Journal of World History, vol. 7, no. 1 (1996)

ARTICLES

Botany, Chemistry, and Tropical Development, pp. 1-20
Daniel R. Headrick
Two sciences, botany and chemistry, have contributed to the current imbalance between rich and poor countries. In the nineteenth century, to bring the tropics into the world market, Europeans transferred valuable plants and established botanical research institutions. Before 1914 tropical economies kept pace with those of temperate zones. Chemistry had an opposite effect. Synthetic dyes appeared before 1914. During the world wars, chemists synthesized plastics, rubber, and fibers. By reducing the industrial nations’ demand for tropical products, synthetics retarded the growth of the tropical economies. Yet Malaysia has shown that tropical nations can compete if they invest in research.

Theory and History of Revolution, pp. 21-40
Clifton B. Kroeber
Theories of revolution formulated by social scientists are imaginative and insightful, but they deal only with some cases of revolution, and they propose incomplete analyses. These theories are largely ignored by other social scientists and by historians, whose many studies of individual revolutions customarily overlook theory. Discussion here of cases of revolution and related issues suggests that theorists and comparative historians need awareness of each other’s work and of the many revolutions of millennia past.

The Pacific Age in World History, pp. 41-70
Pekka Korhonen
The idea of the world’s economic, political, and cultural center moving from Europe to the Pacific region is already more than 100 years old. The term Pacific Age was coined in Japan in 1892, and around the turn of the century the idea was discussed in the United States and Australia. During the 1920s it became a catchword among Pacific liberal intellectuals, but the gloom of the 1930s ended the vision. In 1967 the idea reappeared in connection with the emerging Pacific integration process, and rapid economic development in east Asia has kept the optimistic vision alive since then.

The Rise of the Jute Manufacturing Industry in Colonial India: A Global Perspective, pp. 71-99
Tara Sethia
The rise of a jute manufacturing industry in India presents a case where, with respect to the industrial production of jute and its share in the world market, a colony outstripped an imperial metropolis (Dundee, once known as “Juteopolis”). Ironically, this rise contributed to only limited growth of industrialization and capital accumulation in India. This study underscores the complex connection between colonialism and development by highlighting the interplay of forces that operated in the context of changing patterns of global trade and economy. It also outlines the role played by Indian raw jute in the growth of industrialization and capital accumulation in Dundee and the critical role of Indian jute products in balancing trade in the British empire.

The State versus Indigenous Peoples: The Impact of Hydraulic Projects on Indigenous Peoples of Asia, pp. 101-130
Nguyen Thi Dieu
This paper discusses the historical relationship between states and indigenous peoples. It deals specifically with how nations in their drive to industrialize must choose between national identity and economic development, on the one hand, and on the other, the survival of an apparently negligible segment of their societies, the indigenous peoples. Drawing on case studies of the Batang Ai dam in Sarawak, Malaysia, the Narmada Valley Project in India, and the Three Gorges Project in China, this study examines the divergence between macro- and micro-interests, most clearly illustrated by the egregious impacts of hydraulic projects on indigenous peoples of Asia.

BOOK REVIEWS, pp. 131-156
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