The World
When you say progress here, what are you actually talking about? Is it just shorthand for economic growth or G.D.P.? What is progress? For, me it is something along the lines of our success in realizing a liberal, pluralistic and prosperous society, and a sense among people that their offspring can and probably will do better than they themselves h... See more
Ezra Klein • Opinion | We Know Shockingly Little About What Makes Humanity Prosper
Europe was almost always a loose-knit ‘confederation’ of culturally similar states in whose mutual relations economic strength was only one of several important variables. Religious affiliation, dynastic allegiance, ideology and ethnic cohesion interacted unpredictably with economic forces to ensure the survival of some political and cultural units
... See moreJohn Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
Before 1400, an observer who was able to survey the world would have had few accurate clues as to which of the main civilizations in Eurasia would eventually assert a worldwide pre-eminence. China, the Islamic realm in Middle Eurasia, and Europe had each attained a high degree of socio-political organization and material culture.