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The Limits of Economic Globalization

Still Another North–South Cleavage?

School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, USA, rreuveny{at}indiana.edu

William R. Thompson

Department of Political Science, Indiana University, USA

Economic globalization has loomed, at least for some, as the world system's next crisis carrier. Globalization is said to accelerate economic growth rates, compel closer economic interactions throughout the globe, and trample on the distinctiveness of local cultures and sovereignty. While we accept the existence of economic globalization, our question in this article is whether it, or at least one important dimension of it, is truly a `global' process. A number of cleavages that have characterized the global North and South in the past appear to be growing more acute. Globalization, predicated on a motor of global economic growth, should be expected to be less than universal if the pulsations and effects of global economic growth are less than universal across the global South and North. That being the case, our theory anticipates that one aspect of economic globalization, conceptualized here as economic openness to exports, and measured by the ratio of export value to economic output, will be more discernible in the global North, than in the global South. Moreover, trade globalization in the North should be positively affected by a rise in world economic growth and systemic leadership, whereas trade globalization in the South should be driven largely by Southern autonomous inertia and periodic economic crises. The empirical results largely support our theoretical expectations.

Key Words: economic globalization • North–South cleavage • systemic leadership • trade globalization

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