Nervous times
In 2019, the world faces a bacMlash against the nhyper-globalisationo that hit a crisis with the financial meltdown of . 6hreats of protectionism and trade warfare are undermining the postwar multilateral order created by the 75, a country turning towards economic nationalism. Donald 5assoonos brilliant booM offers a highly original and perceptive historical reʚection on our current plight by considering the eZplosion of global capitalism in the late th century, which met its nemesis in the (irst 9orld 9ar. *is range is impressive, roaming across the globe with rich detail and insight, and his writing is fast-paced and accessible.
5assoon is less interested in how capitalism worMed than in the political and cultural responses it provoMed. *is concern is with how different societies and states reacted to an economic system that was, and is, in permanent ʚuZ. 7nliMe the political proLects of socialism or communism, capitalism has pno mind, no politics, and no unityq. +ts ponly criterion of success is its own survival, which depends on constant changeq. #nZiety inevitably follows. 5assoonos aim is to show how societies responded to this uncertainty as capitalism triumphed and, for the first time, went truly global. Deeper interconnections as a result of mass migration, international capital ʚows and a surge in trade meant that a crisis could no longer be contained but would have global ramifications s a situation that first arose in the s.
5assoonos most important theme is that capitalism needed the state. +t did and does coeZist with many types of regimes, and does not need s as was falsely claimed by the n9ashington consensuso of the latter part of the th century s a neoliberal rolling bacM of the state. 3uite the contrary. #lthough there were popular anti-capitalism movements before the (irst 9orld 9ar, the triumph of capitalism was never really doubted s above all by socialists, who assumed that it was an inevitable stage in societal development.
5upporters of capitalism realised that its preservation and success depended on reform in order to reduce anZieties. 6he growth of dynamic capitalism went hand-inhand with the emergence of the nation state, which secured taZ revenues for the provision of a social safety net and built institutions that were vital for economic success. 6he danger was that the nation state could spill over into destructive nationalism, as it did in the (irst 9orld 9ar and nbeggar my neighbouro policies of the s.
+n telling the story of a previous age of globalisation, 5assoonos booM underlines the importance of international institutions in creating a new balance s now threatened by a resurgence of nationalism.