The EuroAtlantic Union Review
| Author | Dario Velo |
| Position | Editor |
| Pages | 7-11 |
7
T EA U R, V. 1 N. 0/2014
The EuroAtlantic Union Review
e rst industrial revolution, started at the end of the XVIII Century, had a
national dimension.
It lead to end the power of the landed gentry, last expression of a fragmentation
of the society that had its roots in feudalism. It developed the market and a
new class of leaders that became the two pillars of the modern liberal State.
e second industrial revolution ourished in the United States, supported by
the continental dimension of the North American market that made possible
the development of mass industrial productions.
European countries had to start an integration process, after WWII, as
condition for bridging the gap with the United States.
Economists and political scientists have coined terms like third, fourth industrial
revolution to emphasize the importance of specic/single innovations. But
revolutions do cause structural change, and happen one in a century.
Today we can speak of the third industrial revolution as the continental size
of the market, that has allowed the second revolution, is being overcome.
Development and modernization require a leap forward, the creation of a
governed intercontinental market. e promoters of this new historical leap
have to be, under present conditions, the United States and the European
Union. In the future, other States, characterised by continental or sub-
continental dimensions, will follow the path that might be opened today.
All the World believed that it was sucient to create a free-trade area,
breaking down barriers to free trade, as to create a intercontinental market.
is illusion provoked the development of globalization. Indeed, history had
already taught that a market can develop itself in a stable and ordered way only
if there is a statehood – national or federal – that can ensure its government.
is great lesson of the past has been conrmed true at the beginning of the
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