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Oriental Despotism

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341:"Total Terror, Total Submission, Total Loneliness" argue that "hydraulic government" is despotic by its very nature. This was a form of "total power" because there were no social, legal, or cultural constraints. Wittfogel also denies that in the case of imperial China there were "rights of rebellion", such as other Chinese and foreign scholars have seen, but he does hold that a "law of diminishing administrative returns" kept rulers from controlling all aspects of their subjects' lives, so that "genuine elements of freedom remained." This freedom, however, amounted only to a "beggar's democracy." The "rationality coefficient of hydraulic society" means the society's ability to get things done, operating at three levels at which the government must be effective: managing the agrarian economy, ("managerial"); using corvee and taxes, ("consumptive"); and maintaining peace and order, ("judicial) 458:, took advantage of accidents and timing to become absolute ruler. Mote was especially concerned to explain the limits of power and the limits of terror, which he believed Wittfogel did not appreciate. Thus "total power," Mote wrote, "while not a meaningless phrase, must be understood in the context of a complex historical situation." It existed in Ming China, but even then it did not mean that totalitarian power was "omnipresent and omnicompetent." If this power concentrated on any single objective, it probably could accomplish that objective, but by the nature of the cultural environment, it could not accomplish many of them. 225:
no forces in society opposed them. Wittfogel asked whether there was an explanation found only in these societies. Marxists in both the Soviet Union and in Western countries explored these questions as important in themselves, but with special heat because both liberals and conservatives in the West wanted to decide whether Stalin's Russia was an authentic communist system in Marx's sense or whether it was itself an example of oriental despotism. One historian of the concept remarks that for Wittfogel, "the analysis of Asia was actually intended as a discussion of political relationships within the 'West'".
651:, a Harvard historian of comparative East/West economic and social development, struck back: the "hydraulic thesis has been roundly criticized by a generation of Western sinologists zealous in their political correctness (Maoism and its later avatars are good) and quick to defend China’s supposed commitment to democracy. Wittfogel is the preferred target." Landes explained these criticisms by saying that "almost all these critics of the water connection are courting the favor of an umbrageous regime, dispenser of invitations and access.” 392:
focus on North America and Western Europe." He added that "the book makes impressively clear that there is a great mass of despotic practice in the most populous parts of the world that cannot be transformed magically by democratic catalysis." Yet "environmental determinism" is "explicitly denied," as Wittfogel speaks of "the opportunity, not the necessity" for agromanagerial despotism.
193:'s dictum that all societies evolved through the same stages of historical growth, which Asia must therefore follow. When he was freed from a Nazi prison in Germany, he came to the United States with his wife in 1933 and made several trips to China for research. Wittfogel's interests in China and immersion in Marxist analysis led him to conclusions on the theory of 500:
Wittfogel's biographer Gary Ulmen replied to these criticisms that to focus on "hydraulic despotism" was to misunderstand Wittfogel's general thesis. In fact, Ulmen continued, Wittfogel had considered a number of alternative ways to frame his proposition and there were many more demonstrations of the
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objected that most of the hydraulic civilisations of the past were in semi-arid regions where irrigation "did not require a despotic monarch to build vast aqueducts and reservoirs; it simply called for elementary and quite localised drainage construction and perhaps the diversion of river flood water
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David Price, a scholar of Cold War social science, declared that Wittfogel's writings "become so mired in his personal anti-communist crusade that it can be difficult to disentangle his anti-totalitarian vehemence from his theoretical contributions." Price argued that Wittfogel took advantage of the
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Anderson continued that “this vulgar charivari, devoid of any historical sense, jumbles together pell-mell Imperial Rome, Tsarist Russia, Hopi Arizona, Sung China, Chaggan East Africa, Mamluk Egypt, Inca Peru, Ottoman Turkey, and Sumerian Mesopotamia – not to speak of Byzantium or Babylonia, Persia,
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wrote that Wittfogel "presents effective arguments, and the neatness of his total view of Chinese despotism is compelling, yet when it is applied to any one period of history there appear certain difficulties in accepting his arguments." Wittfogel "does not write of Chinese government and society as
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Wittfogel suggested Asia was immobile because rulers controlled society but there were no slaves, as in Marx's slave society, nor serfs, as in feudal society: there were no classes, no class conflict, and thus no change. This proposition did not explain how rulers gained their absolute power and why
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extensively but not uncritically. These thinkers, Blaut charges, share “the most fundamental error,” that is, “to believe, or assume, that one type of environment produces a particular type of society and the latter then persists down through history. Culture changes...." In the 1930s, Wittfogel's
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A ubiquitous ‘Asiatism’ represents no improvement on a universal ‘feudalism’: in fact, it is even less rigorous as a term. What serious historical unity exists between Ming China and Megalithic Ireland, Pharaonic Egypt and Hawaii? It is perfectly clear that such social formations are unimaginably
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advised that "every geographer concerned with Asia, and every political geographer whatever the regional concern, should read it". He hoped that "historians, political scientists, deans, and college presidents will see it as evidence that ... 'most of the world' is just as important as traditional
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In the late 1920 and early 1930s, orthodox theorists in Moscow spurned Wittfogel's views because they differed from Stalin's and Chinese Marxists rejected them also because they implied that China did not have the capability to develop. On a trip to Moscow, however, Wittfogel met the young Chinese
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credited Wittfogel with updating Marx and Weber but sharply criticized what he regarded as the misuse of Wittfogel in what he called “the myth of the European miracle,” that is, "the rather archaic doctrine" that environmental factors made Europe modern and the Orient stagnant and despotic. Blaut
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in 1957. The book offers an explanation for the despotic governments in "Oriental" societies, where control of water was necessary for irrigation and flood-control. Managing these projects required large-scale bureaucracies, which dominated the economy, society, and religious life. This despotism
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and published articles presenting aspects of its argument. He finished a manuscript in 1954, but for several years publishers turned it down. Perhaps the topic did not seem attractive or perhaps the political atmosphere seemed hostile to a book with a Marxist argument even if that argument was
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commented that "despite its analytical sweep and evident learning, Wittfogel's model made it difficult to understand why government involvement in Chinese social life seemed to have been distinctly limited during the imperial era (221 B.C.E. - 1911 CE.) or how Chinese society could have ever
241:, argued that a dynasty's success depended on control of irrigation, which increased agricultural production, and especially water transportation, which gave the government both military and financial control. Wittfogel also had a productive intellectual relation in the 1930s with 419:
into the flat lands on either side of the main stream." Leach further objected that Wittfogel did not deal with India, the state which Marx saw as the ideal type of "Asiatic society", and ignored the other states of South and Southeast Asia, which were all "hydraulic societies."
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in the midst of this political struggle. Gregory Blue called final words of the book — "not with the spear only, but with the battleax" —the "Spartan view on how Greeks should fight Persian imperialism" that "represented a highbrow version of 'better red than dead.'"
600:. These scholars tested and challenged Wittfogel's conclusions. Robert McCormick Adams, for instance, found that the archeological evidence in Mesopotamia indicated that irrigation might help consolidate political control but did not by itself cause despotic rule. 525:, Needham remarked that Wittfogel's Marxism in the period before he came to the United States was "chiefly an emphasis on social and economic factors in Chinese history which had been overlooked by others.” After World War II, 399:, for instance, disagreed with the scholars who used the concept of oriental despotism for understanding of Aztec political organization and society. The concept is "demonstrably false," wrote Offner, at least for the state of 632:
fact that he was one of the few Asia scholars to cooperate with Cold War investigations and that this cooperation protected his Marxist analysis from criticism; Wittfogel's ecological materialism escaped criticism even in the
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in the American press was wide and warm. Reviewers noted that Wittfogel had been working on these questions in some form since the 1930s but that the book was important for understanding the post-war world. The reviewer in
221:. Modern Europe, in Marx's classic formulation, was created by the conflict between the emerging bourgeois and industrial capitalist classes, on the one hand, and the Ancient Regime of feudal economy on the other. 1280: 430:
in regard to Islamic societies. He saw the earlier oriental despotism theorists and Wittfogel as "precursors, or manifestations of what would later be called the 'Orientalist' approach," which
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influenced ecological anthropologists and global economic historians even though some of them found fault with its methodology and empirical basis or questioned Wittfogel's political motives.
640:, Paul Robbins, notes that Wittfogel, having been accused of being a communist sympathizer, protested loudly and accused Owen Lattimore and other colleagues of being communists; he wrote 197:
that differed from Marxist tradition. Marx held that historical development outside Europe did not follow the pattern he saw in Europe. Europe, he wrote, developed through a process of
1244:—— (1938). "New Light on Chinese Society: An Investigation of China's Socio-Economic Structure". NY: International secretariat Institute of Pacific relations. 556:
and ecological political science, that is, theoretical approaches that combined geographical and environmental factors. Wittfogel participated in a 1953 session at the
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The book was both welcomed as an historically grounded analysis of despotism that warned the West against the expansion of Communist totalitarianism and criticized as a
403:: irrigation had no significant role, there was extensive private property in land, and the government did not dominate the economy, since the market was extensive. 148:, though they were not themselves hydraulic societies, did not break away from their historical condition and remained systems of "total power" and "total terror". 477:, wrote that historians were burdened with the task of responding to Wittfogel's charge that the dynasty was "despotic," one that he did not think was justified. 529:
invited Wittfogel to Harvard University to deliver a series of talks to his graduate seminar in Area Studies. Wittfogel was one of the influences on Fairbank's
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a historian; the reader does not sense any awareness of the steadily cumulative development through the centuries which gave each age its own character." The
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strongly critical of the Soviet Union and the communist government in China. Wittfogel may have had to supply a publication subsidy to Yale University Press.
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Wittfogel wrote in 1960 that the People's Republic of China was not a "hydraulic society," but that it represented a "stronger form of oriental despotism."
473:'s "Grand Alliance distinction between 'fascist-conservative and communist-progressive forms of totalitarianism'..." Another historian of the Ming dynasty, 519:
appreciated Wittfogel's early work for its combination of Weberian understanding of bureaucracy and Marxist political analysis. In developing his study,
2135: 2171: 533:(1948), a survey that synthesized the standard work of historians and social scientists. Wittfogel left Columbia University in 1949 to join the 245:, whom he met in China. Lattimore, who shared Wittfogel's interest in ecological structures and material conditions, argued that the history of 2176: 1916:"Wittfogel's Theory of Oriental Society (or Hydraulic Society) and the Development of Studies of Chinese Social and Economic History in Japan" 1886:
Eisenstadt, Shmmuel Noah (2003), "Civil Society, Public Sphere, The Myth of Oriental Despotism and Political Dynamic in Islamic Societies",
557: 1944:
Offner, Jerome A. (1981). "On the Inapplicability of" Oriental Despotism" and the" Asiatic Mode of Production" to the Aztecs of Texcoco".
593: 317:, and 20th century Marxist-Leninist regimes. He prefers the term "hydraulic" rather than "Oriental," but uses the terms interchangeably. 2181: 2108: 2066: 2022: 1867: 1830: 1775: 1177: 1057: 2161: 2089: 2001: 695: 521: 249:
was dominated by the interaction between settled agricultural societies that flourished in the relatively well-watered rim and the
335:"Despotic Power, - Total And Not Benevolent": The absence of effective constitutional and societal checks and "beggars' democracy. 2077: 2156: 100:
differed from the Western experience, where power was distributed among contending groups. The book argues that this form of "
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Lin, Diana Xiaoqing (2012). "John K. Fairbank's Construction of China, 1930s-1950s: Culture, History, and Imperialism".
1586:(1961). "The Growth of Chinese Despotism: A Critique of Wittfogel's Theory of Oriental Despotism as Applied to China". 17: 1205:
Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Chinas, Versuch der wissenschaftlichen Analyse einer großen asiatischen Agrargesellschaft
1700: 1274:. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, with the cooperation of the American Institute of Pacific Relations. 469:
flourished at all". Wittfogel's reading of China as a hydraulic despotism, Blue speculated, also aimed to undermine
233:, an underground communist who became his intellectual disciple. Ji came to the United States for graduate work at 178: 1915: 1065: 2186: 534: 1991: 553: 387: 569: 423: 210: 174: 261:
Beginning in the 1930s, Wittfogel pursued research projects that formed a background and preparation for
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Key Economic Areas in Chinese History, as Revealed in the Development of Public Works for Water-Control
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work was translated and used by scholars in Japan, but after the war not so much attention was paid.
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The European Miracle: Environments, Economies, and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia
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saw Wittfogel as the defining influence in the group, but the historian Alice Miller disagreed.
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The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia
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The Science of Society: Toward an Understanding of the Life and Work of Karl August Wittfogel
1841: 717: 670: 2045: 2012: 1953: 1930: 1794: 1737: 1680: 1640: 1563: 1524: 1488: 1472: 1437: 1391: 1370: 1333: 1292: 1281:"Oriental Society in Transition with Special Reference to Pre-Communist and Communist China" 1224: 982: 546: 526: 483:
objected that the concept of the Asiatic Mode of Production was too broad to be meaningful:
282: 101: 2078:"'Hydraulic Society in Ceylon': Contesting Wittfogel's Thesis and Sri Lankan Mytho-history" 189:. During the 1920s and early 1930s he debated with orthodox Marxist-Leninists who followed 1508: 1262: 573: 2125: 395:
Area specialist scholars, however, questioned the concept for their particular regions.
1935: 1856: 1607: 597: 561: 541:, for instance, used Wittfogel's concept of "beggar's democracy" in his massive study, 516: 480: 442: 302: 242: 198: 125: 2150: 1973: 1821:
The Colonizer's Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History
1819: 1806: 1692: 1660: 1546: 1457: 1355: 1312: 1166: 1096: 609: 581: 474: 451: 310: 298: 286: 190: 129: 117: 105: 281:. "The Natural Setting Of Hydraulic Society," explains the geographical settings of 1981:
Price, David (2013). "Karl Wittfogel". In McGee, R. Jon; Warms, Richard L. (eds.).
648: 577: 455: 447: 415: 141: 1428:—— (1969). "Results and Problems of the Study of Oriental Despotism". 1395: 2141: 685: 1906:
The Magic of Concepts : History and the Economic in Twentieth-Century China
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sees the influence of Wittfogel in the writings of "miracle theorists," such as
431: 290: 230: 182: 133: 109: 1849:. (Conference paper) XIXth International Congress of Historical Sciences. Oslo. 1798: 1684: 986: 246: 2049: 1209:
Schriften des Instituts für Sozialforschung der Universität Frankfurt am Main
1513:"(Review Article) the Study of Oriental Depotisms as Systems of Total Power" 633: 589: 218: 214: 206: 2011:
Rowe, William T. (1985). "Chinese Social History". In Zunz, Olivier (ed.).
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Marxist Geopolitics: Oriental Despotism A Comparative Study of Total Power
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The Rise of Anthropological Theory : A History of Theories of Culture
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Abrahamian, Ervand (1974). "Oriental Despotism: The Case of Qajar Iran".
1215:—— (1936). "Key Economic Areas in Chinese History (Review)". 450:
emperors, for instance, had great power but did not use it despotically;
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Wittfogel, who was educated in German centers of sinology and joined the
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The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor
1749: 1538: 1500: 1449: 1347: 1304: 1236: 1965: 1652: 1575: 1420: 1403: 2017:. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 236–294. 1910:, Ch 2, "Thr Economic and the State: The Asiatic Mode of Production." 2034:"Oriental Despotism and European Orientalism: Botero to Montesquieu" 1741: 1529: 1512: 1492: 1441: 1338: 1321: 1296: 1228: 552:
The water-control thesis encouraged the development of the field of
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The reception among scholars of China was especially skeptical. The
1957: 1644: 1567: 408: 323:"Hydraulic Economy,- A Managerial And Genuinely Political Economy" 186: 2059:
After Oriental Despotism: Eurasian Growth in a Global Perspective
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accused of imposing this type of analysis on Islamic societies.
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The Rise And Fall Of The Theory Of The Asiatic Mode Of Production
347:"The Core, The Margin, And The Submargin Of Hydraulic Societies," 2033: 1983:
Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia
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because he was accepted as anti-communist. The scholar of
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Comparative Civilizations and Multiple Modernitities Pt. 1
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Jones, Stephen B. (1958). "Oriental Despotism (Review)".
1411:—— (1960). "A Stronger Oriental Despotism". 1897:
Rural China: Imperial Control in the Nineteenth Century
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study group on Modern China. One member, the historian
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Patterns Of Proprietary Complexity In Hydraulic Society
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Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
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Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power
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Oriental Despotism; a Comparative Study of Total Power
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was influential for its methodology and its findings.
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Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power
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Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power
2084:. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ Press. pp. 210–234. 884: 882: 564:
at University of Illinois in 1955. The appearance of
1985:. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. pp. 935–936. 1088: 1086: 687:
The Asiatic Mode of Production: Science and Politics
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in print further influenced anthropologists such as
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polemic. The materialist and ecological theories in
237:. Ji's doctoral dissertation, published in 1936 as 72: 62: 52: 42: 1855: 1843:China and the Writing of World History in the West 1818: 1165: 1378:—— (1958). "(Review) Joseph Needham, 592:. Wittfogel's work encouraged the development of 177:in 1920, was dissatisfied with the debate on the 1993:Political Ecology : A Critical Introduction 2014:Reliving the Past: The Worlds of Social History 1369:. New Haven: Yale University Press – via 1728:Venturi, Franco (1968). "Oriental Despotism". 1198: 690:. London; Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 136:. Wittfogel further argues that 20th century 8: 1787:International Journal of Middle East Studies 407:assessed the applicability of the theory to 37: 1671:(1958), "Review of K.A. Wittfogel (1957)", 684:Bailey, Anne M.; Llobera, Josep R. (1981). 560:and in a following conference organized by 1899:. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1272:History of Chinese Society: Liao, 907-1125 1199:Wittfogel's writings on Oriental Despotism 845: 817: 36: 2138:" by Rolando Minuti Published: 2012-05-03 1934: 1528: 1337: 1151: 1127: 948: 757: 713: 239:The Role of Irrigation In Chinese History 1715:(1958), "Review of Oriental Despotism", 975:Journal of American-East Asian Relations 924: 912: 682:For essays and readings on the AMP, see 1858:The Asiatic Mode of Production in China 1610:(1959). "(Review) Oriental Despotism". 1139: 1020: 960: 829: 666: 659: 1881:. New York: Columbia University Press. 1322:"Chinese Society: A Historical Survey" 1258: 1247: 805: 270:The structure and argument of the book 169:Karl August Wittfogel § Biography 2082:Edmund Leach: An Anthropological Life 1717:The American Political Science Review 1092: 1035: 999: 936: 793: 634:Cold War heightened fear of Communism 7: 1770:. London; New York: Verso Editions. 1052:. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. 888: 873: 861: 781: 769: 729: 558:American Anthropological Association 501:theory than "hydraulic" despotism. 253:that survived in arid Central Asia. 745: 2076:Tambiah, Stanley Jayaraja (2002). 1936:10.1111/j.1746-1049.1966.tb00481.x 87:is a book of political theory and 25: 1890:, Leiden: Brill, pp. 418–434 1380:Science and Civilization in China 522:Science and Civilisation in China 1767:Lineages of the Absolutist State 1631:Palerm, Angel (1958). "Review". 2103:. The Hague; New York: Mouton. 2038:Journal of Early Modern History 1908:, Durham: Duke University Press 1730:Journal of the History of Ideas 329:"A State Stronger Than Society" 30:For the political concept, see 2172:Books about cultural geography 2057:Stanziani, Alessandro (2014). 596:, for instance in the work of 371:Oriental Society In Transition 1: 2177:Books about politics of China 1862:. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. 1701:"(Review) Oriental Despotism" 1396:10.1525/aa.1958.60.2.02a00320 1117:pp. xxxi, 9-10, 203, 206, 211 1113:. Cambridge University Press. 902:Chinese State in Ming Society 1825:. New York: Guilford Press. 1481:American Sociological Review 1320:—— (1956–1957). 359:Classes In Hydraulic Society 1895:Hsiao, Kung-ch'üan (1967). 1270:with Jiasheng Feng (1949). 531:The United States and China 414:The British anthropologist 274:The book has ten chapters: 2203: 2126:Karl Wittfogel (1896-1988) 1914:Masubuchi, Tatsuo (1966). 490:distant from one another. 181:(AMP) that traced back to 179:Asiatic mode of production 166: 146:People's Republic of China 29: 2182:History books about China 2032:Rubiés, Joan-Pau (2005). 1904:Karl, Rebecca E. (2017), 1799:10.1017/S0020743800032761 1685:10.1017/s0041977x0006047x 1285:The Far Eastern Quarterly 1172:. New York: W.W. Norton. 1164:Landes, David S. (1998). 1076:"Hydraulic Civilization" 987:10.1163/18765610-01904003 603:The political geographer 95:(1896–1988) published by 2162:American political books 2050:10.1163/1570065054300275 1923:The Developing Economies 1877:Chi, Chʻao-ting (1936). 1764:Anderson, Perry (1979). 1517:Journal of Asian Studies 1509:Eisenstadt, Shmmuel Noah 1430:Journal of Asian Studies 1326:Journal of Asian Studies 1207:, (Hirschfeld: Leipzig, 535:University of Washington 380:The initial reaction to 1854:Brook, Timothy (1989). 1699:Sherman, A. V. (1959). 1479:by Karl A. Wittfogel". 1384:American Anthropologist 1363:—— (1957). 1279:—— (1955). 1109:Jones, Eric L. (1987). 1078:Encyclopedia Britannica 1048:Harris, Marvin (2001). 554:ecological anthropology 388:The Geographical Review 2157:1957 non-fiction books 2061:. London: Bloomsbury. 1990:Robbins, Paul (2010). 1840:Blue, Gregory (2000). 1257:Cite journal requires 627:Political implications 570:Robert McCormick Adams 424:Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt 175:German Communist Party 2167:Books about communism 2099:Ulmen, G. L. (1978). 466:University of Toronto 454:, the founder of the 140:regimes, such as the 97:Yale University Press 93:Karl August Wittfogel 57:Yale University Press 47:Karl August Wittfogel 2130:The Rise of the West 927:, pp. 487 n. 4. 594:cultural materialism 439:Princeton University 213:, and from there to 211:bourgeois capitalism 1612:Science and Society 1556:Geographical Review 1475:(1958). "Review of 1413:The China Quarterly 235:Columbia University 102:hydraulic despotism 89:comparative history 39: 38:Oriental Despotism 2136:Oriental Despotism 1946:American Antiquity 1713:Toynbee, Arnold J. 1633:American Antiquity 1584:Mote, Frederick W. 642:Oriental Despotism 620:Oriental Despotism 605:James Morris Blaut 566:Oriental Despotism 513:Oriental Despotism 428:Oriental Despotism 382:Oriental Despotism 295:Hellenistic Greece 263:Oriental Despotism 251:pastoral societies 195:oriental despotism 157:Oriental Despotism 114:Hellenistic Greece 32:Oriental despotism 27:1957 American book 2124:David Cosandey, " 1669:Pulleyblank, E.G. 1473:Eberhard, Wolfram 846:Eisenstadt (2003) 818:Abrahamian (1974) 638:political ecology 539:Hsiao Kung-ch'uan 405:Ervand Abrahamian 307:Abbasid Caliphate 283:hydraulic empires 122:Abbasid Caliphate 80: 79: 73:Publication place 16:(Redirected from 2194: 2114: 2095: 2072: 2053: 2044:(1–2): 109–180. 2028: 2007: 1986: 1977: 1940: 1938: 1920: 1909: 1900: 1891: 1882: 1873: 1861: 1850: 1848: 1836: 1824: 1810: 1781: 1753: 1724: 1708: 1695: 1664: 1627: 1603: 1579: 1550: 1532: 1504: 1461: 1424: 1407: 1374: 1371:Internet Archive 1359: 1341: 1316: 1275: 1266: 1260: 1255: 1253: 1245: 1240: 1188: 1186: 1171: 1161: 1155: 1152:Wittfogel (1957) 1149: 1143: 1137: 1131: 1128:Masubuchi (1966) 1125: 1119: 1114: 1106: 1100: 1090: 1081: 1074: 1068: 1063: 1045: 1039: 1033: 1024: 1018: 1012: 1009: 1003: 997: 991: 990: 981:(3–4): 211–234. 970: 964: 958: 952: 949:Wittfogel (1960) 946: 940: 934: 928: 922: 916: 910: 904: 898: 892: 886: 877: 871: 865: 859: 853: 843: 837: 827: 821: 815: 809: 803: 797: 791: 785: 779: 773: 767: 761: 758:Wittfogel (1957) 755: 749: 743: 737: 727: 721: 714:Stanziani (2014) 711: 702: 701: 680: 674: 664: 612:, and his book, 547:Frederic Wakeman 527:John K. Fairbank 422:The sociologist 397:Jerome A. 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January 1. 1704: 1676: 1672: 1636: 1632: 1618:(1): 58–65. 1615: 1611: 1591: 1587: 1559: 1555: 1520: 1516: 1484: 1480: 1476: 1433: 1429: 1415:(1): 29–34. 1412: 1387: 1383: 1379: 1365: 1329: 1325: 1288: 1284: 1271: 1250:cite journal 1220: 1216: 1208: 1204: 1183: 1167: 1159: 1147: 1135: 1123: 1110: 1104: 1093:Blaut (1993) 1077: 1072: 1049: 1043: 1036:Price (2013) 1016: 1007: 1000:Hsiao (1967) 995: 978: 974: 968: 956: 944: 937:Ulmen (1978) 932: 920: 908: 896: 869: 864:, p. 5. 857: 841: 825: 813: 801: 794:Jones (1958) 789: 784:, p. 2. 777: 772:, p. 1. 765: 753: 741: 725: 686: 678: 662: 649:David Landes 647: 641: 630: 619: 613: 602: 586:Angel Palerm 578:Morton Fried 565: 551: 542: 530: 520: 512: 511: 503: 499: 495: 479: 462:Gregory Blue 460: 456:Ming dynasty 448:Song dynasty 436: 427: 421: 416:Edmund Leach 413: 394: 386: 381: 379: 368: 362: 356: 350: 344: 338: 332: 326: 320: 285:, including 278: 273: 262: 260: 238: 227: 223: 172: 156: 150: 142:Soviet Union 83: 82: 81: 1793:(1): 3–31. 1594:(1): 1–41. 889:Blue (2000) 874:Mote (1961) 862:Mote (1961) 782:Mote (1961) 770:Mote (1961) 730:Rowe (1985) 716:, pp.  669:, pp.  543:Rural China 441:sinologist 432:Edward Said 426:questioned 369:Chapter 10. 291:Mesopotamia 257:Publication 231:Ji Chaoding 183:Montesquieu 110:Mesopotamia 2151:Categories 1705:Commentary 1184:Wittfogel. 1095:, p.  848:, p.  832:, p.  746:Chi (1936) 732:, p.  363:Chapter 9. 357:Chapter 8. 351:Chapter 7. 345:Chapter 6. 339:Chapter 5. 333:Chapter 4. 327:Chapter 3. 321:Chapter 2. 315:Incan Peru 247:Inner Asia 163:Background 134:Incan Peru 1996:. Wiley. 1974:163992626 1807:154871428 1693:162716357 1661:164066742 1547:163098192 1458:147186184 1356:161204356 1313:165540094 590:Eric Wolf 508:Influence 376:Reception 279:Chapter 1 219:communism 215:socialism 207:feudalism 53:Publisher 1817:(1993). 1624:40400613 1600:43382295 1511:(1958). 1187:, p. 27. 1080:(Online) 1066:671- 674 229:scholar 153:Cold War 1750:2707864 1539:2941426 1501:2088810 1450:2943008 1348:2941230 1305:2941830 1237:2750659 1194:Sources 464:of the 411:Iran. 401:Texcoco 209:, then 2107:  2088:  2065:  2021:  2000:  1972:  1966:279985 1964:  1866:  1829:  1805:  1774:  1748:  1691:  1659:  1653:276500 1651:  1622:  1598:  1576:212153 1574:  1545:  1537:  1499:  1456:  1448:  1421:763342 1419:  1404:665188 1402:  1354:  1346:  1311:  1303:  1235:  1176:  1097:83- 90 1056:  1011:Miller 834:211 ff 694:  588:, and 309:, the 305:, the 132:, and 128:, the 120:, the 43:Author 1970:S2CID 1962:JSTOR 1919:(PDF) 1847:(PDF) 1803:S2CID 1746:JSTOR 1689:S2CID 1657:S2CID 1649:JSTOR 1620:JSTOR 1596:JSTOR 1572:JSTOR 1543:S2CID 1535:JSTOR 1497:JSTOR 1454:S2CID 1446:JSTOR 1417:JSTOR 1400:JSTOR 1352:S2CID 1344:JSTOR 1309:S2CID 1301:JSTOR 1233:JSTOR 1115:e.g. 718:17-18 671:56-57 655:Notes 409:Qajar 187:Hegel 2105:ISBN 2086:ISBN 2063:ISBN 2019:ISBN 1998:ISBN 1864:ISBN 1827:ISBN 1772:ISBN 1263:help 1174:ISBN 1064:pp. 1054:ISBN 692:ISBN 297:and 289:and 185:and 144:and 116:and 108:and 68:1957 2128:," 2046:doi 1954:doi 1931:doi 1795:doi 1738:doi 1723:(1) 1681:doi 1641:doi 1564:doi 1525:doi 1489:doi 1438:doi 1392:doi 1382:". 1334:doi 1293:doi 1225:doi 983:doi 850:418 734:264 205:to 91:by 2153:: 2080:. 2040:. 2036:. 1968:. 1960:. 1950:46 1948:. 1925:. 1921:. 1801:. 1789:. 1744:. 1734:24 1732:. 1721:52 1719:, 1703:. 1687:, 1677:21 1675:, 1655:. 1647:. 1637:23 1635:. 1616:23 1614:. 1590:. 1570:. 1560:48 1558:. 1541:. 1533:. 1521:17 1519:. 1515:. 1495:. 1485:23 1483:. 1452:. 1444:. 1434:38 1432:. 1398:. 1388:60 1386:. 1350:. 1342:. 1330:16 1328:. 1324:. 1307:. 1299:. 1289:14 1287:. 1283:. 1254:: 1252:}} 1248:{{ 1231:. 1219:. 1182:. 1085:^ 1028:^ 979:19 977:. 881:^ 706:^ 584:, 580:, 576:, 572:, 545:. 313:, 301:, 293:, 124:, 112:, 2134:" 2113:. 2094:. 2071:. 2052:. 2048:: 2042:9 2027:. 2006:. 1976:. 1956:: 1939:. 1933:: 1927:4 1872:. 1835:. 1809:. 1797:: 1791:5 1780:. 1752:. 1740:: 1683:: 1663:. 1643:: 1626:. 1602:. 1592:8 1578:. 1566:: 1549:. 1527:: 1503:. 1491:: 1460:. 1440:: 1423:. 1406:. 1394:: 1373:. 1358:. 1336:: 1315:. 1295:: 1265:) 1261:( 1239:. 1227:: 1221:9 1130:. 1099:. 1062:. 1023:. 989:. 985:: 939:. 852:. 836:. 820:. 748:. 736:. 720:. 700:. 673:. 34:. 20:)

Index

Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power
Oriental despotism
Karl August Wittfogel
Yale University Press
comparative history
Karl August Wittfogel
Yale University Press
hydraulic despotism
ancient Egypt
Mesopotamia
Hellenistic Greece
imperial Rome
Abbasid Caliphate
imperial China
Moghul empire
Incan Peru
Marxist-Leninist
Soviet Union
People's Republic of China
Cold War
Karl August Wittfogel § Biography
German Communist Party
Asiatic mode of production
Montesquieu
Hegel
Joseph Stalin
oriental despotism
class conflict
slave society
feudalism

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