On civilizations

(6 Jan 2020)

Development and organization of civilizations is a topic which I find very fascinating. Why has particularly the West been so successful in terms of economics and welfare? Niall Fergusons book  “Civilization: The West and the Rest” provided a nice view on this topic. In the book, Niall claims that six key factors have been the key elements behind the success, namely competition, science, property, consumerism, medicine and work ethich . The numerous wars between European states generated severe competition between the different areas. This competition was one of the key drivers which drove European development. Obviously, war is an issue which is severe enough to push competition and development fastly forward. The reason that there were numerous different states in Europe was probably geographical. The situation was quite different for example in China, where one powerful state dominated a large region. It took hundreds untill a balance of powers and consequently peace was achieved between the European states.