Beyond narrative: the contemporary debate on the rise of the west
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71112/r9kwyj38Keywords:
rise of the West, historiographical debate, western hegemony, explanations of the rise, chinaAbstract
The debate surrounding the reasons behind the rise of the West encompasses numerous perspectives, all striving to unravel this complex enigma. This article provides an overview, systematically outlining the various perspectives and their most prominent proponents. It also emphasizes the contemporary importance and value of this topic, particularly in light of China's open challenge to Western hegemony. The piece also seeks to introduce this largely unexplored and therefore unfamiliar topic to Spanish-speaking readers.
Downloads
References
Abreo, H. H., Aragón, D. M., Espinosa, L. M., Rodríguez, L. M., Tirado, C. E., Vega, H. A., & Vera, C. Y. (2021). Memoria histórica de la violencia política en el sur occidente de Norte de Santander entre 1940-1950.
Abu-Lughod, J. (1989). Before European hegemony: The world system A.D. 1250–1350. Oxford University Press.
Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2015). Por qué fracasan los países: Los orígenes del poder, la prosperidad y la pobreza. Crítica.
Andrade, T. (2016). The gunpowder age: China, military innovation, and the rise of the West in world history. Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc77j74
Braudel, F. (1984). Civilization and capitalism, 15th–18th century. Vol. III: The perspective of the world. Harper & Row.
Cipolla, C. M. (1965). Guns, sails, and empires: Technological innovation and the early phases of European expansion, 1400–1700. Pantheon Books.
Crespo MacLennan, J. (2012). La forja de Europa: Una historia cultural del continente. Taurus.
Crosby, A. W. (1986). Ecological imperialism: The biological expansion of Europe, 900–1900. Cambridge University Press.
Daly, J. (2014). The rise of Western power: A comparative history of Western civilization. Bloomsbury Academic.
Daly, J. (2015). The rise of Western power: A comparative history of Western civilization (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.
Dawson, C. (1950). Religion and the rise of Western culture. Sheed & Ward.
Deng, K. G. (1999). Accounting for China's economic achievements: The case of Qing Dynasty. Palgrave Macmillan.
Diamond, J. (2009). Armas, gérmenes y acero: Breve historia de la humanidad. Debate.
Elvin, M. (1973). The pattern of the Chinese past: A social and economic interpretation. Stanford University Press.
Elvin, M. (2008). The pattern of the Chinese past: A social and economic interpretation (Reprint ed.). Stanford University Press.
Ferguson, N. (2012). Civilization: The West and the rest. Penguin Books.
Frank, A. G. (1970). Capitalism and underdevelopment in Latin America: Historical studies of Chile and Brazil. Monthly Review Press.
Frank, A. G. (1998). ReORIENT: Global economy in the Asian age. University of California Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520921313
Ghosh, P. (2015). The rise of the West and the rest: From the fifteenth to the twenty-first century. Verso.
Goldstone, J. A. (2009). Why Europe? The rise of the West in world history, 1500–1850. McGraw-Hill.
Goody, J. (1986). The logic of writing and the organization of society. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511621598
Goody, J. (1996). The East in the West. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139171052
Hall, J. A. (1985). Powers and liberties: The causes and consequences of the rise of the West. University of Chicago Press.
Headrick, D. R. (1981). The tools of empire: Technology and European imperialism in the nineteenth century. Oxford University Press.
Headrick, D. R. (2010). Power over peoples: Technology, environments, and Western imperialism, 1400 to the present. Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400833597
Hobson, J. A. (1981). Imperialism: A study. George Allen & Unwin.
Hobson, J. M. (2004). The Eastern origins of Western civilisation. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511489013
Hodgson, M. G. S. (1974). The venture of Islam: Conscience and history in a world civilization. University of Chicago Press.
Hodgson, M. G. S. (1993). Rethinking world history: Essays on Europe, Islam, and world history. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511626104
Hoffman, P. T. (2011). Why did Europe conquer the world? Princeton University Press.
Huff, T. E. (1993). The rise of early modern science: Islam, China, and the West. Cambridge University Press.
Hume, D. (1817). Essays, moral, political, and literary. A. Bell.
Inikori, J. E. (2002). Africans and the Industrial Revolution in England: A study in the international trade and economic development of Great Britain and the West Indies. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511583940
Jones, E. L. (1982). The European miracle: Environments, economies, and geopolitics in the history of Europe and Asia. Cambridge University Press.
Kant, I. (2009). Idea for a universal history from a cosmopolitan point of view. Hackett Publishing Company. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511581434.002
Kondrátiev, N. D. (2008). The long waves in economic life. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Landes, D. S. (1998). The wealth and poverty of nations: Why some are so rich and some so poor. W. W. Norton & Company.
Landes, D. S. (2006). Dynasties: Fortunes and misfortunes of the world’s great family businesses. Viking.
Lang, G. (1997a). Chinese civilization and capitalism: An historical analysis. Palgrave Macmillan.
Lang, G. (1997b). Chinese civilization and capitalism: An historical analysis. Palgrave Macmillan.
Lang, G. (1998). Chinese civilization and capitalism: An historical analysis. Palgrave Macmillan.
Lenin, V. I. (1974). Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism. Foreign Languages Press.
Levine, D. (2001). The rise of the Western world: A new economic history. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Macfarlane, A. (1978). The origins of English individualism: The family, property and social transition. Basil Blackwell.
Macfarlane, A. (2002). The riddle of the modern world: Of liberty, wealth and the discovery of Northern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan.
Marx, K. (1976). Capital: A critique of political economy, Vol. 1. Penguin Books.
McCloskey, D. N. (2006). The bourgeois virtues: Ethics for an age of commerce. University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226556673.001.0001
McCloskey, D. N. (2010). Bourgeois dignity: Why economics can't explain the modern world. University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226556666.001.0001
McCloskey, D. N. (2016). Bourgeois equality: How better ideas made the world rich. University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226334042.001.0001
McNeill, W. H. (1963). The rise of the West: A history of the human community. University of Chicago Press.
McNeill, W. H. (1982). The pursuit of power: Technology, armed force, and society since A.D. 1000. University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226160191.001.0001
Mensch, G. (1979). Stalemate in technology: Innovations, inventiveness, and creative destruction. Ballinger Publishing Company.
Mielants, E. H. (2008). The origins of capitalism and the "rise of the West". Temple University Press.
Mokyr, J. (1990). The lever of riches: Technological creativity and economic progress. Oxford University Press.
Morris, I. (2016). Foragers, farmers, and fossil fuels: How human values evolve. Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400865512
Needham, J. (1969). The grand titration: Science and society in East and West. George Allen & Unwin.
North, D. C., & Thomas, R. P. (1973). The rise of the Western world: A new economic history. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819438
Parker, G. (1976). The army of Flanders and the Spanish road, 1567–1659: The logistics of Spanish victory and defeat in the Low Countries' wars. Cambridge University Press.
Parker, G. (1996). The military revolution: Military innovation and the rise of the West, 1500–1800. Cambridge University Press.
Parry, J. H. (1968). Trade and dominion: The European overseas empires in the eighteenth century. Praeger.
Parthasarathy, S. (2011). Why Europe grew rich and Asia did not: Global economic divergence, 1600–1850. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511993398
Pipes, R. (1999). Property and freedom. Vintage Books.
Pomeranz, K. (2000). The great divergence: China, Europe, and the making of the modern world economy. Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400823499
Qian, W. (1985). The great inertia: Scientific stagnation in traditional China. Croom Helm.
Roberts, M. (1956). The military revolution, 1560–1660. Belfast.
Rosenberg, N., & Birdzell, L. E. (1986). How the West grew rich: The economic transformation of the industrial world. Basic Books.
Rosenthal, J. L., & Bin Wong, R. (2011). Before and beyond divergence: The politics of economic change in China and Europe. Harvard University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061293
Sardar, Z. (1977). Science, technology and development in the Muslim world. Croom Helm.
Sardar, Z. (1982). Science and technology in the Middle East: A guide to issues, organisations and institutions. Longman.
Sardar, Z. (1989). Explorations in Islamic science. Mansell.
Sardar, Z. (1996). Postmodernism and the Other: The new imperialism of Western culture. Pluto Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.28799916
Sardar, Z. (2000). The consumption of Islam: The politics of Islamophobia and the globalisation of consumerism. Hurst & Company.
Sivin, N. (1982). Science in ancient China: Researches and reflections. Variorum Reprints.
Smith, A. (1909). The wealth of nations. P. F. Collier & Son.
Spence, J. D. (1999). The search for modern China. W. W. Norton & Company.
Vega Riaño, H. A., & Requiniva Gutiérrez, N. Y. (2023). Espacios de convivencia y liderazgo para afrontar los retos del postconflicto. Revista Investigación & Praxis en Ciencias Sociales, 2(1), 84–109. https://ojs.unipamplona.edu.co/index.php/ripcs/article/view/2389
Vidal, E. (2020). El ascenso de Occidente: Una historia comparada de las civilizaciones. Alianza Editorial.
Vries, J. de, & Woude, A. van der. (1997). The first modern economy: Success, failure, and perseverance of the Dutch economy, 1500–1815. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511666841
Wallerstein, I. (1974). The modern world-system, Vol. I: Capitalist agriculture and the origins of the European world-economy in the sixteenth century. Academic Press.
Wallerstein, I. (2000). The essential Wallerstein. New Press.
Weber, M. (1958). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Charles Scribner's Sons.
White, L. (1962). Medieval technology and social change. Oxford University Press.
White, L. (1968). Machina ex Deo: Essays in the dynamism of Western culture. MIT Press.
White, L. (1978). Medieval religion and technology: Collected essays. University of California Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Multidisciplinary Journal Epistemology of the Sciences

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.