"Oriental despotism : A Comparative Study of Total Power", Karl A. Wittfogel, Yale University Press, New-Haven 1957 : [recenzja] / Leszek Dzięgiel.
01 Jan 1963-Vol. 7
About: The article was published on 1963-01-01 and is currently open access. It has received 341 citations till now.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors elaborate a theory of institutional innovation, in which changes in the demand for institutional innovation are induced by changes in relative resource endowments and by technical change.
Abstract: In this paper we elaborate a theory of institutional innovation in which changes in the demand for institutional innovation are induced by changes in relative resource endowments and by technical change. We illustrate, from agricultural history, how changes in resource endowments and technical change have induced changes in private property rights and in the development of non‐market institutions. We also consider the impact of advances in social science knowledge and of cultural endowments on the supply of institutional change. In a final section we present the elements of a model of institutional innovation that maps the relationships among resource endowments, cultural endowments, technology, and institutions.
433 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In many places projects have been challenged on the basis of their economic, social or environmental impacts as discussed by the authors, either internally (within the state bureaucracies or through political changes) and externally (by critiques from civil society and academia, or by reduced funding).
Abstract: Anchored in 19th century scientism and an ideology of the domination of nature, inspired by colonial hydraulic feats, and fuelled by technological improvements in high dam constructions and power generation and transmission, large-scale water resources development has been a defining feature of the 20th century. Whether out of a need to increase food production, raise rural incomes, or strengthen state building and the legitimacy of the state, governments – North and South, East and West – embraced the 'hydraulic mission' and entrusted it to powerful state water bureaucracies (hydrocracies). Engaged in the pursuit of iconic and symbolic projects, the massive damming of river systems, and the expansion of large-scale public irrigation these hydrocracies have long remained out of reach. While they have enormously contributed to actual welfare, including energy and food generation, flood protection and water supply to urban areas, infrastructural development has often become an end in itself, rather than a means to an end, fuelling rent-seeking and symbolising state power. In many places projects have been challenged on the basis of their economic, social or environmental impacts. Water bureaucracies have been challenged internally (within the state bureaucracies or through political changes) and externally (by critiques from civil society and academia, or by reduced funding). They have endeavoured to respond to these challenges by reinventing themselves or deflecting reforms. This paper analyses these transformations, from the emergence of the hydraulic mission and associated water bureaucracies to their adjustment and responses to changing conditions.
380 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors critique the Eurocentric character of security studies as it has developed since World War II and argue that the taken-forgranted historical geographies that underpin security studies systematically misrepresent the role of the global South in security relations and lead to a distorted view of Europe and the West in world politics.
Abstract: In this article, we critique the Eurocentric character of security studies as it has developed since World War II. The taken-for-granted historical geographies that underpin security studies systematically misrepresent the role of the global South in security relations and lead to a distorted view of Europe and the West in world politics. Understanding security relations, past and present, requires acknowledging the mutual constitution of European and non-European worlds and their joint role in making history. The politics of Eurocentric security studies, those of the powerful, prevent adequate understanding of the nature or legitimacy of the armed resistance of the weak. Through analysis of the explanatory and political problems Eurocentrism generates, this article lays the groundwork for the development of a non-Eurocentric security studies.
342 citations
01 Jul 2005
TL;DR: In this article, the economic conception of water is discussed and the debate regarding whether or not water can, or should, be treated as an economic commodity, and the ways in which water is the same as or different than, other commodities from an economic point of view.
Abstract: This paper explains the economic conception of water - how economists think about water. It consists of two main sections. First, it reviews the economicconcept of value, explains how it is measured, and discusses how this has been applied to water in various ways. Then it considers the debate regarding whether or not water can, or should, be treated as an economic commodity, and discusses the ways in which water is the same as, or different than, other commodities from an economic point of view. While there are some distinctive emotive and symbolic features of water, there are also some distinctive economic features that make the demand and supply of water different and more complex than that of most other goods.
247 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined trajectories of socio-cultural and environmental change in six key regions in which complex societies emerged during the Middle Holocene: the central Sahara (focusing on the Libyan Fezzan), Egypt, Mesopotamia, South Asia (Indus-Sarasvati region), northern China and coastal Peru.
Abstract: The first complex, highly organised, state-level societies emerged in the Afro-Asiatic monsoon belt and northern South America during the 6th and early 5th millennia BP. This was a period of profound climatic and environmental change in these regions and globally, characterised by a weakening of the global monsoon system and widespread aridification in regions that today contain the bulk of the world’s warm deserts. This paper examines trajectories of socio-cultural and environmental change in six key regions in which complex societies emerged during the Middle Holocene: the central Sahara (focusing on the Libyan Fezzan), Egypt, Mesopotamia, South Asia (Indus‐Sarasvati region), northern China and coastal Peru. Links between environmental and socio-cultural change are explored in the context of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data and a theoretical framework of increasing social complexity as a response to enhanced aridity, driven largely by population agglomeration in environmental refugia characterised by the presence of surface water. There is direct evidence of adaptation to increased aridity in the archaeological literature relating to the Sahara and Egypt. In the other regions examined, the data are consistent with the notion that increased social complexity was largely driven by environmental deterioration, although further local-scale archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data are required to clarify the processes involved.
237 citations
Cites background from ""Oriental despotism : A Comparative..."
...…resulting in food surpluses capable of supporting non-producing members of society (e.g. Possehl, 2002), the need for central organisation of irrigation systems (Wittfogel, 1957), fortuitous technological innovation (e.g. Ratnagar, 2001), and the growth of trade networks (e.g. Possehl, 2002)....
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...Possehl, 2002), the need for central organisation of irrigation systems (Wittfogel, 1957), fortuitous technological innovation (e....
[...]
...As suggested by Fagan (1999), these developments are not necessarily dependent on the prior emergence of an organising elite as proposed by Wittfogel (1957); it might be argued that the emergence of elite groups is a by-product of, rather than a prerequisite for, such adaptations, and results from…...
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References
More filters
TL;DR: In this article, the authors elaborate a theory of institutional innovation, in which changes in the demand for institutional innovation are induced by changes in relative resource endowments and by technical change.
Abstract: In this paper we elaborate a theory of institutional innovation in which changes in the demand for institutional innovation are induced by changes in relative resource endowments and by technical change. We illustrate, from agricultural history, how changes in resource endowments and technical change have induced changes in private property rights and in the development of non‐market institutions. We also consider the impact of advances in social science knowledge and of cultural endowments on the supply of institutional change. In a final section we present the elements of a model of institutional innovation that maps the relationships among resource endowments, cultural endowments, technology, and institutions.
433 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In many places projects have been challenged on the basis of their economic, social or environmental impacts as discussed by the authors, either internally (within the state bureaucracies or through political changes) and externally (by critiques from civil society and academia, or by reduced funding).
Abstract: Anchored in 19th century scientism and an ideology of the domination of nature, inspired by colonial hydraulic feats, and fuelled by technological improvements in high dam constructions and power generation and transmission, large-scale water resources development has been a defining feature of the 20th century. Whether out of a need to increase food production, raise rural incomes, or strengthen state building and the legitimacy of the state, governments – North and South, East and West – embraced the 'hydraulic mission' and entrusted it to powerful state water bureaucracies (hydrocracies). Engaged in the pursuit of iconic and symbolic projects, the massive damming of river systems, and the expansion of large-scale public irrigation these hydrocracies have long remained out of reach. While they have enormously contributed to actual welfare, including energy and food generation, flood protection and water supply to urban areas, infrastructural development has often become an end in itself, rather than a means to an end, fuelling rent-seeking and symbolising state power. In many places projects have been challenged on the basis of their economic, social or environmental impacts. Water bureaucracies have been challenged internally (within the state bureaucracies or through political changes) and externally (by critiques from civil society and academia, or by reduced funding). They have endeavoured to respond to these challenges by reinventing themselves or deflecting reforms. This paper analyses these transformations, from the emergence of the hydraulic mission and associated water bureaucracies to their adjustment and responses to changing conditions.
380 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors critique the Eurocentric character of security studies as it has developed since World War II and argue that the taken-forgranted historical geographies that underpin security studies systematically misrepresent the role of the global South in security relations and lead to a distorted view of Europe and the West in world politics.
Abstract: In this article, we critique the Eurocentric character of security studies as it has developed since World War II. The taken-for-granted historical geographies that underpin security studies systematically misrepresent the role of the global South in security relations and lead to a distorted view of Europe and the West in world politics. Understanding security relations, past and present, requires acknowledging the mutual constitution of European and non-European worlds and their joint role in making history. The politics of Eurocentric security studies, those of the powerful, prevent adequate understanding of the nature or legitimacy of the armed resistance of the weak. Through analysis of the explanatory and political problems Eurocentrism generates, this article lays the groundwork for the development of a non-Eurocentric security studies.
342 citations
01 Jul 2005
TL;DR: In this article, the economic conception of water is discussed and the debate regarding whether or not water can, or should, be treated as an economic commodity, and the ways in which water is the same as or different than, other commodities from an economic point of view.
Abstract: This paper explains the economic conception of water - how economists think about water. It consists of two main sections. First, it reviews the economicconcept of value, explains how it is measured, and discusses how this has been applied to water in various ways. Then it considers the debate regarding whether or not water can, or should, be treated as an economic commodity, and discusses the ways in which water is the same as, or different than, other commodities from an economic point of view. While there are some distinctive emotive and symbolic features of water, there are also some distinctive economic features that make the demand and supply of water different and more complex than that of most other goods.
247 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined trajectories of socio-cultural and environmental change in six key regions in which complex societies emerged during the Middle Holocene: the central Sahara (focusing on the Libyan Fezzan), Egypt, Mesopotamia, South Asia (Indus-Sarasvati region), northern China and coastal Peru.
Abstract: The first complex, highly organised, state-level societies emerged in the Afro-Asiatic monsoon belt and northern South America during the 6th and early 5th millennia BP. This was a period of profound climatic and environmental change in these regions and globally, characterised by a weakening of the global monsoon system and widespread aridification in regions that today contain the bulk of the world’s warm deserts. This paper examines trajectories of socio-cultural and environmental change in six key regions in which complex societies emerged during the Middle Holocene: the central Sahara (focusing on the Libyan Fezzan), Egypt, Mesopotamia, South Asia (Indus‐Sarasvati region), northern China and coastal Peru. Links between environmental and socio-cultural change are explored in the context of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data and a theoretical framework of increasing social complexity as a response to enhanced aridity, driven largely by population agglomeration in environmental refugia characterised by the presence of surface water. There is direct evidence of adaptation to increased aridity in the archaeological literature relating to the Sahara and Egypt. In the other regions examined, the data are consistent with the notion that increased social complexity was largely driven by environmental deterioration, although further local-scale archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data are required to clarify the processes involved.
237 citations