While features of this phase of the global economy and its interdependencies are new (as in the case of the semiconductor wars and fifth-generation technologies), others are familiar if one considers the enduring geopolitical contests over securing supply of critical minerals and consumer markets.

Globalisation has not reached its nadir as many are suggesting, but because it is “as old as mankind”, as Samir Amin suggests, it is unfolding in a shifting and evolving terrain. The imperial preference systems of the early 20th century logically precede the contemporary preferences and blocs, albeit under different market and power arrangements...

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