Why is the West is so much more successful than the rest of the world?
A significant (and probably fair) assumption is success is primarily measured in terms of economics, wealth, quality of life.
Economic historian Niall Ferguson offers an explanation which involves "six killer apps" in his TED talk: competition; the Scientific Revolution; the rule of law and representative government; modern medicine; the consumer society; and the Protestant work ethic. Further he argues other nations are adopting these "six killer apps" today, thereby making themselves successful, whereas these "apps" are degrading in Western nations. Although it remains an open question whether all six "apps" are necessary for success and whether the sequence matters (e.g. China does not have representative government but does have a strong work ethic).
This is in the vein of Victor Davis Hanson's earlier work Carnage and Culture, which in turn is a response to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. If it can be reduced to a single word, Diamond's book argues the West is so much more successful because of geography. Hanson responds and argues, again if we can reduce the argument to a word, that it is not geography but culture.
By the way, Ferguson points out the economic and many other significant discrepancies between East and West Germany (prior to the end of the Cold War) and the current discrepancies between North and South Korea rule out geography as an explanation because Germany and Korea would be in the same geographic area, with similar natural resources, societies and culture, etc. Their main difference is democracy vs. communism. (Although I wonder if East Germany and North Korea don't have less natural resources and more geographic obstacles than West Germany and South Korea?)
Rodney Stark's books argue the success is fundamentally due to religion i.e. Judeo-Christianity.
Speaking for myself, at the end of the day I'd side with Stark, although there are merits to everyone's points, to varying degrees.
Monday, January 2, 2012
The West and the rest
Why is the West is so much more successful than the rest of the world?
A significant (and probably fair) assumption is success is primarily measured in terms of economics, wealth, quality of life.
Economic historian Niall Ferguson offers an explanation which involves "six killer apps" in his TED talk: competition; the Scientific Revolution; the rule of law and representative government; modern medicine; the consumer society; and the Protestant work ethic. Further he argues other nations are adopting these "six killer apps" today, thereby making themselves successful, whereas these "apps" are degrading in Western nations. Although it remains an open question whether all six "apps" are necessary for success and whether the sequence matters (e.g. China does not have representative government but does have a strong work ethic).
This is in the vein of Victor Davis Hanson's earlier work Carnage and Culture, which in turn is a response to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. If it can be reduced to a single word, Diamond's book argues the West is so much more successful because of geography. Hanson responds and argues, again if we can reduce the argument to a word, that it is not geography but culture.
By the way, Ferguson points out the economic and many other significant discrepancies between East and West Germany (prior to the end of the Cold War) and the current discrepancies between North and South Korea rule out geography as an explanation because Germany and Korea would be in the same geographic area, with similar natural resources, societies and culture, etc. Their main difference is democracy vs. communism. (Although I wonder if East Germany and North Korea don't have less natural resources and more geographic obstacles than West Germany and South Korea?)
Rodney Stark's books argue the success is fundamentally due to religion i.e. Judeo-Christianity.
Speaking for myself, at the end of the day I'd side with Stark, although there are merits to everyone's points, to varying degrees.
A significant (and probably fair) assumption is success is primarily measured in terms of economics, wealth, quality of life.
Economic historian Niall Ferguson offers an explanation which involves "six killer apps" in his TED talk: competition; the Scientific Revolution; the rule of law and representative government; modern medicine; the consumer society; and the Protestant work ethic. Further he argues other nations are adopting these "six killer apps" today, thereby making themselves successful, whereas these "apps" are degrading in Western nations. Although it remains an open question whether all six "apps" are necessary for success and whether the sequence matters (e.g. China does not have representative government but does have a strong work ethic).
This is in the vein of Victor Davis Hanson's earlier work Carnage and Culture, which in turn is a response to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. If it can be reduced to a single word, Diamond's book argues the West is so much more successful because of geography. Hanson responds and argues, again if we can reduce the argument to a word, that it is not geography but culture.
By the way, Ferguson points out the economic and many other significant discrepancies between East and West Germany (prior to the end of the Cold War) and the current discrepancies between North and South Korea rule out geography as an explanation because Germany and Korea would be in the same geographic area, with similar natural resources, societies and culture, etc. Their main difference is democracy vs. communism. (Although I wonder if East Germany and North Korea don't have less natural resources and more geographic obstacles than West Germany and South Korea?)
Rodney Stark's books argue the success is fundamentally due to religion i.e. Judeo-Christianity.
Speaking for myself, at the end of the day I'd side with Stark, although there are merits to everyone's points, to varying degrees.
