The 3rd volume of Michael Mann’s Sources of Social Power reaches back into the period discussed in volume 2 to treat the processes of globalization that effectively constrained the development of social power in the period of 1890-1945。 These globalization processes involve the extension of overlapping forms of ideological， economic， military， and political sources of social power outward from Europe， primarily in the spread of capitalism， nation-states， and imperialism throughout the globe。 Cap The 3rd volume of Michael Mann’s Sources of Social Power reaches back into the period discussed in volume 2 to treat the processes of globalization that effectively constrained the development of social power in the period of 1890-1945。 These globalization processes involve the extension of overlapping forms of ideological， economic， military， and political sources of social power outward from Europe， primarily in the spread of capitalism， nation-states， and imperialism throughout the globe。 Capitalism tended to drive economic inequality of individuals， autonomous nation-states were thrust into cutthroat competition with each other for the resources needed to further industrialize， and imperialism subjugated the peoples of undeveloped lands to the needs of the industrial nations。 The net effect of these globalizations was to inexorably draw the populace onto the political stage as their lives and livelihoods were deeply affected by these processes。 Set against these structural developments were contingent events that initiated chain reactions to release enormous built-up instabilities that had been created by the many competing processes extending across the globe。 Mann carefully guides the reader through this mixture of contingent and inevitable history to delineate the effects of social power from those of chance events， allowing a （limited） counterfactual view of history to be used to evaluate the use of social power in the studied time period。 Mann begins with the British Empire standing in for European imperialism。 Europeans were ideally suited to empire due to ecological and military concerns。 Ecologically， the movement of European domesticated animals， weeds， and diseases was catastrophic for indigenous populations。 Militarily， Europeans had been at war with each other for centuries for profit， territory， and adventure。 They had developed advanced technological and organizational methods for conducting war and used this to subjugate non-European populations。 The ease with which they were able to dominate non-Europeans gave them a sense of inherent superiority that gave way to a paternalistic and virulent racism that eventually led inward to racist views within European populations。 This toxic racism was clearly imperial suicide but there was simply no path to permanent empire with purely extractive goals。 On balance， British imperialism took much more than it gave and cannot be counted as a progressive force in world history。The US was founded by conquering an imperial power and specifically wrote its constitution to prevent the despotic powers that it had to fight off itself， however that has not prevented it from extending its reach toward a global empire。 American imperialism has resulted largely from its economic and military dominance that resulted from leading the world in the second industrial revolution。 A continent-wide bounty of natural resources combined with a perennial shortage of skilled labour forced the US government to innovate in technology and fund education， communication， and transportation development。 The almost total absence of socialist thought and the elevation of private property rights to an almost sacred degree meant that social progress was only achieved because it increased productivity; there was little transfer of power to an identifiable working class。 Despite the progress in modernizing economic and political institutions， racial relations actually worsened during this period。 Whereas other imperial powers were racist in far away colonies， the US was racist at home， thus it infected their domestic power relations; and still does to this day。 Industrialization had made the US very wealthy， and much of that wealth went into military development。 They used this overwhelming military advantage to secure the Western hemisphere from European powers。 From these disastrous attempts at European-style colonization， the US moved to informal empire enforced by gunboats。 Under cover of free market capitalism and industrial development， they ran an enormous protection racket throughout the world。 It was a milder form of empire than the European variety， largely because the immense power differential precluded retaliatory violence， but it uniformly intensified inequality， corruption， and despotism and held back progress toward sustainable self-rule and development of the colonies。 Once again， a net loss for the worldEast Asia was too far from Europe for traditional colonization but there were plums to be picked so gunboat imperialism was used to force unequal treaties on Asian nations。 Seeing the disastrous effect of the opium wars on China， Japan realized that they were next in line for such treatment unless they reformed quickly， adopting Western organization and technology。 The Meiji restoration was dedicated to learning Western methods and adopting them at home without incurring any dependence on Western expertise or machinery。 The program was hugely successful， though it also brought the social problems of modernity as well as the economic problems of high population density combined with limited natural resources。 With China dramatically weakened by Western imperialism， Japan looked to Taiwan and Korea for colonial expansion。 These colonies were unlike any others in that the colonization led to sustained economic growth in the colonies。 However， Japanese racism， especially in Korea， denigrated the achievement; the Koreans， at least， believe their harsh treatment was not worth the prize。Against this backdrop of worldwide colonization by the industrial nations， World War I appeared as a European war that sucked in half the globe due to the geopolitical tendrils of imperialism。 War had been the dominant form of diplomacy in Europe during the 19th century， but due to the structure of alliances among the great powers， as well as a cascade of contingent events， all of Europe was pulled into this war。 Submarine warfare in the Atlantic drew the US into the war， and each of the powers pulled their colonies into the war。 The whole ordeal was pointless but it resulted in the total destruction of the 3 dynastic empires that started the war; it left European power out of balance， and it convinced ordinary people that from here on they would be the ones fighting， provisioning， and suffering from wars， so they learned that they had to develop an interest in power relations so that they could influence their own future。Following WWI， the Bolsheviks had a successful revolution in Russia and several other European countries had failed revolutions while others had no revolutionary activity at all。 The success of the Russian revolution inspired workers throughout Europe to believe that revolution might be possible for them as well。 In Germany， large industrialists recognized the danger and compromised with workers’ representatives to reform capitalism and get industry working again。 Most workers went along with reform and those who split off in favour of revolution were easily crushed。 In Austria the socialists believed the conservatives were too strong to confront directly and thus pursued a mixed capitalist/socialist system。 The Hungarian socialists split into factions， a fact that was used deftly by the communist leader Bela Kun to outflank the government。 Here they almost succeeded with the model of a coup to be followed by ideological salvation but their insistence on collectivizing agriculture turned the peasants against them。 The communists were unable to maintain supply lines and were utterly destroyed by the white terror。 For successful revolution， soldiers， workers， and peasants all had to unite to overthrow the old regime。 Another crisis spread halfway around the globe shortly after WWI， primarily affecting industrialized， capitalist nations。 Although the war did not cause the great depression directly， it had a synchronization effect that combined with a universally shared， but seriously flawed， understanding of economic policy that prevented the most industrialized nations from returning to economic growth。 They were also strangely but single-mindedly stuck on the necessity of the gold standard as an international regulator of the world’s money supply。 The final nail in the coffin was the unexamined belief that markets were self-correcting as long as the government limited its activities to preventing workers from being overpaid。 The 2nd industrial revolution had created a situation in which factory re-tooling to electricity and assembly lines， along with a pivot from heavy industry to consumer goods， was interrupted by the war。 This had the effect of synchronizing the reorganization throughout the world。 Following the war， governments were ideologically committed to deflation， austerity， and balanced budgets while consumers had little to spend and investors were put off by industry overproducing goods that had little demand。 Those nations that went off the gold standard and followed Keynes’ notion of “effective demand”， recovered first。 The US was hit the hardest by the great depression， and was the last to get out of it， but having got the colossus to finally move， the shift to the left had immense and far-reaching consequences。 The US led the world in the unshakeable belief that failure to balance the budget of the nation was an unforgiveable moral failure， on par with a household that fails to live within its means。 The nation had no history of liberal-labour governance and had to be pulled toward government intervention when there was simply nothing else left to do。 Roosevelt used the power of a desperate population to go against the wishes of big business， letting people know that re-election was just as necessary as reform， relief， and regulation to the New Deal。 The transition to practical economics was fought every step of the way despite its successes。 The South formed an obstructionist block in service of racist policies。 Women and ethnic minorities were similarly left out of the progressive agenda。 Nevertheless， despite the limited gains in some sectors， the application of Keynesian ideas was able to lift the economy out of depression。The triumph of reformed capitalism throughout most of the world had brought a degree of social citizenship to the masses to augment the political and civil citizenship that had been won in the previous century。 This social citizenship encompassed a redistribution of the wealth of a nation in a more equitable manner such that all citizens could consider themselves to belong to a single “society” within the nation。 The prevention of gross inequality was expressed as a right of citizenship， with the government taking responsibility for maintaining the welfare of citizens above some baseline level。 The struggle for social citizenship was often bitter and fractious， and in a democratic society these heated arguments spread through all walks of life。 In nations that had only recently become democratic， there was no history of such divisions throughout a society， and thus little understanding of how the “will of the people” could eventually be settled by negotiation and compromise。 Instead， intellectuals became drawn to an alternative view of the state as the arbiter， despotically imposing order， unity， and morality upon the chaos that is unleashed by democratic governance。 Fascism was thus a movement of high ideals， convincing young people that it could bring about a better social order。 Once fascists came to power， they quickly formed single party dictatorships， though they continued to nurture their ideological base who were still seeking utopian salvation。 Fascism turned out not to be much of an alternative; it offered solutions to crises that were unique to the aftermath of WWI and was ultimately suicidal in its racism and belligerence。State socialism provided the second major alternative to democratic capitalism。 Though the Bolsheviks espoused Marxist principles， the revolution was won by only a few thousand Bolsheviks and they could never have won an election right afterwards。 There was no upswelling of the proletariat against capitalist oppression and socialism had to be imposed on the people through the despotic power of a single party state。 Stalin believed that rapid industrialization was absolutely necessary for the survival of the socialist state， so the peasantry was collectivized through coercion。 Industrialization was achieved， and WWII proved that it had been necessary for the survival of the state， however the cost in human lives and misery was enormous。 The Chinese communist revolution followed a very different path， though no less contingent upon particular historical events as opposed to coming about through long-term structural evolution of social organization。 Japanese imperialism in the 30s began ratcheting up along side a shift toward militarism。 The need for importing raw materials， financed by exports， made Japan vulnerable to the protectionism that followed the depression。 The military took it upon themselves to create a pretext for attacking Manchuria， beginning the “military fascism” of Japan – a top-down fascism kept on track through opportunistic assassinations。 The attack on China re-awakened Chinese nationalism but they first had to fight off the Japanese， whose ruthlessness and atrocities prevented any notion of a negotiated peace。 Mao’s communists began as ideologues but quickly learned that they would have to unite the country behind them before they could win power and impose an ideology。 Like Russia， China was overwhelmingly agrarian， so the communists set about to establish a base where they could defend themselves， and from there， move out to slowly and pragmatically convert the peasantry。 Without the severe weakening of the Kuomintang by the Japanese， the Communists could never have succeeded; their struggle was， first and foremost， a military struggle。 The last inter-imperial war pulled the whole globe into conflict， as almost no nation could avoid becoming involved with WWII。 Unlike WWI， the causes of the war did not stem from the unintended consequences of the miscalculations of statesmen。 The direct cause of the war was fascist ideology， and particularly the person of Adolf Hitler。 Hitler used the fact that no other European nation wanted war to leverage his early seizure of territory， followed up with his certainty that the soft and bickering democracies would not honour their defensive treaties when he attacked Poland。 Although there might have been some chance of stopping Hitler in 1938， the mistrust that existed between the British， French， and Soviets was too severe for a coalition to develop; the only way to stop Hitler was to fight WWII。 Mann’s 3rd volume takes us through several globalizing trends that resulted from European dominance。 The clash of these globally-encompassing movements and events came to a head with WWII。 A decisive event to lead into Vol 4。 。。。more