Click any step to jump to it - the lit step is the one showing below. Globalisation builds to a 2001 peak, then faces crisis and backlash. Green = expanded or strengthened · Amber = mixed or contested · Red = restricted or weakened.
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What happened. The Bretton Woods era opened, creating the post-war institutions that drove the first wave of globalisation.
What it shows. The institutional foundation of the global economy. Bretton Woods opens
What happened. Arab OPEC members imposed an oil embargo, quadrupling prices and triggering Western recession.
What it shows. Interdependence transmitting a shock worldwide. Oil shock
What happened. The Berlin Wall fell, opening the second wave of globalisation with the end of the Cold War.
What it shows. Markets expanding across the old divide. Berlin Wall falls
What happened. NAFTA integrated the North American market from January 1994.
What it shows. Regional trade liberalisation deepening globalisation. NAFTA opens
What happened. The World Trade Organization replaced GATT, adding binding dispute settlement.
What it shows. A rules-based system locking in free trade. WTO opens
What happened. The Asian Financial Crisis began with the Thai baht collapse and spread across East Asia, requiring IMF bailouts.
What it shows. Financial globalisation spreading instability. Asian financial crisis
What happened. China acceded to the WTO, integrating the world's most populous economy.
What it shows. The high-water mark of economic globalisation. China joins WTO
What happened. The 2007-08 financial crisis began in US subprime mortgages and spread into worldwide recession.
What it shows. The peak before globalisation began to falter. Global financial crisis
What happened. Brexit: 51.9% of UK voters chose to leave the EU, triggering Article 50.
What it shows. Sovereignty concerns overriding integration. Brexit backlash
What happened. The Trump administration left Paris, the TPP and the Iran deal, favouring bilateral over multilateral deals.
What it shows. A great power retreating from the multilateral order. America First
Roll up and down: use the arrows, scroll or swipe inside the box, the up and down keys, or click any step in the arc above.
The first half of the story is acceleration: Bretton Woods, the fall of the Wall, NAFTA, the WTO and China's accession built a deeply integrated, rules-based world economy that peaked around 2001.
The second half is strain and backlash. The 1997 and 2008 crises showed how fast shocks travel; Brexit and America First showed voters and great powers turning against integration. Whether that is a pause or a reversal is the live debate.
The same events split by side. Build each paragraph around one point from each column, then judge.
The best answers distinguish economic globalisation (stalling) from cultural and digital globalisation (still advancing), then judge the overall direction.
For "is globalisation in retreat?", weigh the building wave (Bretton Woods, WTO, China 2001) against the backlash (2008, Brexit, America First), then judge whether the slowdown is a pause or a reversal.
Distinguish the dimensions: economic globalisation may be stalling while cultural and digital globalisation keep advancing - that nuance lifts AO2.