The establishment of a multilateral international trading regime is one of the great achievements of post-1945 international diplomacy.

The focus of this collection is the history of the international trading system over the past two centuries. Volume I includes an overview of the subject area as well as sections considering the effects of war and peace, the late nineteenth-century backlash, and contemporary views of interwar disintegration. Volume II looks at the issues of hegemony, non-discrimination and reciprocity. It also covers customs unions, preferential trading agreements, trade wars and trade rivalry.

This comprehensive two-volume set will be an invaluable source of reference on the origins of globalization.