DOCSLIB.ORG

Arnold J. Toynbee and Islamism in Cold War￢ﾀﾓera Turkey

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Arnold J. Toynbee and Islamism in Cold War￢ﾀﾓera Turkey View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Istanbul Sehir University Repository $UQROG-7R\QEHHDQG,VODPLVPLQ&ROG:DU²(UD7XUNH\&LYLOL]DWLRQLVP LQWKH:ULWLQJVRI6H]DL.DUDNRo &HPLO$\GLQ%XUKDQHWWLQ'XUDQ &RPSDUDWLYH6WXGLHVRI6RXWK$VLD$IULFDDQGWKH0LGGOH(DVW9ROXPH 1XPEHU$XJXVWSS $UWLFOH 3XEOLVKHGE\'XNH8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV )RUDGGLWLRQDOLQIRUPDWLRQDERXWWKLVDUWLFOH KWWSVPXVHMKXHGXDUWLFOH Access provided by ISTANBUL SEHIR UNIVERSITESI (29 Apr 2016 09:31 GMT) EMPIRE to REPUBLIC Arnold J. Toynbee and Islamism in Cold War – Era Turkey Civilizationism in the Writings of Sezai Karakoç Cemil Aydin and Burhanettin Duran tudies on the formation of modern Islamist thought in Turkey often provide a long- term perspec- tive, linking the Islamist political orientations with Pan- Islamist thought of the late Ottoman era. S This continuity thesis, however, neglects the crucial transformations in Islamism in the post – World War II period, when the international politics of Cold War and decolonization struggles coincided with the boom of Islamist intellectual writings in secular Republican Turkey. This article concentrates on the crucial additions to and reinterpretations of Islamist thought in Turkey during the Cold War and post – Cold War period by focusing on the civilizationist worldview of Sezai Karakoç (1933 – ), whose influ- ential writings on the civilizational resurrection (diriliş) of Islam have not received the scholarly attention they deserve. By deconstructing Karakoç’s ideas on civilizational Islam and putting them in relation to the writings and influence of British historian Arnold J. Toynbee (1889 – 1975), this article attempts to achieve several objectives: first, it tries to establish the connections between global intellectual history and Islamist thought in Cold War Turkey. Second, it traces the long- term impact of the civilizational theory of world history and politics during the Cold War period on the relations of contemporary Turkey with Europe as well as the Muslim- majority countries in the region. Finally, it aims to explain the resurfacing and popularity of civilizational theses promoted by post – Cold War theorists, be it in terms of “dialogue” or “clashes” among multiple civilizations. Karakoç was born in the year of 1933, in the Eastern Anatolian town Ergani, at the peak of the Westernist cultural revolutions implemented by the Kemalist elite in Turkey. He was raised during the one- party authoritarian secularist rule of the Republican People’s Party in Turkey, when school children in Anatolia were taught the virtues of Western civilization, modernization, and Turkish nationalism. At the same time, as a student without financial means, Karakoç benefited from the free public education of the young republic, completing almost all of his education on government scholarship, including his university training in the prestigious Faculty of Political Science of Ankara University. Upon graduation from university in 1955, Karakoç worked for the Turkish Ministry of Finance in various capacities, partly to fulfill the compulsory public service condition of his government scholarship. Since his resignation from public service in 1973, Karakoç has been earning his living from the sale of his publications on po- litical and cultural issues, as well as his poetry book. 310 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East Vol. 35, No. 2, 2015 • doi 10.1215/1089201x-3139084 • © 2015 by Duke University Press Cemil Aydin and Burhanettin Duran • Civilizationism in the Writings of Sezai Karakoç 311 The period of Sezai Karakoç’s youth coin- titled “Mona Rosa,” in modern Turkish literature.1 cided with the destruction of Europe in WWII, More important, as a bookish intellectual and an the emergence of Cold War global politics, and avid follower of world trends, he wrote important the postwar period of decolonization in Muslim- essays on the politics of civilizational identities and majority countries all over Asia and Africa. Kara- his vision of Islamic civilization’s revival that are koç started to express his political ideas in the influential today. When he was selected for the lit- 1950s, during the first multiparty political experi- erature award by the Turkish Ministry of Culture ment of democratization in Turkey. In this Cold and Tourism in 2007, the documentary prepared War context, Karakoç was deeply interested in in his honor by the Turkish Television and Radio independence struggles in Tunis and Algeria as Company featured testimonies from leading poli- well as the question of Palestine. Meanwhile, other ticians and intellectuals in Turkey. At the age of Islamist writers like Necip Fazıl Kısakürek and eighty- two, he still attracts visits and praises by Nurettin Topçu, who were older than Karakoç and leading politicians, even though he remains criti- influenced him, were trying to redefine secular cal of foreign and domestic policies in Turkey.2 Turkish nationalism by identifying it with Islam Karakoç’s current ascetic life did not prevent on the intellectual level. By merging nationalism him from shaping the Islamist thought of two gen- and Muslim faith, they were able to express Is- erations from the 1960s to the 1990s. When he was lamist ideas to criticize the secularism of Kemalist awarded Turkey’s presidential award for services reforms. However, the close relationship that was to Turkish literature in 2011, Karakoç declined to established by these intellectuals between Islam appear in the ceremony in his honor at the presi- and nationalism was reshaped by Karakoç in a dential palace.3 Yet, when the presidential award more internationalist and civilizationist manner, was announced, Turkish newspapers noted that employing Toynbee’s broader framework of world President Abdullah Gül himself was an avid reader history. Thus, Karakoç became a representative of Karakoç’s poetry and essays during his youth.4 figure in re- internationalizing Islamism in Turkey His vision of the civilizational revival of Islam be- and connecting it with a new postcolonial third- came embraced by many politicians and ideolo- wordlist political vision through the language of gies of Turkish conservative Democrats. Part of civilizationism. Karakoç’s appeal and reputation comes from his Karakoç remained a kind of mystic intellec- detachment from power centers and his humble tual, preferring to stay outside the mainstream lifestyle. Yet, the main reason for his influence is organizations, parties, and movements. Thus, he the appeal of his civilizational framework for in- cannot be considered an ideologue of any of the terpreting history, religious issues, and the politics influential mass conservative democratic parties of educated publics in Turkey and beyond. There- such as the Justice and Development Party ( JDP). fore, Karakoç’s civilizationist worldview should be Yet, his critiques of Western civilization and his vi- examined in order to better understand the global sion of a Muslim civilizational revival exerted sig- intellectual history and political implications of nificant influence on several generations of con- the discourse of civilization in relation to the Cold servative intellectuals of Turkey, and they allow War, decolonization struggles, Westernization pro- us to better understand the content and nature cesses in Muslim societies, and the post – Cold War of Islamist political orientation in contemporary era rise of political Islam. Karakoç was an active Turkey. Karakoç is known as a very talented poet, witness to all of these processes and contributed to composing one of the most celebrated love poems, the general Muslim intellectual response to them. 1. For more information on Karakoç’s poetry, 3. Similarly, Sezai Karakoç earlier declined to 4. See “President Gül Giving an Award to this see Karataş, Doğu’nun Yedinci Oğlu, 211 – 19. appear in the ceremony when he was the re- Intellectual Mentor” (“Cumhurbaşkanı Gül’den cipient of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and ‘fikir hocasına’ ödül”), Sabah, December 27, 2. TRT Sezai Karakoç Belgeseli (the Turkish Radio Tourism Grand Award in 2007. 2011, www.sabah.com.tr/Gundem/2011/12/27 Television Corporation documentary on Sezai /cumhurbaskani- gulden- fikir- hocasina- odul. Karakoç) was first broadcast on September 10, 2010. It was titled “Gün Doğmadan” (“Before the Dawn”) in reference to a poem by Karakoç. 312 Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East • 35:2 • 2015 As a well- educated writer familiar with European ficers explain to their loyal Muslim subjects the intellectuals, especially Toynbee, Karakoç illus- true nature of Muslim political theory on both trated the importance of the circulation of ideas the caliphate and the Ottoman Empire.8 Yet, even on a global scale. when the British Empire ruled over more Muslims than Christians, Toynbee considered it a represen- Toynbee as a Global Intellectual tative of Western civilization, while the Ottoman Before analyzing Karakoç’s civilizationism, it is Empire ruling over Armenians, Greeks, and Jews important to examine the importance of Toynbee was considered a representative of the Muslim as a global intellectual whose world history model world. Toynbee seemed relieved by the disintegra- influenced Karakoç tremendously.5 Toynbee was tion of the Ottoman Empire and abolishment of educated at Oxford and began teaching at Balliol the Ottoman Caliphate after WWI, and during College in 1912. He became a professor of modern the interwar years, Toynbee’s relationship with Greek
Load more

Recommended publications
  • World History Education in Scholarship, Curriculum, and Textbooks, 1890-2002
    WHAT ARE OUR 17-YEAR OLDS TAUGHT? WORLD HISTORY EDUCATION IN SCHOLARSHIP, CURRICULUM AND TEXTBOOKS, 1890-2002 Jeremy L. Huffer A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS December 2009 Committee: Tiffany Trimmer, Advisor Scott Martin Nancy Patterson © 2009 Jeremy L. Huffer All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Tiffany Trimmer, Advisor This study examines world history education in the United States from the late 19th century through 2002 by investigating the historical interplay between three mechanisms of curricular control: scholarship, curriculum recommendations, and textbook publishing. Research for this study has relied on unconventional source classification, with historical monographs which defined key developments in world history scholarship and textbooks being examined as primary sources. More typical materials, such as secondary sources analyzing philosophical educational battles, the history of educational movements, historiography, and the development of new ideologies from have been incorporated as well. Since educational policy began trending towards increasing levels of standardization with the implementation of compulsory education in the late 1800s, policymakers have been grappling with what to teach students about the wider world. Early scholarship focused on the history of Western Civilization, as did curriculum recommendations and world history textbooks crafted by professional historians of the period. Amidst the chaos of two World Wars, economic depression, the collapse of the global imperial system, and the advent of the Cold War traditional accounts of the unimpeachable progress of the Western tradition began to ring hollow with some historians. New scholarship in the second half of the twentieth century refocused world history, shifting away from the cyclical rise and fall of civilizations model which emphasized the separate traditions of various societies and towards a narrative of increasing interconnectedness.
    [Show full text]
  • Great Divergence of the 18Th Century?
    Cliodynamics: The Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution Great Divergence of the 18th Century? Andrey Korotayev1,2, Julia Zinkina3, Denis Zlodeev1 1 National Research University Higher School of Economics 2 Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences 3 Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Abstract The article suggests that the Great Divergence of the 19th century between “the West” and “the East” was preceded by the Great Divergence in the 18th century between the Global North and the Global South. This may be attributed to a new, much higher level of state efficiency in the Global North. The eastern and western regions of the Global North frequently used different methods to make their state apparatuses more efficient, but achieved strikingly similar results during the 18th century. The Great Divergence of the 19th century, remarkably, occurred within the Global North. Introduction. The Great Divergence One of the major contributions made by Jack Goldstone to the study of social macroevolution is constituted by his founding of the 'California School' in whose framework the Great Divergence theory was developed (Frank 1998; Goldstone 1991, 2002, 2008a, and 2008b; Marks 2002; Pomeranz 2000 and 2002; Vries 2003, 2010, and 2013; Wong 1997). In the 19th century, northwestern Europe saw the birth of capital-intensive and fossil-fuel based manufacturing. Spreading throughout Europe and the United States, these changes triggered explosive growth resulting in the gap in per
    [Show full text]
  • Leaving Western Civ Behind WILLIAM H
    Leaving Western Civ Behind WILLIAM H. MCNEILL I PROPOSE TO SURVEY MY EFFORT to understand Plato, Augustine, Luther, Voltaire, Marx, human history, seeking to clarify how I got to Flaubert, and many others. The Human Web (2003) from earlier world- views proffered by teachers and then altered My undergraduate years and elaborated by me, starting in childhood The course was put together by Ferdinand and proceeding all the way to the senility that Schevill, an elderly history professor who lec- PERSPECTIVES begins to beset me today. tured three times a week to a class of several In the beginning was Sunday school, where hundred. Schevill’s lectures had a clear and kindly teachers told us comprehensive point of view, juxtaposing Bible stories and did reason against faith, St. Socrates against St. their best to keep us quiet, except when we Paul, with clear and emphatic preference for My college years sang hymns. Christian doctrine was left out: Socrates and the human reason he stood for as contributed lasting no original sin, no redeeming grace, no hell the best available guide to human affairs. I either; and heaven remained very misty. The already had inklings of this secular—really, assumptions core message boiled down to this: Jesus loved eighteenth-century—viewpoint from high I used when us, and we should love him in return, just as school, where we had used Carl Becker’s text- working out all we loved and depended on our own mothers. book for modern European history. But it was my subsequent Not much of a worldview, but all a Canadian only under Schevill’s influence that what I Presbyterian Sunday school in the early 1920s will call the “Western Civ” model of the hu- notions about felt it safe to impart.
    [Show full text]
  • A HISTORIAN's MEMOIR. by William H. Mcneill. Lexing
    History and Theory 46 (October 2007), xxx-xxx © Wesleyan University 2007 ISSN: 0018-2656 WILLIAM H. MCNEILL: LUCRETIUS AND MOSES IN WORLD HISTORY1 THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH: A HISTORIAN’S MEMOIR. By William H. McNeill. Lexing- ton: University Press of Kentucky, 2005. Pp. viii, 189. I The 1963 publication of William McNeill’s The Rise of the West was a great step forward for global historiography.2 The widespread attention to the book amount- ed to recognition of world history as a valid field of discourse both for the reading public and for historical scholars. Hugh Trevor-Roper, the Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford and one of the most visible scholars in the historical profession, wrote a highly positive review in the New York Times Sunday book review section; The Rise of the West subsequently won a National Book Award.3 The book conveyed a compelling statement of past and present on a grand scale, a global vision accessible to a North American reading public that had just passed through the terrifying brinkmanship of the Cuban Missile Crisis; its author be- came a public intellectual.4 The book also facilitated discussion of broad patterns in the past by professional historians and confirmed McNeill, already a well-es- tablished historian of Europe, as the leading authority in world history, a field whose emergence owed much to his own work. The term “emergence” is, I think, appropriate. World history had long existed as a stimulating but marshy mix of narratives, compendia, theories, and pronounce- ments—arguably at the creative frontier of historical analysis but, realistically, below the surface of academic discourse in history.
    [Show full text]
  • {TEXTBOOK} the Rise of the West a History of the Human Community
    THE RISE OF THE WEST A HISTORY OF THE HUMAN COMMUNITY 2ND EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK William H McNeill | 9780226561417 | | | | | The Rise of the West A History of the Human Community 2nd edition PDF Book From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. A civilized state required 1 basic institutions of government and public bureaucracy; 2 the organizational capacity for self-defense; 3 a published legal code and adherence to the rule of law; 4 the capacity to honor contracts in commerce and capital exchange; and 5 recognition of international law and norms, including the laws of war Gong ; Bowden , The rise of the West on a cosmopolitan scale from to is described as to continued territorial expansion, industrialism , the democratic revolution, and intellectual aspects. Osterhammel, T. Thus, in this case, a single-minded pursuit of security led to extinction. For McNeill and myself it is the second major failing of the book and its author. European economic history Fascinating fact number 3,! McNeill, William Innovative four-step chapter reviews help students build historical skills while retaining key content. March 14, That in turn also vitiates his comparisons with 'the rest' of the alleged 'exceptionalism of the West,' which has long since been disconfirmed by historical research and social theory, most recently again by Jack Goody under the title The East in the West. Fourteen Ninety-Two. These means, along with the advent of the iron-clad steamship, gave Europeans the forceful power needed to subjugate those remaining uncolonized peoples of the world. No miracles. Schwarzenberger, G. Cameron, ed. With them they took their new military methods and, as these steadily improved, they gradually gained superiority over all their opponents: over the Americans in the sixteenth century, over most Indonesians in the seventeenth, and over many Indians and Africans in the eighteenth.
    [Show full text]
  • Europe and Asia Beyond East and West
    Europe and Asia Beyond East and West This is a timely volume that explores Europe in its relation to Asia in a way that moves beyond simplistic notions of West and East. Rejecting the idea of a clash of civilizations, the contributions highlight the interlinked nature of Europe and Asia and attempt to identify cosmopolitan moments of openness. From both a historical and a contemporary perspective, it is shown that both Europe and Asia are not based on fixed cultural or geographical foundations. The East is also in the West. Rather than look at Europe and Asia in terms of separate worlds, they can be seen in terms of cultural struggles common to both. A general theme is that the idea of the West as an ideological, cultural and geopolitical construct is becoming increasingly questionable when applied to the current situation, which is one in which West and East are mutually linked. The articulation of a new European identity that includes a recognition of the non-European is now one of the major chances for Europe to define its identity in the world. Chapters are thematically organized under four headings: • A post-Western world • Asia in Europe: Encounters in History • Between Europe and Asia • Otherness in Europe and Asia This major new title will be of great value to students and researchers in the fields of Sociology, European Politics and History, and Cultural Theory. Gerard Delanty is Professor of Sociology, University of Liverpool. His recent books include (with Chris Rumford) Rethinking Europe: Social Theory and the Implications of Europeanization (Routledge, 2005); Community (Routledge, 2004).
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Traditions and Modern Imperatives for the Restoration of Global History
    Patrick O’Brien Historical traditions and modern imperatives for the restoration of global history Article (Published version) (Refereed) Original citation: O'Brien, Patrick (2006) Historical traditions and modern imperatives for the restoration of global history. Journal of global history, 1 (1). pp. 3-39. ISSN 1740-0228 DOI: 10.1017/S1740022806000027 © 2006 The London School of Economics and Political Science This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/26471/ Available in LSE Research Online: September 2012 LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. Journal of Global History (2006) 1, pp 3–39 ª London School of Economics and Political Science 2006 doi:10.1017/S1740022806000027 Historiographical traditions and modern imperatives for the restoration of global history* Patrick O’Brien Department of Economic History, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK E-mail: p.o’[email protected] Abstract This essay has been written to serve as a prolegomenon for a new journal in Global History. It opens with a brief depiction of the two major approaches to the field (through connexions and comparisons) and moves on to survey first European and then other historiographical traditions in writing ‘centric’ histories up to the times of the Imperial Meridian 1783–1825, when Europe’s geopolitical power over all other parts of the world became hegemonic.
    [Show full text]
  • Ten Years of Debate on the Origins of the Great Divergence
    Ten Years of Debate on the Origins of the Great Divergence Book: The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy Kenneth Pomeranz Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2000, ISBN: 9780691090108; 392pp.; Price: £20.95 Reviewer: Professor Patrick O'Brien London School of Economics Citation: Professor Patrick O'Brien, review of Ten Years of Debate on the Origins of the Great Divergence, (review no. 1008) https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/1008 Date accessed: 17 March, 2020 Ten Years of Debate on the Origins of the Great Divergence between the Economies of Europe and China during the Era of Mercantilism and Industrialization 1. Smith, Marx and Weber Along with histories of power, histories of material life and economic growth are the most popular of metanarratives currently published in the growing field of global history. Indeed no surprise will be occasioned by the appearance in our times, of accelerated ‘globalization’, of histories seeking to encompass a ‘global economy’, dealing with chronologies going back millennia and written to expound upon the disparate levels of material progress achieved by tribes, societies, communities and national economies located on all the world’s continents. Such concerns continue to be the litmus test of the mission of global economic history to keep ‘humanity in view’. After all, most people, in most places for most of history have been preoccupied with obtaining food, shelter, clothing and other manufactured artefacts that they required to sustain either a basic, a comfortable and only latterly, an agreeable standard of living. Traditions of historical enquiry into the wealth and poverty of nations began with Herodotus but modern paradigms for investigation need be traced no further back than to the towering intellects of two cosmopolitan, but perhaps equally ‘Eurocentric’ Germans: Karl Marx and Max Weber.
    [Show full text]
  • The Political Economy of Imperialism, Decolonization and Development
    B.J.Pol.S., Page 1 of 32 Copyright r Cambridge University Press, 2011 doi:10.1017/S0007123410000232 The Political Economy of Imperialism, Decolonization and Development ERIK GARTZKE AND DOMINIC ROHNER* Nations have historically sought power and prosperity through control of physical space. In recent decades, however, this has largely ceased. Most states that could do so appear relucant, while the weak cannot expand. This article presents a theory of imperialism and decolonization that explains both historic cycles of expansion and decline and the collective demise of the urge to colonize. Technological shocks enable expansion, while rising labour costs and the dynamics of military technology gradually dilute imperial advantage. Simultaneously, economic development leads to a secular decline in payoffs for appropriating land, minerals and capital. Once conquest no longer pays great powers, the systemic imperative to integrate production vertically also becomes archaic. ‘Other nations in history have fought in foreign lands and remained to occupy and exploit. Americans, following a battle, want nothing more than to return home y’ George W. Bush Two recent American wars in the Middle East have reawakened discussions of American Empire.1 In contrast to traditional patterns, however, the United States appears to have no desire to acquire more territory. Whether empire requires physical expansion and colonization, or simply ‘effective control’ of another society,2 seems to us to be largely definitional.3 Labelling American motives and practices as imperial, hegemonic or something else is perhaps less critical than attempting to understand why such behaviour * Department of Political Science, University of California-San Diego (email: [email protected]); Department of Economics, University of Zurich, respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth
    The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth By DARON ACEMOGLU,SIMON JOHNSON, AND JAMES ROBINSON* The rise of Western Europe after 1500 is due largely to growth in countries with access to the Atlantic Ocean and with substantial trade with the New World, Africa, and Asia via the Atlantic. This trade and the associated colonialism affected Europe not only directly, but also indirectly by inducing institutional change. Where “initial” political institutions (those established before 1500) placed significant checks on the monarchy, the growth of Atlantic trade strengthened merchant groups by constraining the power of the monarchy, and helped merchants obtain changes in institutions to protect property rights. These changes were central to subsequent economic growth. (JEL F10, N13, O10, P10) The world we live in was shaped by the rapid There is little agreement, however, on why this economic growth that took place in nineteenth- growth took place in Western Europe and why century Western Europe. The origins of this it started in the sixteenth century. growth and the associated Industrial Revolution This paper establishes the patterns of eco- are generally considered to lie in the economic, nomic growth in Western Europe during this political, and social development of Western era, develops a hypothesis on the origins of the Europe over the preceding centuries. In fact, rise of (Western) Europe and provides historical between 1500 and 1800, Western Europe expe- and econometric evidence supporting some of rienced a historically unprecedented period of the implications of this hypothesis. sustained growth, perhaps the “First Great Di- We document that the differential growth of vergence” (i.e., the first major sustained diver- Western Europe during the sixteenth, seven- gence in income per capita across different teenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centu- regions of the world), making this area substan- ries is almost entirely accounted for by the tially richer than Asia and Eastern Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Rethinking the Rise of the West: the Great Divergence Debate
    Lesson plan for web module: China and Europe, 1500-2000 and Beyond: What is "Modern"? Rethinking the Rise of the West: The Great Divergence Debate Konstantin Georgidis, Canterbury School, Ft. Myers, Florida I. Introduction a. Rationale b. Grade Level and time required c. Goals d. Instructional Objectives e. Resources f. Procedures II. Class Activities: Comparing and Contrasting Points of View A. The Traditional Story of the Rise of the West B. Rethinking the Rise of the West C. Historians and Their Perspectives: A Debate z Primary Sources z Secondary Sources III. Web Sources IV. Bibliography Introduction Rationale This unit focuses on historiography. It traces the ways in which historians view the rise of the west during the period from 1450 to 1850. In the past, historians have explained Europe's rise-as expressed in European global dominance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - by focusing on maritime achievements in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, industrialization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and imperialism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This interpretation has also generally viewed Europe's rise as a result of unique European cultural factors. More recent interpretations, however, have been critical of Western dominance and have attempted to place that dominance in a global historical context. In the 1970s, for example, world systems theory sought to view European dominance as a product of the expansionary nature of capitalism. In the last decade, scholars with opposing views about when, how, and why the West rose have hotly debated new interpretations. Even more recently, new comparative scholarship has sought to locate Europe's rise within a global trade network long dominated by China.
    [Show full text]
  • A Roundtable on Michael Kimmage, the Abandonment of the West
    A Roundtable on Michael Kimmage, The Abandonment of the West Christopher McKnight Nichols, Heather Marie Stur, Brad Simpson, Andy Rotter, and Michael Kimmage Whither the West? From Columbian Triumphalism to the traces the rise, decline, and fall of many intertwined and first Non-Western Presidency: often competing notions and reorientations of the “West” A Review of Michael Kimmage, The Abandonment of the in foreign policy thought, debate, and practice. West At heart, this book is about how perhaps the most vaunted of Enlightenment ideals—a “Western”-centered set Christopher McKnight Nichols of concepts related to liberty and the definition, extension, and practice thereof—have and have not been embodied in the rhetoric and the practice of U.S. foreign relations. This he title of this book evokes numerous Donald Trump is an intellectual genealogy. As such, it seeks to reveal the tweets, statements, and threats over the past five sinuous path by which we arrived at contemporary notions years. It also raises questions: was Trump pro-West of the West and to point out which notions were rejected, Tor not, and how does his administration and its policies adapted, and transformed along the way. compare to those of his predecessors? The book asks, in other words, how the United States Trumpism and the related, inchoate policies of “America got from the era of the Turnerian “closure of frontiers” First” were firmly positioned against the organizational and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, which structures and assumptions of the so-called liberal were characterized by encomiums to Anglo-Saxon international order, or rules-based order.
    [Show full text]