In this revised edition of Globalization in World History, Peter Stearns explores the roots of contemporary globalization, examining shifts in the global flow of people, goods and ideas as early as 1000 CE. Exploring how four moments in history have accelerated the process of globalization, Stearns’s narrative details how factors such as economics, migration, disease transmission, culture, the environment, and politics have influenced the nature of globalization as we understand it today. This revised and updated second edition includes: A broadened discussion of regional reactions to globalization, anchoring the topic in world history and allowing for discussions of nationalism. A detailed look at the effects of globalization on the environment. An expanded analysis of athletics, youth culture, and the problems of globalization today. A supplementary online chapter-by-chapter reading guide, which provides additional background context and support for readers. With an interdisciplinary approach that links political, sociological, and historical perspectives, Stearns’s book provides an ideal overview of the current state of globalization and the historical factors that have shaped it.

The idea of globalization is currently inescapable, though the term and the theory attached date back only to the 1990s. History helps clarify where globalization comes from, how it relates to broad processes of change, and why it rouses controversy. In Globalization in World History, Peter N. Stearns argues that although the term is a relatively new one, the process of globalization has roots much further back in time. He shows how tracing this process of change can also help to define the concept of globalization as we understand it today. The book examines major changes in global interactions from 1000 CE onward, and defines four major turning points that have accelerated the process of globalization. Issues covered include: which factors have shaped the process of globalization – including economics, migration, disease transmission, culture, the environment and politics how and why reactions to globalization differ across societies – regions examined include Japan, the Middle East, Africa and China the advantages and disadvantages brought by globalization. The book is a vital contribution to the study of world history, and is a useful companion for students of politics and sociology.

The landscape of the world economy has been significantly reshaped in recent years. The global economic crisis revealed the fragile foundations of the international financial system, and, in its wake, dynamics of economic power have considerably adjusted. In the fifth edition of this best-selling text, these developments are incorporated into a comprehensive introduction to the global political economy. It takes full account of the emergence of China as a contender to the predominance of the US, of the changing role of the BRICS economies more generally, and of the on-going problems of the European Union, and especially the eurozone.While incorporating the latest developments, Global Political Economy continues to provide a historically-grounded account. It traces the evolution of the global economy, from its roots in the 15th century, through the Industrial Revolution, to the post-1945 world order. It then explores in detail the dynamics of global political economy in the 21st century, providing systematic coverage of the key spheres of activity – trade, production, finance, labour, gender, development, the environment, ideas, security and governance. Lucid, engaging and authoritative, Global Political Economy introduces an unusually wide range of theoretical approaches, moving beyond a traditional three-paradigm perspective to show how these theories can be applied and how useful they are for understanding key issues and developments.

Product Description: This collection of essays explores the inter-imperial connections between British, Spanish, Dutch, and French Caribbean colonies, and the 'Old World' countries which founded them. Grounded in primary archival research, the thirteen contributors focus on the ways that participants in the Atlantic World economy transcended imperial boundaries...read more

Product Description: Kenwood and Lougheed’s classic book has been the benchmark introduction to the development of the global economy for decades. For this fifth edition, Michael Graff has brought the story up to date to include events from the early part of the twenty first century – continued globalization, the emergence of Asia as an economic power and the greater role played by business on the international scene...read more

Product Description: This book explains the causes and consequences of the intersection of two transformative global forces - trade and conflict – since 1500. The nine historical case studies – interspersed over 500 years and spanning the globe - make a major historical contribution to the enduring debate about whether trade makes peace more likely...read more

Product Description: Andre Gunder Frank was a path-breaking scholar in several disciplines over an illustrious and contentious 50-year career. First amongst his many important works is the book ReORIENT: Global Economy in the Asian Age, which sought to correct a Euro-centric world view of the development of the global political economy...read more

Adam Smith wrote that man has an intrinsic "propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another." But how did trade evolve to the point where we don't think twice about biting into an apple from the other side of the world? In A Splendid Exchange, William J. Bernstein tells the extraordinary story of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the myriad controversies surrounding it today. He transports readers from ancient sailing ships that brought the silk trade from China to Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly in spices in the sixteenth; from the rush for sugar that brought the British to Jamaica in 1655 to the American trade battles of the early twentieth century; from key innovations such as steam, steel, and refrigeration to the modern era of televisions from Taiwan, lettuce from Mexico, and T-shirts from China. Along the way, Bernstein examines how our age-old dependency on trade has contributed to our planet's agricultural bounty, stimulated intellectual progress, and made us both prosperous and vulnerable. Although the impulse to trade often takes a backseat to xenophobia and war, Bernstein concludes that trade is ultimately a force for good among nations, and he argues that societies are far more successful and stable when they are involved in vigorous trade with their neighbors. Lively, authoritative, and astonishing in scope, A Splendid Exchange is a riveting narrative that views trade and globalization not in political terms, but rather as an evolutionary process as old as war and religion-a historical constant-that will continue to foster the growth of intellectual capital, shrink the world, and propel the trajectory of the human species.

Product Description: This volume on evolutionary approaches to economic development and growth is a member of a family of special volumes that Springer has published on Evolu­ tionary Economics recently. The present volume has excellent predecessors...read more