Paper Example. Globalization Phases in 1880-2000.

The century of 1880 to 1929 was the most successful period since there was global integration that connected nations enhanced communication as well as transport systems. There were unifications of nations due to the trades established among them. According to research, this was the most booming globalization era of all time and has never been compared to up to date despite the numerous technological advancements over the decades (Zajda 114). There was a massive increase in the volume of global flows thereby leading to the period of high imperialism. The European and American economies integrated but this began to reduce after World War I began destroying the existent steady balance.

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The advancements that the nations underwent determined main reason for either the integration or disintegration of the global economy as it was manipulated by the government. In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution led to another disintegration of global connections ("From Great Depression to Great Recession" 17). What led to the total annihilation of the good global economy was the Great Depression in 1929 which brought unemployment that led to nations to adapt to self-protection them rather than the promotion of trading. In addition to this, China and Russia withdrew from the World Economy and that was about 25% of the global population.

This progress came with the New Imperialism period which was when the colonial powers of European nations expanded as a result of exploiting the resources of those countries it subjugated. The United States and Japan also followed suit and developed numerous technological advancements. Around the 1870s and 80s, the nations retreated from the free market and opted to return to the economic affairs that had state intervention in a bid to combat New Imperialism since it was rapidly expanding across the globe (Beasley 91). Britain and France were the only countries that exported capital that is why European nations expanded as far as to Africa. It was necessary for the European industrialized nations to expand their markets in order for them to successfully sell products globally. In addition to this, there was also the need for cheap labor in order to maximize the output of production and profits and this was to be located in the third world countries mostly in Africa.

Besides monetary reasons and cheap labor, there was also the factor of militarization since the European nations felt the need for national security as they termed it and as a result, the New Imperialism era saw the creation of many advanced weapons as well as recruitment of numerous soldiers for the European nations (Beasley 91). In accordance to the phases of globalization, this was the most crucial stage from 1800 to the 200 since it constituted economic, technological, social and political developments as compared to the other events that constitute the globalization phases. In 1869, the British built the Suez Canal in Egypt but this was a disguise for they came to occupy Egypt; a sign of the political power that the New Imperialism era brought. There was the use of both direct and indirect forces of control as long as their end was the colonization of other nations.

However, after World War II, there was great decolonization globally and many countries became independent of the geopolitical situation. This meant that the cheap labor that the European nations were getting from Africa and other third world countries as well as the exploitation of resources was to be seized considering the fact that these nations had regained their independence (Benmelech, et al 19). This led to the Great Depression that Europeans nations suffered. This was another phase of globalization since there was a global shift in political power and new alliances and trade routes began to form in order to progress with the production and capital supply. Suffering the major loss of capital and political power, the European nations allied with the United States and Japan closely in an attempt to revive the economic success that once was but it has never come close up to date.

Decolonization was therefore achieved as a result of World War II which marked a globalization phase. This Imperialism cam with major advantages like all the countries that were colonized began to grow and develop in comparison with how the colonies found them. Despite the natives being used as cheap labor, it was an opportunity for them to gain knowledge and skill which they used after gaining independence to advance themselves economically, politically, culturally and even technologically. On the downside of Imperialism, there was no freedom for the natives and this led to an increase in violence as a result of those that opposed and instead vouched for their freedom rather than the positivity that the New Imperialism era came with.

The Russian revolution in 1917 was another phase of globalization since it marked the creation of the Soviet Union which dismantled the Tsarist autocracy (Kort 12). There was a shift in political power as members of the Imperial parliament assumed the country's control and created the Russian Provisional government that was dominated by the interests of capitalists (Wade 16). This revolution was propagated by economic issues and insufficiency of resources and after the Soviet Union was created, it became much more powerful in terms of military power, political influence and economic perspective as well since it left the national economy and acted independently as the Soviet Union.

After the uprising of the nationalists, xenophobic and protectionists, globalization was inevitable and that led the West to abandon protectionism and integrated more with the World economy. Also, the Soviet fell and Russia came back to the national economy, therefore, restoring a quarter of the earth's population. There was urbanization and population growth was sustained since there was the availability of medicine and proper diet. Cultures also evolved as a result of their innovation showing the significance of modern revolution which intensified global interconnections. With the fall of the New Imperialism era, nations had fewer resources and as a result, decolonization prevailed worldwide since no nation was strong enough to colonize the other and gradually all the colonies began to be independent and by 2000, all countries had gained independence.

Oil was first discovered in the 1840s by a salt miner who sent crude oil samples to test for kerosene. Initially, the source of fuel came from animal fats and whales but as a result of the scarcity of whales, there was a shortage of oil that freed humanity of daylight dependence and so an alternative had to be found as soon as possible. On September 14th, 1960, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was formed by Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iraq, Kuwait, and Iran who were then the countries that had the highest production of oil worldwide (Commins 06). This happened as a result of oil companies slashing their prices and in order to maintain a monopoly of the oil market, the OPEC was formed. Its formation characterized a phase in globalization since it occurred at a time that the world was transitioning in a political and economic landscape and also massive decolonization (Downey 14). This made the OPEC rise to international prominence and hence was the price controllers of domestic petroleum industries globally.

As oil became the major source of fuel and energy, it was widely used globally and in 1973, there was an oil crisis when members of the OPEC proclaimed an oil embargo to the nations that aided Israel in the Yom Kippur War. This caused a major oil crisis in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other significant nations since they were the industrial centers and the industries ran on oil which became in scarcity ("OPEC : Brief History"). This resulted in a mass confusion since the oil prices rose to absurd levels showing the rising importance of oil in the 20th century. Transport and shipping costs were hiked and these industrial centers suffered even after the oil embargo ended in 1974.

The formation of OPEC is an illustration of decolonization since initially, all the countries that are in the OPEC were under colonies before the Great Depression (Benmelech, et al 19). After decolonization, they sought to also make a shift in the economic and political dimension and therefore allied forces in order to compete with the major markets of the United States and Europe ("From Great Depression to Great Recession"s 17). The United States and other countries aided Israel with arms and manpower and this did not please the OPEC members, therefore, subjecting the oil embargo which they knew will cause a major oil crisis worldwide which would eventually be translated to an energy crisis. Later on, OPEC's smaller market collapsed which caused the petroleum revenue to drop which helped the rest of the world to recover from the crisis.

Europe, the United States, and Japan underwent neoliberal restructuring which entails monetary cutbacks in programs, privatization of firms among numerous other measures and in the 1970s; there was the Neo-Liberalism era that entailed free trade and economic liberalization in general. This was because the oil embargo eventually seized and OPEC lost the power it had enabling other nations to advance economically, technologically and politically, therefore, characterizing another globalization phase. Conclusively, it can be identified from the essay that the phases of globalization fluctuate from a period of success later to failure then back to success at the end of the long century of 1880-2000. The essay therefore summarizes the phases in which globalization was impacted politically, socially, culturally and technologically and the effects it had on the economy and nations relations globally.

Works Cited

Beasley, W. G. "New Imperialism and the War with Russia, 1895-1905." Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945, 1991, pp. 69-84.

Benmelech, Efraim, et al. "Financial frictions and employment during the Great Depression." Journal of Financial Economics, 2019.

Commins, David. "The Modern Middle East: A History ? James L. Gelvin." The Historian, vol. 68, no. 4, 2006, pp. 819-820.

Downey, M.W. "Oil and Natural Gas Exploration." Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, 2014.

"From Great Depression to Great Recession." 2017.

Kort, Michael. "Russian Revolutions and Civil War, 1917-1921." International Relations, 2012.

"OPEC : Brief History." OPEC : Home, www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/24.htm.

Wade, Rex A. "The Russian Revolution, 1917." 2016.

Zajda, Joseph. "Globalisation and Its Impact on Education and Policy." Second International Handbook on Globalisation, Education and Policy Research, 2014, pp. 105-125.