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Why was the European civilisation the first to expand? The Eurocentric vs. the anti-Eurocentric view.

Axelsson, Charlotta (2005)
Department of Political Science
Abstract
In this essay the question of why the European civilisation was the first to rise and expand will be analysed. As there is more than one answer to this question two of the explanations: the Eurocentric and the anti-Eurocentric have been chosen for a comparison and analysis. The Eurocentric explanations see the expansion of Europe as caused by its inner qualities such as: environment, state-system, people and religion. The anti-Eurocentric explanation on the other hand sees the rise of Europe as caused by the colonisation of the Americas in 1492. The riches and resources provided from this made Europe's remarkable development possible. Europe did not own any special or superior features in comparison with other civilisations; in fact prior... (More)
In this essay the question of why the European civilisation was the first to rise and expand will be analysed. As there is more than one answer to this question two of the explanations: the Eurocentric and the anti-Eurocentric have been chosen for a comparison and analysis. The Eurocentric explanations see the expansion of Europe as caused by its inner qualities such as: environment, state-system, people and religion. The anti-Eurocentric explanation on the other hand sees the rise of Europe as caused by the colonisation of the Americas in 1492. The riches and resources provided from this made Europe's remarkable development possible. Europe did not own any special or superior features in comparison with other civilisations; in fact prior to 1492, they were all on a par with each other. The aim of this study is to look upon the argumentation of these two explanations and examine what lies behind them. The arguments will be analysed in terms of: time & space frameworks, aim & method, validity & material and theory.

Being a debated question the arguments for the rise of Europe are many, and even if we cannot find the right or wrong answers each explanation can be criticised. What seem to be the underlying factors for the arguments are our worldviews. The way we choose to look upon the world then affects the arguments that we make for its development. (Less)
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author
Axelsson, Charlotta
supervisor
organization
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Eurocentric, anti-Eurocentric, civilisation, Political and administrative sciences, Statsvetenskap, förvaltningskunskap
language
English
id
1330782
date added to LUP
2005-06-20 00:00:00
date last changed
2005-06-20 00:00:00
@misc{1330782,
  abstract     = {{In this essay the question of why the European civilisation was the first to rise and expand will be analysed. As there is more than one answer to this question two of the explanations: the Eurocentric and the anti-Eurocentric have been chosen for a comparison and analysis. The Eurocentric explanations see the expansion of Europe as caused by its inner qualities such as: environment, state-system, people and religion. The anti-Eurocentric explanation on the other hand sees the rise of Europe as caused by the colonisation of the Americas in 1492. The riches and resources provided from this made Europe's remarkable development possible. Europe did not own any special or superior features in comparison with other civilisations; in fact prior to 1492, they were all on a par with each other. The aim of this study is to look upon the argumentation of these two explanations and examine what lies behind them. The arguments will be analysed in terms of: time & space frameworks, aim & method, validity & material and theory.

Being a debated question the arguments for the rise of Europe are many, and even if we cannot find the right or wrong answers each explanation can be criticised. What seem to be the underlying factors for the arguments are our worldviews. The way we choose to look upon the world then affects the arguments that we make for its development.}},
  author       = {{Axelsson, Charlotta}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Why was the European civilisation the first to expand? The Eurocentric vs. the anti-Eurocentric view.}},
  year         = {{2005}},
}