Globalization: Past and Future

Globalization: Past and Future, offered by SDG Academy through edX, is an online course designed to examine globalization through a long historical lens. Led by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the course argues that humanity has always lived in a global world and takes learners through six distinct waves of globalization to explain how innovation, technology dispersal, and development have unfolded across different eras. It is particularly relevant for learners who want to understand current geopolitical and technological change in relation to deeper historical patterns.

Core Content

The curriculum is structured around six waves of globalization and explores the key forces that shaped each period. SDG Academy’s syllabus covers topics such as the Eurasian advantage, the classical world, the medieval Chinese miracle, sea-based globalization, global trade in commodities, conquest and imperial competition, Anglo-American globalization, the information revolution, planetary boundaries, sustainable development, and global governance. This gives learners both historical breadth and a clearer understanding of how globalization connects to today’s sustainability and governance challenges.

Key Skills

Participants will develop the ability to understand globalization as a long-term historical process, identify the drivers of technological and economic change across different periods, and connect those shifts to contemporary global challenges. The course also helps learners build a stronger foundation for thinking about international development, geopolitics, sustainable development, and global governance in a more historically informed and interconnected way.

Target Learners

This course is designed for graduate students and advanced undergraduate students studying international development or relations, economics, sustainable development, and related subjects. It is also relevant for practitioners in policy, government relations, international trade, finance, and similar fields who want to better understand the historical context of today’s geopolitical environment and technological transformation.

Learning Format

Hosted through edX and SDG Academy, the course is delivered in a flexible online format with four modules, accessible at any time, and an expected study effort of two to four hours per module. The learning experience includes pre-recorded lectures, readings, quizzes, a final exam, and a discussion forum, allowing learners to progress at their own pace while building historical and analytical understanding step by step. SDG Academy also notes that the course is free, has no prerequisites, and offers an edX verified certificate signed by the course instructor for successful learners.

Additional Benefits

The course offers practical value for learners who want to understand globalization beyond contemporary headlines and through a wider civilizational and developmental lens. Its focus on historical waves, sustainable development, and global governance makes it especially useful for those interested in how past transformations can inform present-day policy, economics, and international cooperation. As part of SDG Academy’s wider sustainable development course offering, it also connects naturally to broader study on the SDGs and global development.

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