Business, Government & the International Economy
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- 2022
- Chapter
Of Learning and Forgetting: Centrism, Populism, and the Legitimacy Crisis of Globalization
By: Rawi AbdelalEvery order is a bargain with disappointments and trade-offs. Thus is every order an unstable equilibrium. The first era of globalization, circa 1870–1914, created both international prosperity and domestic instability. That instability was fully realized during the interwar years, which were characterized by financial chaos, virulent populist movements, and war. European and American political leaders learned hard lessons from those decades: that the international order must tolerate a diversity of national capitalisms; and that capitalisms within nations must be tamed in order to be made compatible with democracy. A generation later, both scholars and policy makers seemed to have forgotten how important the post-war bargains were for maintaining economic and social stability. Instead, preoccupied by the disappointments of the 1970s, a new pro-market, pro-capital consensus emerged between the center-Left and center-Right. A second post-war international order emerged as a result: a new era of globalization made possible by this “neoliberal” political consensus. The new order was more trans-Atlantic than American, for European political transformations made it possible. This era of globalization created both prosperity and instability, just as the first era had done. Instability took the form again of virulent populism, driven by economic inequality, financial volatility, and a crisis of dignity among those who felt left behind by it. Although we are learning that neither national societies nor the international system can manage the trade-offs of globalization and neoliberalism well enough to avoid a backlash, in fact those lessons were learned once before. The cycle continues: learning, forgetting, and re-learning why these equilibria are unstable.
- 2022
- Chapter
Of Learning and Forgetting: Centrism, Populism, and the Legitimacy Crisis of Globalization
By: Rawi AbdelalEvery order is a bargain with disappointments and trade-offs. Thus is every order an unstable equilibrium. The first era of globalization, circa 1870–1914, created both international prosperity and domestic instability. That instability was fully realized during the interwar years, which were characterized by financial chaos, virulent populist...
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- Article
Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Is the Result of Its Own Failure to ‘Denazify’
By: Jeremy Friedman and Ingrid Burke Friedman- Article
Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Is the Result of Its Own Failure to ‘Denazify’
By: Jeremy Friedman and Ingrid Burke Friedman
About the Unit
The BGIE Unit conducts research on, and teaches about, the economic, political, social, and legal environment in which business operates. The Unit includes scholars trained in economics, political science, and history; in its work, it draws on perspectives from all three of these disciplines.
The following demonstrates one way of classifying the approaches the Unit takes to learning and teaching.
- The Unit examines the “rules” and policies established by government and other non-business institutions that affect business in the United States.
- The Unit turns to history to understand the origins of today’s business environment as well as some of the alternatives that have emerged from time to time.
- The Unit examines other countries’ business environments and their historical development.
- The BGIE group is deeply interested in the impact of globalization and the way rules are emerging to govern international economic transactions as globalization proceeds.
Recent Publications
Of Learning and Forgetting: Centrism, Populism, and the Legitimacy Crisis of Globalization
- 2022 |
- Chapter |
- Faculty Research
Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Is the Result of Its Own Failure to ‘Denazify’
- Article |
- Jurist
Indigenous Wisdom and the Climate Crisis
- April 2022 |
- Teaching Note |
- Faculty Research
Stalin’s Capitalists: American Business and Soviet Industrialization
- April 2022 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
The RC Syllabus
- April 2022 |
- Course Overview Note |
- Faculty Research
Harvard Business Publishing
Seminars & Conferences
There are no upcoming events.