Money, Markets & Sovereignty

Globalism: Yesterday and Today

Globalism, the concept that foreign trade benefits individuals and groups, dates as far back as ancient Greece and predates the rise of nation-states. In modern times, analysts blame vast global capital flows, which operate independently of any state supervision, for market volatility, currency collapses and economic inequality. Contemporary globalization critics assert that supranational market actions have replaced national sovereignty itself.

Globalization advocates tout technology’s capacity to produce the best outcomes for society, including its unprecedented ability to foster human interaction and connect the world’s information hubs. This positive view of globalism picks up on the earlier philosophies of John Stuart Mill and Adam Smith, which in turn echo back to ancient history. Globalization and its essential element, commerce, emerged conceptually after the death of Aristotle in 322 BCE. The Stoics incorporated a philosophy of commerce into their moral theory. Unlike the Greeks, who regarded man as a component of the state, the Stoics considered the individual’s intrinsic worth independent of one’s title or role. The laws of...