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Review
| Globalization and America since 1945, by D. Clayton Brown. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, 2003. 166 pages. $19.95, paper.
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| Given the impact of globalization on the lives of all Americans, this is an especially welcome study. In an examination of the topic that includes but goes far beyond economics, D. Clayton Brown addresses both how the United States has shaped globalization and how globalization has affected virtually every area of American life. The Cold War, trade, American markets, immigration, the cultural impact and terrorism, are all addressed in this work. At the outset of a superbly executed chapter on the impact of the Cold War, Brown states that the march toward globalization gained pace rapidly only after the dislocations, economic and otherwise, of the interwar period and the Second World War. That war was a transitional era, during which the United States, compelled to respond militarily and diplomatically on a global scale, began to implement some of the initiatives and strategies that would make the nation a primary agent of globalization in the postwar years. War-driven technological innovations, such as jet aircraft, missiles and radar, assumed increased importance as the Cold War unfolded. The "Space Race" brought new technologies, such as ICBMs, that had profound consequences for the historically isolationist United States, as the missiles "annihilated the protection of the oceans." The Cold War likewise gave birth to the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency communications network ARAPNET, which was the prototype for the Internet. That development, in turn, helped spur the "Information Technology Revolution," with its myriad consequences. Brown does an excellent job of delineating such connections, all of which play key parts in globalization. The Vietnam War is among a number of Cold War episodes that promoted globalization, as the Nixon administration sought improved diplomatic and economic relations with China. The collapse of the Soviet Union, Brown contends, was impelled in part by new information technologies that permitted its peoples to compare their material status with those in the capitalist West. |
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Brown's examination of trade clearly illuminates the postwar process of globalization. Even before the end of the Second World War, American policymakers were taking steps that led to a dominant global financial and economic role for the United States for the remainder of the century. The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, which established the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, was the antecedent of a succession of subsequent international and regional conferences and agreements aimed at stabilizing the world economy and promoting development. The importance of the American role in these undertakings grew as the Cold War expanded and economic policy became a corollary of military and diplomatic strategies. The expansion of free trade, increasingly accepted by successive American administrations as crucial to the global success of democracy/capitalism, was one of the most noteworthy developments of the second half of the twentieth century. The World Trade Organization, established in 1994, and in recent years the symbolic target of critics of globalization's effects, might well be seen as an institutional acknowledgment of the reality of globalization. |
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Technology also played a variety of important roles in the ongoing process of globalization. The role of modern aircraft in reducing travel times, television's unpredictable impact on the aspirations and ambitions of the world's peoples and cell phone technology are among the topics addressed here. Brown also offers a brief overview of the debate on the technological impact on the environment which, given the passions often stirred by that topic, is almost bloodlessly objective. A chapter on the United States and world markets focuses on the challenges posed by agricultural policy, the textile and automotive industries, and the increasing importance of international tourism. Examining the role of immigration, Brown presents his discussion in a succinct historical context and covers most of the issues and perspectives. |
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Final chapters on the cultural consequences of globalization and the impact of the "new terrorism" round out this book. The "McDonaldization" of the world, it becomes evident, has spurred responses not only from those nations that fear the erosion of their language and cultures (France, for example), but also from those, such as the terrorists of al-Qaeda, who see in globalization the destruction of their civilization. In concluding his study, Brown asserts that because of the "ruthless nature of capitalism," globalization will continue to produce economic and social inequities that will contribute to continuing world unrest. Clearly in command of the predominantly secondary materials that he has drawn upon, Brown has produced a logically structured, clearly presented and surprisingly comprehensive examination of his topic in a commendably brief work. This small volume would be of great value in any contemporary US history course or international relations course focused on America's role in the world. Not only would it be suitable for advanced high school, undergraduate and graduate courses, but many instructors will also find it a valuable resource for themselves. |
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Broward Community College
Coconut Creek, Florida |
Blaine T. Browne |
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