The book “Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Families and the Making of the Third World” by Mike Davis is relevant within the circles of world economics. It illustrates the relationship between global political economies and climate patterns. Specifically, the book ties economic events with the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The author creates comparisons between ENSO occurrences with various factors. Critically, the book considers the aspect of time in different countries. The ideas presented in the book explore the implications of colonial interests in world history. This also includes a focus on the creation of economic philosophies that surround capitalism. This economic structure is then compared to the occurrence of famine in countries that came to be referred to as the “Third World”. In general, the author of this book has a main argument that criminalizes the incorporation of colonized nations into the economic system of capitalism.
Chapter One Summary
In the beginning of the chapter, the author gives disclosures concerning imperial perceptions about drought. Arguably, drought is one of the most significant natural disasters that have affected humanity for generations. The book evaluates several episodes of drought that are attributable to the occurrence of El Nino. This composite of events is blamed for famines that rocked the globe towards the end of the 19th century. Late Victorian Holocausts narrows down to three drought zones that influenced the occurrence of serious famine. These regions include India, China and the Northeastern ends of Brazil. The three zones were characterized by similar climatic factors that encourages the occurrence of adverse weather events. These episodes of drought cause extensive crop failure and begot serious famines that reduced the numerical significance of human populations in these areas. According to the author of this book, the enactment of economic policies was a confounding factor that aggravated the problems of people living in these regions (Davis 56). Technically, drought was magnified by the activities of the ruling imperialists at the time. The author’s argument is built on an accusations against the imperialists. According to him, the building blocks of underdevelopment were created by the era of colonial imperialism. Countries were reduced to economic dwarfs, otherwise known as third world countries. Capitalist modernization was implemented using resources that sustained the peasants that inhabited such regions of the world.
Mike Davis claims that the environmental events that shook the 19th century were not just natural disasters. The dynamic weather patterns were produced by the instability of ENSO. This was attributable to changing air pressure and temperatures around large water bodies of the oceanic type. The El Nino was a significant force that caused drought in these areas. Particularly, it was responsible for the occurrence of significant rainfall pattern changes that caused flooding and crop failure. In the book, political figures associated with colonial rule blamed the famines on weather factors. They created links that were used to shift people’s focus to the concentration on natural weather events. However, Mike Davis declares that the very essence of colonialism was a significant factor that fueled the famine problems in the three zones. The economic policies that were established in the areas worsened the welfare of the people. In the words of the author, he points out that the victims of these famines succumbed to the principles of liberal capitalism.
The chapter features a description of India’s situation at the time. The author claims that the British rulers had corrupted the social structure of the region. Social relations between people had been distorted to take the form of greedy institutions. Concerning this, people were wired to think about profits at the expense of human life. Under this rule, land was an important rule that provided a standard for economic operations. The British changed economic structures that provided for communal land ownership. Land proprietorship was fundamentally private, and this barred the peasants from accessing wells that sustained their livelihoods. Additionally, the Chinese case was no different. Social relations were altered and this changed the region’s system of handling droughts. Chinese rulers were not allowed to keep stocks of grain that would sustain families during famine. The colonialists dismissed the age-old tradition of food defenses by claiming that they were native and lacked scientific justification. These facts show that people became less prepared for famine than before. The author’s contrast reinforce the argument that colonial rule aggravated people’s economic problems to unimaginable magnitudes.
Discussion
The entitlement approach can be used to understand the author’s perspective. This is by creating a link between the economic solution to famine and people’s access to food supplies. The entitlement approach covers the subject of food acquisition within legal systems (Sen 2). This concerns many aspects of resource utilization that are concerned with food supply. First, the options available for food production are important in the context of feeding populations. Concerning this, people use social systems to devise means of growing food crops. This also includes the acquisition of land meant for agriculture. Additionally, this approach focuses on trade opportunities that facilitate the maintenance of economic systems. Furthermore, the entitlement approach acknowledges the entitlement aspect that concerns the control of resources by the state.
David’s focus is on the presence of British colonialism in India. The inhabitants of the country were faced with drought as the main socioeconomic problem. This aspect predisposed them to significant hardship that affected the purity of their social institutions. The author uses statistical and anecdotal information to highlight the characteristics of the free market system that was installed in the colonial region. Britain imposed an unregulated economic system that would cause the death of millions of people in the 1800s. The book demonstrates the manner in which food supply was affected by the draconian economic system of the time. The onset of globalization was associated with significant economic exploitation that affected many economies around the world. The entitlement of resources was characterized by the overreliance on trade profits. This occurred at the expense of the value for human life. For a long time, people living in the third world relied on local institutions for survival. Localized economic systems provided people with a source of livelihood that would maintain social structures. This was characterized by subsistence food production that supplied populations with sufficient supplies of food.
Over time, the colonial masters forcibly redesigned the socioeconomic systems of the people they administered. They created an economic framework that befitted the modern world expectations. This was described as the free market system. However, the author disagrees with this description. He claims that the free market system was never so, and they defy the basics of sustainable economics. Actually, the creation of markets was backed by greedy motives that lead to oppressive social administration. This is characterized by the imposition of brutal force and manipulative laws that do not safeguard the interests of local people. To understand this, Britain’s economy shed light on this issue. The country was not run on a free market basis. This is due to the nature of trade that occurred between the colonial power and India. Concerning this, severe tariffs were imposed on India and other countries that formed the British colonies. Local economies were drained with the British intention of exploiting natural resources fully. This problem extended to the food supply system leading to considerable starvation and subsequent deaths. In the author’s conclusion, the Third world was created by European economic exploitation.
Conclusion
Works Cited
Davis, Mike. Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World. London: Verso, 2001. Print.
Sen, Amartya. Poverty and famines: an essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford University Press, 1981.
