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The End Of Globalization: Lessons from the Great Depression
By Harold James
Harvard University Press, 2002, 272 pages
$23.50 paperback, $9.99 Kindle
Globalization is not inexorable or irreversible. It is fragile. That is the message of The End of Globalization. It is written mainly for policymakers, economists, and scholars. But it is valuable for anyone who wants to understand the cyclical waxing and waning of globalization. James, a professor of history and international affairs at Princeton, points out that “there already have been highly developed and highly integrated international communities that dissolved under the pressure of unexpected events.” For example, the globally integrated world collapsed in the Great Depression, partly as a result of protectionist backlash, the failure of central banks, and immigration legislation. See any parallels in today’s world?
The Creation and Destruction of Value: The Globalization Cycle
Harold James
Harvard University Press, 2009, 336 pages
$13.57 hardcover
James further explores the similarities and differences between the financial panics of 2008 and the early 1930s (especially the huge bank failures in Austria and Germany in 1931), and points out that financial crises provoke backlashes against global integration—not only against the mobility of capital and goods, but also against immigration. The world that emerges from the current recession, James says, will be shaped largely by China’s rise as a global power and America’s decline.
Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization
By Jeff Rubin
Random House, 2009, 304 pages
$17.16 hardcover, $9.99 Kindle
Rubin, an internationally renowned energy expert who lives in Toronto, predicts that oil prices will skyrocket again once the economy recovers. Consequently, the amount of food and other goods we get from abroad will be curtailed. Globalization as we know it will reverse. The good news for the USA: American industries, such as steel and agriculture, will be revitalized. Rubin prescribes priorities for President Obama, such as investing in mass transit. Rubin is the chief economist at CIBC World Markets.
Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization
By John Robb
Wiley, 2008, 224 pages
$10.17 paperback
Counterterrorism expert Robb reveals how the same technology that has enabled globalization also allows terrorists and criminals to join forces against larger adversaries. For example, they could inexpensively sabotage oil pipelines, disrupt the global financial markets, and shut down electronic networks to retard the flow of information–destroying worldwide economic and cultural integration. Robb makes suggestions for safeguarding against this new method of warfare.
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The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy,
By David M. Smick
