At the other end of the spectrum are the sceptics who question the
very existence of ‘globalization’ (Rugman, 2000). Although less vocal,
they provide an important counterpoint to the accounts that claim
globalization to be deterministic. The leading proponents of this view
are Hirst and Thompson (1999) who use a broad range of empirical data
to argue that the world economy is no more interconnected today than
in the past (Boyer and Drache, 1996). Indeed, they argue that during
the era of the Gold Standard, at the end of the nineteenth century, the
world economy was more integrated (see Chapter 3 for a fuller analysis
of this issue). Flows of labour, investment and trade would – if the
hyperglobalist thesis were true – be unrestricted and free. This,
they argue, is very far from reality and labour remains particularly
immobile. For sceptics, national governments remain the central actors in
constructing and regulating the global economy. What we have then is an
internationalized political economy which is fragmenting into powerful
economic blocs, the most powerful being Europe, East Asia and the
USA. The process of regionalism, according to the sceptics, runs in
opposition to globalization, whereas for other schools it is seen as a
precursor to it (see Chapter 4 on regionalism).