Prophet of a Partitioned World: Ferdinand Fried, “Great Spaces,” and the Dialectics of Deglobalization, 1929–1950

Abstract

Historical scholarship on “great spaces,” a central concept in the political thought of Nazi Germany, has previously focused on legal debates while neglecting important economic contexts. The journalist Ferdinand Fried deserves to be considered one of the major economic theorists of “great spaces” in the Weimar, Nazi, and early postwar eras. Fried argued that the world economy was inexorably passing from globalization through economic nationalism to a reconstituted “world economy of great spaces.” Deglobalization, as he depicted it, was a global experience that produced similar economic and political outcomes around the world. His writings anticipated and inspired Nazi propaganda aimed at legitimizing German hegemony in Europe. His ideas, and their reception, illustrate how dialectical and global visions of history have resonated with conservative intellectuals during crises of the world economy.

Introduction: Theorizing the psychology of deglobalization

“…More specifically, we suggest that globalization and deglobalization may coexist or alternate in dialectical dynamics (Karunaratne, 2012; Kornprobst & Paul, 2021; Olwig, 2003; Teo, 2023). This pluralistic, nonlinear framework also enables us to recognize that some forms of deglobalization had taken place in the past, and their existence should not be denied when they later gave way to a new cycle of globalization (Casey, 2018; Chase-Dunn et al, 2006; Derman, 2021; Van Bergeijk, 2019). Most importantly, within this ontology, we can position ourselves within a “history in the making” instead of at “the end of history.” In so doing, we can take a proactive approach to the analysis of rapidly emerging psychosocial challenges.…”