ECO/SNY 128 Spring 2015 Lecture 1 Modernity and Civilizations M. Aykut Attar
Modern/Modernization/Modernity modernization an umbrella term for a series of interrelated and endless intellectual, political, economic, technological, religious, social, and psychological revolutions. Started in some European cities Then diffused to the rest of Europe Eventually became a global phenomenon
Modern/Modernization/Modernity modernization an umbrella term for a series of interrelated and endless intellectual, political, economic, technological, religious, social, and psychological revolutions. Started in some European cities Then diffused to the rest of Europe Eventually became a global phenomenon
Modernity is relative! The meaning changes from time to time and from place to place: Every country is modern to some degree. But yesterday s modern is sometimes outmoded today. Modernization is revolutionary! Values, technology, and organization change in dramatic ways. Slow modernization Successful modernization. Over centuries rather than over generations...
Modernity is relative! The meaning changes from time to time and from place to place: Every country is modern to some degree. But yesterday s modern is sometimes outmoded today. Modernization is revolutionary! Values, technology, and organization change in dramatic ways. Slow modernization Successful modernization. Over centuries rather than over generations...
Modernity is relative! The meaning changes from time to time and from place to place: Every country is modern to some degree. But yesterday s modern is sometimes outmoded today. Modernization is revolutionary! Values, technology, and organization change in dramatic ways. Slow modernization Successful modernization. Over centuries rather than over generations...
Modernity is relative! The meaning changes from time to time and from place to place: Every country is modern to some degree. But yesterday s modern is sometimes outmoded today. Modernization is revolutionary! Values, technology, and organization change in dramatic ways. Slow modernization Successful modernization. Over centuries rather than over generations...
Tragedy as well as Progress PROGRESS Peace Prosperity Justice TRAGEDY War Poverty Exploitation
Modernity... a state of mind: Only modern minds can create modern worlds. a belief in humanity: Human reason not a transcendent god is the master of humanity s fate. Individuals should freely pursue their material, emotional, and spiritual needs. a process of creative destruction: obsolete & functionless being discarded & replaced with something more appropriate & more modern.
A big question remains: How do individuals achieve meaning or salvation in a godless universe?
Humanity unlocking the jinni of modernity This means...
Getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden for eating the forbidden fruit.
Prometheus stealing fire from Mount Olympus.
Pandora s Box opening and releasing all the evil, leaving only hope inside.
Transitions from one lifestyle to another... Hunting and Gathering Until the last 7,000 years. Agricultural Life Domestication of plants and animals First settled civilizations in Mesopotamia around 5,000 BC Then a proliferation of various civilizations 15th century civilizations other than Christian Europe Ming China Aztec Mexico Inca Peru Benin Africa Mogul India Ashikaga Japan Ottoman Asia Minor
Transitions from one lifestyle to another... Hunting and Gathering Until the last 7,000 years. Agricultural Life Domestication of plants and animals First settled civilizations in Mesopotamia around 5,000 BC Then a proliferation of various civilizations 15th century civilizations other than Christian Europe Ming China Aztec Mexico Inca Peru Benin Africa Mogul India Ashikaga Japan Ottoman Asia Minor
All of these non-european civilizations were ruled by centralized bureaucracies and had achieved enormous advances in technology, the arts, philosophy, and wealth. But none developed the related psychological, philosophical, and technological prerequisites for modernity and global conquest. Two serious candidates were China and the Ottoman Empire. But let s now go back to the issues of power and politics:
All of these non-european civilizations were ruled by centralized bureaucracies and had achieved enormous advances in technology, the arts, philosophy, and wealth. But none developed the related psychological, philosophical, and technological prerequisites for modernity and global conquest. Two serious candidates were China and the Ottoman Empire. But let s now go back to the issues of power and politics:
Every century, a country to shape international relations with its own values In the 17th century, France (under Cardinal Richelieu) introduced the modern approach to international relations Great Britain in the 18th century exercised the balance of power and this dominated European diplomacy for 200 years The 20th century was an American one! US was pragmatic, interventionist and passionate about the universality of its values Two attitudes: Perfecting democracy at home and crusading for its values around the world
Every century, a country to shape international relations with its own values In the 17th century, France (under Cardinal Richelieu) introduced the modern approach to international relations Great Britain in the 18th century exercised the balance of power and this dominated European diplomacy for 200 years The 20th century was an American one! US was pragmatic, interventionist and passionate about the universality of its values Two attitudes: Perfecting democracy at home and crusading for its values around the world
American values: highly influential after 1917 Real victory: the collapse of the Soviet Russia New problem: A diversity of powerful nationalisms Neither isolation from the world nor dominating it New idea: equilibrium (or the balance of power) The Balance of Power Not a regularity until modernity Successful examples: city-states of Ancient Greece and Renaissance Italy the European state system after 1648 (the Peace of Westphalia) But these required a number of states with almost equal levels of power a guiding principle of world order. Enlightenment Ideal: invisible hand, the separation of powers, checks and balances, etc.
American values: highly influential after 1917 Real victory: the collapse of the Soviet Russia New problem: A diversity of powerful nationalisms Neither isolation from the world nor dominating it New idea: equilibrium (or the balance of power) The Balance of Power Not a regularity until modernity Successful examples: city-states of Ancient Greece and Renaissance Italy the European state system after 1648 (the Peace of Westphalia) But these required a number of states with almost equal levels of power a guiding principle of world order. Enlightenment Ideal: invisible hand, the separation of powers, checks and balances, etc.
Europe s Modern Balance of Power 1815 (the Congress of Vienna) After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars Rising conflict toward the end of the 19th century And (partial!) conflict resolution with World War I For several reasons... Another conflict resolution was necessary: World War II US not getting into the game of balanced power (the only candidate to fight the Soviet Russia) The Cold War was the new regime of two-polar world. The Soviet Russia was a big military power but eventually collapsed because of its social and economic crises. The Current Dilemma: Between fragmentation & globalization
Europe s Modern Balance of Power 1815 (the Congress of Vienna) After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars Rising conflict toward the end of the 19th century And (partial!) conflict resolution with World War I For several reasons... Another conflict resolution was necessary: World War II US not getting into the game of balanced power (the only candidate to fight the Soviet Russia) The Cold War was the new regime of two-polar world. The Soviet Russia was a big military power but eventually collapsed because of its social and economic crises. The Current Dilemma: Between fragmentation & globalization
For the Next Week READ [required] William Nester s Chapter 3: From Feudal to Modern Europe WATCH [optional] Luc Besson s The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc