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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 globalisation in fact have roots in nineteenth-century left-wing politics. In this counterhistory 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. Marc-William Palen is a historian at the University of Exeter and the author of The "Conspiracy" of Free Trade: The Anglo-American Struggle over Empire and Economic Globalisation, 1846–1896.
"In this eye-opening and learned book, Marc-William Palen provides a thrilling example of how differently our ancestors saw the world. Now regarded as a device of inequality and neoliberalism, free trade was once the highest instrument of advocates of international peace and prosperity. As protectionism surges in our world-not least in the policy of the United States, which once made economic nationalism notorious-Palen's point is of far more than historical interest."-Samuel Moyn, Yale University
"Pax Economica is a brilliant study of the radical and progressive history of free trade. In a sweeping narrative, Marc-William Palen masterfully shows how thinkers all over the world believed free trade could promote peace and prosperity on a global level. Through rich archival research and innovative theoretical interpretation, the book offers an important alternative to contemporary thinking about free trade and international relations. Pax Economica is an outstanding book that will transform our understanding of the history of free-trade economics and its influence on international politics."-Or Rosenboim, author of The Emergence of Globalism: Visions of World Order in Britain and the United States, 1939–1950
"Marc-William Palen provides a novel and refreshing account of the fortunes of the movements for free trade, anti-imperialism, and peace from the 1840s to the present. In doing so, he draws free traders across the world into his story, relates their fortunes to mercantilist and neomercantilist interests, and finds room for some fascinating and little-known supporters among feminist and Christian pressure groups. This must rank as the most comprehensive study yet of a movement that has fallen on hard times recently but still hopes that its day will come."-A. G. Hopkins, author of American Empire: A Global History
"For the last couple of dec
Today, free trade is often associated with right-wing free marketeers. In Pax Economica, historian Marc-William Palen shows that free trade and globalisation in fact have roots in nineteenth-century left-wing politics. In this counterhistory 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. Marc-William Palen is a historian at the University of Exeter and the author of The "Conspiracy" of Free Trade: The Anglo-American Struggle over Empire and Economic Globalisation, 1846–1896.
"In this eye-opening and learned book, Marc-William Palen provides a thrilling example of how differently our ancestors saw the world. Now regarded as a device of inequality and neoliberalism, free trade was once the highest instrument of advocates of international peace and prosperity. As protectionism surges in our world-not least in the policy of the United States, which once made economic nationalism notorious-Palen's point is of far more than historical interest."-Samuel Moyn, Yale University
"Pax Economica is a brilliant study of the radical and progressive history of free trade. In a sweeping narrative, Marc-William Palen masterfully shows how thinkers all over the world believed free trade could promote peace and prosperity on a global level. Through rich archival research and innovative theoretical interpretation, the book offers an important alternative to contemporary thinking about free trade and international relations. Pax Economica is an outstanding book that will transform our understanding of the history of free-trade economics and its influence on international politics."-Or Rosenboim, author of The Emergence of Globalism: Visions of World Order in Britain and the United States, 1939–1950
"Marc-William Palen provides a novel and refreshing account of the fortunes of the movements for free trade, anti-imperialism, and peace from the 1840s to the present. In doing so, he draws free traders across the world into his story, relates their fortunes to mercantilist and neomercantilist interests, and finds room for some fascinating and little-known supporters among feminist and Christian pressure groups. This must rank as the most comprehensive study yet of a movement that has fallen on hard times recently but still hopes that its day will come."-A. G. Hopkins, author of American Empire: A Global History
"For the last couple of dec