Just why, beginning around 1500, did a few small polities on the western end of the Eurasian landmass come to dominate the rest of the world?” One of the most intriguing questions is why the West suddenly dominated the World after the 1500s which is the crucial question Ferguson addresses here. Ferguson has written one of the best of his several works. He artfully dissects reasons why the West dramatically increased its power and strength over the rest of the world. At present, he says, we are experiencing “the end of 500 years of Western predominance,” and he foresees the possibility of a clash between the declining and rising forces. He wonders “whether the weaker will tip over from weakness to outright collapse.”
Several of Ferguson's works are relevant to his concerns here.
In Empire, Ferguson showed how the Americans lacked manpower for their overseas military efforts, the Americans suffered from an attention deficit and would not pull for their country over the long haul, and perhaps most importantly, the Americans were plagued with a financial deficit.
In Colossus, Ferguson demonstrates that Chimerica, the idea that America can fund its deficit infinitely without severe repercussions, was seriously flawed.
In the Ascent of Money, Ferguson shows the world-wide financial crisis was brought on by a complex of factors but old-fashioned liquidity was the problem during the era of supposedly more secure financial networks.
For his work here, there are six civilizations: Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Islamic, Jewish, and Western (following Melko and Eisenstadt, p. 3). These entities are remarkably resilient despite outside influences and extensive interactions between cultures.
Yet, beginning around 1500, something remarkable happened that has not occurred like anything before or since. The West exploded. In 1500, the West accounted for only 10 percent of the land and 16 percent of the world's population. By 1913, Western nations controlled nearly three fifths of all territory and population and a staggering 79 percent of global economic output (p. 5). "The rise of the United States saw the gap between West and East widen still further. By 1990 the average American was seventy-three times richer than the average Chinese" (p. 5). Both the models of governance and economics were Western, whether the civilization was Eastern or Western.
Imperialism does not explain Western dominance. The Ottoman, Safavid, and Ming dynasties existed at the same time while the West and non-Western empires practiced various forms of imperialism thus this does not account for the West's dominance. An important factor to consider are institutions: consider the test cases of Germany, China, and Korea. In each case, if you impose communist institutions on a culture, people suffer; on the other hand, if Western capitalism flourishes, the very same culture flourishes and prospers.
According to Jared Diamond, the monolithic Chinese empire stifled competition whereas in Europe competition bred excellence and advances. According to Ferguson, this is an "appealing" but not a "sufficient" explanation (p. 12).
According to Ferguson, there are six "mainsprings of global power": 1) competition; 2) science; 3) property rights; 4) medicine; 5) the consumer society; and 6) the work ethic. He calls these the "killer apps" (p. 12) of Western dominance.
Property Rights
Property rights are key. Locke argues that if even seven people are gathered together and their beliefs coincide; they constitute a church. Therefore, all beliefs should be tolerated and through the reasonableness of Christianity some may see the truth (p. 113). In the tolerant example provided, in North America, the United States grew in liberty and expanded. In South America though, the area was characterized by "division, instability, and underdevelopment. . . . " (p. 115) "conflict, poverty, and inequality (p. 119). Ferguson addresses the issue of difference. At root is the issue of land. In his early career as a South American Washington, the Liberator Simon Bolivar failed to appeal to non-whites and they rallied to the royalist cause. It was only after two unsuccessful attempts at forming a Republic that Bolivar developed a strategy to unite all people of color. In his efforts he found unlikely supporters among Irish and British freedom fighters. 7,000 U.K. supporters were attracted with promises of freedom and land (p. 121).
Three difficulties plagued Bolivar even after he successfully repulsed royalist forces. South Americans had had no practical experience running their own affairs as the American colonists had enjoyed for decades before their Revolution. Peninsulares had so controlled governance that the creoles had little experience (p. 123). At one point, Bolivar is quoted by Ferguson as stating that the American experiment could never work in Latin America. He states that there is little in common between the English American and the Spanish American (p. 124). Bolivar's vision was not a land-owning Republic with the rule of law but a life-long dictatorship of Bolivar.
The second problem was the unequal distribution of land. A creole elite, merely 10,000 people, 1.1% of the people, owned nearly all the land (p. 124). In 1910, on the eve of the Mexican revolution, only 2.4% of the rural population owned any land (p. 124). In contrast, in 1900, the rural population in the United States owned 75% of the land. Throughout the British Empire the same general statistic of land ownership remains consistent. Up the present, it continues to be one of the primary distinctions between British-influenced areas and Latin America.
Finally, racial antagonism and division doomed Latin America from unity (p. 125). Creoles resented former slaves and vice versa. The indigenous peoples made up a larger component of Latin America than in North America and they were not integrated, or displaced as in North America, into Latin American governance.
Bolivar's grand vision disintegrated into factional disputations and the unity achieved by the United States never occurred. Bolivar depressingly but accurately described the future of Latin America and it was bleak. "The newly independent states began their lives without a tradition of representative government, with a profoundly unequal distribution of land and with racial cleavages that closely approximated to that economic inequality" (p. 127). Unfortunately, when Hugo Chavez celebrates his connection to Bolivar, the dictatorial, sham democracy, and his nationalizing pursuits, Chavez is on sound historical grounds. Bolivar did not create a republic and he was no Washington.
Medicine
Those contemplating the evils of imperialism might consider the advance in medicine assisting the world's people's to live longer. For example, in 1800 the average life expectancy was 28.5 years, and in 2001, Western medicine lengthened life expectancy globally to 66.6 (p. 146). During the colonialist period life expectancy increased during occupation and has declined in the post-colonial period (p. 147).
One of the most dangerous books ever was Rousseau's insistence in The Social Contract that the Noble Savage should not be restrained and he advocated for the General Will. Edmund Burke had early on seen the danger in the French Revolution and consequently wrote against it. "Revolutions devour their own children" (p. 153). Tocqueville pointed out how France was not America: "in sum, they chose Rousseau over Locke" (p. 154).
Work
One of the most intriguing aspects of China's rise according to Ferguson is the simultaneous popularity of Christianity (pp. 277-88). The Chinese authorities have long been wary of religious movements but Christianity is making significant inroads among the population. According to one scholar, the Communists looked into why the West was pre-eminent, and various reasons were advanced: guns, politics, economics, "but in the past twenty years, we have realized that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West has been so powerful" (p. 287). Christianity and transcendence leads society to understand tolerance, equality, environmental protection, among the leading ideas advanced by the West. "The XIVth Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Part was presented with a report specifying three requirements for sustainable economic growth: property rights as a foundation, the law as a safeguard and morality as a support" (p. 288). It is the West that has lost faith in itself.
To illustrate his points in the conclusion, Ferguson invokes "The Course of Empire" which is a five-part series of paintings created by Thomas Cole in 1833-36 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Course_of_Empire). Paul Kennedy (The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 by Paul M. Kennedy, http://www.librarything.com/work/12599/27116122) develops this American concern, that the Republic is at an end and Ferguson deals with current ideas about the decline and fall of civilization. Kennedy identified "imperial overstretch" as the issue to contend with (p. 298). Then there is Green theorist Jared Diamond's Collapse to consider as well (Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond: http://www.librarything.com/work/1070881/27115644). Ferguson disagrees with Diamond's long-term, catastrophic Green collapse; in contrast, Ferguson states civilizations can collapse over night.
This is the most alarming aspect of Ferguson's work: civilizations, as in nature, are complex systems which can collapse quickly and virtually overnight. He illustrates this point with numerous examples from the Roman Empire to the fall of Great Britain. Civilizations collapse.
Contra Diamond, Ferguson maintains that "The civilizational supercycle of birth, growth, and eventual death is a misrepresentation of the historical process (p. 299)." Civilizations are complex systems (p. 299) and "to understand complexity, it is helpful to examine how natural scientists use the concept" (p. 300). Ferguson employs a useful analogy, "To use the jargon of modern physics, a forest before a fire is in a state of `self-organized criticality'" (p. 300). It is teetering on the edge of disaster but no one knows the size nor distribution the fires. Consider how a smallish event, the subprime mortgage crisis in the U.S. led to a worldwide economic phenomenon (p. 301; or, in the case of a large conflict-ridden Empire, the Soviet Union, persisted for decades but then with no warning or insight by any pundits collapsed in six months (p. 303). Supporting Ferguson's point, the Ottoman Empire likewise flourished for centuries but then collapsed quickly with the beginning of the Turkish Republic.
Most importantly, the story of the West and the rest is explained by Ferguson's six killer apps: "mainsprings of global power" (pp. 305-306). Once the killer apps are downloaded, as in the case of Japan, other economies took off as well. India, once its abysmal socialist experiment ended, invoked free-market principles and benefited tremendously as a result.
According to Ferguson, "the financial crisis that began in the summer of 2007 should therefore be understood as an accelerator of an already well-established trend of relative Western decline" (p. 308). The financial situation of the United States is blinking red and according to Ferguson a relatively minor impetus could plunge the entire system into an immediate tailspin. Our debt is held in foreign hands, primarily China, and other nations such as Japan could pull themselves out of a crisis since they have held onto their own liabilities.
China will consume more, import more, invest more abroad, and innovate more (p. 316). Just as crucial is what could go wrong for China and there are four hypotheses. China could decline as Japan did although before the last two decades Japan was predicted by some to surpass the U.S. Second, China may be plagued with social unrest. A third possibility is that the middle class may demand a bigger piece of the political pie. And finally, China's aggression may drive neighbors into the hands of the U.S.
Other nations have selectively chosen parts of the six killer apps:
"The Chinese have got capitalism. The Iranians have got science. The Russians have got democracy. The Africans are (slowly) getting modern medicine. And the Turks have got the consumer society. But what this means is that Western modes of operation are not in decline but are flourishing nearly everywhere, with only a few remaining pockets of resistance. A growing number of Resterners [Ferguson's name for non-Westerners] are sleeping, showering, dressing, working, playing, eating, drinking and travelling like Westerners. Moreover, as we have seen, Western civilization is more than just one thing; it is a package. It is about political pluralism (multiple states and multiple authorities) as well as capitalism; it is about the freedom of thought as well as the scientific method; it is about the rule of law and property rights as well as democracy. Even today, the West still has more of these institutional advantages than the Rest. The Chinese do not have political competition. The Iranians do not have freedom of conscience. They get to vote in Russia, but the rule of law there is a sham. In none of these countries is there a free press. These differences may explain why, for example, all three countries lag behind Western countries in qualitative indices that measure 'national innovative development’ and ‘national innovation capacity’."
Although other civilizations have portions of the killer apps Ferguson believes that the West may still have an advantage over them.
As Ferguson pointed out earlier, civilizations collapse quickly and although the West no longer maintains a monopoly on advantageous cultural developments there is an endurable package of Western ways of being.
"This Western package still seems to offer human societies the best available set of economic, social and political institutions--the ones most likely to unleash the individual human creativity capable of solving the problems the twenty-first century world faces" (p. 324). It is this package that has done the best job of finding and highlighting talent. "The big question is whether or not we are still able to recognize the superiority of that package" (p. 324).
The Western texts that should be most instructive and promoted in the schools are:
The King James Bible
Shakespeare
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations and Moral Sentiments
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
Isaac Newton, Principia
Charles Darwin, Origin of Species
Abraham Lincoln
Winston Churchill
“The biggest threat to Western civilization is posed not by other civilizations, but by our own pusillanimity — and by the historical ignorance that feeds it” (p. 325). Ferguson calls for a return to traditional education, since “at its core, a civilization is the texts that are taught in its schools, learned by its students and recollected in times of tribulation” (p. 324) — by which he means Great Books, and especially Shakespeare. The greatest dangers facing us are probably not “the rise of China, Islam or CO2 emissions,” he writes, but “our own loss of faith in the civilization we inherited from our ancestors” (p. 325).
"Can the West endure any democracy achieved by enemies who in no way resemble them?"
Orhan Pamuk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orhan_Pamuk
Trump: Western civilisation is under threat, 2:18
https://youtu.be/n1Notlc9s7U
What is civilization?
Why has the West dominated the rest?
What are the six "killer apps" of Western Civilization?
Competition, Science, Property Rights (Democracy-Rule of Law), Medicine, Consumerism, Work ethic
https://youtu.be/wR6SFLhD32Q?list=PLJA4Jys7jT0LR-Ze9Joi2OHsC6_BbY-Hp
Civilization Part 2 - BBC Series by Niall Ferguson, 46:54
https://youtu.be/Yc1me9jOxgk?list=PLJA4Jys7jT0LR-Ze9Joi2OHsC6_BbY-Hp
Civilization Part 3 - BBC Series by Niall Ferguson, 47:33
https://youtu.be/XGV1jAQVnBU
Civilization Pt4 - BBC Series, 46:52
https://youtu.be/myUPIh0UnEo
Civilization Part 5 - BBC Series by Niall Ferguson, 47:00
https://youtu.be/xUXqSm3TWrI
Civilization Part 6 - BBC Series by Niall Ferguson, 14:45
https://youtu.be/WtSGWciDg04
Civilization Part 6.2 - BBC Series by Niall Ferguson, 14:22
https://youtu.be/Hcu-feea2jk
Civilization Part 6.3 - BBC Series by Niall Ferguson, 12:44
https://youtu.be/giqxIxAgpE4
Civilization Part 6.4 - BBC Series by Niall Ferguson, 4:58
https://youtu.be/qcnCn8Kt2Ig
Americans in particular as the leading representatives of Western Civilization are particularly important in maintaining the "killer apps" of civilization.
Yet, it is obvious to many that America is facing enormous challenges that the political system seems unable to solve.
Is there a potential solution, neither left nor right, Republican or Democrat, that the Founders envisioned?
Convention of States
2:13
The Problem
The federal government has overreached its constitutionally-established boundaries and has its hands on almost every area of our lives. Our children and grandchildren will inherit a bankrupt nation run by an unaccountable bureaucracy.
The Solution
Article V of the United States Constitution allows us to call a Convention of States to restrict the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, effectively returning the citizen’s rightful power over the ruling elite.
The Strategy
Working together, state legislators and American citizens can restore the checks and balances on federal power that were put in place by our founding Fathers to protect our liberty from the abuses in Washington, D.C.
https://www.conventionofstates.com/ https://youtu.be/JdsjrVR-JUkThe diversity of immigration has enriched America and some of the most important values of America and the West are continued by immigrants.
The movie, Avalon, tells about one such American immigration family.
1:32
Avalon Trailer (1990) The Polish-Jewish Krichinsky family began to emigrate to the United States in the early twentieth century, settling in Avalon, an inner city immigrant neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland.
Although they brought with them many of their traditions, including a strong family network punctuated by several generations of the same family living under one roof and important decisions about the extended family being made by consensus (by what they call the family circle), they were in search of the American dream.
By mid century, the second and third generations of the American side of the family began to search for their own ideals of the American dream, which included assimilation into American culture (as displayed by an Anglicization of their family name to either Kaye or Kirk), success and prosperity through owning a thriving business of one's own choosing (rather than going into the existing family business), owning a house in the suburbs with only one's own immediate family, and owning a television.
Some of these goals are against the ideals of the older generation, which may cause some family friction, especially in the decision making process at the family circle meetings.
Regardless, life within the Krichinsky/Kaye/Kirk family will go on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b37auo3dSuM&app=desktop
1914 For Jewish people fleeing the pogroms around 1914 does an immigrant appear appreciative of his adopted country or does he want to remain rooted in the ways of the old country?
What does he say to express his emotional reaction to the new country?
https://youtu.be/8vWKJbQT06o
The cousins are upwardly mobile, are partners, and open a successful furniture business.
For decades, immigrants arriving on U.S. soil have welcomed their new country by adopting a fresh and more American-sounding name—popular choices included William, John, Charles, and George.
Whether they knew it or not at the time, that assimilation did more than help them fit in around the neighborhood.
Whether they knew it or not at the time, that assimilation did more than help them fit in around the neighborhood.
Changing a name from purely foreign to a very common American one is linked to a 14 percent jump in earnings, according to a recent paper, “The Economic Payoff of Name Americanization,” cited by the Economist. The more uncommon the original name and the more typical the new American name, the higher the payoff.
The study is not the first to draw ties between people’s names and the salaries they earn.
The Economist notes that “a number of studies show that having an ‘ethnic-sounding’ name tends to disadvantage job applicants.” A 2013 analysis of data from today’s labor market by job search website TheLadders concluded that people who go by shorter names at work tend to earn more money.
For monikers as similar as Sara and Sarah, Michele and Michelle, and Philip and Phillip, each additional letter correlated with a $3,600 drop in annual salary.
In “The Economic Payoff of Name Americanization,” the authors find that immigrants who faced major obstacles in the labor market—for example, few employable skills or a high degree of discrimination—were more likely to Americanize their names.
By 1930, roughly one-third of naturalizing immigrants had forsaken their first name for a popular American one.
By 1930, roughly one-third of naturalizing immigrants had forsaken their first name for a popular American one.
The authors interpret this finding as a sign that when occupational mobility was limited, “migrants adopted alternative strategies to climb the occupational ladder.”
In other words, they changed their names to achieve not only cultural, but also economic success.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/03/28/american_names_immigrants_benefit_economically_from_cultural_assimilation.html
As part of the process of Americanization for immigrants, and to be successful, why or why not should the cousins change their family name to simpler, American names?In other words, they changed their names to achieve not only cultural, but also economic success.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/03/28/american_names_immigrants_benefit_economically_from_cultural_assimilation.html
Whose side do you sympathize with: the cousins who change their name or to the Jewish father?
Avalon Name Change
2:16
https://youtu.be/gp0Q1o9IMgA
What happens to an immigrant family in the late '40s, post-war prosperity period?
The upwardly mobile part of the family moved to the suburbs but the old guard remains in the city.
What tensions do you observe between tradition, family, class, income, and living location?
"You cut the turkey without me." Avalon
3:14
https://youtu.be/0EEl7uV6YQU
Today, immigrants to America often bring values from their former country and wish to retain them and not become part of the Americanization process.
Often today we hear academics describe privilege and how immigrants and others have benefited and done well in America. Let us consider typical experiences of the past immigrants and what their life was like as they came to America.
Do you see examples of privilege by immigrants in the past as you observe "The Salvation"?
The Salvation Official US Release Trailer #1 (2015) https://youtu.be/Imic4ACxSp0
The Salvation 1:32:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgMWBZhhXsI&t=630s
There are those from the left and right of the political spectrum who seek to answer the issues of our day.
Let us consider:
Is Fascism Right Or Left? 5:37
Every Republican president since the 1970s has been called a fascist. Ironic, no? After all, fascism has its roots in the left. Dinesh D'Souza, author of The Big Lie, explains.
1:09 Quiz
https://youtu.be/m6bSsaVL6gA
America: Imagine The World Without Her - Trailer 2:07
What would it be like if an immigrant reflected on America and the if the world did not have America?
Dinesh D'Souza is one such immigrant who has done just that.
Consider, "America: Imagine the World Without Her," by D'Souza.
https://youtu.be/g4svOofmAek
What would the world be like without America? America Imagine the World Without Her,
"Hillary's America" Trailer | Official Teaser Trailer HD 3:09
https://youtu.be/r7e6gLht6OQ
"2016: Obama's America" The Movie 1:46
https://youtu.be/vtv6XUT-hno
CLINTON CASH OFFICIAL DOCUMENTARY MOVIE ( FULL ), 1:04:56
https://youtu.be/7LYRUOd_QoM
