Guns, Germs, Steel and Collapse by Jared Diamond - Essay Example

Essay Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse Jared Diamond in his ground breaking study “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” has brought out what one can term as a short history of everyone in the last 13,000 years. In 1998, this book won the prestigious Pultizer prize though it attracted severe criticism also. The book is an attempt to explain Eurasian hegemony in global scenario. The basic premise of this groundbreaking study is that this hegemony was not due to Europe’s intellectual superiority or moral high standards. In this context, one can say that Jared Diamond's this particular study is a new and groundbreaking contribution to anthropology with Diamond putting forward an altogether new reasoning for supremacy of the Europe. According to him the gaps in technology and power between Eurasian and rest of the civilizations largely owe their existence and growth to the environmental differences and not the racial and the cultural factors. The origin of the book helps in understanding the larger context in which this book has been written. Diamond makes it clear that he failed to find satisfactory explanation for the fact that "People of Eurasian origin... dominate the world in wealth and power." while others, "have been decimated, subjugated, and in some cases even exterminated by European colonialists." (Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies p. 15). Interestingly Diamond had an idea of the kind of criticism his treatise would draw from a number of sources. So he himself talks about the possible criticisms his work while outlining the theory. He argues that Eurasian civilization is a result of chain of developments and preconditions, which existed as opportunity, and not the result of any kind of superior intelligence. According to the author, the first step in the direction of an advanced civilization is a movement from a hunter-gatherer society to the agriculture. Eurasia had the advantage of having a large land mass. Thus it had a greater variety of plant and animal species. The result was a greater opportunity to exchange innovations as well as diseases. The economic and technological advantages which Eurasia had ultimately helped it to dominate people of other continent. The book offers a detailed explanation of why the presence of certain advanced cultures failed to stop the progress and overwhelming domination of European culture. In the field of agriculture Europe moved ahead not because of merely natural factors but also because it could implement the principle of division of labour more effectively. The presence of large number of animals, which could be domesticated in this region, proved to be a major catalyst for the development. Historically speaking, the five most useful domesticated animals-pig, goat, sheep, and cow, horse- are all descendants of certain specific species in Eurasia. On the other hand the African animals such as antelope, Cape buffalo, and African elephant could not be domesticated. Combine these developments with the geographical location, which made traveling of long-distances in Eurasian region with the help of domesticated animals possible. The conducive climate also helped in this context. The relatively adverse climatic conditions and geographical constraints in other continents made human migration much moiré difficult thus slowing down the progress of civilisation. Diamond explains this journey up to the modern era outlining the fact that technology played an important role especially during the later era of colonisation of Americas by Europe. He mentions the fact that about 95 per cent of the indigenous population of Americas succumbed to diseases brought by Europeans in this region. The diseases of indigenous Americans on the other hand did not affect the European population largely due to the higher population densities and the immunity they had against much dangerous pathogens, which they acquired due to their close proximity with domesticated animals for a long period. However an exception to this expansion of Eurasian impact and population was some of the tropical diseases such Malaria which hindered their progress in several parts of Africa. One of the major criticisms of the theoretical framework propounded by Diamond is that it is very Euro-centric and suffers from determinism. Critics have argued that while Diamond tries to prove that Europeans were not racially or culturally superior, his theory ultimately moves in the same direction by proving that Europeans were destined to dominate though for a different set of reasons. Timothy Taylor is one of fiercest critics of Diamond’s theory by terming his tools of analysis as Euro centric. Diamond’s critics differ with him by saying that the rise of European civilization was not necessarily inevitable and the reason for the rise cannot be attributed to merely environmental factors. The critics argue that contrary to Diamond’s theory, which rests mainly on environmental factors, the ascendancy of European civilization was result of a complex set of social, economic and political factors. In addition to various sociologists and anthropologists several historians have also questioned certain specific examples given by Diamond. For example Professor Joel Mokyr questions Diamond’s claim that Eurasia had the best of the domesticated crops. Prof. Mokyr argues that the Northeast American Sumpweed contradicts Diamond’s claim. Professor Victor Davis Hanson, historian and political columnist, agrees with Diamond that racial superiority was not the reason for rise of European civilisation over others but t he terms him as “terribly confused” as there are certain other important factors also to which this rise can be attributed such as rationalism, political freedom, individualism and freedom. Interestingly, Diamond’s inclination towards using environmental factor as a braod premise to propound his theory finds an echo in “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed”. Here the author explains the recent developments in the society as he says "societal collapses involving an environmental component, and in some cases also contributions of climate change, hostile neighbors, and trade partners, plus questions of societal responses" (p. 15). The book summarised in Diamond’s own words is ,“ This book employs the comparative method to understand societal collapses to which environmental problems contribute. My previous book (Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies), had applied the comparative method to the opposite problem: the differing rates of buildup of human societies on different continents over the last 13,000 years. In the present book focusing on collapses rather than buildups, I compare many past and present societies that differed with respect to environmental fragility, relations with neighbors, political institutions, and other "input" variables postulated to influence a society's stability. The "output" variables that I examine are collapse or survival, and form of the collapse if collapse does occur. By relating output variables to input variables, I aim to tease out the influence of possible input variables on collapses. ” (“Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed; p.18). This theoretical framework and the tool of case studies used by Diamond makes this study as another unique and new groundbreaking attempt in terms of exploring future of society. According to Diamond, eight factors are responsible for the collapse of societies. These eight factors which have historically contribued to this collapse are habitat destruction and deforestation, overhunting, overfishing, soil problems such as salinization, erosion and fertility losses, poor water management , growth of human population, impact of increased per capita and effects of introduced species on native species. In addition to this he says four new factors may contribute to this collapse too. These four factors which could prove to be detrimental for the human socities in future include climate change caused due to human beings and increasing quantity of toxic elements in the environment. In this book, Diamond mentions, “It would be absurd to claim that environmental damage must be a major factor in all collapses: the collapse of the Soviet Union is a modern counter-example, and the destruction of Carthage by Rome in 146 B.C. is an ancient one. It's obviously true that military or economic factors alone may suffice" (p. 15). One of the major criticisms of his work has been that he has laid too much emphasis on environmental problems and ignored other complex factors that have cause and effect relationship with human societies. However, notwitstanding all these criticisms, the best thing about Diamond is that he tells amazing stories through case studies which no one has attempted in the past the way Diamond has done. He goes back to history, pick up threads weave them beautifully to present a complete picture. One may disagree with the the picture has been carved but the significance of threads picked up by Diamond and his attempt to tie up loose ends to present a deeper understanding of the comtemporary society cannot be discousted even by his most vocal critics. Both these works have brought to the fore crucuial issues of racial determinism and environmental degradation in a larger context of the decay in human civilisation. The relevance and uniqueness of his works can be gauged by an interesting experiment he has carried out in his book “Collapse” in which he has put two maps of the world. These maps have been put up side by side . One of them shows today’s political trouble spots, the other one shows the troubled environmental spots. Both these maps are quite identical clearly indicating that bad environmental management does not make good politics. This very approach of Diamond widens the impact of his works which otherwise would have remained confided to the realm of academeic labyrynths. Diamond’s “Guns, Germs…” is also considred to be a path breaking study in the field of social anthropology as it gives a unique perspective with a geographical twist to find out reasons for Europe’s domination during large parts of history. As Gale Stokes(The American Historical Review,April 2001) puts it in his essay titled, “The Fates of Human Societies: A Review of Recent Macrohistories”, “The issue that has occupied many macrohistorians over the past generation can be stated quite succinctly: "Why Europe?" Why did a relatively small and backward periphery on the western fringes of the Eurasian continent burst out into the world in the sixteenth century and by the nineteenth century become a dominant force in almost all corners of the earth? Until recently, two responses have dominated the answers to this question. The first is that something unique in the European past lay behind its eventual economic development and power. This something special is often seen as a universal good, such as reason, freedom, or individualism, that relates, or should relate, to all human beings.” He goes on to add, “Authors who begin from a European perspective almost uniformly find this moment crucial in their discussions of why Europeans rather than Asians came to dominate the seas of the world. They adopt the same general theme: China was a centralized empire and Europe was not. If and when the central regime in China wished to prohibit the construction of ships with more than two masts, as it did by 1500, it could do so. Europe, by contrast, consisted of a large variety of competing kingdoms and proto-states in which no such blanket prohibition could be sustained. Jared Diamond's version of this conventional wisdom has a typically geographic twist: China is a compact landmass with a relatively limited coastline, while Europe consists of numerous peninsulas and major islands with very extensive coastlines.” As far as “Collapse” is concerned it is not rated that high by the critics as compared to his previous work but it still seems to be able to break some new ground. “Like all environmentalists, Jared Diamond has what can be called a political agenda. Unlike some, he admits that it can be applied by autocratic rulers just as well as by democracies (or sometimes better). Unlike many, he has no illusions about primitive societies being naturally in tune with their environment: he points out that while some have achieved sustainability, others have ruined the land. And unlike almost all environmentalists, he does not believe that big companies, and the profits they make, are inherently evil,” says Noel Malcolm in The Telegraph (The Telegraph, Jan 19, 2005). Talking about “Collapse…” Malcolm adds, “The basic argument of this book is that the environment is only part of the story: what matters is the decisions made, in relation to it, by human beings. One fascinating chapter discusses the divergent histories of two countries on one island, Haiti and the Dominican Republic: the former is an environmental and socio-political basket case, while the latter, thanks partly to the policies of a ruthless and environmentally obsessed political leader, has thriving forests, productive agriculture and relative social stability.” BIBLIOGRAPHY Books: 1.Eight Eurocentric Historians (Guilford Pr) by James M. Blaut, September 2000, 2. “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” (Viking); Diamond, Jared 3. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (W.W. Norton & Company) by Jared Diamond., March 1997. Articles: 1. The Vanishing: In “Collapse,” Jared Diamond shows how societies destroy themselves. by Malcolm Gladwell January 3, 2005, The New Yorker 2. Review Essay: Eurocentricity Triumphant by Joel Mokyr. The American Historical Review, October 1999. 3. Decline And Fall A review of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond by Victor Davis Hanson.National Review Magazine. April 23, 2005 4.Review Essay: The Fates of Human Societies: A Review of Recent Macrohistories by Gale Stokes. The American Historical Review, April 2001. 5. “What are we thinking of?” by Noel Malcolm. (The Telegraph. 19/1/2005). Read More