, as well as one which started in the East. A key reason why Western scholars were long unable to recognise that globalisation predated the 20th century was that they have long viewed it in terms of the rise of Western Capitalism. As Hobson (2007) points out, none of the leading economies between 500 and 1800 CE were Western. Globalisation in past centuries was largely fuelled by the wealth and communications of industries and markets that stretched across Asia, and China and India stand out as particularly important global players for much of recorded hist ory. In the 18th century, China accounted for an astonishing 25% of the world’s population, compared to 20% today (Flynn and Giraldez 2006, p. 239), and when European merchants first moved East in search of new opportunities, they should not be regarded as the first signs of an emerging European dominance, but rather as an attempt by a less economically productive region to gain footholds in the trade with the world’s economic powerhouse. Hobson (2007) maintains that China maintained a dominant role in the global economy even later than suggested by Gunder Frank. He states that it continued to outstrip Britain in its share of world manufacturing input