Hist 2c, L 16: Modernization: Japan, China, India
by Prof. H. Marcuse, May 22, 2003

Question (last time): What is the most effective way to quickly modernize a state or society?What is "effective"? How can we assess the costs and benefits of "development"?Short answer: It depends on how we measure and value the human costs.

3 case studies

Announcement: next Tue: Genocide; Thu: Holocaust survivor. CLAS workshops: Wed. 6pm, Thu. 4pm Last Time

How to quickly and effectively modernize a state or society:

tight control in the hands of an authoritarian leader

targeted violence
structural violence

"Modernization" / "Development"

Notion of progress
(Where does that come from?)
What is the alternative?
(Is growth good? Should it be the norm?)
What is the goal, the end point?

Film clips

CNN, ca. 2000, 5:20 mins.

India's Caste System
vs. education, urbanization, economics, politics
A matrilineal society
Khasis, a tribe in Meghalaya, a small northeastern state
(on map: right above Bangladesh)
What do women control?

India: An open (political) system with closed minds (re: values & behavior)
China: A closed system with open minds.

"Third World"

Textbook, p. 638 ("Decol. & Third World")
"But the largest part of the world's population has long been located elsewhere. The majority live in what was formerly called the 'Third World' (that is, of neither the American nor the Soviet side of the Cold War) of less developed and scarcely developed countries…"

Textbook, p. 638 ("Decol. & Third World")
"With some bitter exceptions, the French were successful, as were the British, in retaining a position of privilege and influence in their former colonies. Despite rabid nationalism among the former subjects, the ties generated by common languages and education often survived the political scission."

Defining 3 "Worlds"

Political system:
US bloc, Soviet bloc, other
capitalist, communist, non-aligned
What countries?

Economic system:
free, command, "un-/underdeveloped"
What countries?Measures of "development"
poverty (income), agriculture/industry, urbanization, education, class equity, population growth, health, "independence"

World Demographic Map

Japan (text p. 590f)

"Opening" by force in 1853-54:
Shogunate w/ unequal trade treaties
Meiji Restoration, 1867: Meiji reforms
financial: national tax, credit, corporations.
zaibatsu
agrarian: land redistribution, market access.
monetarization
silk as cash crop: 2.3mio lbs 1870->93 in 1929
military: conscript army, modern weapons
constitutional: parliament w/ limited electorate
1904-5: Russo-Japanese War; China

China (text p. 587f)

Unequal trade treaties, Cixi (1835-1861-1908)
Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), Kuomintang (KMT)
1911-12: parliament & General Yuan Shikai
anarchy, nationalism, factionalism
miniscule Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
1919: May 4^th movement (Versailles Treaty, Mao)
Chiang Kai-shek: military leader of KMT
1927 purge against communists
1934 "long march" (guerilla war under Mao)
1937: Japanese in; WW2 isolation
1948: KMT to Taiwan, Mao Tse-Tung & CCP
Mao Tse-Tung
1949, Oct. 1: People's Republic of China founded
1958-61: Mao's Great Leap Forward
(decentralized, labor-intensive industrialization)
1960-61: failed reforms cause agricult. famine
(up to 30 mio. people die)
1966-76: Cultural Revolution
(purges and persecutions of opponents)
1977-78 Deng Xiaoping (d. 1997) rises to power
1989, June 4: army crackdown on Tiananmen Sq.

India (text. 635ff)

Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)
nonviolent, moral movement vs. British
Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs
1947: India, Pakistan, E. Pakistan=Bangladesh
1948: Gandhi assassinated
1950: adoption of constitution
1966: Indira Gandhi becomes prime minister
1975: emergency measures; 1977-80 out
1984: Indira assassinated
1991 ex prime minister Rajiv Gandhi (I's son) assassinated
CCP

India vs. China

Population 1997: 919 vs. 1200 millions
2025: 1400 vs 1500 millions
pop. growth rates: 1.8 vs. 1.2%
Gross Domestic Product (1994)
293 vs. 522 billion $
Per capita: $320 vs. $530
growth rate: 3.8% vs. 12.9%
Literacy among adults: 52% vs. 81%
among women 48% vs. 73%
Life expectancy: 62 vs. 69 yrs (women: 60-71)
Infant mortality per 1000 live births: 70 vs. 30
Malnourishment in children <5: 63% vs. 17%

lecture by H. Marcuse on 5/22/03; outline prepared for web on 5/22/03.
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Hist 2c, L 16: Modernization: Japan, China, India by Prof. H. Marcuse, May 22, 2003