The social development model that Morris uses throughout Why the West Rules—For Now relies on quantitative data. What are the challenges and/or benefits of this way of looking at world history?

Compare Why the West Rules—For Now to another world history written about the causes of the rise of the West in the 19th century, such as Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel or David Landes’ The Wealth and Poverty of Nations. What are the differences and similarities? What does the comparison say about how scholars have approached the topic of the causes behind Western hegemony?

How does women’s history fit into Morris’s narrative of world history? What is the relationship between social development and women’s rights or oppression?

Choose a region of the world that was home to an urban society that does not receive significant attention in Why the West Rules—For Now, e.g., India, Southeast Asia, Mesoamerica, West Africa. Examine how Morris’s theories might apply to the history of that region. Does looking at your chosen region support or go against Morris’ theory of history?

What is the role of free will and human agency, if any, in history as presented in Why the West Rules—For Now?

Based on original research, make an argument for why China may have actually either started an industrial revolution under the Song dynasty or have colonized the Americas before Europe. Has this research led you to agree or disagree with Morris that the East overcoming the West was very unlikely?

Morris claims that “each age gets the thought it needs” (420), yet eras of political and social collapse would suggest otherwise. Choose a political crisis in either Western or Eastern history and examine the intellectual factors at play. What intellectual ideas were prominent at the time, and how did they hasten or slow the collapse?

What is the role of violence and imperialism in Why the West Rules—For Now? Do you agree with Morris that any alternate history where the East pulls ahead of the West in the modern era would also see violence?