Western and Non-Western Societies, Essay Example

Europeans became much more aware of the outside world from the 12th Century.  The Upper class of society being spurred on by the creation of wealth from trading. This resulted in increased expansion in the 13th Century. By the turn of the 15th Century Europe had expanded her technological prowess and had fleets of ships with improved metal techniques. These were able to Navigate the oceans and had superior armaments to other societies.  The advent of the compass enabled better navigating and discovery of new territories.  In the 16th Century Britain, Holland and France became dominant powers.  These countries concentrated on building ships (Navy’s) whilst Portugal and Spain focused upon consolidation of colonial conquests.  The French reached out to North America in 1534 establishing colonies in Canada.

With the arrival of the 17th Century the Europeans had created a new world order and domination over much of the remaining world.  England, France and Holland were the central power brokers whilst Spain and Portugal could not keep up with the economic and leadership required in maintaining colonial dominance.  ” The gains of overseas exploration of the New World were immense. Gold and silver flooded into Europe, especially into Spain and ultimately into the hands of Italian and German bankers and merchants. Economic conditions seemed to be improving and the population was increasing. But with this wealth came poverty as investors and businessmen sought to take advantage of their new found wealth”  (Kreis, 2009)

During the 19th Century Europe witnessed the partial re-unification of Europe under the Prussian leader Otto Von Bismark.  The Chancellor of Germany from 1871 to 1890. This created a series of wars which was instrumental in redefining the German States and shaping Germany within the

Professor Lucien Pye was responsible for producing a generalized model of the non Western Political process.  He implied that the West had a strong political process that enabled dominance over the non western societies.  Pye stated ” in non western societies the political and social spheres are not sharply differentiated “.  (Diamant, 1959)

In 1851 Britain hosted an exposition that heralded the nation as the ‘ workshop of the world’ .  A tiny island with a population of half that of France was Europe’s role model for industrial excellence.  Britain was producing 2/3rd of the worlds coal, more than 50% of iron, cotton and cloths.  The merchandise dominated in all of the world markets and the income greater than any other nation in Europe.  Britain was the envy of Europe and an economy to be emulated by others.  British manufacturers feared no competition from foreign trade and in almost a single stroke had broken away from hundreds of years of economic nationalism ” She was in short the very model of industrial excellence and achievement, a pace setter to be reckoned with and feared ”  (Landes, 2003).

It was the period between 1850 and 1873 that really was Europe’s powerhouse of growth.  In particular France, Belgium, Germany and Britain led the charge. The unprecedented growth resulted in a real absence of solid statistics in income and products.  It was a time of railroad construction, production of iron and steel, coal production, steam generation and a huge textile industry based upon cotton products.  Whilst Britain was protecting its colonial interests with Naval supremacy mainland Europe was in a period of construction and development. In particular the vast build of the transportation  infrastructure and railway systems.  During the period between 1850 and 1870 Europe laid fifty thousand miles of new railway track.  This particularly integrating the transportation systems between France and Germany.

Non western countries, for definition those out of the Christendom block, have tended to alienate themselves against western values.  This is attributed to prior domination by the west, lack of progressive modernization and identity crisis.  The more recent global revival of religion, particularly in Islamic countries has been used as an excuse to promote anti-western sentiments. This is a consequence of the west’s modernization and a lack of these non western societies ton keep pace with progression.  Hence religion has been used to describe western democracies as primarily Christian and therefore subversive.  This leads to secularization and aspects of degeneration.  This becomes more complex when people move from non western societies into Western societies and will not conform to the constitution of the newly adopted country.  A recent example in France where Muslim women are legally going to be prevented from wearing a veil over their faces.  ” The Islamic resurgence has manifested itself in every Muslim country, often becoming a major social, cultural and intellectual movement with a deep impact on politics. In 1996 virtually every Muslim country except Iran was more Islamist than it was 15 years earlier. In the countries where Islamist political forces do not shape the government, they invariably dominate the opposition to the government”  (Huntington, 1997).

The challenge of modernisation to the Islamic world will test the resolve of the western world.  Turkey may become pivotal in terms of helping to bridge the cultural divide between Islamic and Western cultures.  The success for this may well be the final acceptance as a Member state of the European Union.  Failure to meet this challenge may further deepen the chasm between the two and give credence for increased fundamentalist islamic terrorism against the Western democracies.  In mays this resembles the situation of the Chinese in the late Nineteenth century .. ” the Chinese response to modernisation and would probably take a much longer time. The decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century took place around the same time as the decline of the Qing Dynasty in China. Both collapsed at the beginning of the last century. After many twists and turns, China has finally re-emerged onto the global stage with a bright future ahead of it.”  (Yeo, 2005).

The strengthening of Europe in the Nineteenth century heralded the dominance of the western democracies. This gave them dominance over other nations in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Only Japan remained as an imperialist force outside of the Western Nation democracies.  An interesting case may be made regarding extreme fundamentalism and opposition to western dominance. ” The capitalistic West nurtured and used Islamic fundamentalism as an antidote against communism in the oil regions of the Middle East during the Cold War, the same way it had nurtured and used fascism during the Great Depression. The antidote proves to be more lethal to the capitalistic West. ”  (Liu, 2003).  Hence despite the fact that the West has a military arsenal of weapons that it can deploy in order to impose its’ will on others; it may be argued that a civilization built upon militarization of peace is a retreat to barbarism. The very process depriving the human civilization from evolving a model of cultural diversity.  In the 19th Century the British Empire reached its peak where 1 of 4 people on Earth were subjects of the British Crown.  The remaining non sovereign states were on the verge of economic collapse and huge social change.  Since 1750 the Western powers dominated the world.  Now in less than 100 years these empires have collapsed giving rise to the birth of new nations  whilst the struggle for dominance carries on.

Works Cited

Diamant, A. (1959). Is There a Non-Western Political Process? Comments on Lucian W. Pye’s “The Non-Western Political Process”. The Journal of Politics, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Feb., 1959), pp. 123-127 , 5.

Huntington, S. (1997, 2 20). The west and the rest. Retrieved 1 20, 2010, from Prospect: http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/1997/02/thewestandtherest/

Kreis, S. (2009, 8 4). Lecture 2 The Age of Discovery. Retrieved 1 21, 2010, from The History Guide.

Landes, D. S. (2003). The unbound Prometheus: technological change and industrial development. In D. S. Landes, The unbound Prometheus: technological change and industrial development (p. 538). Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.

Liu, H. C. (2003, 7). Part I: The Race Toward Barbarism. Retrieved 1 20, 2010, from The Abduction of Modernity: http://henryckliu.com/page56.html

Yeo, G. (2005, 9 22). Speech by George Yeo Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs at the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September 2005 . Retrieved 1 20, 2010, from United Nations General Assembly Speech: http://app.mfa.gov.sg/pr/read_script.asp?View,4346,