How Geopolitics Overran Globalization

The End of the Dream of Economic Integration

March 31, 2026
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A cargo ship in the Panama Canal, Panama City, Panama, March 2026  Enea Lebrun / Reuters

ESWAR PRASAD is Senior Professor of Trade Policy in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and the author of The Doom Loop: Why the World Economic Order Is Spiraling Into Disorder.

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Not too long ago, globalization was seen by academics and policymakers as a powerful force bringing the world closer together and promoting economic prosperity and stability. The open flow of goods, services, money, natural resources, and people would benefit all countries and make it possible to transfer knowledge, ideas, and technology across national borders. Globalization promised to bridge divides between advanced and developing economies, binding them together in a mesh of shared interests. It seemed reasonable to assume that this would even foster geopolitical stability, as collective prosperity would incentivize countries to tamp down conflicts that could disrupt their economic

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