The last half century has been an unparalleled period of trade globalization and convergence. With that I would agree wholeheartedly.
They see fitful but substantial, and hopeful, but far from full blown laissez faire, convergence, between North and South, in the last half of the 20th Century.
What does this mean? It means, really, that the Western growth has been steadily declining, relative to growth of the Rest, for the last half century plus, since WWII. West is North, Rest is South, in their vernacular.
They think this relative convergence (they do not talk much about it as a relative decline of the West, but some passages acknowledge this candidly) of global trade is a good thing for everyone, everywhere. ' Human welfare ' is how they put it.
They implicitly have the concept of limitless growth; although they discuss limits of growth, and market and frontier saturation, this fact does not seem to alter their model of globalization growth as a universal good, and a force for peace, even given gathering materials scarcity and environmental degradation.
What does it all really mean?
"The great wars of history....are the outcome, direct or indirect, of the unequal growth of nations...." Mackinder
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