Description
Book SynopsisSophie Bessis tells the story of the West‘s relationship with the world it came to dominate - from the conquest of the Americas, through the slave trade and the Scramble for Africa, the White Man‘s burden, Manifest Destiny and the growth of scientific racism, to decolonisation, the ideology of development and structural adjustment.
Western Supremacy is the history of colonial and developmentalist thought. Starting with the Enlightenment idea of universality it traces how this facilitated a notion of the West rooted in a Hellenic inheritance systematically shorn of Egyptian or Arab influences. Though the hierarchy of races has now given way to the hierarchy of development, Bessis argues that developmentalism is the new incarnation of the West‘s paradoxical aspiration to lead the world into universalism whilst maintaining its own supremacy.
An extraordinary tour-de-force which will fascinate everybody who has an interest in globalization, development and the history of ideas.
Trade Review'An extraordinary work of intellectual history, beautifully written, raising the most profound questions about that sacred cow, Western Civilization. I hope her book will be widely read.'
Howard Zinn
'A complex and original picture of international relations.'
Le Monde des Livres 'The author‘s deep understanding of the societies of the South helps her avoid facile judgements.'
Alternatives Economiques 'A particularly stimulating work, which traces the evolution of the modern West from its renaissance roots to its most recent avatar.'
Télérama 'This book glows with lucid anger - and impatience with the confusions offered us not only by the proponents of Western supremacy but by many of its supposed opponents.'
Immanuel Wallerstein
Table of Contents
- Forword to the English edition
- Introduction
- Part I: The Formation of a Culture
- 1. The West Is Born
- 2. Light and Shadow of the Enlightenment
- 3. The Roots of a Conviction
- 4. Continuity beneath Wrenching Changes
- 5. The Backlash
- Part II: The Way of the World
- 6. The Great Post-Colonial Illusion
- 7. The New Basis of Hegemony
- 8. The Privileges of Power
- 9. Beginning of the End?
- Part III: The Two Sides of the Mirror
- 10. The New Look of Universality
- 11. The Same and the Others
- 12. On the Other Side of the Mirror
- Conclusion
