A comparative study of total power, first published in starting from. Download pdf 1 mb abstract in 1957, when karl wittfogel published his seminal book on oriental despotism, it was evident from the outset that the authors arguments were heavily biased against russia and deeply rooted in the cold war atmosphere. A comparative study of total power is a book of political theory and comparative history by karl august wittfogel 18961988 published by yale university press in 1957. Regarding wittfogels classic work with the politically correct lens of today, it is unfortunate that he titled his book oriental despotism because that too often leads to readers hasty and erroneous conclusion that a wittfogel believed that only the orient or governments east of west europe were dictatorial. Conference paper xixth international congress of historical. These societies generated the surplus production needed to stimulate and sustain the development of writing, laws, public works and government control. A theoretical and historical examination of the development of the major accountancy bodies in the u. A comparative study of total power is a book of political theory and comparative history by karl august wittfogel 18961988. Barrington moore, george lichtheim and especially pierre vidalnaquet. The book offers an explanation for the despotic governments in oriental societies, where control of water was necessary for irrigation and floodcontrol. Global history, the role of scientific discovery and the. A comparative study of total power yale university press, new haven and london. Pdf hydraulic bureaucracy in a modern hydraulic society.
Such a state would inevitably be despotic, powerful, stable and wealthy. The practice of matching texts to readers is one that many teachers use and yet one that can become rigid and cumbersome with everyday classroom use. The book views the european concept of oriental despotism as based not on arbitrary prejudicial observation, but rather on perceptions of real processes and behavior in eastern systems of government. The expression the theory of asiatic society implies in itself that the target was wittfogel, for it is the title of a work he wrote between the wars karl a.
Currently citations of wittfogel, mostly but not all of his major book oriental despotism 1957, in social sciences citation index run at about 20 a yearittgenstein runs at about 500. Get your kindle here, or download a free kindle reading app. After oriental despotism questions conventional oppositions between europe and asia. A comparative study of total power, first published in 1957. The goal has been a full and definitive treatment of marxs political theory, policies, and practice.
Basically the ruling officialdom of imperial china resembled the. The economic analysis of the power to tax and spend, or what franz oppenheimer called the political means, is applied to democracies and to dictatorships. Wittfogel is best known for his monumental work oriental despotism. As karl butzer found for pharaonic egypt, water control and empire were quite clearly bound together, but wittfogels linear chain of causality from stresse. Divided sovereignty in the genghisid states as exemplified. In 1957, when karl wittfogel published his seminal book on oriental despotism, 1 it was evident from the outset that the authors arguments were heavily biased.
Asian traditions and contemporary international law on the. Starting from a marxist analysis of the ideas of max weber on china and indias hydraulicbureaucratic officialstate and building on marxs sceptical view of the asiatic mode of production, wittfogel came up with an analysis of oriental despotism which. In a preindustrial society, however, this largescale hydraulic construction requires the manual labor of large. Wittfogel, for example, in his classic oriental despotism 1957, argued that complex societies are underwritten by an agricultural base supported by irrigation. In the spirit of laws, charles montesquieu argued that china was a despotic state whose principle was fear. Needless to say, this goal is unattainable, but it has served to determine the form and contents, scope and. Correspondence 19071988 register of the karl august wittfogel papers 66033 6 folder 3 adair, john 1959 folder 4 adams, inez 19491950 folder 5 adelphi edizioni 1963 folder 6 aerospace industry purchasing seminar 1962 folder 7 ahlenstiel, heinz, includes letter from tina wommelsdorf 19461967 folder 8 ahlenstiel, rolf 19591965 folder 9 aid refugee chinese intellectuals 1956.
Etude comparative du pouvoir total karl a wittfogel on free shipping on qualifying offers. Wittfogels theory of oriental society or hydraulic society and the. It suggests that although his writing has been criticised as deterministic and generalising, with hindsight, wittfogel is best appreciated as a scholar thinking within a particular historical and intellectual context. Karl august wittfogel oriental despotism internet archive. By revisiting the history of eurasia in this context, the book offers a serious challenge to existing ideas about the aims and goals of economic growth. Karl wittfogel in the american communist newspaper. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Unlimited viewing of the articlechapter pdf and any associated supplements and figures. The book offers an explanation for the despotic governments in oriental.
Malcolm, in the first half of the century, estimated it at about six million op. A comparative study of total power karl wittfogel download bok. Wittfogels theory of hydraulic despotism with special regard to the. Power, he has given a comprehensible account of social, political, and economic history of asian. Curtis considers how the concept developed and was expressed in the context of western political thought and intellectual history, and of the. This epilogue provides a last word to this rich collection of papers engaging in lively dialogue with wittfogels ghost. In karl wittfogels monumental 1957 volume entitled oriental despotism. This textbased pdf or ebook was created from the html version of this book and is part of the portable library of liberty.
Anatomy of the statehow the state preserves itself. Water, political power and the rise of a new despotic regime. It is 60 years since karl wittfogel highlighted a key relationship between political power and the ownership and control of water. The spirit of the rule of law in china association for. Disrespect for nature has been a major cause for the demise of such despotic empires. Wittfogel wrote widely on this subject, especially in his 1957 book oriental despotism, basing much of his argument on karl marxs asiatic mode of production theory. He came to believe that the stateowned economies of the soviet bloc inevitably led to despotic governments even more oppressive than those of traditional asia and that those regimes were the. Historian karl wittfogel coined the term hydraulic society to describe the ancient cities and social systems that relied on the productivity of irrigated agriculture wittfogel 1957g.
It is shown that the fiscal exploitation inherent in. It is a pleasure to add a last word to this rich collection of papers engaging in lively dialogue with wittfogels ghost. In asian societies, highly developed irrigation systems provided basis for the hydraulic agriculture and it eventually preserved the patterns of despotic government. Economic hierarchies, organization and the structure of. Full text of karl august wittfogel oriental despotism. A comparative study of total power wittfogel, karl on. In the authors personal tradition, the book relies on narrative analysis rather than mathematical complexity to. They resurfaced aroundbut by wtitfogel wittfogel was of course a nonperson in communist eyes. A socioeconomic survey conducted by the university of ceylon. Wittfogels anticommunism led in oriental despotism to extend the hydraulic hypothesis to russia, where it hardly is applicable. In economic hierarchies, organization and the structure of production gordon tullock examines the internal functioning and organization of the corporation. In 1957, when karl wittfogel proposed, via a study of water and governance in.
Literacy coaches inspire teacher reflection and promote a culture of ongoing. Or on a cruder criterion the cambridge university library copy of the book is borrowed about four times a year, is in poor condition and needs replacement. Water, political power and the rise of a new despotic regime veronica strang institute of advanced study, durham university, durham, uk. Because the maya are not known to have built largescale irrigation systems, he claimed that the maya were a marginal agrarian wittfogel 1957.
Wittfogel, oriental despotism new haven, conn yale university press, 1957, pp. In 1957 karl augustin wittfogel published his work on oriental despotism, in which he assumes that since prehistoric times in many places of the world the necessity for large. The constraints imposed by democracies and dictatorships on the iron law of political redistribution and the law of hierarchical centralization are examined. Wittfogel notes the confucian doctrine that the glory of the ruling class rested on its gentleman scholarbureaucrat officials, destined to be professional rulers dictating to the mass of the populace. Wittfogel was born on 06 september 1896 in woltersdorf germany. Anthropological conversations with karl wittfogels ghost this epilogue provides a last word to this rich collection of papers engaging in lively dialogue with. Summarize karl wittfogels hydraulic thesis, which seeks to explain what karl marx earlier called oriental despotism. Obviously, the chinese marxists, the chinese revolutionaries, and the soviet marxists, have all set themselves against this thesis. Well assume youre ok with this, but you can optout if you wish. Usq eprints looking for a professional download pdf. This is the legacy of the ancient empires of sumer and assyria in mesopotamia, described by karl wittfogel. This textbased pdf was prepared by the typesetters of the lf book.
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