Sauray Raj pant

The world is dynamic. From the hunting and gathering age that was very simple form of society to current complex and interdependent one, it is continuously evolving. The has undergone massive shift from de-connected to inter-connected form in the last 800 years. Notably, six powerful forces have shaped the modern world. They are Renaissance, Westphalian world order, Industrial Revolution, Rise of the United States of America, Technological boom and the 4th Industrial Revolution

Renaissance
Renaissance (1300-1600 A.D.) was the period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic ‘re-awakening’ from the Dark Middle Ages. At that time, Florence, a city of Italy, was the epicenter of Renaissance. It had turned into the hubs of banks and intellectuals and artists, evolving Europe into reason-based society from the ‘theological’ one. This resulted in the age of exploration, with rise of European civilisation that became the foundation of the European power to establish their empires across the globe.
There were several catalytic factors for the Renaissance to take a shape. One of them was European Crusades influenced by the cultural and scientific achievement of their Islamic rivals. Islamic rivals had known to have preserved the classical texts in both Latin and Greek. Secondly, it was the Black Death theory- devastating pandemic that possibly killed half of Europe’s population between 1347 and 1351. This forced the population to move from the plague-affected place to provincial town and estates. The declining population had increased the value of labour and made population dynamic.
The Peace of Westphalia (1648 A.D.) had established the precedent of peace reached by the diplomatic congress in terms of co-existence of sovereign states. It was result of the Thirty Years War fought from 1618 to 1648. It was the religious war of Protestant against Catholic, the Holy Roman Empire against France, the German princes and princelings against the emperor against each other, the nation of France against Habsburgs of Spain. At one point Swedes, Danes, Poles, Russians and the Dutch all got into the act. It was one of the greatest diplomatic events in last 800 years, which seeded the concept of sovereignty and state to state relationship beyond war. The negotiation culture came into play that made the ‘war’ only the last option.
Industrial Revolution began from the UK in the latter half of the 18th century and transformed the agrarian rural European societies into industrialised one. Steam engine invented in the year of 1698 fueled the industrial revolution to the greater extent. It significantly improved the productivity of the goods and transportation of the produced materials . This revolution made the European cottage industry into large scale industries.
By 1850s many European cities were the centres of the Industrial growth and more than 50 per cent of population of Great Britain lived in city. The industrial revolution generated huge wealth in Europe---an increase in food sources. This further led to the dramatic rise of populations. This rising populations was eminent necessary the ever expanding industries of Europe.
The Rise of the US began after the WWII which became much more powerful than Imperial Rome. Fareed Zakaria in his famous book, ‘The Post-American World’ describes that three powerful forces had shaped the future of Europe. Among them, second powerful force was America. He says, “In the closing years of the nineteenth century was the rise of the United States. Soon after it industrialised, the United States became the most powerful nation since imperial Rome, and the only one that was stronger than any likely combination of other nations. For most of the last century, the United States has dominated global economy, politics, science, and culture. For the last twenty years, that dominance has been unrivaled, a phenomenon unprecedented in modern history”.
America’s history is not more than 500 years and in this short span of time; it became from unexplored ‘New world’ to ‘Centre of Universe’.
The advent of the technology after 1990’s transformed the globalised world into more inter-connected tech world. This put third Industrial Revolution on play; the rise of the electronics and technology which emancipated the free flow of goods and services in much more convenient way. Silicon Valley in the US became the hub for the technological and computer related innovations. The mobile phones, internet and computer revolutionised the people’s daily life from across the globe.
The first industrial revolution was known for the mechanising the production, second industrial revolution for steel production and the third industrial revolution was for energy and technological advancement. The 4th industrial revolution is about Artificial Intelligence (AI). This latest revolution will automate the production that will transform humanity into the next level.

Way forward
In Renaissance period, arts and skills were regarded as one of the important assets of people. When industrial revolution started, capital was the greatest necessity of the people to run their living. Industrialists hired general labourers in their factories to manufacture goods. In return, labourers were paid for the work. The third industrial revolution set up the mark for the necessity of the technological skills, i.e. operating computers. The rise of America changed the people’s dream into getting education and settling in the US from the Great Britain. Now, the 4th Industrial Revolution is looking for skilled people such as data detective, data scientist, ethical sourcing officer and cyber city analysts. Two hundred years ago, an invention was under the name of the scientist but now most of the researches are carried out under company name. Today, we hardly know who is the inventor of the Mars Rover robot but people know which company launched Mars exploration project, i.e. NASA.
All above six powerful forces had changed the world radically. So, understanding these powerful historical forces will help policy makers to understand the ‘pattern’ of change to build better engaging policies.