Book description
Globalisation was the buzzword of the 1990s; it promises to become
even more important in the first decade of the new century. There is
now a flood of literature on the economics, politics and sociology of
globalization, and regular commentary in the serious daily and weekly
press.
Virtually all of this discussion makes assumptions, and frequently
explicit claims, about the novelty of globalisation. According to one
view, the globalisation is a new phenomenon that can be dated from the
1980s. A second view holds that globalisation has a long history that
can be traced back to the nineteenth century, if not earlier. The
importance of these themes scarcely needs elaborating. Yet they have
still to attract significant attention from historians. This volume is
the first by a team of historians to address these issues.
Globalisation in World History has two distinctive features.
First, it offers a categorisation of types and stages of globalisation
that existed before the late twentieth century, No such taxonomy
exists at present. Secondly, it emphasises a feature that the current
debate greatly underestimates: the fact that globalisation has
non-Western as well as Western origins. Globalisation is much more
than the 'rise of the West' presented in new terminology. The
contributors bring their expertise to bear on themes that give
prominence to China, South Asia, Africa and the world of Islam as well
as to Europe and the United States, and span the last three centuries
while also showing an awareness of more distant antecedents. The
result is a coherent and thought-provoking collection of essays.
Globalisation will become a major theme of historical research during
the next decade; this book will help to set the new agenda.
A. G. Hopkins is Smuts Professor of the History of the Commonwealth
at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
