The Evolution of the Global Economic Order since 1945

Abstract

The global economic order has been evolving since 1945, reflecting changes both in the larger setting of global politics and economics and in national interests as perceived by decision-makers of nation-states.1 According to Robert Gilpin, an international economic order is largely determined by the larger configurations of world politics and state interests.2 In the postwar years, the establishment and evolution of the liberal international economic order were substantially defined by two most important and significant conditions of the international setting and its evolution, namely Cold War politics and American hegemony, until around the end of the 1980s. Since the early 1990s, however, the global economic order has been increasingly shaped and defined by the trend of globalization. With this general understanding in mind, this chapter examines the evolution of the specific international environment of the world economy since 1945.