Globalization 3.0 - a Summary
Martin Walker, ‘Globalization 3.0’, Current 500 (Feb 2008), 225-30 Expanded Academic ASAP
Walker’s contention is that globalisation is ‘one of the greatest achievements of the human race’. He proposes a positive position on globalization, and cites its ‘achievements’, claiming that globalisation has hauled millions out of poverty, and has allowed people now to gain more jobs and savings.
• According to Walker, we are now witnessing the transfer of economic power: the new world economy has pulled masses from poverty, however current trends suggest that within 20 years the Chinese economy will surpass the U.S., and India’s economy in another 10-15 years will have outdone them both.
• Walker contends that there have been three waves of globalization.
• Globalisation 1.0: Historians argue that the true first wave occurred in the 19th and early 20th century and ended with World War 1, due to the massive waves of migration. Also, Britain was routinely exporting capital equivalent to nine per cent of its GDP, and growth in world trade and cheap food from America contributed to this wave. This wave came crashing down when the war ended in 1918
• Globalisation 2.0: Britain and America planned a post war economy in 1944, where institution would revive and foster world trade. The introduction of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ensured that globalisation revived and flourished. This wave sustained power by enforcing rule of western economic orthodoxy, and saw west Germany and Japan transform into ‘sleekly prosperous and stable democracies’.
• Globalisation 3.0: the attacks on September 11th 2001 changed the priorities of America. Movement from globalisation 2.0 to globalisation 3.0 gave way when China accedes to WTO membership on December 11th 2001. Policy disputes the US had over the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the International Criminal Court shifted this change to Globalisation 3.0.
Walker’s contention is that globalisation is ‘one of the greatest achievements of the human race’. He proposes a positive position on globalization, and cites its ‘achievements’, claiming that globalisation has hauled millions out of poverty, and has allowed people now to gain more jobs and savings.
• According to Walker, we are now witnessing the transfer of economic power: the new world economy has pulled masses from poverty, however current trends suggest that within 20 years the Chinese economy will surpass the U.S., and India’s economy in another 10-15 years will have outdone them both.
• Walker contends that there have been three waves of globalization.
• Globalisation 1.0: Historians argue that the true first wave occurred in the 19th and early 20th century and ended with World War 1, due to the massive waves of migration. Also, Britain was routinely exporting capital equivalent to nine per cent of its GDP, and growth in world trade and cheap food from America contributed to this wave. This wave came crashing down when the war ended in 1918
• Globalisation 2.0: Britain and America planned a post war economy in 1944, where institution would revive and foster world trade. The introduction of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ensured that globalisation revived and flourished. This wave sustained power by enforcing rule of western economic orthodoxy, and saw west Germany and Japan transform into ‘sleekly prosperous and stable democracies’.
• Globalisation 3.0: the attacks on September 11th 2001 changed the priorities of America. Movement from globalisation 2.0 to globalisation 3.0 gave way when China accedes to WTO membership on December 11th 2001. Policy disputes the US had over the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the International Criminal Court shifted this change to Globalisation 3.0.