SPECIAL ISSUE: Development in World History - Development as World History Introduction

It would not be difficult to make a case that the history of development and world history are one and the same-or almost. Both fields have been centrally concerned with how socioeconomic transformations have shaped the relative positions of nations and empires in the world and the living conditions of their populations. Both have been very sensitive to how these processes have both contributed and responded to technological advancements, ideological, and religious belief system as well as to political power relations. Both fields are interested in how environmental circumstances, including economically relevant resources, have interacted with human belief systems and policies in creating poverty or wealth.