It is essential if we are to integrate fully with the process of globalisation.

ECONOMIST: Letters

The fall of the Roman Empire, the Black Death, the collapse of trade and migration in the interwar years of the 20th century: all these either slowed the process of globalisation or stopped it in its tracks, albeit only temporarily.

ECONOMIST: Globalisation

Whether all this is evidence of the emergence of a European superpower, or just part of the broader process of globalisation, is questionable.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne