Western development has not deviated from common civilizational patterns

Evidence

The West obviously differs from all other civilizations that have ever existed in that it has had an overwhelming impact on all other civilizations that have existed since 1500. It also inaugurated the processes of modernization and industrialization that have become worldwide, and as a result societies in all other civilizations have been attempting to catch up with the West in wealth and modernity. Do these characteristics of the West, however, mean that its evolution and dynamics as a civilization are fundamentally different from the patterns that have prevailed in all other civilizations? The evidence of history and the judgments of the scholars of the comparative history of civilizations suggest otherwise. The development of the West to date has not deviated significantly from the evolutionary patterns common to civilizations throughout history. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 831 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

  • XREF: connects to: Third World countries depend on East or West for primitive capital accumulation — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2602; Germany, not East Asia, was the original developmental state — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 358; Western wealth was built by actively creating underdevelopment elsewhere — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 293 (+1 more)

Broader Connections