In this essay I will attempt, with sufficient evidence found to come to an overall conclusion is the world a more globalised place today than it was before the outbreak of WWI in 1914 looking at specific areas of the subject such as the waves of globalization. This essay will also look at globalization before World War I, de-industrialization and de-globalization, the collapse of globalization and globalization in the second wave.
Firstly, economists usually use Globalization to refer to international incorporation in capital and labour markets. According to Baldwin and Martin (1999), there has been at least two occurrences of globalization since the middle of the 19th century.
The first wave of Globalization started about the middle of the 19th century and briefly ended when World War 1 commenced. The second wave began after World War 2 had ended and still ongoing today. In these two waves of globalization fast trading and increase of production went parallel to each other and causes large changes in the relation of size with the economies that were involved.
One valued lesson that was learned from history is that globalization has been a bumpy ride and has been well known for the increased productivity of integration seen in the 19th and the second part of the 20th century. It has also been present in the periods of difficulties seen in the inter-war period and occasionally had major and expensive consequences (World Trade Organization, 2008).
Over the last generation, globalization has been such a large step in development around world affairs helping to make the world and its economies more linked and more independent.
There are two waves of globalization, World War 1 had caused the collapse of the first wave of globalization. After World War 1 had other devastations including the Great Depression, World War 2 and the Cold War.
It wasn’t until the 1990s that the world economies had really recovered from the effect that World War 1 had caused. In ways the world before WW1 was more globalized than we see our world today. World War 1 is of importance when talking about the history of globalization (Strikwerda, 2014).
Strikwerda (2014) goes onto talking about important points of why globalization didn’t help avoid World War 1 from breaking out. There was panic about the necessity in global markets and this had caused rows over war. In 1912, one of the generals had argued that Germany needed to organise for war because the lives of the working classes depended on preservation and growth of the export trade. States like Russia and the Balkan states being the lower of the economically united states had caused an uproar as they had feared about their global links.
In the 1940’s after World War 2 had finished, the post-war settlement had been created to tackle the devastating outcomes of the war of parts of the extremely globalized industrials economy of Britain before 1914. An economy what was built on iron and steel, coal and shipbuilding and textiles had embarked into a crisis after 1920. Any reoccurrence of a large amount of unemployment and an inconsistent social security was seemingly down to the designers of the post-war settlement in the 1940’s was seen as major threats to a liberal system that was in place. Two of these designers were Keynes and Beveridge. They and their accomplices had wanted to fix and maintain the labour market and give a helping hand to those who had a low work income due to any cause.
The policies from this settlement had appeared in the midst of the 1940’s disputes had put together a broad Beveridgean development of social security with more dynamic stabilization policies put in place.
However, the effects of this on the original flexibility of the labour market were not direct. The policy that was most direct to support securing employment to the old globalized industrial areas of the outer areas of Britain was only regional policy and cause significant motivation in investment in these regions and areas.
In the 1950’s and 60’s areas such as international manufacturing companies especially American companies were being de-globalized as well as re-globalized due to the extension of international companies. The 1970’s and 1980’s accentuated the on-going powerlessness of the industrial economy to the worldwide forces. During these decades, employment in the coal, iron and steel industries had dropped significantly. However, this liberalization did open up new industrial sectors, one being engineering.
The movement in globalization had downsized in the coal industry due to new alternatives in fuel as well as iron and steel factories. In Scotland, these areas in industry had dramatically decreased in size by starts of the 1990’s.
The 1970’s and 1980’s accentuated the on-going powerlessness of the industrial economy to the worldwide forces. During these decades, employment in the coal, iron and steel industries had dropped significantly. However, this liberalization did open up new industrial sectors, one being engineering.
The movement in globalization had downsized in the coal industry due to new alternatives in fuel as well as iron and steel factories. In Scotland, these areas in industry had dramatically decreased in size by starts of the 1990’s.
De-industrialization had meant a decrease in employment in the industrial area. This also meant that it powered through into the process of de-globalisation. Making the industrial region of the economy that continued to globalize (Tomlinson, 2011).
According to Swanson (2016) the repercussion of globalization looks like it has been getting stronger around the globe. In America, politicians both right and left wing, have been cutting free trade deals that have been said to benefit the global elites. President Trump has put tariffs on the imports and also limits on immigration, as well as suggesting withdrawing from international trade agreement. Nationalist governments have also made progress in in Asia and Europe and Britain voted to leave the European Union. Swanson (2016) had state that this period in history looked like another- the post-World War 1 period. This had marked the ending of a development in global links that several had called the first era of globalization.
To conclude, Globalization has in some ways interlinked the world since the outbreak of World War 1 and has somewhat helped trade links between different countries across the globe. Globalization has also improved the way we trade and has allowed us to trade cultural differences.
However, due to the impact that World War 1 had caused, there was the collapse of globalization in the second wave of globalization. The globe had only recovered from the tragedies of World War 1 in the 1990’s.
Overall, the world is a more globalized place today than before the outbreak of World War 1. Before there were no industrial sectors until the start of the first wave of globalisation where trade links had begun.
After World War 1, global trade had changed in the second wave of globalization. This was possibly caused by the post-war settlement that was created after World War 2 by Keynes and Beveridge. This settlement was trying to amend the tragedies that had caused the global economy to collapse. The British economy in the first wave of globalization was built on an economy with Iron and Steel factories, coal mining, shipbuilding yards and textile factories. As globalization has moved on, the industrial sector has also moved on leading to a decrease of jobs and work opportunities, however these consequences have also allowed us to move on with times into the 21st century.