ABSTRACT
Writing in the mid-1960s, Geoffrey Barraclough contended that when the history of the first half of the twentieth century – which for most historians was still dominated by European wars and problems – came to be written in a longer perspective, no single theme would prove of greater importance than ‘the revolt against the West’ (1967: 153-4). In a similar vein, we may today contend that when the history of the second half of the twentieth century will be written in such a longer perspective, the chances are that no single theme will prove of greater importance than the economic renaissance of East Asia. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate some of the implications of this potentially epoch-making phenomenon for our understanding of the past, present, and future of historical capitalism.
