Globalization is a fact of life. But we have underestimated its fragility. The problem is this. The spread of markets grows faster than the ability of societies and their political systems to adjust to them, let alone to guide the course they take. History teaches us that such an imbalance between the economic, social and political realms can never be sustained for very long.
The industrialized countries learned that lesson in their bitter and costly encounter with the Great Depression. In order to restore social harmony and political stability they adopted social safety nets and other measures. That made possible successive moves towards liberalization, which brought about the long post-war period of expansion.