Westernization

About: Westernization is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1154 publications have been published within this topic receiving 15791 citations. The topic is also known as: occidentalization.

Westernization versus indigenization in the context of global mental health: training and services in Ethiopia – University of Gondar in focus

Abstract: Ethiopia is one of the ancient countries inhabited by well over a hundred million people of diverse cultures and languages. Such diversity requires mental health training and services to be...

Singapore's modernization : westernization and modernizing Confucian manifestations

Abstract: This book is a part of a broad study about Confucianism and its implications for modernisation of the Confucian regions (covering mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, and Singapore). Singapore provides a typical example for understanding the Chinese 'Westernising' processes as well as for investigating possible implications of Confucianism for modernisation. It is argued that the difference in modernisation processes between the mainland China and overseas Chinese is much due to the differences in population size and geography. Since the Western powers had enforced China to open its doors to Western powers from the Opium War, many Chinese people left China for overseas. It is in foreign lands and in Taiwan that the Chinese have benefited from Western thought and institutions.

Globalization and its consequences

Abstract: There is no such thing as globalization in the world today. What we have is Westernization in general, and Americanization in particular. By “globalization”, and I like the word, I would mean a world where both genders, all three generations, all races, all classes, all nations and all states would pull together for the sake of livelihood and dignity for all. The only organization that could be a vehicle for such endeavors would be the United Nations. But the UN is being crippled, particularly by the vehicle for the key project: Americanization.

Modernization and Social Change in Azerbaijan: Assessing the Transformation of Azerbaijan through the Theories of Modernity

Abstract: The socialist development model of the Soviet Union has attracted much scholarly attention over the years, but the modernization experiences of singular post-Soviet countries (e.g. Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkmenistan) are rarely discussed. This may be because these countries have only recently gained their independence in the early 1990s and that perhaps most observers are still unsure about their trajectories. This study aims to contribute to the literature by examining the case of Azerbaijan in light of various influential theories of modernity (i.e. the classical modernization theory, neo-modernization theory and multiple modernities paradigm). Azerbaijan’s modernization process has been characterized by fluctuations, reversals and various external influences over the years. The country first emerged as an independent political entity in 1918 and attempted to follow a systematic cultural Westernization and secularization program. Yet it was occupied by the Bolshevik Red Army in 1920 and annexed into the newly formed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) – being forced to conform to the top-down socialist development model directed by Moscow for many decades. Since gaining its independence once again after the disintegration of the USSR in 1991, Azerbaijan has operated as a secularist country, faltering to democratize and trying to integrate to the global economic system as an energy-producing (i.e. oil and natural gas) rentier economy. While Azerbaijan has sought to become part of the so-called “Western civilization” via building close ties with Turkey, US, Israel, NATO and the EU, the ruling elites in Baku have resisted any calls for democratic reform – not unlike the rentier economies of the Middle East such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. This article will argue that the complex development track of Azerbaijan provides an appropriate case to challenge the hypotheses of the classical modernization and neo-modernization theories, while supporting those of the multiple modernities paradigm.

British Conservatism and the Indian Revolt: The Annexation of Awadh and the Consequences of Liberal Empire, 1856–1858

Abstract: This article examines how the East India Company's 1856 annexation of the Indian Kingdom of Awadh informed British Conservative responses to the Indian Revolt in 1857 and 1858. Addressing scholarship on Britain's reaction to the revolt and political engagement with Indian empire, this study reveals that Conservatives interpreted this event with a veneration for locality and prescription. Criticism from company officials and Awadh's deposed royal family informed Conservative perceptions that British exploitation and westernization were responsible for military rebellion and popular upheaval. Principally, this reflected Conservative skepticism regarding liberal modernity as well as support for prescribed aristocratic, propertied, and established church interests in Britain. Their response, expressed in Parliament and supported in conservative periodicals, was the 1858 Queen's Proclamation authored by Edward Smith-Stanley, the 14th Earl of Derby's Conservative government. The proclamation established a lasting imperial framework which defined the crown's obligation to uphold India's political, social, and cultural differences and separation from Britain. Future Conservatives strengthened British views of India's distinctiveness by supporting perceived traditional leaders and customs over uniform western administration and education.