Christian Lous Lange Quotes
Every time economic and technical development takes a step forward, forces emerge which attempt to create political forms for what, on the economic-technical plane, has already more or less become reality.
Lange, Christian Lous. "Internationalism." Nobel Lectures, Peace 1901-1925, edited by Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, 1972, pp. 336-346.
10 centuries ago was a time when the Arabs were far more advanced and modern than other cultures including the Christian West that was in the Dark Ages. However, in the 12th century there was a “closing”—a narrowing of allowable Islamic thinking, and since then, Islamic people have had great difficulty with change or modernity. Not all Muslim nations are equally rigid but the Arabs are at the extreme among Islamic counties.
Rich people the world over have often sought a safe way to save their money. Unfortunately, in most counties of the world, there is not the rule of law and the limited government that is in the United States and a few other industrial democracies. So the rich of those countries will often avoid investing their money in their own country and instead invest it in the United States or another “safe” country. This lack of patriotism makes development of poorer countries that much more difficult. However, the rulers of those countries rarely do the things necessary to create a reasonably safe environment for investment. Even in America, some wealthy people will invest in other nations or “bet against the dollar” in favor of the Yen, the Swiss Franc or the Euro. During the American Revolution and the War of 1812, there was every reason for wealthy Americans to send their money to England for investment or banking there, However, most American wealthy families were patriotic enough not to maximize their personal income.
He was commenting about Saudi Arabia, but oil wealth generally seems to harden nations to reform and change of all types.
In China, the religious activities of the Missionaries never really lead to the many troubles between the missionaries and the Chinese. It was their activities in the non-religious arenas articulated here by Denby.
Christian Lous Lange was a Norwegian historian, teacher, and political scientist. He was one of the world's foremost exponents of the theory and practice of internationalism.
