Jindal Global Business School

Course Outline

Course Title History of World Trade and Commerce

Core or Elective Core
Program and Batch IBM 20
Semester & Academic Year First Semester, 2020-21
Credits 3
Discipline/Area Social Sciences and Humanities
Provide details, if this course is a Prerequisite
for any course/specialization
Name of the Faculty Member/Course Instructor Dr. Saumya Dey
Contact Details of the Faculty Member sdey@jgu.edu.in, 8396907283
Contact Details of Support Staff Ms. Pranati Dash, pdash@jgu.edu.in,
8930300352
Faculty Member’s Open Office Day/s & Time Not decided for the semester ahead

Introduction to the Course

This course introduces students to the broad outlines of the global history of trade and commerce
as they transitioned from the pre-capitalist to the capitalist framework and contributed to the
ascendency of the West. All along, trade and commerce’s interaction with diverse social and
political systems is considered. In keeping with its title, along with the West, the course looks at
economic and commercial developments in major Asian countries such as China, India, and
Japan. The course culminates by looking at economic and commercial developments in post-
WWII West and the emergence of what is understood by ‘globalisation’ today.

Course Learning Objectives

CLO 1. Understanding the differences between the pre- and post-capitalist contexts and logic of
exchange. This understanding will be imparted by analyzing capitalism as a unique social system
based on a distinct set of relations of production and the historical circumstances in which they
emerged. Capitalism will also be analyzed from a ‘world system’ point of view.
CLO 2. Identifying and understand the major episodes in world commercial history, such as the
growth of ‘mercantilism’, ‘great divergence’, ‘industrial revolution’, British commercial
ascendency, colonialism, the ‘great depression’, emergence of globalization in its modern form
after WWII, etc.
CLO 3. Developing an informed awareness of the political, social, and economic factors that
transformed, or contributed to the economic ascendency of, the West.
CLO 4. Understanding the economic situation of Asian countries such as India, China, and Japan
at various points of the time span covered by the course.

Teaching Method
The pedagogic method employed in this course will be a combination of lectures, class
discussions and project work (to be done by the students). Issues and concepts fundamental to
the course will be first explained to the students through the medium of lectures, they will then
be encouraged to discuss their observations upon them with the instructor. Periodically themes
will be developed from these discussions upon which students might be asked to do a project
(e.g., group research and presentation, or writing an essay), or write and assignment.

Evaluation Schema
The Evaluation Schema will be shared soon.

Textbook / Course Package / Other Readings

The required books and articles for this course are the following –
[Students need not buy these. I will scan and mail the relevant chapters from these.]

Allen, G.C., A Short Economic History of Japan. 1867-1937

Bayly, C.A., Rulers Townsmen and Bazaars
Bayly, C.A., The Birth of the Modern World. 1780-1914
Beaud, Michel, A History of Capitalism. 1500-2000
Beckert, Sven, Empire of Cotton
Dobb, Maurice, Studies in the development of Capitalism and Paul Sweezy’sTransition from Feudalism
to Capitalism
Duby, George, Rural Economy and Country Life in the Medieval West
Figes, Orlando, Revolutionary Russia. 1891-1991
Hilton, Rodney, ‘A Crisis of Feudalism’
Hobsbawm, Eric, Age of Capital
Hsu, C.Y., The Rise of Modern China
Kriedte, Peter, Medick, Hans and Schlumbohm, Jurgen, Industrialization before Industrialization. Rural
Industry in the Genesis of Capitalism
Lopez, Robert S., The Commercial revolution of the Middle Ages. 950-1350
McKendrick, Neil, Brewer, John and Plimb, J.H., The Birth of a Consumer Society. The
Commercialization of Eighteenth-Century England
Mokyr, Joel, The Enlightened Economy
Moore, Jason W., ‘Nature and the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism’
Norman, E. Herbert, Japan’s Emergence as a Modern State
Ogilvie, Sheila, Proto-Industrialization in Europe
Polanyi, Karl, The Great Transformation
Pomeranz, Kenneth, The Great Divergence
Roy, Tirthankar Economic History of India. 1857-1957
Rubin, Isaac Illych, A History of Economic Thought
Rubinstein, W.D. ,‘“Gentlemanly Capitalism” and British Industry. 1820-1914’ in Past and Present, No.
132 (Aug., 1991), pp.150-170.
Russell, Bertrand, Freedom and Organization
Sinha, Arvind, Europe in Transition
Sweezy, Paul and Baran, Paul, Monopoly Capital. An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order
Sweezy, Paul, Theory of Capitalist Development
Vries, Jan de, The Industrious Revolution
Wallerstein, Immanuel, Historical Capitalism
Weber, Max, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Wood, Alan Meiksin, The Origin of Capitalism: The Longer View

Program Competency Goals - IBM

 BBA Programme Competency Goals (PCGs) BBA Progroamme Learning Objectives
(PLOs)
Students will be able to

1 Domain and Technological Knowledge: Ability to 1. Understand relevant concepts of

understand and apply relevant business and business practices
technological knowledge 2. Understand relevant technologies of
business practices
2 Responsible Global Citizenship: Ability to 3. Understand local business issues
understand the interplay between local and 4. Understand global business issues
global issues and to act with sensitivity towards 5. Demonstrate sensitivity towards
ethical and social issues ethical issues
6. Demonstrate sensitivity towards
social issues
3 Effective communication: Ability to effectively 7. Present their ideas with clarity
exchange ideas and information 8. Write in a coherent manner
9. Use technology for communication
4 Critical Thinking: Ability to identify, analyze 10. Identify main issues of business
business problems and propose effective solutions problems
11. Examine information from different
sources
12. Draw inferences from analysis
5 Teamwork: Ability to work and contribute 13. Understand the factors to work
effectively in group -settings effectively in groups
14. Contribute effectively in groups

Session Plan

Karl Polanyi on the distinction between non-market and market CLOs Covered

societies: Making sense of our break with the past.

Week 1
Objective of the Understanding, with reference to the concepts of 1
session
 economic anthropology, the differences between the pre-
modern societies whose organizing principle was not the
market and the modern ones that are premised on the
market principle.

Readings Relevant chapters of the Karl Polanyi’s The Great

Transformation
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Class discussion (on the basis of a prior reading of Karl
Polanyi)

The current context of world trade and commerce I: Immanuel CLOs Covered

Wallerstein on the historical uniqueness of capitalism

Week 1
Objective of the Gaining insights into how, besides being a form of 1
session
economic organization, capitalism is also a social and
ideological system and that modern trade and commerce
are intrinsically woven into it.

Readings Relevant chapters of Immanuel Wallerstein’s Historical

Capitalism
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Class discussion (on the basis of a prior reading of
Immanuel Wallerstein)

The current context of world trade and commerce II: Immanuel CLOs Covered

Wallerstein on capitalism as a world system

Week 2
Objective of the Knowing what exactly is global capitalism – its cardinal
session 1
features, and how they facilitate world trade and
commerce.
Readings Relevant chapters of Immanuel Wallerstein’s Historical
Capitalism
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Class discussion (on the basis of a prior reading of
Immanuel Wallerstein)

The west prior to capitalism: A survey of the ‘feudal relations of CLOs Covered

production’ in medieval Europe

Week 2
Objective of the Analysing and understating the relations of production 1
session
that existed prior to the emergence of capitalism in
Europe and how these impaired the flourishing of trade
and commerce.

Readings Relevant chapters of George Duby’s Rural Economy and

Country Life in the Medieval West
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

Breakdown of the feudal relations of production I CLOs Covered

Week 3
Objective of the Understanding the combination of factors rooted in class 1& 3
session
relations, commercial developments, and demographic
 trends that unravelled the feudal relations of production.
Readings Relevant chapters of Maurice Dobb’s Studies in the
development of Capitalism and Paul Sweezy’s Transition
from Feudalism to Capitalism
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

Breakdown of the feudal relations of production II CLOs Covered

Week 3
Objective of the Understanding the combination of factors rooted in class 1&3
session
relations, commercial developments and demographic
trends that unravelled the feudal relations of production.

Readings
Case Title and Article by Rodney Hilston, ‘A Crisis of Feudalism’
Number
Article by Jason W. Moore, ‘Nature and the Transition
from Feudalism to Capitalism’
Pedagogy Lecture

Trade and Commerce in medieval Europe I CLOs Covered

Week 4
Objective of the Observing and analysing the organizational bases of 3
session
medieval European trade and commerce – the guilds,
sources of labour, forms of business organization etc.
Readings Relevant chapters of Edwin Hunt and James Murray’s A
History of Business in Medieval Europe. 1200-1550
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture
Trade and Commerce in medieval Europe II CLOs Covered

Week 4
Objective of the Observing the innovations in medieval European trade
session 3
and commerce – fresh means of capital acquisition, risk
sharing etc.
Readings Relevant chapters of Edwin Hunt and James Murray’s A
History of Business in Medieval Europe. 1200-1550
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

The first mercantile states in Europe CLOs Covered

Week 5
Objective of the Observing and analyzing the relationship between the
session 2
decline of feudalism and the strengthening of royal
authority – growth of state absolutism – and the attempts
by the absolutist regimes to take up ‘mercantilism’ –
active promotion of trade and commerce.
Readings Relevant chapters of Arvind Sinha’s Europe in Transition
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

Commerce and consumption receive a boost: A discussion on the CLOs Covered

‘industrious revolution’ in North-Western Europe (circa seventeenth

century)
Week 5
Objective of the Understanding the shift in the household economies of 2
session
 western Europe which made them work and spend more
intensively thus providing a boost to commerce and
general levels of consumption.

Readings Relevant chapters of Jan de Vries’ The Industrious

Revolution
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Class discussion (on the basis of a prior reading of Jan de
Vries)

‘Archaic globalization’ and the rise of British maritime supremacy CLOs Covered

(circa eighteenth century)

Week 6
Objective of the Observing the means and the forms of the intensification
session 2
of economic and cultural exchanges between the major
economies of the world in the eighteenth century while
taking note of the emergence of Britain as a maritime
world power on the path to commercial hegemony.
Readings Relevant chapters of C.A. Bayly’s The Birth of the
Modern World. 1780-1914
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

Understanding the ‘great divergence’: How could Europe economically CLOs Covered

surpass Asia?
Week 6
Objective of the Investigating what advantages Europe enjoyed over Asia 2&3
session
that allowed it to economically take off.
Readings Relevant portions of Kenneth Pomeranz’s The Great
 Divergence
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Discussion

Commerce in ‘Proto-Industrial’ Europe CLOs Covered

Week 7
Objective of the Understanding the social and demographic factors behind
session
the growth of the pro-industrial domestic economy – rural
2
households venturing into manufacturing – in Europe and
its linkages with commercial capital.
Readings Relevant chapters of Peter Kriedte, Hans Medick and
Jurgen Schlubohm’s Industrialization before
Industrialization
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

Trade and Commerce acquire a new context: Emergence of the CLOs Covered

Industrial Economy in Eighteenth century Britain

Week 7
Objective of the Understanding the chief economic and social factors
session 2
which helped Britain take the lead in industrialization,
though the proto-industrial phenomenon had manifested
in France and Germany too.
Readings Relevant chapters of Joel Mokyr’s The Enlightened
Economy
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture
Meanwhile in India I: The East India Company and the Indian CLOs Covered

Merchants
Week 8
Objective of the Observing how British mercantilism was combining with 4
session
the Indian commercial set up and eliciting the cooperation
of the Indian merchants in the eighteenth century.

Readings Relevant chapters of C.A. Bayly’s Rulers Townsmen and

Bazaars
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

Meanwhile in China: The Canton system of trade and the opium war CLOs Covered

Week 8
Objective of the Taking note of how the west commercially opened China
session 4
in the nineteenth century and reflecting on the shift of the
balance of power in the world economy in favor of the
west because of its military superiority.
Readings Relevant chapters of Immanuel C.Y. Hsu’s The Rise of
Modern China
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

Ideas and Politics of Free Trade in Nineteenth Century Britain CLOs Covered

Week 9
Objective of the Considering the impact that the debate on free trade had
session 3
on British political economy.
Readings Bertrand Russell’s Freedom and Organization
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

Developments in Japan: End of commercial isolation and ‘Meiji CLOs Covered

reforms’
Week 9
Objective of the Observing the factors that resulted in the end of Japan’s
session
commercial isolation. Understanding how Japan avoided
4
the fate of India and China and its trade and commerce
made a successful, autonomous transition to the capitalist
context through reform measures adopted by the Emperor
Meiji.

Readings Relevant chapters of E. Herbert Norman’s Japan’s

Emergence as a Modern State
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture and discussion

Trade and commerce in nineteenth century USA: Evaluating The CLOs Covered

emergence of corporate capitalism

Week 10
Objective of the Understanding the exact nature of corporate capitalism
session 2
and how it changed the nature of business.

Readings Relevant chapters of Paul Sweezy and Paul Baran’s

Monopoly Capital. An Essay on the American Economic
and Social Order

Case Title and

Number
Pedagogy Class discussion (on the basis of a prior reading of
 Sweezy and Baran)

Meanwhile in India II: Making Sense of the maturation of the colonial CLOs Covered

economy and unequal commerce between India and Britain

Week 10
Objective of the Understanding as to how India became a subordinate
session
partner in the trade with Britain – exporting only raw
4
materials – how this was linked to the destruction of
Indian industry and the eventual contribution of this
development to the drain of wealth from India.

Readings Relevant chapters of Tirthankar Roy’s Economic History

of India. 1857-1957
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Class discussion (on the basis of a prior reading of Roy)

Colonialism and commerce: The three phases of the relationship I CLOs Covered

Week 11
Objective of the Understanding the ‘mercantile’ stage of colonialism and
session 2&3
the specific form of domination it imposed on the non-
western countries.
Readings Relevant chapters of Alan Meiksin Wood’s The Origin of
Capitalism: The Longer View
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture
 CLOs Covered
Week 11 Colonialism and commerce: The three phases of the
relationship II
Objective of the Understanding the ‘liberal’ (free trade) and finance
2&3
session
capital stages of colonialism and their impact on the non-
western countries.

Readings Relevant chapters of Paul Sweezy’sTheory of Capitalist

Development
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

The new commercial society I: The bourgeois and the working class CLOs Covered

Week 12
Objective of the Observing the emergence and interaction of new social 3
session
classes in Europe because of the intensification of
commerce and industry.
Readings Relevant chapters of Eric Hobsbawm’s Age of Capital
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

The new commercial society II: The arts in Europe CLOs Covered

Week 12
Objective of the Observing the relationship between commerce and 3
session
aesthetics.
Readings Relevant chapters of Eric Hobsbawm’s Age of Capital
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture
The ‘Great Depression’ in the USA I: Causes CLOs Covered

Week 13
Objective of the Understanding the commercial dynamics behind the
session 2
economic crash in the USA.

Readings Relevant chapters of Robert S. McElvaine’s The Great

Depression
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

The ‘Great Depression’ in the USA II: Recovery CLOs Covered

Week 13
Objective of the Understanding the ‘New Deal’ that pulled USA out of
session 2
depression.
Readings Relevant chapters of Robert S. McElvaine’s The Great
Depression
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

Meanwhile in India III: Native commerce and industry come of age in CLOs Covered

the colonial context

Week 14
Objective of the Understanding how native capitalists and merchants 4
session
seized economic space from the colonial state in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Readings Relevant chapters of Aditya Mukherjees Imperialism,
Nationalism and the Making of the Indian Capitalist
 Class.
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture

World trade and commerce after WWII CLOs Covered

Week 14
Objective of the Observing the dominant trends in global trade and
session 2
commerce since the 1950s.
Readings Relevant chapters of Michel Beaud’s A History of
Capitalism. 1500-2000
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Lecture and discussion

Identifying the major themes in global commercial history CLOs Covered

Week 15
Objective of the Organizing a discussion, or presentations, on what 2, 3 & 4
session
fundamental themes can be identified in world trade and
commerce over the past five hundred years.

Readings
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Class discussion/presentations

Relevance of the major themes in global commercial history to the CLOs Covered

contemporary times
Week 15
Objective of the Discussing if any of the themes identified in the previous 2, 3 & 4
session
class might be still operative and relevant.
Readings
Case Title and
Number
Pedagogy Class discussion