world history economic development

One of the most peculiar but significant changes to the global economic and political landscapes of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is the shift in manufacturing output. Whereas China and India had once been the manufacturing hubs for many centuries, North America and the Europe experienced the Industrial Revolution and became the global leaders in manufacturing. This change also resulted in a gap in GDP between Asia and the West. The shift in manufacturing to North America and Europe also belied the population growth rate patterns. As a result, China and India became poor and underdeveloped compared with Europe and North America.

Japan plays a more nuanced role in these changes. Japan’s imperialism led t its eventual defeat and radical shift in focus after World War Two. What would have been another Asian economic backwater had become an industrial powerhouse through systematic dedication to technological advancements and investments in emerging industries. Yet even as Japan became an Asian economic powerhouse, other Asian countries continued to lag behind until the boom of the Southeast Asian economies towards the end of the twentieth century.

These readings and lectures show how the gaps between so-called First World and Second and Third World became exacerbated during the twentieth century. South America, Africa, and most of Asia were on one end of the economic polarity, giving these regions less purchasing power but also less political clout. On the contrary, Europe and North America retained their economic potency, especially after the close of World War Two. As Marks also points out, colonialism had left an astounding legacy on the former colonies, stymying economic development throughout much of the world and perpetuating racism and other features of social Darwinism. Nations with power had the ability to create systems of global trade and economic policy that favored their own interests, perpetuating “the gap.”