S1E2: If Japan Could Catch Up With the West, Why Couldn’t Countries of the Middle East?

Is democracy the best form of government for the economic progress of countries in the Middle East? If your answer is yes, then how do you explain Turkiye? But if your answer is no, then how do you explain the UAE? And if not democracy, then what form of government would you suggest? ⁠click here to answer ⁠ This question form will expire on Fir., Feb. 2, 2024. My guest for this episode is Dr. Philip T. Hoffman. He is a professor of  Business Economics and History at the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In this episode we discuss his book Why Did Europe Conquer the World? To learn more about Dr. Hoffman, you can visit his ⁠academic homepage⁠. If you enjoyed this episode with Dr. Hoffman, then you should definitely listen to my conversation with Dr. Yasheng Huang of MIT’s Sloan School of Management, in which he describes the reasons why China fell behind Europe. Dr. Huang is the author of The Rise and Fall of the East: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline, which I discus with him in ⁠S3E7 of the History Behind News⁠ podcast. I hope you enjoy these episodes. Adel Aali Host, ⁠Unravelling the Middle East⁠ Host, ⁠History Behind News Podcast ⁠ Unravelling the Middle East podcast is a production of the History Behind News program. Music attributions: 1. Opening and closing music of the program: Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011. Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/ Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED) ⁠⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ⁠⁠ This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program. 2. Background music to guest introduction: The Desert | The Grand Score ⁠⁠https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html⁠⁠ The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | ⁠⁠https://creatorchords.com⁠⁠ Music promoted by ⁠⁠https://www.free-stock-music.com⁠⁠ Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) ⁠⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠ The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified. 3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes: The Success by Keys of Moon | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Music promoted by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.free-stock-music.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified. IMAGE: Middle East map by ⁠MapChart.net:⁠ ⁠https://www.mapchart.net/world.html⁠. License is CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED ⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/⁠.