The myth of deglobalisation: Changing forms of international interconnectedness in the 20th and 21st centuries
Abstract
The study examines the historical and empirical validity of the concept of deglobalisation in the two periods of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries most frequently referred to in the literature and public discourse as phases of deglobalisation: the interwar period and the years after 2008. Its point of departure is that the concept of deglobalisation can be used convincingly only if it refers not merely to the slowdown or reconfiguration of certain flows, but to a demonstrable decline in globalisation as a whole. The study therefore understands globalisation not exclusively as an economic process, but as the expansion of cross-border relations, the intensification of interdependencies, and the spread of global consciousness. The analysis concludes that, in the interwar period, deglobalisation could indeed be observed in economic terms; at the same time, however, worldwide interconnectedness expanded in the cultural and political dimensions, while the global interdependence of societies and global consciousness also intensified. In the period after 2008, moreover, economic globalisation shows, at most, signs of slowdown, stagnation, and selective reconfiguration, while cultural globalisation has advanced at a rapid pace; in addition, global interdependence and its social awareness have also increased worldwide. The study concludes that deglobalisation may be misleading as a comprehensive historical category: for the periods of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries examined here, it is more accurate to speak of the reconfiguration and conflict-ridden reorganisation of globalisation.
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