Why Anglos Lead

[Nessa]

See this article by Lawrence Mead and tell me what you think. He highlights a few reasons why he believes the United States (among other Anglo nations) is the world's leader:

• Other rich countries that might show leadership have abdicated
  
• Wealth and Law
  
• The Projection of Force
  
• Confidence in War
  
• The Deference of Others
  

I'm also thinking Technology and Christianity have something to do with it.

Stir. Discuss.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

how about insanely rich in natural resources

[Nessa]

Russia is also insanely rich in natural resources, but it hasn't gotten them as far as the US.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Russia is?  Then why is everyone so miserable, badly managed government??

[Nessa]

...badly managed govt??

Yes.

"Good government" is a big point in the article. But my question is, what makes good government? Rule of law? Judicial system? What it's founded on (moral principles, namely)?

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

How about a society that wasnt force transported from their homelands and put into forced labor camps to grow nothing but wheat for 40 years.

Also a lot of Russians would mock the statement that Russians are miserable as an entirely biased American point of view,

[fuzzyoctopus]

Also a lot of Russians would mock the statement that Russians are miserable as an entirely biased American point of view,

Which is fine, because that's really what it is, coming from me. I mean I've never been there, but I have several friends who have lived there, either on mission or foreign exchange and they did not paint a pretty picture of the standard of living for people there.

[The Lost One]

I've always thought that the guns, steel, and germs theory for why Anglo nations have developed so quickly is an interesting (and popular) theory. It sounds like this author is trying to combat that theory.

[Entsuropi]

Nessa: What the frell does religion have to do with world superpower status?

[Nessa]

Entropy, you know I put that there just for you. Just to rile you. You took the bait.

I've heard the argument that the protestant ethic (or Judeo-Christian, whichever you prefer) influenced us as:

• A civilizing force that is self-sustaining
  
• Many political thinkers were protestant and it influenced Anglo governments
  
• They fought against religious tyranny, bringing that viewpoint wherever they went
  

I'm not saying Christianity is the reason why Anglos lead. I'm musing out loud about its influenceing factor, although I'm not sure quite how much.

[Fellfrosch]

It's certainly true that imperialist nations tend to be Christian, and with one or two exceptions the world superpowers are primarily Christian, so whether or not it should matter it would certainly appear that it does. That said, just because it happened to turn out this way doesn't mean that it has to--i.e., there's no hard evidence of a causal relationship.

[Entsuropi]

Entropy, you know I put that there just for you. Just to rile you. You took the bait.

Ok.

They fought against religious tyranny, bringing that viewpoint wherever they went

That doesn't quite match the historical evidence in Britain. There were constant riots, lynching and such from the Reformation up until vaguely recent times, over the protestant/catholic divide. In our colonies we typically tolerated other religions, but witchcraft and blasphemy remained crimes (still are, technically but it's like treason - we never use those laws).

As for it's influence on government thinking... that's a hard one. Certainly that influence was there, but I don't think it had much effect on our politics or economy. It affected our imperialism, as it was used (along with rascism) as justification for conquering everywhere that sat still long enough, but then it was more of an excuse. I'm inclined to believe that, on the national level, any given religion has little effect unless it is taken to fanatical fundementalist levels. The rest of the time it's just a different name.

[The Lost One]

The theory that I heard that links Christianity as the cause of the rise of European power has to do with the early structure of the Christian church. During the collapse of the Roman empire, the early Christian church provided a system of goverment that was more stable. People would look to the local Christian bishops to provide rule of law and governance. Later, the Emperor Constitine recognized the value of the Christian organization, converted to Christianity and then used the church to rebuild Europe. Anyways, that is the theory and I understand that it does have strong support among some scholars.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Except one of those one or two exceptions is China the 800 pound Gorilla in the room.

[The Lost One]

China might overtake the Anglos lead but it would be premature to say it has already taken a lead. Japan is still more of a world industrial leader than China, at the moment. However, I do believe that several Asain countries are developing quickly and will eventual surpass the EU. Whether Asia can surpase North America is another issue.