Globalisation: Collapse in the East, Readjustment in the West, 1968–1991 and After

Abstract

Before the arrival of early civilisations, so-called primitive peoples were great travellers, and moved freely around and between Eurasia, Africa and Europe. In a sense, therefore, the process of globalisation began early. The classical and medieval periods saw significant connections, too. The Greeks and the Romans penetrated central Asia, for example, while the Vikings crossed the Atlantic Ocean. From the point of view of European discovery and colonisation in particular, however, the sixteenth century marked an acceleration in awareness of the world as one, and this realisation developed along with the expansion of empire in later years. In turn, the two world wars of the twentieth century both began in Europe but then exerted a powerful globalising influence, as did the Cold War and the decolonisation that followed. As we have just argued, the events of 1968 and the ensuing debate promoted the idea that ‘local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa’.¹ An extremely important feature of this new stage in the process was the spread of news by television. For example, the fact that the Vietnam War was the first to be widely shown as well as reported had much to do with its growing unpopularity throughout the USA, Europe and the rest of the world.