Was the world not "globalized" until the 1990s? (war, England)

[spicymeatball]

I often hear "globalization" being synonymized with the post Cold War era, which is sort of confusing to me since the Cold War seemed like a very globalized time. After all it was an ideological conflict that took place just about everywhere on the planet. Did we still have "large world" as recently as the late 1980s, compared to now and the past 24 years?

[maf763]

To an extent, the end of the Cold War led to the opening of more markets - the EU would not formally establish until the iron curtain fell, for example. The other development since then is the emergence of the internet as a communication and commerce tool.

So it may be a matter of how you define globalization - economic? social? political?

[Zot]

In the 60's container shipping was invented, during the 60's and early 70's people thought about Japan the way many think about China today. The U.S. has been an international trading country since the colonial period. Trade has been one of our main sources of income.

[ovcatto]

I would argue that "globalization" has existed since the age of european exploration/exploitation. All the term globalization means to me is that in the post colonial era, Third World (original definition) are now competing economically with the First.

[Orangeish]

It's difficult to define because the goal posts have shifted on what it means. Some people would argue the internet globalized the world and others would argue as far back as colonialism, others would point to industrialization.

[jtur88]

Globalization began with OPEC, which brought the concept of isolationism to an end forever. We could no longer simply colonize them, we had to enter into fair agreements with nations that had essential resources, and who could hold out for trade arrangements that leveled the "global" playing field.

[tpk-nyc]

Globalization means many things to different people. Yes, it's about general inter-connectedness, but it's really a business term. Globalization as in economic force in the 90s had a lot to do with advances in communication technology: satellites, fiber optics, the internet, etc. Real-time inter-connectedness allowed companies to conduct operations on multiple continents with ease. Something almost impossible to do with just a telephone, fax and snail mail.

[Snowball7]

Nixon and China, Multi-National Corporations, CFR, Bilderberger Group,
NAFTA, GATT, China MFN, CFR, Trilateral Commission, PNAC, World Bank,
IMF, Carbon Credits, World Court, Davos, read about these things.. good luck...

[John7777]

There's a book called "Global Reach" that's pretty good. Multinational corporations, the decline of the territorial nation state, etc. Published in the 70s.

Nixon opened the door to China.

[Retroit]

It's a matter of degree. A few schooners carrying small loads of tea and spices from Asia to England a few times a year in the 1700's versus a continuous flow of container ships bringing a half trillion dollars worth of goods to the US every year.