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Conclusions to Part II

from Part II - The Transition to Modernity and the Making of Global Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2023

Barry Buzan
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
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Summary

In the Conclusions to Chapter 3, working with the advantage of hindsight, I focused on the end of the CAPE era, its successful, if tenuous, connecting up of the whole planet by trade, and the precursors of its transition towards a new era of modernity. I looked in particular at the leading role of merchants and commerce in realising dreams of universality beyond the reach of any empire or religion, albeit mainly in the economic sector and not in the political and societal ones. I posited that the great achievement of the CAPE era was to achieve the first conscious globalisation, but that given the limits of technology and energy resources, this could only be done thinly. That pointed forward to the intensification of globalisation as the likely next step for humankind after the CAPE era. The four chapters in Part II could easily be read as fulfilling that expectation. Especially in material terms, globalisation was hugely intensified. The social picture is much more mixed, but can also be read as intensifying globalisation. It is absolutely clear that by the late eighteenth, early nineteenth century, the CAPE era was over. The question is how to read what followed it: as the opening of a third era, modernity, or as the opening of a period of transition between the CAPE era and an emergent modernity?

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Chapter
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Making Global Society
A Study of Humankind Across Three Eras
, pp. 315 - 328
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Conclusions to Part II
  • Barry Buzan, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Making Global Society
  • Online publication: 27 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009372169.013
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  • Conclusions to Part II
  • Barry Buzan, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Making Global Society
  • Online publication: 27 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009372169.013
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusions to Part II
  • Barry Buzan, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Making Global Society
  • Online publication: 27 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009372169.013
Available formats
×