This book investigates the political and economic mechanisms that facilitated the rise of globalization between 1948 and 1982. Malcolm Fairbrother, a sociologist and political scientist, utilizes a comparative historical framework to analyze how elite decision-making and shifting democratic pressures in Canada, Mexico, and the United States shaped trade policies. The author argues that globalization was not an inevitable outcome of market forces but rather the result of specific institutional choices and the influence of technocratic actors.

Experts recognize this work as a rigorous contribution to the political economy of trade, noting its detailed archival research. Readers frequently highlight the academic density of the prose, which is best suited for scholars and students of international political economy.