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Global Capitalism In The Twenty First Century

Global Capitalism
Its Fall and Rise of the Twentieth Century
By Jeffry A. Frieden

A Review and Analysis

Business and Government Interface

October 2nd, 2006

Introduction

Many economists, business and political leaders believe the era of globalization has arrived and that we have little capacity to reverse it and it is here to stay. If you take a walk through history with Jeffry A. Frieden's new book, Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century, you will observe the author's attempt to draw comparisons to the economic and political policies of today and the decades leading up to the crash of 1914.

Frieden, suggests the, "Global economy and culture form a nearly seamless web in which the national boundaries are increasingly irrelevant to trade, investment, finance and other economic activity."

Frieden sites numerous examples, including the mass migration of people from rural to urban communities in search of jobs, the continued reliance and integration of international trade and commerce reaching unprecedented levels and his belief that major industrialized and emerging economies of the world are becoming more open than ever before.

Frieden describes this movement like the letter U. in which we saw significant integration of labour, goods, and capital markets occurred in the late 19th century and was subsequently reversed as a result of the Great War and the Great Depression.

Frieden suggests that, ‘"Globalization is a choice, not a fact. It is a result of policy decisions and the politics that shape them." Throughout this book Frieden provides us with his insights into history, many of which rarely get any airtime in the boardrooms of multinational corporations, yet merit consideration.

His chief motive is to take the reader for a walk down memory lane starting with the turn of the last century when global capitalism was triumphant, examine the crash of 1914 and subsequent economic crisis that followed into...