Transcript Divergence
Making History Week 5, Lecture 1 Tutor: Giorgio Riello Global Debates: Divergence – The Rich and the Poor 1. Divergence: A World of Inequality Measured by GDP (Gross Domestic Product) /per capita http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/legacy/therepor ters/markeaston/2008/09/map_of_the_wee k_global_wealth.html World Life Expectancy Map http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/earth/human-conditions.php 1. Divergence: A World of Inequality Measured by GDP (Gross Domestic Product) /per capita Today people in the world are richer than in 1600, but how much richer? A. Twice B. Three times C. Six times D. Twelve times World GDP per capita - Areas in 1990 $ 30.000 25.000 Total 29 Western Europe 20.000 United States 15.000 China 10.000 India World Average 5.000 0 1000 1500 1600 1700 1820 1900 year 1920 1950 1980 2000 Comparative levels of India / Western Europe GDP per Capita, 1400-2050 (in 1990 dollars; log. scale) 100000 10000 1000 100 1400 1500 1820 1913 Western Europe 1950 1973 2003 India 2030 2050 1. When Divergence happened Comparative levels of India / Western Europe GDP per Capita, 1400-2050 1. Why Divergence happened (in 1990 dollars; log. scale) 100000 10000 1000 100 1400 1500 1820 1913 Western Europe 1950 1973 2003 India 2030 2050 2. Why Divergence: The Old School Key explanation 1500-1700 as the era in which Western Europe brought the world under its influence • See the discoveries as the beginning of bringing the world into the orbit of European civilisation • Discoveries is what subjected the world to the rule and influence of European power (European expansion) Is it a Eurocentric Story? 3. Eurocentric Globalists Eric Jones , The European Miracle (1981). He emphasises: • the positive environmental position of Europe • unique family pattern, urbanisation, warfare, etc. • unique culture Accused on ‘Eurocentrism’ and ‘triumphalism of Europe’, yet in a wide global context 3. Eurocentric Globalists David Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (1998) Landes emphasises the fact that before 1500 other parts of the world apart from Europe had wealth and knowledge far more advanced than Europe. Accused on ‘Eurocentrism’ and ‘triumphalism of Europe’ on an even wide global context 4. New Interpretations: Divergence 1. World as a whole as the unit of analysis: “global history” 2. Stress the accidents, conjunctures and contingencies in the story: 4. New Interpretations: Divergence Andre Gunder Frank, ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age (1998) He underlines: – The dominance of Asia – The the shift to Europe is only temporary Is he ‘Sinocentric’? 5. The Great Divergence Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence (2000) introduces the new concepts of ‘Divergence’, Pomeranz compares Western Europe and China from the 16th to the 19th century and he claims that Europe industrialised and modernised because of two factors missing in China: - Coal, and - Colonies These allowed Western Europe to diverge from a common Eurasian path of development in which per capita output had been relatively stable for centuries. Importance of accidents and conjunctures Comparative levels of India / Western Europe GDP per Capita, 1400-2050 (in 1990 dollars; log. scale) 100000 10000 1000 100 1400 1500 1820 1913 Western Europe 1950 1973 2003 India 2030 2050 5. The Great Divergence Pomeranz is criticised by Prasannan Parthasarathi, ‘Review Article: The Great Divergence’, Past and Present, 176 (2002), pp. 275-293. - What is the role of technologies and technological innovation? - What is the role of trade? - There was a lot of coal in China 5. The Great Divergence Two excellent textbooks: Robert B. Marks, The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative (2002). Jack Goldstone, Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History, 1500-1850 (2008) 5. The Great Divergence Other historians Prasannan Parthasarathi, Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia did Not? (2010) Robert Allen, The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective (2009). 5. The Great Divergence (Why some are rich and some are poor) • This debate (esp. Pomeranz’s book) gave rise to a discussion among historians; • Historians (mildly) disagree on the evidence; • And they disagree (a lot) on the explanation of Divergence • They especially disagree on the role played by Europe (though one can see a move from ‘European exceptionalism’ to ‘contingency’) contingency) 5. Popular Accounts of Divergence Ian Morris, Why the West Rules For Now (New York, 2010). Niall Ferguson, Civilization: The Six Killer Apps of Western Power (London, 2011). http://www.ted.com/talks/niall_ferguson_the_6_kill er_apps_of_prosperity/transcript?language=en 6. Niall Ferguson’s Civilization • Key concept: civilization • “There are those who [claim] that all civilizations are in some sense equal, and that the West cannot claim superiority over, say, the East of Eurasia. But such relativism is demonstrably absurd. No previous civilization had ever achieved such dominance as the West achieved over the Rest”. • Six Killer apps (Competition; Science; Property rights; Medicine; the Consumer Society; and The work ethic) • The Rest? 6. Inequality Thomas Piketty, Capital in the TwentyFirst Century (London, 2014). • International – across nations • Concentration of wealth within nations • Large database • Wealth – not income 6. Inequality: within nations Branko Milanovic, Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalisation (Cambridge MA, 2016) Anthony Atkinson, Inequality: What can be done? (Cambridge MA, 2015) review of Thomas Piketty in the NY Review of Books: A Practical Vision of a More Equal Society. interview with Paul Krugman and Robert Solow in which the two are discussing Atkinson’s book. 6. Inequality: A Global Problem 6. Inequality: A Global Problem 8. Conclusion • Divergence as one example of a big debate in global history • This is a topic with very different interpretations • And a topic that has also public discussion and relevance • Now there is a shift to interpret not growth but poverty and inequality view.