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The forgotten history of the liberal radicals, socialist
internationalists, feminists and Christians who envisioned free
trade as the necessary prerequisite for anti-imperialism and peace
Today, free trade is often associated with right-wing free
marketeers. In Pax Economica, historian Marc-William Palen shows
that free trade and globalization in fact have roots in
nineteenth-century left-wing politics. In this counter-history of
an idea, Palen explores how, beginning in the 1840s, left-wing
globalists became the leaders of the peace and anti-imperialist
movements of their age. By the early twentieth century, an unlikely
alliance of liberal radicals, socialist internationalists,
feminists and Christians envisioned free trade as essential for a
prosperous and peaceful world order. Of course, this vision was at
odds with the era’s strong predilections for nationalism,
protectionism, geopolitical conflict and colonial expansion. Palen
reveals how, for some of its most radical left-wing adherents, free
trade represented a hard-nosed critique of imperialism, militarism
and war. Palen shows that the anti-imperial component of free trade
was a phenomenon that came to encompass the political left wing
within the British, American, Spanish, German, Dutch, Belgian,
Italian, Russian, French and Japanese empires. The left-wing vision
of a “pax economica” evolved to include supranational
regulation to maintain a peaceful free-trading system—which paved
the way for a more liberal economic order after World War II and
such institutions as the United Nations, the European Union and the
World Trade Organization. Palen’s findings upend how we think
about globalisation, free trade, anti-imperialism and peace.
Rediscovering the left-wing history of globalism offers timely
lessons for our own era of economic nationalism and geopolitical
conflict.
Following the Second World War, the United States would become the
leading 'neoliberal' proponent of international trade
liberalization. Yet for nearly a century before, American foreign
trade policy was dominated by extreme economic nationalism. What
brought about this pronounced ideological, political, and economic
about-face? How did it affect Anglo-American imperialism? What were
the repercussions for the global capitalist order? In answering
these questions, The 'Conspiracy' of Free Trade offers the first
detailed account of the controversial Anglo-American struggle over
empire and economic globalization in the mid- to late-nineteenth
century. The book reinterprets Anglo-American imperialism through
the global interplay between Victorian free-trade cosmopolitanism
and economic nationalism, uncovering how imperial expansion and
economic integration were mired in political and ideological
conflict. Beginning in the 1840s, this conspiratorial struggle over
political economy would rip apart the Republican Party, reshape the
Democratic Party, and redirect Anglo-American imperial expansion
for decades to come.
Following the Second World War, the United States would become the
leading 'neoliberal' proponent of international trade
liberalization. Yet for nearly a century before, American foreign
trade policy was dominated by extreme economic nationalism. What
brought about this pronounced ideological, political, and economic
about-face? How did it affect Anglo-American imperialism? What were
the repercussions for the global capitalist order? In answering
these questions, The 'Conspiracy' of Free Trade offers the first
detailed account of the controversial Anglo-American struggle over
empire and economic globalization in the mid- to late-nineteenth
century. The book reinterprets Anglo-American imperialism through
the global interplay between Victorian free-trade cosmopolitanism
and economic nationalism, uncovering how imperial expansion and
economic integration were mired in political and ideological
conflict. Beginning in the 1840s, this conspiratorial struggle over
political economy would rip apart the Republican Party, reshape the
Democratic Party, and redirect Anglo-American imperial expansion
for decades to come.
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