When do you think globalization began?

Question

The pundits and scholars have their opinions. I'd like to hear from the masses.

Answer 1

Globalization began with the Achaemenid dynasty in ancient Persia.

At its height, there were 70 million people in the empire, they affected all world trade and the Abrahamic and Dharmic religions.

This is where economic, military and religious linkages begin to occur.

For a later starting point, try the conquest of the Americas, when Aztec and Inkan gold fund the expansion of several Western Asian maritime powers (Europe in common speak).

World War 1, or the European Civil War as it should be known, opened up the possibilities that horrors and more horrors were to come.

The present phase of globalization, known as neoliberalism, began in the US with the defeat of Barry Goldwater, was exported to Chile in 1973 (by force), drew momentum from the oil and fiscal crises of the 1970's, the Latin American debt crises of the 1980's and the fall of the wall in the 1990's.

Answer 2

I don't really think there is a clear chronological answer to your question. However it could be argued that globalization began when the first person, as a leader of a group of people, decided to spread their ideals, beliefs, Gods etc to others. For example Alexander the Great's achievements could be labeled as globalization. He tried to spread the ancient Greek language, way of life, philosophy, beliefs etc.

Answer 3

In the true sense of the form, 1990.

The wall fell, literally......The East/West boundry disappeared.

There is still war, but not the boundries and competition that lied before that.

The internet makes communication easier and more assesible to everyone in the world. It brings us closer together and makes the international community closer in both terms of business and socially.

The UN and governments of the world are working together better than every before. Even when there are disagreements, there is discussion. People are moving around more than ever before.

Answer 4

Since the word has both technical and political meanings, different groups will have differing histories of "globalization". In general use within the field of economics and political economy, however, it is a history of increasing trade between nations based on stable institutions that allow firms in different nations to exchange goods and services with minimal friction.

The term "liberalization" came to mean the acceptance of the Neoclassical economic model which is based on the unimpeded flow of goods and services between economic jurisdictions. This led to specialization of nations in exports, and the pressure to end protective tariffs and other barriers to trade. The period of the gold standard and liberalization of the 19th century is often called "The First Era of Globalization". Based on the Pax Britannica and the exchange of goods in currencies pegged to specie, this era grew along with industrialization. The theoretical basis was David Ricardo's work on Comparative advantage and Say's Law of General equilibrium. In essence, it was argued that nations would trade effectively, and that any temporary disruptions in supply or demand would correct themselves automatically. The institution of the gold standard came in steps in major industrialized nations between approximately 1850 and 1880, though exactly when various nations were truly on the gold standard is contentiously debated.

The "First Era of Globalization" is said to have broken down in stages beginning with the first World War, and then collapsing with the crisis of the gold standard in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Countries that engaged in that era of globalization, including the European core, some of the European periphery and various European offshoots in the Americas and Oceania, prospered. Inequality between those states fell, as goods, capital and labour flowed remarkably freely between nations.

Globalization in the era since World War II has been driven by trade negotiation rounds, originally under the auspices of GATT, which led to a series of agreements to remove restrictions on "free trade". The Uruguay round led to a treaty to create the World Trade Organization or WTO, to mediate trade disputes. Other bi- and trilateral trade agreements, including sections of Europe's Maastricht Treaty and the North American Free Trade Agreement have also been signed in pursuit of the goal of reducing tariffs and barriers to trade.