1 History of Globalization

Introduction

Globalization has been a hot topic both culturally and politically for a number of years. It is a term that became commonly used in the 1980s, but globalization existed in various forms over the past thousand years and has been an issue of tribal leaders, monarchs, and presidents (Vanham, 2019). Globalization should not be taken for granted, and in 1929, when the U.S. economy crashed, a sudden decline in economic integration was felt all across Europe. Economic integration also shows a path to great wealth, and is a big reason that East Asia went from being one of the poorest regions in the world to being a strong competitor against Western economies (Globalization: Threat or opportunity? 2000).

Public opinion on globalization has fluctuated over the years. Laid off workers in the rust belt in the U.S. gravitate towards political campaigns such as Donald Trump’s who promised to “put America first”. Similarly, in the U.K., some residents felt “swept up” in the wave of globalization and the ensuing economic pressure (Silver et al., 2022). In this chapter, we will break down key aspects of this history and explain what led to periods of globalization and what caused these periods to end. The key periods we will discuss in greater details can be referred to as Pax Mongolica, Pax Britannica and Pax Americana. Pax, Latin for peace, relates to categorizing the different eras of globalization with an eye to the hegemonic stability theory which states that times of global peace and prosperity occur when there is a single hegemon, or world superpower. Over the past thousand years, we argue the most impressive of these hegemons have been the Mongol Empire of the 13th century, the British Empire of the 19th century, and the modern United States. The modern form of this theory came about in the 19th century when Great Britain enjoyed its status as a hegemon.

Studying globalization as a historical phenomenon can show how current globalization shapes international relations today. For example, the international organizations created to prevent a third World War such as the International Monetary Fund (1944), the United Nations (1945), and the World Trade Organization (1995) drew on the ideals of trade liberalization from the era of Pax Britannica (What is globalization? 2021). Besides trade, globalization has also impacted the movement of capital across borders such as through foreign direct investments and trade. Globalization may also refer to the diffusion of knowledge and ideas, such as the diffusion of Christianity from Great Britain to its colonies, such as India. The IMF states that there are four dimensions of globalization: trade, movement of capital, movement of people, and movement of knowledge and technology (IMF). This chapter will discuss these four categories throughout Pax Mongolica, Pax Britannica, and Pax Americana.

Pax Mongolica (1206-1294)

Early in the 13th century, the world saw a new force appear in the Far East, a Mongol leader named Temüjin began a twenty-year conquest that brought most of the world under his rule. As he conquered, he gave himself the new name of Genghis Khan. The Mongol empire would not last three generations, but at the height of its power, it reached “over 33 million km² … with an estimated population of over 100 million people,” (New World Encyclopedia) and was the largest land empire to ever exist. Due to their unprecedented conquest throughout Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, they decreased the number of governments and groups along trade routes, and reduced bandit groups from forming and attacking merchants. These two actions are the solutions to two major issues in any global trade equation, and helped establish the Mongol Khanate as a hegemon.

Trade

The Mongol Empire solved security issues by getting rid of bandits who would target traders coming via the Silk Road with goods. The second problem Mongol hegemony solved was that it limited the number of powers involved in trade. Previously, goods moving from China to Eastern Europe had to pass through dozens of territories owned by kings and khans that may or may not be friendly. Traders could be subject to taxes and inspections in these territories, however under the Mongols they would instead only have to go through one or two since the Khanate’s conquest would merge Asia into only a few powers. From this historical example, we can identify two requirements for increased global trade: a decrease in barriers between trading partners and few external security threats. In other words, the easier and safer it is to get to and trade with a foreign merchant, the more trade both parties are willing to do. This was the case when the merchants of Genoa and Venice were willing to frequently trade with the Mongols on the Western edge of the empire once the threat of conquest was gone. Mongol trade appeared with the reinvigoration of the Silk Road, a global hegemon that created a tighter knit world where “a man could walk from one end of the Mongol empire to the other with a gold plate on his head without ever fearing being robbed.” (Crash Course, 2012).

Movement of capital

Khan’s method of acquiring capital was through repeated invasions of villages by his substantial army. After consolidating the empire, various streams of trade occurred. Mongols were a nomadic tribe before their conquest, and their lifestyle formed a society that had no merchant class (Enkhbold, 2019). Once faced with an empire and a need for trade to be facilitated within and without, some merchant classes needed to be created or hired. The ortoq were merchants that had previously engaged in some level of trade with the Mongols and other peoples in inner Asia, using caravans as shown in Fig. 1. Once the Khanate was established, the Mongol elite had money to spend and more reasons to spend as well. Over the century of Mongol globalization, the partnership with the ortoq was a model of trade. Elites trusted merchants with capital to buy specific goods, or sometimes to spend freely, then return with the goods and all accrued interest. This system and other systems like it were already in existence before Pax Mongolica, but the peace allowed the system to grow.

Movement of people

The actual Mongol people were relatively small in number before their conquest of Eurasia; the growth of the empire was due to tactics Genghis Khan implemented in his army, namely an integration of many types of people into his forces. To continue the conquest, Genghis Khan had conquered peoples join the army, not in segregated regiments, but integrated into Mongol units. These foreigners were able to outrank ethnic Mongols with a merit-based system, so an officer would be surrounded by multiple different types of people. The (mostly) Mongol army was therefore a principal mover of people throughout the empire. The Mongol Empire created a giant area for people to wander through, and the people wandered, when there were skirmishes on the western edge of the Empire, crusaders captured a Mongol officer and discovered that he was an Englishman (Weatherford, 2004). One of the late names to embrace globalization was the explorer Marco Polo, who went into Mongol China and worked for Kublai Khan as something resembling an ortoq for nearly twenty years. His story is not unusual; many people found themselves moving amongst the empire as Pax Mongolica enabled one of the first instances of widespread human migration in peacetime.

Movement of knowledge and technology

Pax Mongolica was an early form of globalization; many innovations and inventions were dispersed throughout the empire. The Khans saw the need to regulate, and introduced the first taxes to the empire in the 1230s. Genghis Khan also saw fit to standardize the size of silver throughout the empire to ease trade, something similar to the modern Euro. Later on in the history of the empire, Kublai Khan implemented paper money as a safer and easier way to facilitate banking. Paper money didn’t sink as easily and was easier to protect in transit. Weatherford (2004) notes that not accepting money in the Mongol Empire would result in death, one might say part of the safety using this new paper money afforded was a safety from capital punishment.

Summary

The Mongol Empire provided protection from harm, increased trade, and riches for all on the Silk Road. Over the course of its empire, religious tolerance was implemented, and ideas were traded, as were goods and money. The Empire was only too ready to fall. With every Khan’s death, a fight took place to be called the next Great Khan. The real empire was more like a confederation comprised of four Khanates: the Golden Horde, the Il-Khanate, the Yuan Dynasty, and the Chagatai Khanate. Eventually the differences between the Khanates grew too large, and the event that put the Mongol Empire over the edge was plague. The adaptation and diversity that the Mongols allowed in their empire, the reason the empire was able to exist, caused distance among the leaders. The trade that brought riches to all of them helped spread the bubonic plague. As a result, Pax Mongolica was ended after less than one hundred years of control, but the ideas had spread enough for the history books to know that once there was a world connected by a hegemon. Pax Mongolica was a medieval basis for what globalization could become, and parallels can be seen from Pax Mongolica to Pax Britannica and Pax Americana (see Fig. 2). Caught in the throes of the Black Death and hostility between Asian powers, the Mongol version of globalization ended.

Pax Britannica (1815-1914)

After defeating its European Rivals, Britain emerged as the financial commercial hegemon from 1815, Napoleon’s defeat by the British military, to 1914, the beginning of World War I. Britain was motivated by competition with France during the 17th century, leading to the establishment of colonies in North America, West Indies, and later, in India and Africa

(Ashworth et al., 2017). At its height, the empire contained 25% of the world’s land (British Empire Overview). Most of these ventures came from companies and industry magnates as opposed to the English crown. Another key player during this time was the British Royal Army which allowed to spread “Christianity, commerce, and civilization” to its colonies and defend its empire (Gough, 2014). Pax Britannica “is thus a “systematic look at how Britain…molded Europe and the World between 1814-1914” (Gough, 2014).

Trade

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the British government exercised control over the colonies in the areas of trade and shipping, pursuant to the mercantilist philosophy that reigned dominant during that time (British Empire, 2022). The primary trade legislation in this time period was the Navigation Act of 1651, which required all colonies to only export to and import from England. Britain exported mostly manufactured goods, leading to it having the dominant share of the world trade market. In turn, it imported raw materials such as tobacco, sugar, tea, and spices from its colonies, bolstered by developments in transportation technology, such as steamships and trains (Watson, 2014). The movement toward free trade which characterized this era began in 1820 when London merchants expressed their opposition to the Corn Laws which were created by the aristocracy in Great Britain to pin tariffs on all grain imports coming into the country (Beard, 2017). After its repeal, American wheat farmers were able to export grain to Great Britain, increasing Britain’s dependence on imports while also forging trade relations with North America (Clark & Raper, 1936).

Another area where the British Empire developed intercontinental trade was with India, founding East India Company in 1600. The Company imported raw goods such as tea, cotton, jute, and rubber from India to the British Empire. As Britain’s manufacturing capabilities improved, Britain produced manufactured goods made with Indian raw materials that were sold at a higher price point to Indian consumers (Nasta et al., 2017). One of the largest commodities imported into Britain from India was tea, beginning in the 1820s. Over time, it became a “quintessentially English custom…”, demonstrating how the globalization of trade influenced British culture (Nasta et al., 2017).

Movement of capital

Britain is considered by many to be the world’s first foreign investor on a large scale by laying the foundation of modern-day foreign investment. As a world hegemon, Britain had a crucial role in the international financial system, including “direct investment ventures; licensing; and coordination in transnational webs of enterprise” (Shehadi, 2021) . Prior to 1914, British foreign investment stood at £4 billion or 44% of the world total of foreign investment, with much of it going to British colonies in Africa, Latin America, and Asia (Clark, 2011).

Afterwards, it was widely claimed that “Britain was at the centre of the market for international finance after 1850” and was the “leading creditor and bank” (Clark, 2011). The rise and success of joint-stock companies such as the Russia Company and the more famous East India Company meant that companies faced “international risks” (Shehadi, 2021). Multinational enterprises such as these laid the groundwork for modern foreign development practices in the British Empire, such as “funding the construction of infrastructure (such as railways), or the extraction of natural resources” in colonial holdings (Shehadi, 2021). With the laying of submarine cables in the 1860s, Britain was connected to the U.S. (New York), Europe, Asia, Australia (Melbourne), Latin American (Buenos Aires) and Russia. This advancement “changed the informational environment of British investors” (Goetzmann & Ukhov, 2005). By the 1870s, with the development of telegraphs, British investors could “receive news concerning political events worldwide, economic and trade news, and even news regarding the weather and the storms affecting the crops in the colonies” (Goetzmann & Ukhov, 2005). As such, the movement of capital was greatly influenced by developments of technology.

Furthermore, Britain’s economic hegemony manifested itself as the widespread adoption of the gold and sterling standard. According to Robert Gilpin, an American political scientist, Britain organized the gold standard and in conjunction with being the hegemon in terms of “…commodity, money, and capital markets, ‘enforced the rules of the system’ upon the world economies” (Clark, 2011). As Britain rose to become the commercial and financial hegemon, it became more common for countries such as Russia, Japan, Austria-Hungary, Holland, Scandinavia, and the British Dominions to have a part of their reserves in British Treasury Bills or bank deposits in London. Japan, Russia, and India together “held two-thirds of all foreign exchange reserves” (Eichengreen, 2019). As confidence in London as a financial center increased, countries also began holding large sterling reserves, which arguably became more important than the gold standard in later years (Clark, 2011).

Movement of people

Movement of people during Pax Brittanica can be classified into two groups: voluntary and involuntary (slavery). Within the voluntary classification, Britons moved to settler colonies such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, primarily in the 18th century, and facilitated Anglicization through the dissemination of British values and customs (Free, 2018). Poorer Britons who wanted to move away from Britain’s “crowded and squalid cities” emigrated to Canada, and better-off British citizens moved to other parts of the empire for employment opportunities to become governesses, builders, engineers, and farmers (Living in the British Empire: Migration). Another large demographic that voluntarily moved around the empire were the Scots, Welsh, and Irish who traveled around the world for the British empire as military officials, engineers, and doctors (Living in the British Empire: Migration). Finally, in 1845, Irish fleeing their country to the U.S., Canada, and Australia because of the Great Famine of 1845-1851 constitute the first voluntary mass migration of people (O’Rourke & Williamson, 2001).

However, there was also a large flow of involuntary movement during this time. The British Empire was the largest slave trader from 1640 to 1807, transporting 3.1 million Africans to British colonies in the Caribbean, North America, and South America during the transatlantic slave trade (Britain and the Slave Trade). Convicts were sent to Australia during the 1700s and 1800s. The British also shipped millions of Chinese all over the empire, such as in North America and South Africa to build railways (Britain and the Slave Trade). Additionally, around 1.6 million Indians were shipped to North America and the Pacific Islands for “farming, mining, and other commercial enterprises” (Britain and the Slave Trade).

Movement of knowledge and technology

As mentioned previously, advancements in technology allowed for the integration and success of the British empire into the world economy (see Figure 1). From 1760 to 1830, the British Empire underwent the first Industrial Revolution, giving it an edge in the world economy (Inikori, 2021). The development of steamships and trains allowed for goods to be transported over thousands of miles and across the world. The Industrial Revolution resulted in the factory system and the mechanization of manufacturing such as through the spinning jenny and power loom which increased worker productivity. This was key to Britain being able to export its most important manufactured good, cotton, to India at 20% of the price in 1700 (Inikori, 2021). In 1851, the English were the first to successfully lay submarine telegraph cables under the English Channel, which connected London to all of the European financial centers (O’Rourke & Williamson, 2001). Thus, it became possible for those in New York, Paris, London, or Berlin to invest in international-scale joint stock companies and participate in more foreign direct investment (Vanham, 2019). The informational landscape for investors further changed with the creation of the electric telegraph. When a French company constructed the Suez Canal, transport time from Britain to India was further shortened, causing an increase in commercial activity (Vanham, 2019). Combined with the movement of people, there was the movement of religious ideas across borders such as when British missionaries spread Protestant Christianity to areas in India and Africa. Amidst all of these developments, “Britain was the country that benefited most from this globalization, as it had the most capital and technology” (Vanham, 2019).

Summary

The Pax Britannica era ended with the advent of World War I in 1914. The outbreak of tensions in Europe signaled to the world that Britain was not strong enough to control up-and coming powers such as Imperial Germany and the U.S. (Gough, 2014). By the end of the Pax Britannica in 1914, the groundwork for an interconnected globe had been well underway. It was rare to find a town or village whose prices weren’t influenced by a foreign market, whose infrastructure wasn’t funded by foreign capital, whose labor markets weren’t impacted by immigration (O’Rourke & Williamson, 2001). Export industries flourished and poor regions began chipping away at the wedge that separated them from richer regions. Still, not everyone was happy about this. Some capitalists argued that the increased interconnectedness of financial markets made them vulnerable to financial shocks that originated in foreign countries. Some laborers argued against the import of cheap goods made by cheap labor abroad.

During the Interwar Period (1918-1928), there were several attempts to reinstate British hegemony, but they all failed. Britain experienced 715,000 military deaths, the destruction of 10% of its domestic assets, and 24% of its overseas assets (Crafts, 2014). Finally, Britain spent over 25% of its GDP on World War I which exhausted the empire (Crafts, 2014). Though Britain ushered in an era of liberalized trade, World War I brought it to an “abrupt halt” as countries favored protectionism (Crafts, 2014). Japan and particularly the U.S. were able to fill in the vacuum left by the British in international markets during the war, such as for cotton textiles. Another attempt was made to reinstate the gold standard at the pre-war parity, however, this ended up being unsuccessful because economists weren’t sure how much deflation that would require. After World War I, Britain experienced lower income levels, higher unemployment, lower trade, and an increased public debt to GDP ratio (Crafts, 2014). Against this backdrop, the U.S., which was impacted relatively less than Europe during World War I, emerged as the new hegemon. However, it was only after World War II where the U.S. cemented its role as a world leader.

Pax Americana

 Pax Americana followed World War II and was spurred by the devastation of Europe due to the constant bombing all European parties endured. Due to the U.S. being comparatively unharmed by WWII life, production did not have to recover and thus only improved. The U.S. began not only providing for itself but also for the means of European recovery.

Trade

Globalization crashed after WWI, and what followed was a period of post-war protectionism and the Great Depression. After WWII, during the 1940s, the U.S. led several efforts to resuscitate the global economy via international trade and investment through international organization, trade treaties, and reductions to trade barriers. Between 1956 and 1957, quotas on dollar trade and other trade barriers were cut dramatically (Horowitz, 2004). It is interesting to note that these attempts were made unilaterally. The U.S. helped to establish the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which “became the world’s most important multilateral trade arrangement” (Irwin, 2018). Through negotiating “rounds”, GATT was successful at reducing tariff barriers on manufactured goods in industrial countries, helping to promote international trade after WWII. After 1995, GATT became the World Trade Organization which manages four international trade agreements: “the GATT, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and agreements on trade-related intellectual property rights and trade-related investment (TRIPS and TRIMS, respectively” (Irwin, 2018). Countries have also signed onto more bilateral or regional trade agreements (RTAs), such as the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which eliminate tariffs on merchandise and reduce barriers to trade in services and foreign investment between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The U.S. has also entered into bilateral trade agreements with Israel, Singapore, Jordan, and Australia. The interconnectedness of the world economy results in increased competition, resulting in off-shoring or outsourcing so companies can benefit from the cheapest labor and lowest taxes (Irwin, 2018).

Movement of Capital

After World War II, there were significant attempts to globalize finance. One such attempt was the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944, which pegged other nations’ currencies to the U.S. dollar, creating an international monetary system. Eventually, under this new system, large domestic banks became internationalized, especially between 1964 and 1980.

Foreign assistance is another form of moving capital across borders given that it is the largest component of the international affairs budget, and makes up 1% of the entire federal budget. The U.S. has become the largest foreign aid donor in the world, “accounting for nearly 23% of total official development assistance from major donor governments in 2019”, which was the last time data was collected on this topic (Morgenstern & Nick, 2022). The major foreign aid categories include multilateral and bilateral development assistance, humanitarian assistance, strategic economic assistance, and security assistance (Morgenstern & Nick, 2022). One of the most famous examples of the movement of capital during this time was the Marshall Plan, provisioned by the Economic Cooperation Act in 1948. The Plan disbursed more than $15 billion dollars by some estimates to Great Britain, France and West Germany for the purposes of spurring production and international trade, along with spreading ideals of democracy to contain the spread of communism (Marshall Plan, 2009).

Since 2001, capital has flowed increasingly towards development aid (such as global health programs) and heightened security assistance (such as anti-terrorism measures) directed to U.S. allies. In 2019, the main countries the U.S. donated to were Afghanistan, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq, reflecting the strategic significance of Israel and Afghanistan, the humanitarian crisis in Jordan, Jordan, and “long standing commitments” to Egypt. Increasingly, private sector actors such as consulting firms, universities, and private voluntary organizations have been involved in development and humanitarian assistance ventures (Morgenstern & Nick, 2022). Other ways that capital can cross borders is through remittances, or payments made by immigrants in their host countries to their home countries. Remittances can constitute nearly 5% of the home country’s GDP in some cases, indicating how economic globalization is directly linked to the movement of people (Berridge, 2016).

Movement of People

Migration stalled with World War I, but resumed in the 1980s and remained historically high despite the various methods used to control it. Currently, the U.S. is the “most popular destination for international immigrants” (Wayne, 2015). Unlike in the eras preceding Pax Americana, the personal and financial costs of immigrating have substantially decreased.

Personal costs decreased as developments in transportation technology made it faster and safer to travel. Changes in information technology such as the Internet and news media have also decreased personal costs. Financially, new immigrants have been able to benefit from another consequence of economic globalization, remittances, by older immigrants (Berridge, 2016). These substantially lowered costs have allowed for heavy “corridors” of human traffic between poorer countries to richer countries, such as Mexico and the U.S. or between Turkey and Germany. Corridors have also opened up between poorer countries such as Bangladesh to India (Berridge, 2016). Migration increased from 446 per million world inhabitants in the 1980s to 603 per million world inhabitants in the 1990s. In the first decade of the 21st century alone, the rate of international migration “exceeded that of the 19th century” (Wayne, 2015). Corresponding to this increase in immigration, there are more formal barriers to migration than permits, passports, and visas than ever. The movement of people has created benefits, yet they are unequal between host countries and home countries (see Figure 2; Wayne, 2015).

Movement of Technology and Knowledge

In 1956, the creation of the shipping container by Malcolm McLean revolutionized trade by reducing shipping and loading costs by nearly 90%, reducing port turnaround times, and lessening merchandise theft (Hoover, 2021). Currently, 90% of global trade occurs through the sea (Ryssdal & Palacios, 2021). Further developments in container ship technology allow for over 18,000 containers to be shipped overseas for commercial and even military purposes (Hoover, 2021). The need for sharing best practices and knowledge across borders also increased as world economies globalized. One such example of this is the Basel I Accords where banking officials from the three major banking powers, the U.S., UK, and Japan, congregated and tried to harmonize their banking policies, such as implementing a risk-weighing system for banks. This was done without any formal treaty or state obligation, but by 1994, 92% of the 129 countries had some sort of system in place.

Culture, especially American customs, music, and television has also been crossing international borders. For instance, according to the Pew Research Center, 37 of 46 countries surveyed (excluding the U.S.) cited “Americanization” as having negative effects on their own culture and traditions (Kohut & Wike, 2020). America exports culturally salient material such as music, movies, etc. and not only that but those experts are seen as new which attracts younger generations resulting in older generations to view them with disdain. Older generations feel as though this material will overturn their own culture and deeply historical traits are painted over to advertise the next superficial fad from America. However, there are cases in which American culture and foreign culture mingle and make something completely new. Anime and manga originate from post WWII Japan where American soldiers stationed in Japan got comic books sent to them from America and after reading them would give them to Japanese children. These children became enraptured by the comics and when they grew up made ones of their own using their own Japanese art styles and imprinting their characters with Japanese norms and customs resulting in manga and anime. Thus, this cultural connection created something uniquely Japanese but came from inspiration from the U.S.

Figure 1: Evolution of Methods of Trade Globalization

Pax Mongolica

Pax Britannica

Pax Americana

Figure 2: Summary of Eras of Globalization
	Trade	Movement of Capital	Movement of People	Movement of Technology and Knowledge
Pax Mongolica	Enforce protection of people trading. Restricted movement of goods and parties involved in trade Silk Road promoted the liberalization of trade	Followed land routes mostly along the Silk Road Trade routes were set bymilitarymovements Standardized size of silver coinage Origin of paper money	Integrated Mongol Army Presence of skilled people outside their native lands, especially according to Mongol elite needs. Led to the spread of the Black Plague	Transfer of knowledge was limited to speaking and written messages delivered by courtiers. The technology of transportation is limited to what could be brought by a caravan.
Pax Britannica	Restricted movement of goods and parties involved in trade (Navigation Acts) Mercantilist philosophy; Britain imported raw goods from colonies and Britain exported manufactured goods back. Did not have the economic strength to remain the hegemon after WWI	Foreign investment in its colonies through infrastructure, railways, etc. Gold and sterling standards are widely adopted	Voluntary movement of British colonizers Voluntary movement of poor British citizens, and Scots, Irish, and Welsh Involuntary movement of criminals, slaves, Indian and Chinese laborers	Industrial Revolution (steamboat, spinning jenny, telegraph, Suez Canal) Anglicization and the spread of Christianity to British colonies
Pax Americana	Took the place of Britain as a world commercial hegemon	Investment Exchange Market System dominates financial trade Introduction of decentralized currencies specifically crypto-currency	While illegal human trafficking exists, its legality in most countries is outlawed unlike in previous eras People can now move easily between countries cheaper than ever before, for example, the movement of citizens in the EU	Development of nuclear weaponry; brinkmanship

Conclusion

Critics from a variety of disciplines such as economy, sociology, and cultural studies recognize that globalization leads to three principles: “increased connectivity, improves technology, and perceived convergence” (Pooch, 2016). These further lead to global interdependence, multi-directions migrations across the world, and the slow decline of national politics. Anthony Giddens, an English sociologist, described this as the “local-global dialect” whereby local activities can have global impacts, such as how buying clothing can impact a Bengali worker (Pooch, 2016). This is linked to chaos theory which states that an action can have consequences across the globe. This chapter covered the winners and losers of globalization over the course of its history, as shown in Figure 1. During Pax Mongolica, those who won were Mongol empire officials and those who traded on and from the Silk Road. However, those who lost during this wave of globalization were people who were forcibly absorbed into the empire. During Pax Britannica, the winners were British empire officials and the British Royal Government as it acquired more colonies and subsequent wealth. To an extent, British citizens benefited from freer trade when restrictive trade laws such as the Corn Laws were repealed. However, it may be argued that they too, were losers; benefits reaped from globalization weren’t dispersed evenly, leading to many citizens remaining in poverty. Additionally, Indian, Chinese, and West African citizens who were exploited by the British, yet made up a significant component of globalization, were also harmed because of it. But is globalization popular in the most recent wave of globalization, Pax Americana? First, it’s important to note that globalization can be visible and invisible. When students of political science hear that word, they may think of the rich cultural exchange and hybridization that visibly demonstrates globalization: “Thai boxing by Moroccan girls in Amsterdam, Asian rap in London…Chinese tacos” (Pooch, 2016). Yet, globalization is more than a cultural melting pot. It occurs on a scale invisible to us such as the interconnectedness of major world banks, international trade treaties, and foreign aid, among others.

Figure 3: Winners and Losers across Waves of Globalization

	Pax Mongolica	Pax Britannica	Pax Americana
Winners	Mongols, Silk Road Traders, Western Europe	Europe, esp. UK; Colonialists	High skilled manufacturers in wealthy countries, low skilled manufacturers in poor countries
Losers	Rulers conquered by Mongols	Colonies, Slaves, Indian and Chinese laborers who worked in poor conditions	Low skilled workers in wealthy countries and high skilled workers in poor countires

According to the Pew Research Center, most believe that globalization is good for their country, but in practice, many believe “it’s not good for them personally” (Stoker, 2020). This dualism presents a contradiction. Are more people not educated enough on globalization to develop a coherent opinion of it? Or does this nuanced response reflect the opposite, an increasing awareness of globalization and its relative benefits? This skepticism is prevalent among the advanced economies of the U.S., U.K., Japan, and some European nations. According to that survey, 81% of over 48,000 respondents from 44 countries believe that “international trade and global business ties are good for their country” (Stoker, 2020). However, the same survey indicates that only 56% of the respondents believe international trade creates job opportunities and only 26% of the respondents believe that trade lowers prices, despite that being the main arguments for why nations should globalize their economy. American citizens are especially skeptical, with only 17% of Americans believing that trade increases wages, and only 28% agreeing that foreign companies absorbing American companies is good for the country (Stokes, 2020). This suggests that as of late, Americans believe that globalization has turned the tide on them, and for the worse.

Ultimately, it would be fair to say that globalization is popular to everyone except those who directly lose from it, such as low skill manufacturers in highly developed countries and highly skilled manufacturers in less developed countries since their skills and goods are deemed too expensive. Thus, they get left out of the benefits of globalization; after all, what good is an out of season fruit when you can’t afford it? Globalization’s popularity is only as high as the people’s belief that they are winning from it.

The last era of globalization examined is Pax Americana, but how accurate is it to describe this modern age as one of Pax? Foreign policy advisor to former President Obama, Jake Sullivan believes that “the fact that the major powers have not returned to war with one another since 1945 is a remarkable achievement of American statecraft”, or proof of Pax Americana (Is the world getting more peaceful?, 2021). This is further evidenced by the fact that interstate conflict has decreased substantially in the 20th century and after World War II, and the number of interstate conflicts have also decreased from Cold War levels, but not as dramatically (Is the world getting more peaceful?, 2021). Factors that may explain this are characteristics of an era of Pax Americana: the globalization of economics and increased international trade, the globalization of capital, and the spread of democratic norms (Gartzke, 2007). On the other hand, since the end of WWII, the world has still experienced catastrophic conflicts such as

Afghanistan, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, amongst others. John Dower, Ford International Professor of History, Emeritus, and Pulitzer Prize winner, argues that “We’re in a perpetual cycle of violence in the name of preventing violence,” and that the dip in warfare is attributed to “hyperactive militarism”, such as increased involvement in proxy wars and risk of nuclear warfare (Dizikes, 2017). During the Cold War, between 1965 and 1973, the U.S. had deployed 40 times the tonnage of bombs it dropped on Japan onto Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The War on Terror following the Sept. 1, 2001 terrorist attacks have led to protracted and costly conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other areas in the Middle East (Dizikes, 2017). In terms of recent events, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022 is a symptom of the fact that the U.S. does not wield the same coercive power as it did during President John F. Kennedy’s administration. Still, many believe that the U.S. should play a leading role in addressing the conflict because of its unique economic, military, and geographic position in the world. Nevertheless, we are in an era where peace is not “continental” as it were under Pax Mongolica or Pax Britannica. Those eras laid the foundation for a globalized peace (Dizikes, 2017).

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