Global Modernization Review

The following sections are included:

• The Scientific Advisory and Editorial Committee of the First International Modernization Forum
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Contents

The first International Modernization Forum (IMF): "Modernization and Global Change", was held in Beijing on August 8 and 9, 2013. Members of the scientific advisory committee of the forum come from 12 countries including the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, Korea Republic, the Netherlands, P.R. China, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation (RF), the United Kingdom, and the United States. The participants of the forum have held extensive discussions and reached some consensus.

Which are the basic dimensions of modernity? Has modernity become a global social condition? Are there different paths toward and through modernity? Are there different ways to be modern? The prevailing approach in contemporary studies of modernization as exemplified by authors like Eisenstadt, Gaunkar, Taylor and Wittrock — argues for the existence of multiple modernities, affirming that the paths toward and through modernity are different and even alternative, but it arises the criticism of those who, like Schmidt, prefer to speak in terms of varieties of the same basic model.

In this essay, I will discuss the contemporary literature on multiple modernities, I will argue that modernity has gone global and at the same time takes different forms, exposing some ideas which I have developed in my book Global Modernization (2005).

Modernization, as a crucial type of macro-social change, is an ambiguous and contested concept. Like the idea of social change itself, modernization is treated in two opposite ways in sociological theory. One, characteristic of evolutionism or developmentalism, dominant in classical 19th century social thought, puts emphasis on its inevitability, unilinear course and single final destination. Another, emerging from the critique of determinism, fatalism and finalism assumes contingency, multilinearity and open-endedness of modernization. It looks at modernization as a possibility rather than necessity, as an achievement rather than fate. And claims that whether this possibility is achieved depends on the actions, decisions, choices of the members of society plus the conducive circumstances for mobilizing and facilitating such actions. The contingent character of these actions and circumstances produces various trajectories and outcomes of modernization, in other words multiple modernities.

I take the latter perspective and in this article will attempt to apply to the analysis of modernization my general theory of social becoming as put forward in two books in the nineties: One a monograph by Polity Press, Cambridge (Sztompka, 1991) and another a textbook of the sociology of social change by Blackwell, Oxford (Sztompka, 1993a) which also came out in the Chinese translation by Professor Lin Juren (Sztompka, 2011). This very general model of social becoming has a number of implications which have been hinted or formulated here and there in the rich literature on modernization. I propose to put them together in a synthetic picture by means of 10 theses on modernization. Each could be elaborated in a separate article, but within my space constraints I will only present a list, a sort of agenda for future research…

Four decades have passed since modernization theorists first gave serious consideration to a transition from consumerism to post-consumerism. The intervening years have given rise to committed efforts in the United States and other affluent countries to reinforce the preconditions of consumer society through the deregulation of key economic sectors, the liberalization of international trade, and the reassertion of military power abroad. Enthusiasm for renewing these interventions now seems to be waning amid protracted difficulties restoring customary increments of economic growth. The prevailing situation, combined with a reversal of once favorable trends with respect to demography, household income, political capacity, and resource availability, suggests that the pillars of consumerist lifestyles are coming under increasing strain and new routines are beginning to develop.

We began the modernization study in 1998. Up to date, we have published 35 books on modernization study, and finished the modernization evaluations of 131 countries from 1950 to 2010, and done some case studies such as the “Yangtze river model”. Among 35 books, 16 items belong to the series of China Modernization Reports, 9 items belong to the series of Second Modernization, and 10 items belong to the series of China Forum on Modernization Research.

This paper will summarize our researches, and focus on three issues: Modernization study is a new interdisciplinary science, to make a trend-map for world modernization, and to suggest a roadmap for China modernization, and last two issues belong to the modernization policy.

He Chuanqi, research fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), first proposed his opinion on the second modernization in 1998 and fully elaborated on it in 1999. He spent over a decade enriching and developing it into a scientific modernization theory which has gradually become the mainstream in the modernization research in China. This paper, by taking the global modernization into account, tries to answer questions, such as under what background was this theory proposed? How was it developed? How should we judge it now?

Humiliation was an indelible part of China's modern history, when the country saw its dignity trampled almost to the verge of national subjugation. For more than a hundred years, numerous people with lofty ideals have painstakingly sought for national rejuvenation. In recent years, as China's economic power and national strength is on the rise, national rejuvenation has become an urgent vision and a hot topic. Since its inception a decade ago, the China Center for Modernization Research (CCMR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has been committed to the macroscopic study on national revival and prosperity, examined the frontier of world civilization and the process of reaching the frontier, and formed a systematic discip line of modernization science. Based on the author's understanding of the Modernization Science, the author shares his knowledge on modernization research and the path of national rejuvenation.

The period of the 12th Five-Year Plan is a crucial period for constructing the “moderate prosperity” society, during which we have been approaching the goal of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Based on the conceptualization and operationalization of “rejuvenation”, this study proposed a systematic monitor and assessment of measuring the progress of the rejuvenation which includes 6 dimensions and 28 indicators. The empirical research indicated that the progress index was 66.6% in 2012.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Economic Development
• Prospects for Modernization
• The Planned Modernization
• Conclusion
• References
• Further Readings

Modernization, as a process, is usually related to the processes of urbanization and industrialization. As Kendall (2007) points out, “Urbanization accompanied modernization and the rapid process of industrialization”. The modernization of the developed country through urbanization, industrialization, and economic policy has benefited these countries economically. However these places, more or less, have also experienced problems that include the growing disparity between the rich and poor, the urban sprawl, the urban center decline, and ecological issues. And along with the development of industrial modernization, the urban population will increase or decrease as the relocation of industrial and commercial investments, associated with urban planning policy. The city of Detroit in the United States is an extreme example of the urban problems in the developed world. As the capital of the American automotive industry, it enjoyed the economic and cultural development and prosperity, and suffered the most traumatic urban decline and decay. This article will examine the issue of urban decay in the city of Detroit, in order to help us understand the pitfalls in the process of modernization and urbanization, and avoid similar problems in our cities.

Historians usually have the difficult task to “predict” the past according to what they believed to be the truth and moreover with the needs “objectively” expressed by their contemporaries. To further complicate the situation they deal with complex and complicated concepts such as: modernization, westernization, growth poles, regional development, normative transfers, etc. often poorly explained or defined in their own idiom. When they try to combine different concepts belonging to the vast sphere of sciences involved in the research of the social field everything seems to become more dazed and confused. In order to avoid such an outcome they need a solid referential system based on a subtle alchemy dedicated to the grand scope of accommodating all these concepts with the tools of their analysis…

A few years ago, the author once wrote a paper revealing the historical fact that despite Latin American countries had been independent for 200 years, none of them succeeded in modernization or ranked among developed countries. I believe that it is a major academic topic that calls for profound research and concerns the future of developing countries. But many from the academic circle though cannot deny such a historical fact, do not agree with me and regard my view as too pessimistic to have a correct understanding of the sound development situation in China. But today, the same issue is brought forward by the World Bank as “middle-income trap”, a concept hard to understand. The World Bank suggests that some developing countries in Latin America and Middle East “fail to improve the value chain or explore the high-growth market dominated by products and services of knowledge innovation” after they reach the world's middle-income level with per capita GDP of USD1,000, and as a result, they are trapped in the middle-income range and cannot make it to high-income developed countries. Some economists even define “middle-income trap” as “Latin American trap” (Shou, 2011). In this paper, I would like to share some of my views in this regard for the reference of readers and my counterparts in the academic circle…

A century ago, the world was undergoing tremendous upheaval. Revolutions broke out almost simultaneously in many areas of the world:

• Iranian Revolution of 1905–1911.
• Young Turkish Revolution of 1908–1914.
• Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920.
• 1911 Revolution of China.
• Russian Revolutions of 1905–1907 and of 1917–1920.
• India's protests against British colonial rule in 1905–1908.
• Egypt's anti-British struggles in 1906–1907 and popular uprisings in 1918.

The following sections are included:

• The Question Raised
• Impact of Modernization on Wars
• Impact of Wars on Modernization
• The Trend for Wars in the 21st Century has Three Possibilities
• References
• Further Readings

Modernization has been not only a civilization change, but also an international competition from a policy perspective. It includes both the international competition to catch-up, reach and maintain the advanced level of national development in the world, and the great change of the international system, meanwhile cultural diversity keeps its standing worldwide. It is just like an international marathon game in which the countries running ahead become developed ones, while the rest become developing ones; and developing ones include three groups: moderately, preliminarily and under developed ones. There is some probability for them to change their status in some decades. This is only a metaphor.

So we do need to know: Which are the developed ones? Which are the developing ones? What is the gap between developed and developing countries? How can developing countries rise to developed countries? How can developed countries keep their status? These are the critical and interesting issues to both the researchers and policy makers. The China Modernization Reports (CMRs) have developed an evaluation system to give a digital picture of world modernization in the past for more than 10 years. This paper will introduce the World Modernization Indexes (WMI) 1950 to 2010.

How to react to rapid expansion has become an essential issue for most large cities in not only the US, but also in the developing countries like China and India. The authors consider how these Urban Sprawl affect, and are affected by, the rapid population decline of the city center region and consequently followed by urban poverty; and attempt to understand how social and economic changes affect urban poverty and homelessness.

Since homelessness is largely about poverty, we can attribute some of its structural causes to this late 20th century capitalist economic predicament. But what are the specific economic reasons for the rise in homelessness within the framework of these general contemporary conditions of poverty, especially in the process of modernization? And what additional structural problems account for homelessness in America today?

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Historical “Starting Conditions” of Public Service Provision
• Public Service Provision under Advancing and Climaxing the Welfare State
• The “Neo-Liberal” Policy Shift: From Public Sector-Based to Private Sector-Based Service Provision
• Return to Public/Municipal Sector-Based Provision?
• Comparative Summary: Cross-Country and Cross-Policy Convergence?
• References
• Further Readings

Countries like Russia are characterized by the great diversity of the modernization levels in different regions. Russia consists of 83 administrative regions including republics. Using the Prof. Chuanqi He method, we showed that modernization in Russian regions falls in six levels with the primary modernization and the developed secondary modernization being the lowest and the highest, respectively (see Table 1, also refer to Lapin, 2013)…

The following sections are included:

• Sustainable Modernization Needs Sustainable Economic Growth Engine
• Human Capital Investment is more Effective than Material Capital Investment
• Human Capital Investment will be Breakthrough Point of Solving Economic and Social Problems in Developing Countries
• Government Should Continually Improve Vocational Skill of Mainstream Labor Force which has Relatively Low Skill
• Summary of Experiences from Developed Countries
• Further Readings

The Chinese dream of building a moderately prosperous society, constructing a prosperous, democratic, civilized and harmonious modernized country and realizing great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is indeed about empowering the country, rejuvenating the nation and ensuring a happy life for the people. In order to realize such a dream, an optimal equilibrium population is needed as an important foundation or factor, which therefore requires implementation of scientific birth control policy. To this end, first, we need to analyze the following issues: First, the past, current status and future development trend of population theories and birth control policies; second, decisive factors to birth control policies and their changes; third, the current implementation of birth control policies; fourth, the optimal equilibrium population to realize the Chinese dream. These are the scientific outlook on development concerning overall theories and policies, decisive factors and realistic development of family planning. On the basis of this analysis, the scientific outlook on development with respect to the optimal equilibrium population to achieve China dream is constructed.

Traffic congestion in Hangzhou is getting increasingly severe in recent years, and has become a major issue that government, industries and the public are widely concerned about and aspire after solutions for. On 25 November 2012, after 10 years of planning and five years of construction, 47.97 km-long Hangzhou Subway Line 1 was opened for service, and Xia Baolong, Secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, announced to launch the provincial traffic congestion control campaign. To this end, Zhejiang Scientific Research Institute of Transport conducted a special study, and measures proposed in this study are briefly introduced in this article.

In 2008, Science published Wen Jiabao's Science and China's Modernization (Wen, 2008), an article which discussed China's scientific achievements over the half a century and its plan for future development of science, with far-reaching influence. Modernization of science and technology has been much studied by domestic and foreign scholars. As a part of the “four modernizations” (modernization of agriculture, industry, national defense, science and technology), the modernization of science and technology is particularly concerned by Chinese scholars and is the focus of their studies.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Relative Theoretical System of Global Civil Society
• The History of Global Civil Society
• A Rational Choice of Global Civil Society — Isomorphism or to Counter (Pu, 2010)?
• Conclusion
• References
• Further Readings

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Resilience in Understanding Regional Change
• Transformation of the Forest Governance System in Finland
• Conclusions
• References

The following sections are included:

• Environment
• Modernization
• Two Basic Attitudes to Reality
• Modernization and Environment
• Stewardship in Practices
• Normative Structure of (Agrarian) Practices
• Conclusion
• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction: Proposal of the Topic
• Basic Concept and Theoretical Framework
• Environmental Protection and Eco-Civilization Construction in Development of Hainan
• Ecological Environment Destruction Caused by Disorderly Development
• The Way Out — Reaching the Consensus to Realize “Ecological Modernization”
• References

Having ranked first among China's Top 100 Counties for 10 consecutive years, Jiangyin now boasts a GDP per capita of almost USD30,000, which marks its turn from the mode of “development at the expense of the environment” to that of “development enhanced by the environment”. However, the highly intense economic development has posed great pressures on regional ecological environment. Increasingly accelerated urbanization and industrialization are in sharp contrast with growingly decreased resource and environmental capacity, as the land is in severe shortage and water pollution has impacted greatly on sustainable economic and social development. To protect ecological environment and build ecological civilization is of foremost importance, as it is not only about the happiness of our offspring but also about present living quality.

Jiangyin's ecological civilization construction index system, under the framework of "post-Sunan (Southern Jiangsu) model", aims to break the limitations and constraints of Sunan model and draw a new blueprint and build a new model of Jiangyin's development in terms of ecological civilization in accordance with actual situation, with the goals of China's modernization as the final target.

Although the earth is only a very small planet in the vast universe, its system provides the life support, materials and cultural services for human beings. Along with the growing population and the improved life standards, human beings are bringing more and more changes and pressures as well as a higher possibility of irreversible catastrophe to the earth's environment. Actions must be taken before it is too late. The only feasible way out, based on current knowledge, lies in decoupling environmental pressures from economic growth and achieving the mutually beneficial coexistence between humans and nature by reducing the environmental pressure per capita and per unit of GDP while maintaining economic growth and controlling population growth. The above are the fundamental philosophy of ecological modernization, and also are the rational choice of China's environmental policy.

In recent years there has been much talk on Russia's modernization in political speeches, mass media and scientific researches. The country's leaders set goals and defined guidelines for further development. Assessing the probabilities of successful modernization breakthrough, a lot of pessimistic views about vectors of the modern Russian economy were expressed. M. Chernysh says: “If, after twenty years of reform modernization is being once again put on the agenda, it can only mean one thing: during that period Russian society was either standing still or degrading … (Chernysh, 2013)”. N. Mikheeva considers almost the same. She states: “Anyway, modernization is very slow. The structural proportions, developed during the Soviet era of the economy have appeared to be very stable, and their changes which occur under the influence of market forces them do not always lead to the declared objectives (Mikheeva, 2013)”. O. Janitski flatly states that during the 2000s, Russia experienced the process of demodernization (Iynickii, 2010)…

Vologda region, as well as other regions of Russian Federation, is a historically established territorial community, which is part of the Russian society. The region's territory is a uniform, socio-cultural area, which is typical of Russia, while at the same time having its unique features.

Vologda Region is a part of the North-Western Federal district. Its area is 144.5 thousand square km (0.9% of the territory of Russian Federation, and 8.6% of the North-Western Federal District). In 2012, the region's population amounted to 1198.5 thousand people, which corresponded to 0.9% of the total Russian population. Vologda region is one of the industrially developed regions of Russia. Its special features are the geographical proximity to Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the presence of the Russia's largest companies in steel and chemical industries.

Regional development is a multi-dimensional and multi-faceted process which is usually observed in term of aggregation of various social and economic objectives. An important aspect of its self-development is a socio-cultural potential, which is clear for the Russian scholars who turn their attention to analyzing the correlations between the cultural sphere and the priorities of modernization, the efficient performance of the economy and the social sphere. In this chapter, the authors have tried to present the socio-cultural image of Vologda region in the period of change in the social and economic environments, and to reflect the strides and problems of the region on the path of modernization.

Professor North's concept of path dependence quite correctly reveals that underdeveloped countries lag behind largely because they are restrained and delayed by rigid historical traditions and cultural values (North, 1990). China's adverse development before reform and opening up actually is the vivid reflection of path dependence. In a prolonged period, its development stagnated and even fell back, since China was burdened with inherent historical traditions featuring centralization of state power and rigid cultural values, replacing rule by law with rule by man. The Communist Party of China had committed to developing democracy and rule of law from the foundation of People's Republic of China in 1949 to the pre-reform period. For instance, the first Constitution formulated in 1954 was an excellent one. Its formulation was chaired and participated in by Mao Zedong himself, who had stressed in numerous conferences that “The Constitution must be implemented”. For example, in June, 1954, at the 30th session of the Committee of the Central Government, Mao Zedong said, “All Chinese people must practice it, particularly the staff of the state organs, and first of all it should be practiced by everyone present. Otherwise, it is against the Constitution”. In his report on the draft of constitution, Liu Shaoqi had also emphasized that CPC members should act as models in abiding by the Constitution. He said, “The Constitution gives us a powerful weapon so that we can fight effectively against these violations.” Despite definite and powerful speeches of leaders, the fact then was that the implementing of China's Constitutional systems was objectively restricted by its cultural traditions. Only one sentence of the Constitution indicated the National People's Congress “has the oversight of the Constitution's implementation”, without efforts to establish a necessary mechanism ensuring its implementation while detailed and feasible systems and institutions were provided for rule by man and centralized state power. Influenced by traditional culture, most Chinese approve and accept rule by man and centralized state power. All historical tragedies of political movements which happened before China's reform and opening up indicate that the rule by law could not be put in place even if it was best written in words, when the majority, particularly politicians, were not completely convinced by and mentally accepted it. Despite a most beautifully written code, to rule the country by law is impossible when informal institutions stubbornly restrict formal ones. Path dependence obviously exists in the historical process of one country's development…

The fact that the State, understood in an institutional context, has always been involved, one way or another, in economic life, is already known and recorded in economic history. The relation between state and economy, seen from the perspective of the latter, may be captured at several levels, the most important of them being: The monetary relation whereby the state intervenes in economy through policies specific to various domains, namely through fiscal policies. Secondly, there are property relations whereby the State claims the factors of production (work and capital) with whose help it produces goods and services that it makes available to the economy for free or for a price; thirdly, there are economic-political relations or relations of political economy generating direct or indirect state interventionism in economy; fourthly, one needs to consider not only the direct relation between state and economy, but also the relations established among economic agents through specific regulations and legislation. Of course, ranking and ordering these types of relations may reveal in a more adequate way the purpose, nature and dimensions of the economic policies of a state at a certain moment in history. But this is not the intention of our work…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• 40-year Evaluation of Regional Modernization in China
• Conclusion
• References

Henan province is located in the central part of China, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Due to the unique geographical location, linking the east to the west, the south to the north, the fertile land, large population, there is an old popular saying “people who occupy the central plain will rule the whole country”. Since entering the new century, facing the fast growth of China's modernization and the development situation of fierce competition, Henan and the other central provinces have acted. With the nation support of implementing strategy of central rise, Henan took the chance and put forward “construction of Central Plain Economic Region” which got the approval of the state. In September 2012, the State Council issued “Guiding Opinions on supporting to accelerate the construction of the Central Plain Economic Region in Henan Province”. A new round of regional modernization lay out in full swing with the characteristics of clear regional development strategy, specifying the regional development policy and accelerating the development speed, which plays an important role in the whole process of national modernization.

City, where people live and work, is a cultural heritage, a platform for knowledge and technological innovation, an economic and business hub, and an engine for social progress.

The following sections are included:

• New-Type Urbanization — Inevitable Historical Trend
• Key Points of the New-Type Urbanization
• Features of the New-type Urbanization

The following sections are included:

• Proposal of the Topic
• Overview of New-Type Household Manufacturing
• Development Mode of New-type Household Manufacturing
• “Crowd Funding” Mode
• Policy Measures
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Appendices
  • Appendix 1: Opening Speech on the 1st IMF
  • Appendix 2: Welcoming Speech on the 1st IMF
  • Appendix 3: Message to the Participants
  • Appendix 4: Closing Speech on the First IMF
  • Appendix 5: World Modernization Indexes