Globalisation and the post-Cold War world

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Overview

Globalisation is the growing movement of goods, money, people, information and ideas across borders. It accelerated after the end of the Cold War in 1991, helped by lower trade barriers, container shipping, cheaper communication and the internet. It lifted hundreds of millions out of extreme poverty, especially in China and India, and created global supply chains. It also exposed new fragilities: financial crises, pandemics, wars that disrupt supply and political backlash. It matters because most workers and organisations now operate inside this interdependent system.

Context

The post-war economic order, built at Bretton Woods in 1944 with the IMF and World Bank and the trading rules of GATT, had already expanded trade. When the Soviet bloc collapsed, many former socialist states joined the world market, and the United States was the leading power. Many leaders and economists then expected markets and democracy to spread together, an expectation later challenged.