RE: Origins of globalization

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

>These "medieval canonists," Mr. Muldoon concludes, "were probably the
first to conceive humankind in truly global terms." <

of course, this "canon law" was backed by "cannon law," stuffing it down the
world's throat.

The problem, to my mind, is not the idea of a universal humanity but the
forcing of European domination on the rest of the world. JD

-----Original Message-----
From: Diane Monaco
To: femecon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx; lbo-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 4/1/02 7:18 AM
>Subject: [PEN-L:24533] Origins of globalization

A glance at the February issue of "Historically Speaking":
Tracing the origins of globalization

James Muldoon, an emeritus professor of history at Rutgers
University at Camden and a research scholar at Brown
University's John Carter Brown Library, traces the seemingly
inexorable process of globalization not to Nike, McDonald's, or
Coca-Cola, but to a "vision of the right order of the world"
that developed in medieval Europe. He writes that, contrary to
popular thought, globalization is a culmination of "a process
that has been going on not from 1492 but from the 11th century."

It was a process born, Mr. Muldoon continues, when the world
view of medieval European thinkers -- who combined Christian
ideals and Aristotelian notions of civilization -- bound
religion, society, and law into a cohesive vision. These
"medieval canonists," Mr. Muldoon concludes, "were probably the
first to conceive humankind in truly global terms." And the rest
is history: expansion overseas, "discovery" of "new" lands,
curiosity about the rest of the world, and so forth.

But the religious underpinnings of these desires are too often
overlooked, according to Mr. Muldoon: "The formal justifications
for occupying newly discovered lands ... always explained
contact and conquest in terms of the Church's universal
mission." And "what we now call globalization is really a
continuation of a process that has been proceeding for a
millennium as European Christian society has expanded far beyond
its original home."

An excerpt of the article is available on the magazine's Web
site, at  <http://www.bu.edu/historic/hs/feb02.html>
http://www.bu.edu/historic/hs/feb02. html
<http://www.bu.edu/historic/hs/feb02.html>
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