Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom

Liberty in Comparative Perspective
China, India, and the West
Erich Weede *
chapter eight
Introduction
Until about 200 years ago, most of mankind was desperately poor. Then
the great transformation happened. Global population increased sevenfold,
global production more than 60-fold, and manufacturing industry at
least 75-fold (Goklany, 2007: 19, 41). During the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, Europe and its North American and Australasian daughter
societies overtook the great Asian civilizations and overcame mass poverty
(Collins, 1986; Jones, 1981; Landes, 1998; Maddison, 2001; North,
1990; North, Wallis, and Weingast, 2009; Weber, 1923/1981; Weede,
1996, 2000). Ferguson illustrates Western dominance before World War I
in these terms: “In 1500 the future imperial powers of Europe accounted
for about 10 percent of the world’s land surface and at most 16 percent
of its population. By 1913, 11 Western empires controlled nearly threefifths
of all territory and population and more than three-quarters (a
staggering 79 percent) of global economic output. Average life expectancy
in England was nearly twice what it was in India” (2011: 5). Japan
was the first Asian country to experience catch-up growth. Since the
1960s, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea followed. Now,
* Professor Dr. Erich Weede was born 1942 and taught sociology at the University of Bonn
until his retirement in fall 2004. He earned academic degrees in psychology and political
science. In 1982/83 he was president of the Peace Science Society (International),
and in 1985/86 was vice-president of the International Studies Association. He has produced
11 books and more than 200 other publications in German or English. His topics
include the causes and prevention of war, the rise and decline of nations, Asian civilizations,
the invention of capitalism, the spread of economic freedom, economic growth,
and income inequality. His books include Economic Development, Social Order and World
Politics (Lynne Rienner, 1996) and The Balance of Power, Globalization, and the Capitalist
Peace (for the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation, Liberal Verlag, 2005)..
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