Roots and Branches of Globalization

Globalization is the integration of economic activities, across borders, through markets. It remains today what it has always been, the intersection of economic advances with political efforts to influence them. It is often associated with trade, but always has been more explosive, since globalization affects people and where they work, where trade is mostly focused on products and where they move.

The course on Roots and Branches of Globalization will be lecture and class discussion of how globalization today relates to historical examples. These historical examples will cover the sweep of Mediterranean civilizations from Phoenicia, Greece, Rome and Arabia that culminated in Crusades and European Renaissance. Globalization in the age of discovery, colonialism and industrial revolution culminated in a clash of empires in 20th century. It then shifts to era of Cold War and rise of Asian economic might in recent decades. This will set the framework for Spring term companion Globalization course, focusing on our world of information technology.

The links on this page are to material, which will be used to support the Roots and Branches Globalization Course. Summary class outline notes and conclusions for also included along with related timelines. This includes:

• Course Description, Approach and Structure.

• Outline of Introduction, Timeline, Technology, Results and Analogy for each of fourteen historical epochs used as Roots and Branches of Globalization.

• PowerPoint slides on the timeline events and technologies associated with each of fourteen historical eras.

• Backup PowerPoint slides illustrating some of the technologies associated with globalization in greater detail.

• Selected books, studies and reference material on globalization, used as background for Roots and Branches of Globalization course.

• Selected Class Note Outlines and Conclusions for Roots and Branches and Globalization Today Courses.

It should be noted that slides planned for class display cover only timeline and technologies associated with the historical eras. The Results and Analogies to Today segments will be covered through class lecture and discussion and are included in the Outline. The introduction for each epoch is a brief video or recognizable audio extracts of words or music meant to illustrate aspects of globalization of the era.