This book investigates the political and economic mechanisms that drove the expansion of globalization between 1948 and 1982. Malcolm Fairbrother, a sociologist specializing in political economy, examines how elite decision-making and institutional shifts facilitated the transition toward more open trade policies. The work argues that globalization was not an inevitable outcome of market forces but rather the result of specific strategic choices made by political and business actors within North American contexts.

Scholars in the field of political economy recognize this work for its detailed institutional analysis of trade policy formation. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is tailored for researchers and students of international political economy.