It wasn’t meant to be this way. China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 was supposed to herald a new era of open markets, a culmination of 50 years of trade liberalization resulting in the worldwide adoption of Western economic, societal and political values. Instead, a global recession, the resurgence of nationalism, fears for the environment, the Covid crisis and growing geo-political tensions have resulted in the re-emergence of trade barriers and toxic international relations. Neo-protectionism has transformed the economic landscape and supplychains are now being shaped by political rather than commercial imperatives. Fragmented, localized, fractured…globalization, if not completely dead, is on life support.

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In a book for a post-Covid world, John Manners-Bell examines why initial optimism proved so misplaced and what these systemic changes mean for businesses and administrators.