Deglobalization: The Rise of Disembedded Unilateralism

Posted: 8 Nov 2018

See all articles by Harold James

Harold James

Princeton University - Department of History; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: November 2018

Abstract

There is some evidence of deglobalization in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The economic data are mixed and indicate a stall, but not a collapse, of globalization. Cross-border financial flows have been reduced, but the overall outcome mostly reflects changes in European banking. Trade is not growing as quickly as before the crisis, but that may be the consequence of technology shortening supply chains. There are more protectionist measures, but they have not radically cut trade. But political deglobalization has advanced much further, and consequently, there is the prospect of more intense conflicts over trade and financial regulation in the future, as well as one of an increasing backlash against migration. Globalization depends on a complex system of regulating cross-border flows and on embedding domestic rules in an international order. The political momentum is directed against the existing methods or regulation and against the complex rules that had been established to manage globalization. The promise given by populist myth builders is that eliminating international entanglements can make life simpler, less regulated, and above all, less subject to the dictates of an administrative class. Modern economic nationalism or unilateralism can be understood as a reversal of the process of embedding and may thus be termed “disembedded unilateralism.”

Suggested Citation

James, Harold, Deglobalization: The Rise of Disembedded Unilateralism (November 2018). Annual Review of Financial Economics, Vol. 10, pp. 219-237, 2018, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3280814 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-financial-110217-022625

Harold James (Contact Author)

Princeton University - Department of History ( email )

Princeton, NJ 08544
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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