Periods of Historical Globalization
Discussion
Leonid E. Grinin and Andrey V. Korotayev:
" The present article has been prepared within an emerging field that can be denoted as ‘History of Globalization’. This aspect of Globalization Studies deals with the historical dimension of globalization. Its main goal is to analyze processes and scales of global integration in historical perspective, starting with the Agrarian Revolution. Those integration processes (depending on the position of a particular researcher) may be regarded as preparatory stages of globalization, or as its initial phases.
There are already quite a few studies on this subject (see, e.g., Foreman-Peck 1998; Held et al. 1999; O'Rourke and Williamson 1999; Hopkins 2002, 2003; Sharp 2008; Lewis and Moore 2009 etc.), however, there are still many points that need further research, clarification, and new interpretation. Most students of globalization do not doubt that its origins are to be traced more or less deep in history, though there are rather diverse views as regards the exact starting point. Yet, it is clear that it is very productive to search for the origins of globalization in the depths of history. It is no coincidence at all that the growing interest in globalization has promoted interest in the trend often denoted as ‘historical dimension of globalization’. Among such movements it is most worth noting Global History whose heart and novelty, according to Bruce Mazlish and Akira Iriye (Mazlish and Iriye 2005: 19), is history of globalization. We contend that in a certain sense almost the whole World History can be regarded as a history of movement toward the increasing size of social systems, their integration, and globalization in general. Hereby, in history and sociology the investigation is broadening with respect to the historical development of globalization processes (see Grinin 2012a; Korotayev 2007, 2008; Grinin and Korotayev 2009a, 2009b, 2012).
According to different authors, globalization has been going on since the first movement of people out of Africa into other parts of the world, or since the 3rd millennium BC (when according to Andre Gunder Frank the World System emerged [Frank 1990, 1993; Frank and Gills 1993]), or since the so-called Axial Age (Jaspers 1953) in the 1st millennium BC, or only from the Great Geographical Discoveries, or in the 19th century, or after the year 1945, or only since the late 1980s (see also Footnote 1). Each of these dates has its own sense. It is quite reasonable to discuss the problem in the context of whether one can speak about globalization before the start of the Great Geographical Discoveries, as a result of which the idea of the Earth as a globe exceeded the limits of the opinion of a group of scientists and became practical knowledge (Chumakov 2011). But, notwithstanding this point of view, there is no doubt that historical dimension of globalization is quite challenging (for more detail see Grinin 2011).
The main task of this article is connected with the integration that began a few thousand years BCE in the framework of the Afroeurasian world-system and whose links became so developed long before the Great Geographic Discoveries that they could well be denoted as global (albeit in a somehow 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 appeared necessary to provide additional empirical support for our statement. It also turned necessary to apply a special methodology (which necessitated the use of the worldsystem approach)."
(http://www.sociostudies.org/books/files/globalistics_and_globalization_studies_2/008-035.pdf)
Periodization of the History of Globalization
Leonid E. Grinin and Andrey V. Korotayev:
"There are quite a few periodizations of the history of globalization.
The most widespread type is represented by trinomial periodizations that appear to be the most logical (and, e.g., Gellner [1988] believes that three periods is the optimum number for a periodization).
An example looks as follows (Hopkins 2003, e.g., pp. 3–7; see also Bayly 2004):
(1) Archaic globalization;
(2) Early modern globalization;
(3) Modern globalization.
Trinomial periodizations are also used by those who start the globalization with the period of the Great Geographic Discoveries.
For example, Thomas L. Friedman (2005) divides the history of globalization into three periods:
- Globalization 1 (1492–1800),
- Globalization 2 (1800–2000) and
- Globalization 3 (2000 – present).
He states that Globalization 1 involved the globalization of countries, Globalization 2 involved the globalization of companies and Globalization 3 involves the globalization of individuals.
However, an apparent convenience of trinomial periodizations does not necessarily mean that they are more relevant. We believe that the number of periods within the given periodization should be rather determined by the contents of the process in question.
There are periodizations constructed on other grounds – for example, the one developed by Chumakov (2011: 166–167) who worked out the periodization of the evolution of global links on the basis of their scale (which reflects rather logically the general trend toward the growth of this scale):
1) ‘Period of Fragmentary Events’ (till 5000 BP);
2) ‘Period of Regional Events’ (till the 15th century CE);
3) ‘Period of Global Events’ (till the mid20th century).
4) The 4th period (‘Period of Cosmic Expansion’) in this periodization starts in 1957.
This periodization looks interesting, but a few points here need serious clarifications and re-interpretations.
First of all, as will be demonstrated below, already starting with the second half of the 1st millennium BCE, many events did not only overgrow regional levels, but had continental and transcontinental scales. Already in the previous period some events had regional-continental scales."
(http://www.sociostudies.org/books/files/globalistics_and_globalization_studies_2/008-035.pdf)
Tables
Table 1. Growth of globalization level in historical process
Period vs Type of spatial links (globalization level)
1) Till the 7th – 6th millennium BCE
>< Local links
2) From the 7th – 6th millennium till the second half of the 4th millennium BCE
>< Regional links
3) From the second half of the 4th millennium BCE to the first half of the 1st millennium BCE
>< Regional-continental links
4) From the second half of the 1st millennium BCE to the late 15th century CE
>< Transcontinental links
5) From the late 15th century to the early 19th century
>< Oceanic (intercontinental) links
6) From the early 19th century to the 1960s and 1970s
>< Global links
7) From the last third of the 20th century to the mid21st century
>< Planetary links