Perilous Passage: Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of CapitalIn this innovative and ambitious global history, distinguished economic historian Amiya Kumar Bagchi critically analyzes the processes leading to the rise of the West since the sixteenth century to its current position as the most prosperous and powerful group of nations in the world. Integrating the history of armed conflict with the history of competition for trade, investment, and markets, Bagchi explores the human consequences for people both within and outside the region. He characterizes the emergence and operation of capitalism as a system driven by wars over resources and markets rather than one that genuinely operates on the principle of free markets. In tracing this history, he also charts what happened to the people who came under its sway during the last five centuries. Bagchi thus broadens our understanding of the nature and history of capitalism and challenges the fetishism of commodities that limits the perspective of most economic historians. The book also challenges the Eurocentrism that still underlies the conceptual framework of many mainstream historians, joining earlier narratives that chronicle the history of human beings as living persons rather than as puppets serving the abstract cause of "economic growth." His unflinching examination of the human costs of development--not only in the colonial periphery but in the core nations--includes not only economic processes and issues of inequality within and among nations but also the intertwining of economics and war-making on a world scale. The book also contributes to our knowledge of how and in what sequence human health has been shaped by public health care, sanitation, modern medicine, income levels and nutrition. Written with extraordinary range and depth, Perilous Passage will change the ways in which we think about many of the largest issues in world history and development. |
Contents
History of Human Development as the Subject of History | 3 |
Construction of the European Miracle | 21 |
Profit Seeking under Actually Existing Capitalism and Human Development | 35 |
Capitalist Competition and Human Development in Europe | 51 |
Race for Dominance among the Western European Countries since the Sixteenth Century | 53 |
Population Growth and Mortality between the Sixteenth and Nineteenth Centuries A First Look | 77 |
The Netherlands Rise and Fall of a Hegemonic Power | 89 |
Delayed Transition to a LowMortality Regime in Europe and North America | 101 |
Civilizing Mission in Lands Taken by European Settlers from the Original Inhabitants | 221 |
Intercontinental Resource Flows Sustaining the Ascent of the European Powers | 229 |
Colonial Tribute and Profits 1870s Onward | 239 |
Demographic Disasters in the Colonies and Semicolonies in the Heyday of European Colonialism | 249 |
The Twentieth Century Antisystemic Struggles Wars and Challenges to Global Capital | 265 |
Setting the Stage for Megawars | 267 |
Revolution Nazism Japanese Militarism and World War II | 279 |
Imperialism and Wars in the Late Twentieth Century | 291 |
Literacy in Western Europe since the Sixteenth Century | 121 |
The World beyond Europe in the Age of Emergence of European Dominance | 133 |
Chinas Economic Development and Quality of Life between the Sixteenth and Eighteenth Centuries | 135 |
India under Mughal Rule and After | 145 |
Conducting Trade in Asia before and after the European Advent | 167 |
Reconsidering Japanese Exceptionalism | 179 |
Capitalist Competition Colonialism and the Physical WellBeing of NonEuropean Peoples | 195 |
Civilizing Mission and Racialization From Native Americans to Asians | 209 |
Other editions - View all
Perilous Passage: Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of Capital Amiya Kumar Bagchi Limited preview - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
Africa African Americans agricultural America Amerindians army Asia Asian Bagchi became Bengal Britain British rule capital capitalist chapter China Chinese civilizing mission colonies competition conquest daimyo death decline demographic Dutch Dutch republic economic growth eighteenth century empire England estimated Ethiopia Eurocentric European countries European miracle European powers example exports famines foreign forests France freedom French Germany global human development ideology imperial imperialist income increased India Indonesia Industrial Revolution investment Japan Japanese labor land literacy living London major merchant capital merchants military million mortality Mughal Mughal empire native Nazi neoliberal Netherlands nineteenth century non-European nutrition peasants percent period political Portuguese production profit property rights Qing rates regime regions rulers seventeenth century slavery slaves social society Soviet Spain Spanish Sweden tion Tokugawa trade twentieth century United wages wars western Europe women workers World War II
References to this book
International Handbook of Development Economics, Volumes 1-2 Amitava Krishna Dutt,Jaime Ros Limited preview - 2008 |