Beyond empires' explores the complexity of empire building from the point of view of self-organized networks, rather than from the point of view of the central state. This focus takes readers into a world of cooperative strategies worldwide that emphasises the role played by individuals, rather...

Introduction -- Part I The Iberian Grounds of the Early Modern Globalization of Europe -- Global Context and the Rise of Europe. Iberia and the Atlantic -- Iberian Overseas Expansion and European trade networks -- Domestic Expansion in the Iberian Kingdoms -- Conclusions Part I -- Part II State...

Main description: Historians have traditionally turned to free trade and laissez faire to explain the development of political economy during the Enlightenment. Reinert argues that economic emulation was the prism through which philosophers, ministers, reformers, and merchants thought about...

"During the late eighteenth century, innovations in Europe triggered the Industrial Revolution and the sustained economic progress that spread across the globe. While much has been made of the details of the Industrial Revolution, what remains a mystery is why it took place at all. Why did this...