Civilization:The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson

“I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of ‘somebodiness’ that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro’s frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible ‘devil’”.

He wants his readers to imagine the pain and humiliation of the ill treatment that African Americans endure on a daily basis. King writes of vicious mobs lynching people’s mothers and fathers, policemen killing people’s brothers and sisters, a man and his wife not receiving the proper respect they deserve because of their skin color, and the notion that African Americans feel insignificant within their communities; this is why these peaceful demonstrators of whom the clergymen attack “find it difficult to wait” (King, 20). However, King believes that soon, injustice will be exposed, like “a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up” (King, 30). This vivid description helps arouse an emotional response, driving shame into the hearts of his white readers.

This had led to British completely outmuscling the Chinese with their far superior technology, as well as forcing the Chinese into a treaty that opened up numerous ports in China, allowed Westerners to move to China, as well as pay reparations to the British. This utter defeat showed the Chinese that they needed to adapt, and our second document, a map forecasting the partition of China amongst various nations, showed them that they needed to make those changes quick. All of this led to arguments between groups who felt China needed to self-strengthen and those who feared the increasing influence of Western ideals that could be brought on by learning more about the West in order to better defend against it. This is shown in our third document on self-strengtheners, such as Feng Guifen who argues for youths to be taught in Western languages and sciences in order to best defend against them. This document shows further the nationalism within China, as well as the importance of traditions, ideals, and values, as both sides argue their points based on protecting them from Western

The non-Western societies responded to the West’s power differently, during the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s.When the industrialization train rolled into other societies, they greeted it with open arms. They would try to preserve the old ways, or sought out to modernize on their own. Some were too weak to adjust on their own terms.

Tuesday November 4th, 2008. All across the country, eyes are fixated on television screens. Everyone waits in anticipation. The race is almost called. Then, after hours of waiting, the 47th President of the United States of America is announced and simultaneously history is made. A Black man, Barack Obama, has just been elected. However in the time leading up to the election as well as the years that would follow, Obama faces much animosity, criticism, and hatred. In the article, “The Slow Motion Lynching of President Barack Obama”, Frank Schaeffer argues that Obama is being lynched, unfairly attacked and made victim in large part to the country’s racism. Although I agree that President Barack Obama has been unjustly criticized and attacked, Schaeffer only names race as the fuel for such criticism and fails to mention other contributing factors to the lynching of the President.

Rome is known for its’ empire (The Roman Empire). Rome started out small and ended up becoming this huge and undefeatable force of nature. Rome received their success by either attacking other nearby towns/neighbors or granting them treaties or citizenships. E. Badien, the author who created an article called, The Organization Of Italy, explains how Rome organized Italy, and got their neighboring cities and nations to join them and turn ancient Italy into a leading state of power. In Badien’s observations, he finds that granting citizenship and the Latin’s helped Rome to become powerful and assisting Italy to be more structured.

Niall Ferguson’s thesis in his book “Civilization: The West and the Rest,” is to explain and prove why western civilization has exceeded the accomplishments of other nations throughout history up until present day. He attributes this world dominance to six “killer applications” the west had adopted and advanced beyond the means of any other civilizations. These applications were: competition, science, private property, medicine, consumption, and work.

Both authors, Samuel P. Huntington and Francis Fukuyama, don’t have any conflicting views but have different perceptions as to how they see the world after the revolution and the cold war. Samuel believes that the west is dominating the world, changing cultures and customs of other countries. However, Francis analyzes the positive aspects of how the liberal democracy in the west is more powerful than all other democratic nations and he portrays how western dominance is effective and healthy for most of the nations.

The last aspect to point out in more recent times compared to the crusades and colonialism is the cold war, and how that has and will continue to impact the opposing views of western and Islamic societies. According to Samuel Huntington, the cold war the world was separated into the First, Second and Third Worlds, and he sees divisions are no longer relevant and it being “…far more meaningful now to group countries not in terms of their political or economic systems or in terms of their level of economic development but rather in terms of their culture and civilization.” Distinguishing people in the correct way can help further people understanding of the cultural and educate people enough to not fall into such prejudices and stereotypes. Huntington believed that there will be more conflict between the two societies in time to come. One way he expresses this is by the post-cold war conflict in the Persian Gulf, and Caucasus and Bosnia, now although these were not full-scale war between the civilizations, it still involved many “…elements of civilizational rallying, which seemed to become more important as the conflict continued and which may provide a foretaste of the future.” With that, it is notable to see all the differences that has risen recently between China and the United States in such areas

The period 1450s saw an existence of powerful cities such as Asia, Africa, and Americas with established trading networks over land and sea. Societies in Asia and the Middle East were the world leaders in economics; in science and technology; and in shipping, trade, and exploration until about AD 1500 (Goldstone, 2009). Europe emerged from the Middle Ages and entered its Renaissance, well behind many of the advanced civilizations elsewhere in the world and did not catch up with and surpass the leading Asian societies until about AD 1800 (Ibid). This history leads one to enquire what was so special that the West did or have to rise to the current global stature that it has become. Though presumptions have been to point to a unique European defined path to success, these have been cast by a cloud of doubt following Japan’s rise as the second largest economy in the 1980s leaving the questions about the western origins of political and economic ideas and institutions (Rosenthal and Wong, 2010).

Stuart Hall’s The West and the Rest and Edward Said’s Orientalism both explore notions of power and discourse with regard to the dynamics of the Western world and the non-Western world. The works engage with the concept of a worldwide binary of two unequal sides, and how certain discourses, namely that of “the West and the Rest”, and Orientalism, have both stemmed from this idea and worked to maintain it. While Hall engages with the idea of “the West and the Rest” – the Western world and how it has been defined in opposition to the non-Western – Said analyses the relationship between “the Orient and the Occident” (2). Said’s work reflects in a more concrete way what Hall proposes in his, using the example of “the Orient” as part of “the Rest” against which the Western world positions itself. Both pieces convey significant ideas about how power informs perceptions of difference between societies, and in turn how discourse forms and maintains global hegemonic power.

What Frank lacked in the idea of culture in the Rise of the West is given credit for by David Landes. Landes believes the Rise of the West occurred mainly because of European’s innovative culture after 1000 C.E. that led it to transform world power during the Industrial Revoltion. (pg.4) Landes’ argument that innovative minds of Europe helped in creating the superpower

centers in China” (p. 80), talking about how we have shared beliefs as a culture. The statement demonstrates how Eurocentric the division of even geography is. When discussing “East vs. West” I never realized that to China, the United States is no “the West”. This has led me to question other firmly held “known” beliefs or perceptions.

‘Why are the Western nations small and yet strong? What are we large and yet weak? We must search for the means to become their equal ... At first they may take the foreigners as their teachers and models; then they may come to the same level and be their equals; finally they may move ahead and surpass them. Herein lies the way to self-strengthening.’1

In The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson argues that the progress of money is essential to the progress of man. More importantly, he argues that understanding the history of finance provides some insights into making better financial decisions. Although Ferguson’s book is not an introduction to finance, it contains some well-supported arguments with historical lessons and insights of world finance.