Civilization by Niall Ferguson
Penguin, 2012. 401 Pages.
The phenomenon upon which Niall Ferguson ponders in Civilization is so profound that for centuries it has been taken for granted; so pervasive that it has become ubiquitous. For millions of people across generations it is what could most universally be described as ‘normal’. Indeed it is perhaps the closest approximation of a universal normative framework that humanity has thus far created. What is this phenomenon? Western Civilization.
The pinnacle of success for any value system, or indeed product or idea, has been attained when reflective pondering stumbles upon the question: “How could people ever have lived without this”. I have heard this question asked (more emphatically than ponderous) by the millennial generation about the most pervasive consumer goods of our time – mobile technology, the internet, Facebook, etc. In the same way, preceding generations will have exclaimed the essential virtues of life-altering inventions such as railroads, electricity, and the automobile. However, take a step back from these everyday minutiae that make our lives more interesting and sometimes easier, and you may be able to see the woods, instead of just the trees. The grand framework within which we (and our predecessors for the past five centuries) have lived our lives and which has brought us so much progress, prosperity and proliferation has its roots in an unlikely time and place – the chaotic and tempestuous Europe of the middle-ages.
Ferguson’s approach to his subject is twofold. The first, and most comprehensive part concerns an exposition of the development of Western civilization and the reasons for its dominance. Like any popular historian worth his or her salt, Ferguson tackles these questions by highlighting a set of clearly defined and easily understood causative factors (or “killer applications”, as he describes them as a means of ingratiating them with contemporary jargon) of which he identifies six in total. In (very) brief terms, they are:
- Competition. Because Europe was fragmented as it emerged from the middle-ages, economic, diplomatic and military competition between states rose to fever pitch. This competition stimulated thriving economies and international exploration.
- Science. The Enlightenment and subsequent scientific revolution propelled Europe to the cutting edge of innovation, surpassing China and the Arab world. This accelerated the development industrial and military technology.
- Property rights. The explosion in commerce and trade was underpinned by the surety that you owned the fruits of your labour. Despotic predations upon property was minimised, thereby incentivising risk taking and profitability. Ferguson cites property rights as a key factor in the ascendancy of the United States.
- Medicine. Scientific prowess coupled with imperial expansion provided Western scientists with the opportunity to revolutionise modern medicine. This has universally led to prolonged life expectancy and improved quality of life.
- Consumerism. The enduring legacy of the Industrial Revolution is not the creation of cheap and plentiful goods and products, but rather the market of mass-consumption which it spawned.
- Work. Christianity, and specifically Protestantism, provided the West with a design for life that emphasised self-direction, hard work, thrift and saving. The Western work ethic that developed as a result promoted productivity but also bolstered social stability.
The importance and influence of these factors are skillfully demonstrated by the author through comparisons with other powerful yet transient civilizations such as those of Arabia, China, Japan and pre-Columbian south America.
The second strand to Ferguson’s approach asks whether we are witnessing the demise of Western dominance and prognosticates regarding the nature of a post-Western future. Of course, the somewhat droll spectre of Chinese ascendancy features centrally in these discussions, given its self-evident plausibility. Whilst China’s growing power should come as no revelation to all but the most uninformed of readers, the author manages to nevertheless approach the topic in a stimulating manner. Given that the book was published in 2010 and written in the immediate aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, Ferguson engages in much hand-wringing about the accelerated demise of Western dominance as a result of this episode. Writing at the time, and given the premise of the book, it is entirely understandable that this event should feature prominently in any analysis of the West’s (and specifically the USA’s) economic durability. However, reading (as I did) this book some eight years later, it is my impression that while the financial crisis highlights the unsustainable nature of certain sections of the modern global economy, the way in which the West has managed to weather the storm in its aftermath appears rather to challenge the assumption that it is on a path of linear and accelerating decline. The West, after all, invented the economic game the entire world is now playing on a globalised and interconnected scale. As a result, it is both player and referee, with all the benefits and advantages that accrues from such a position.
I was particularly interested to read how Ferguson would approach the “elephant in the room” when writing on the global success of the West, namely colonialism and its legacy. Having lived in Africa myself for the majority of my life and worked in academia, I am acutely aware of the trend of historical revisionism as it relates to colonialism. This school of thought has reinvented historical colonialism in two major ways. First, it posits that colonialism had exclusively negative consequences for the colonised and second, that all post-colonial headwinds and failures in such societies can be related back to colonialism. What began as an ideological and rhetorical tool of political justification has also contaminated to scholarship, where it enjoys not only popularity, but also a virulent self-righteous character that is entirely at odds with scientific objectivity. Ferguson, on the other hand, approaches the topic circumspectly and with fairness and common sense.
That colonialism was the direct cause of great suffering is not to be disputed. Of this the brutality of Belgian and German regimes in Africa provides ample testimony. Although somewhat less callous in their nature, the transgressions of French, British and Portuguese colonial dominion are also well-catalogued and not to be controverted. To deny such malfeasance would be to indulge in another, particularly abhorrent strain of historical revisionism. However, I have yet to encounter anyone who propagates this position as an historical truth or legitimate point of view. An objective appraisal will reveal that colonialism was morally wrong by contemporary standards, but that it also bestowed real and measurable benefits upon the societies where it was imposed. Does this justify colonialism? Absolutely not. To move the conversation towards the burden of justification is to throw out a red herring and entirely disingenuous. Yet, as explicit as colonialism’s injustices are, its progressive nature is equally incontrovertible. From this perspective, colonialism essentially kick-started modernisation in previously primitive societies. The products of modernity are there for all to see; infrastructure, transport, medicine, technology, trade, etc. Would any post-colonial citizen wish to live without these goods? As the author explains, the aforementioned building blocks of modernity are some of the enlightened products of Western civilisation that were left after the demise of colonialism.
Niall Ferguson is rightly regarded as being one of the foremost historians of our time. Having read and enjoyed another work of his (The Ascent of Money), I am particularly enthralled with his ability to clarify and render complex and esoteric issues to a popular level without sacrificing historical truth, accuracy, and analytical rigour. What is even more engrossing about his work is that he brings his scholarly faculties to bear on subjects of acute contemporary relevance and interest. This is particularly true of his tour de force of Civilization and its prospects – a book that comes highly recommended.
anapophist 