Western Supremacy (book)

Last updated
Western Supremacy: The Triumph of an Idea
Western Supremacy (book).jpg
cover
Author Sophie Bessis
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date
April 2003
Media typePrint (Hardback)
Pages304
ISBN 9781842772188

Western Supremacy: The Triumph of an Idea is a book about development studies, international relations and sociology written by award-winning Tunisian-born French historian, journalist, researcher, and feminist author Sophie Bessis. [1]

Contents

According to Italian political philosophy professor Flavia Monceri, Sophie Bessis shows how notions of the West have been used to justify imperial economic interests and the emergence of a free trade ideology. Monceri contends that what is peculiar to the West is not the mere fact of a successful hegemony, but rather the fact that ‘the nations of the West … are the only ones to have produced a theoretical (philosophical, moral and scientific) apparatus to legitimate it’. A notion of supremacy actually underpins the last 500 years of Western history and that it still does – for example, in the assumptions underlying notions such as human rights and modernization. Furthermore, the West is not yet able to give up the belief in its own superiority, despite the increasing opposite signs that indicate it's becoming more and more a particular civilization amongst many others. [2]

Le Monde's journalist Catherine Simon asserts: "Western supremacy, however radical its criticism may be, is not, however, an anti-American rant or yet another denunciation of the West - of which Renaissance Europe was the matrix. It is a history book, which asks questions and challenges, without complacency, the elites and the societies of the South." [3]

Summary

Abuse of Indians by Spaniards. Burning at the stake with Catholic priest. Bartolome de las Casas Regionum 355385740 MG 8837 016-4.tif
Abuse of Indians by Spaniards. Burning at the stake with Catholic priest.

According to a Stanford University book review, Sophie Bessis tells the story of "the West's relationship with the world it came to dominate - from the conquest of the Americas, through the slave trade and the Scramble for Africa, the White Man's burden, Manifest Destiny and the growth of scientific racism, to decolonisation, the ideology of development and structural adjustment. Western Supremacy is an introduction to the history of colonial and developmentalist thought. Starting with the Enlightenment idea of universalism it traces how this facilitated a notion of the West rooted in a Hellenic inheritance systematically devoid of Egyptian or Arab influences. Though the hierarchy of races has now given way to the hierarchy of development, Bessis argues that developmentalism is the new incarnation of the West's paradoxical aspiration to lead the world into universalism whilst maintaining its own supremacy. Attempts to emulate the Western model have had devastating consequences for the South. Human rights, democracy and justice, in theory at least, have become accepted throughout the world. Yet those who pride themselves on having invented this universality still lay claim to some privileged right to define its content. Bessis highlights the hypocrisy with which the North applies these standards: one standard for China, with its huge potential market, another for minor African states, one for Muslim oppression of women in Teheran, another in Riyadh. In other words, human rights are still entirely subordinate to economic interest." [4]

Development of the Others is tolerated on the condition that it does not interfere with the West's interests. Bessis concludes by exploring reactions within developing countries to the historically unprecedented attempt to remake the world in the West's own image. According to the author, the West's inability to embrace pluralism and multivocality undermines its very strength and the rightful existence and legitimate place that non-western peoples have in the world. Bessis concludes by asking the poignant question of how do we collectively move from a unitary domination by the West to a body of ideas and a discourse in which all members of humanity can recognize themselves and share in its construction.

According to Maliha Chishti, Bessis insists that development ideology exhorted the world to embrace the universality and inevitability of modernity and progress—but only on the condition that their development and modernization do not interfere with the West's interests. Furthermore, Bessis predicts that although the West does not want to admit or submit to this direction, it inevitably will be pushed, either willingly or unwillingly, to finally locate itself realistically in the world. [5]

According to Philippe Dewitte, Bessis sees the emergence of a South that would be capable of inventing an original modernity, a universalism that would no longer be a façade, a "model of development" different from that brandished by the West. [6]

Contents

Part 1: The formation of a culture

Part 2: The way of the world

Part 3: The two sides of the mirror

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurocentrism</span> Worldview centred on or biased towards Western civilisation

Eurocentrism refers to viewing the West as the center of world events or superior to all other cultures. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western world to just the continent of Europe or even more narrowly, to Western Europe. When the term is applied historically, it may be used in reference to the presentation of the European perspective on history as objective or absolute, or to an apologetic stance toward European colonialism and other forms of imperialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural hegemony</span> Marxist theory of cultural dominance

In Marxist philosophy, cultural hegemony is the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who shape the culture of that society—the beliefs and explanations, perceptions, values, and mores—so that the worldview of the ruling class becomes the accepted cultural norm. As the universal dominant ideology, the ruling-class worldview misrepresents the social, political, and economic status quo as natural, inevitable, and perpetual social conditions that benefit every social class, rather than as artificial social constructs that benefit only the ruling class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jalal Al-e-Ahmad</span> Iranian novelist, short-story writer, translator and philosopher

Seyyed Jalāl Āl-e-Ahmad was a prominent Iranian novelist, short-story writer, translator, philosopher, socio-political critic, sociologist, as well as an anthropologist who was "one of the earliest and most prominent of contemporary Iranian ethnographers". He popularized the term gharbzadegi – variously translated in English as "westernstruck", "westoxification", and "Occidentosis" – producing a holistic ideological critique of the West "which combined strong themes of Frantz Fanon and Marx".

Modernization theory holds that as societies become more economically modernized, wealthier and more educated, their political institutions become increasingly liberal democratic. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s, most influentially articulated by Seymour Lipset, drew on sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Talcott Parsons. Modernization theory was a dominant paradigm in the social sciences in the 1950s and 1960s, and saw a resurgence after 1991, when Francis Fukuyama wrote about the end of the Cold War as confirmation on modernization theory.

The European New Right (ENR) is a far-right movement which originated in France as the Nouvelle Droite in the late 1960s. Its proponents are involved in a global "anti-structural revolt" against modernity and post-modernity, largely in the form of loosely connected intellectual communities striving to diffuse a similar philosophy within European societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samir Amin</span> Egyptian-French economist and political scientist (1931–2018)

Samir Amin was an Egyptian-French Marxian economist, political scientist and world-systems analyst. He is noted for his introduction of the term Eurocentrism in 1988 and considered a pioneer of Dependency Theory.

Intellectual movements in Iran involve the Iranian experience of modernity and its associated art, science, literature, poetry, and political structures that have been changing since the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmanuel Todd</span> Historian, demographer, sociologist, political scientist

Emmanuel Todd is a French historian, anthropologist, demographer, sociologist and political scientist at the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED) in Paris. His research examines the different family structures around the world and their relationship with beliefs, ideologies, political systems, and historical events. He has also published a number of political essays, which have received broad coverage in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcel Gauchet</span> French historian, philosopher, and sociologist

Marcel Gauchet is a French historian, philosopher, and sociologist. He is professor emeritus of the Centre de recherches politiques Raymond Aron at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and former head of the periodical Le Débat. Gauchet is one of France's most prominent contemporary intellectuals. He has written widely on such issues as the political consequences of modern individualism, the relation between religion and democracy, and the dilemmas of globalisation.

Foundations of Modern Arab Identity is a book-length study of the Nahda, or Arab Renaissance, by Arab American scholar Stephen Sheehi, that critically engages the "intellectual struggles that ensued when Arab writers internalized Western ways of defining themselves and their societies" in the mid-1800s.

Michel Clouscard was a French Marxist philosopher and sociologist. An opponent of capitalism, a critic of the evolution of ideas of progress confronted with the liberal mutations of the end of the 20th century, his work is linked to the thought of Rousseau, Hegel and Marx, whose links and unity he shows. He is known to have philosophically shown the collusion between capitalism and the French theory, represented by Lévi-Strauss and Deleuze, constructing his own concept of neo-Kantianism. He developed a philosophical research around the idea of social contract, postulating that "the constitutive principle of any society is the relation between production and consumption".

Postdevelopment theory holds that the whole concept and practice of development is a reflection of Western-Northern hegemony over the rest of the world. Postdevelopment thought arose in the 1980s out of criticisms voiced against development projects and development theory, which justified them.

Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. The field started to emerge in the 1960s, as scholars from previously colonized countries began publishing on the lingering effects of colonialism, developing a critical theory analysis of the history, culture, literature, and discourse of imperial power.

The March to Modernity, coined by Kishore Mahbubani in his 2008 book, "The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East", refers to Asia's modernization using and adapting the seven pillars of Western ideology, causing Asia to rise and to become the new global power. Asia's modernity was first achieved by Japan and India. Japan's success was emulated by the four economic tigers: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. China followed soon after by launching its "Four Modernizations" program. China's success of the past three decades in turn inspired the rise of India. Asians are marching to modernity.

The Budapest School was a school of thought, originally of Marxist humanism, but later of post-Marxism and dissident liberalism that emerged in Hungary in the early 1960s, belonging to so-called Hungarian New Left. Its members were students or colleagues of Georg Lukács. The school was originally oriented towards developing Lukács' later works on social ontology and aesthetics, but quickly began to challenge the paradigm of Lukácsian-Marxism, thus reconstructing contemporary critical theory. Most of the members later came to abandon Marxism. The school also critiqued the "dictatorship over needs" of the Soviet states. Most of the members were forced into exile by the pro-Soviet Hungarian government.

<i>Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work</i> 2015 monograph by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams

Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work is a 2015 monograph by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams, published by Verso Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophie Bessis</span> French historian and feminist author

Sophie Bessis is a Tunisian-born French historian, journalist, researcher, and feminist author. She has written numerous works in French, Spanish, and English on development in the Maghreb and the Arab world, as well as the situation of women denouncing the identity imprisonment to which they are subjected. She is the recipient of the Paris Liège literary prize and was honored as Commandeur of the Order of the Republic.

<i>American Holocaust</i> (book) Book article

American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World is a multidisciplinary book about the Indigenous peoples of the Americas and colonial history written by American scholar and historian David Stannard.

The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean is a book by Gerald Horne. It is a historical analysis of the development of settler colonialism in North America and the Caribbean in the 17th century. Sarah Barber from the Lancaster University Department of History reviews the book and concludes "Writing accessible history is never easy, and this is a laudable addition." David Waldstreicher, Professor of History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, British colonizers committed counter-revolution—revolting against crown and against the threat from below—to increase their control over land and people.

<i>The Dawning of the Apocalypse</i> Book by Gerald Horne

The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century is a book by Gerald Horne, a Professor of African American History at the University of Houston. The book offers a historical analysis of the development of settler colonialism in North America in the 16th century.

References

  1. "Sophie Bessis – Prix littéraire Paris-Liège". paris-liege.be (in French). Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  2. International Relations. Political Studies Review. Flavia Monceri. 2004;2(1):127-137. doi:10.1111/j.1478-9299.2004.004_7.x
  3. Simon, Catherine (October 18, 2002). "L'OCCIDENT ET LES AUTRES, histoire d'une suprématie de Sophie Bessis". Le Monde. Le Monde. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  4. "Stanford libraries". Searchworks catalogue. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  5. Chishti, M. (2004). Western Supremacy: The Triumph of an Idea? by Sophie Bessis (London: Zed Books, 2003. 238 pages.). American Journal of Islam and Society, 21(3), 136–139. https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v21i3.1773 https://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/1773
  6. Dewitte, Philippe (September 2001). "L'Occident et les autres. Histoire d'une suprématie". Sciences Humaines (119). Retrieved 5 January 2022.

Further reading