A.G. Hopkins Edits a Comprehensive Essay

The non-Western dimensions of globalization are explored by authors like Amira Bennison, who writes about the role of Islam on the world stage. In fact, Islam was and in still is a driving force in the phenomenon of globalization. The authors and the editor Hopkins also describe the historical unfolding of globalization from a neutral perspective. "The antiquity and importance of non-Western forms of globalization" remains the central tenet of Hopkins's work.

China also played a central, albeit downplayed role, in the history of globalization. Author Hans van de Ven describes the ways by which the Tang dynasty impacted globalization. The most compelling aspect Globalization in World History is the way archaic or pre-modern globalization set the stage for current or post-modern globalization. Hopkins essentially re-maps but also re-conceptualizes globalization, to provide what the editor calls "a truly global history of globalization."

Globalization is also not a static phenomenon that is singular to this time, space, and place. Rather, globalization is ongoing. It "remains an incomplete process" in world history. Globalization "promotes fragmentation as well as uniformity," and is not, as modern commentators sometimes claim, purely a precursor of homogeneity.

There is and has always been a regional bias in globalization, according to the author.This regional bias might now rest with the West but that balance of power could easily and rapidly shift. The nation-state and industrialization might be modern features of current globalization but the urban centre has always been a feature of globalization. Cities are not a modern phenomenon, although the modern manifestation of cities with skyscrapers is superficially unique.

Hopkins is a Cambridge scholar whose authors include other academic notables. The caliber of research is unparalleled and therefore, Globalization in World History deserves recognition on any scholarly bookshelf. References are not proffered freely but are not necessarily needed because the authors are experts in their respective fields. From their deft analyses of China, Islam, India, and Europe, the essays that comprise Globalization in World History fill in many gaps in what is usually a thin historical analysis of the subject.

Reference

Hopkins, A.G. Globalization in World History. London: Pimlico; W.W. Norton, 2002.

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