Globalization, Real and Imagined

Globalization has always involved more than just trade. Particularly as expressed by the United States and Europe at the turn of the millennium, it was a framework in which openness, interconnectedness, and the exchange of cultural and intellectual influences on the global level were seen as beneficial in and of themselves. The contrast is stark between that vision of international order and the one that is emerging today. Often forgotten, however, is that this vision of international order was not the only one being advanced. It is instructive today, to consider how the rest of the world thought about globalization back then.