The Origins of Globalization

P. 1–29.

Korotayev A., Grinin L. E.

The main aim of this article is to analyze the processes and scales of global integration in an historical perspective, starting with the Agrarian Revolution. There have already been numerous studies on this subject, but there are still many points that need further research, clarifi cation, and new interpretation. Most researchers into globalization are convinced that its origins are to be traced back to a point deep in history, although there are diverse views as regards the exact starting point. The article analyzes diff erent approaches to this problem. The subject of this article relates to the integration that began a few thousand years BCE in the framework of the Afroeurasian world-system and whose links became so well-developed long before the Great Geographic Discoveries that they could be described as global (albeit in a limited sense). However, among some researchers there is still a tendency to underestimate the scale of those links in the pre-Industrial era. Thus, it appears necessary to provide additional empirical support for our thesis. A special methodology is also required, i.e., the use of the world-system approach. We analyze some versions of periodization of globalization history. We also propose our own periodization using as its basis the growth of the scale of intersocietal links as an indicator of the level of globalization development.

 

Keywords: globalization, history, globalization of world economies

In book

Globalization. Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Litchfield Park: Emergent Publications, 2013.