Dialectics of Global Governance in the Twenty-first Century 735

In The Great Transformation (1957, original 1944), Polanyi argued that the Economic Man

and self-adjusting markets are neither natural nor universal. Rather, they are relatively recent

socio-historical constructs. The rise of (i) the calculative gain-orientation, (ii) the modern

market economy, and (iii) the modern liberal state are essentially connected. Prior to the

great transformation in modern Europe, markets existed as an auxiliary avenue for the exchange

of goods that were otherwise not obtainable. The market society was born out of the changes that

emerged first in Britain.