8- From Free Trade to Globalization: Concluding Remark

Abstract

One topic of interest for the social sciences and similar fields, such as business administration, economics and political science is globalization. Many researchers suggest that this is a new topic. Our research, however, looked into the assumptions of political and economic history concerning the particularities of this event and attempted to establish the existence of common events taking place in the 19th century, that gave rise to the formation of a world trade system. This exercise aimed at seeking explanations that would help us better understand the emerging phenomenon of globalization. It was found that Great Britain, as a nation extended across the globe, experiencing an enormous and unprecedented maritime and territorial expansion. We consider that this was a significant, and most certainly very complex globalizing experiment. It was curious to observe that during this stage of seemingly limitless expansion, the foundations of the universal concept of the nation-state were transformed. Many territories, colonies or dominions evolved, allowing them to become incorporated into the great historical process in which the modern state arose and trade increased. Many states adapted to fit systematically into a global set of nations, which by joining together around a common purpose, made up the world trade system.