Mike Davis's Book 'The Great Divergence'

With the start of Stages 2 and 3, there is a change in global dynamics as a power shift, called the Great Divergence, alters the world stage. The Great Divergence encompasses the eventual reversal of global dominance from China and India to Europe, primarily meaning Britain. In Stage 1, the focus was on trade and merchant capitalism, which develops into a fully integrated global society at the dawn of Stage 2. Stage 2 brings about the Industrial Revolution and consequently industrial capitalism and free trade imperialism. Britain at this stage works to ensure their production dominance as “workshop of the world” through forcing unequal treaties on China and India, the main regions discussed in Mike Davis’s book, Late Victorian Holocausts, which
The unequal treaties forced China and India to give up control of tariffs, promised extra territoriality, and gave all European nations the same concessions. Through these conditions, it was difficult to build industry, and thus the “development of underdevelopment” ensued. The industry that was already in place was encouraged to cease through extreme taxation and promotion of the production of raw goods in what Davis refers to as the “…absence of urban employment alternatives…” (Davis 322). This was the deindustrialization that provided a catalyst for the Great Divergence. As industrial production decreased in China and India, so did their ability to compete on the global market. In the meantime, Britain took over the majority of production, using the raw resources from these nations, integrating China and India tightly into the world system. Where India used to be a powerhouse in the production of textiles, the nation now produced raw cotton to be used by Britain in its production of textiles, as Britain was now the leader in industrial
It is during this time that the Third World begins to emerge as well as the subsequent negative perspectives on the nations. China and India were viewed as backwards compared to the imperialist European nations. Relations carried out as if the Great Divergence never happened and the European nations were always the dominant global power, which was not true. For the successful control of China and India, however, the people of these regions needed to cooperate. Britain ensured this through the practice of cultural mummification. This put a cultural importance on practices that would otherwise be considered historical in Britain. Through this process, nations were made “backwards”, as these preserved cultural practices were no longer relevant, such as in the case of sati in India. It was an outdated practice of widows burning themselves with the bodies of their husbands that was perpetuated and encouraged by the British as a way of preventing progressive ideas. There were instances of rebellion against the forced imperialism from the traditionalists, but these groups were quickly put down as the notions they brought back encouraged a dominant natural culture, opposite that of the imperialist ideas. Britain also put leaders in power to act as puppets in the government. These leaders split the population into traditional groups that were easier to manage. With this process, it was