This panel will reexamine 18th and 19th Century global economic divergence—which led to the ascendancy of Western Europe over other traditional powers—from a truly global perspective. Technical work in this area focuses, more often than not, on one binary comparison: China and Western Europe, Japan and Western Europe, the Middle East and Western Europe, and so on. The primary goal of this panel is to bring these comparative fields into serious dialogue with each other, something that has largely been absent up to this point. Such dialogue will allow scholars to consider whether, and to what extent, the theories that have gained acceptance within a specific binary can contribute to a more general narrative and framework of global divergence. At the same time, approaching the question from a truly global perspective will help scholars develop a sharper sense of the idiosyncrasies of each regional economy, thereby facilitating the production of more analytically rigorous regional history.

In terms of specific themes, panelists will pay special attention to issues of political economy. Several of the papers touch upon state capacity, elite behavior, military mobilization, and class politics. Their authors tend to propose a top-down, state-oriented approach to economic divergence. Thus, global economic history is inextricably tied to issues of government structure, political culture, and law.

The panel will devote around half an hour to each specific paper, and then leave the remaining time for general discussion, during which panelists–and, hopefully, the audience–will exchange general ideas concerning the future development of this long-existence yet in many ways still nascent field.