Twentieth-century political economy: a brief history of global capitalism

Modern capitalism emerged in the early nineteenth century inwestern Europe and the European offshoots of the Americas andOceania. Recognizing the unparalleled dynamism of the new socio-economicsystem, Marx and Engels predicted in 1848 that capitalism wouldspread to the entire world. By the end of the twentieth century,that prediction was confirmed: capitalism had indeed becomeglobal, but only after a tortuous and violent course of institutionalchange in many parts of the world. This paper provides a briefaccount of the emergence of global capitalism, and discussessome of the reasons why the diffusion of capitalism has beenso conflictual and violently contested.