Contemporary economic globalization is typically seen as a product of both trade and economic liberalization after the Second World War and of technological advances that have made it possible to overcome coordination and management of geographically dispersed production units. Trade liberalization and technological advances were certainly important variables, but I argue that it was neo-protectionist American policies of the early 1980s that provided the initial catalyst for globally networked production processes. American protectionism encouraged Japanese investment in the United States that allowed US car manufacturers to learn the essentials of network manufacturing as practiced by Japanese transplants in the United States. In the next stage of global network manufacturing, liberal trade played a much more pivotal role because the global supply chains could not obviously be maintained without liberal trade. In this paper, I also discuss the likelihood of a reversal and suggest that globalization is unlikely to reversed in a significant way. Liberal trade is essential to the integrity of global supply chain networks, but these new production processes have themselves created a firewall against future systemic protectionism.

人们通常将当代经济全球化视为第二次世界大战后贸易和经济自由化以及技术进步的产物，这些技术进步使得克服地理上分散的生产单位的协调和管理成为可能。贸易自由化和技术进步无疑是重要的变量，但我认为，正是1980年代初期的新保护主义美国政策为全球网络化的生产流程提供了最初的催化剂。美国的贸易保护主义鼓励日本在美国进行投资，这使美国汽车制造商可以了解日本在美国进行的移植所实践的网络制造基础。在全球网络制造的下一阶段，自由贸易起着至关重要的作用，因为没有自由贸易显然无法维持全球供应链。在本文中，我还讨论了逆转的可能性，并提出全球化不太可能以重大方式逆转。自由贸易对于全球供应链网络的完整性至关重要，但是这些新的生产流程本身就形成了抵御未来系统保护主义的防火墙。