This presentation will be a (self-)critical reflection on our ways of conceiving the history of human societies over the past two centuries in global perspective. It will proceed in three steps: First, I want to show how the debate over "modernity" since the late twentieth century has gradually achieved a wider understanding of this history than the one offered by the opposition between the two traditions of historical materialism and modernization theory. Second, I will add that this debate, useful as it has been, has neglected the significance of the use of biophysical resources in shaping world-regional trajectories of modernity. Fully introducing this dimension, third, will permit the elaboration of a more nuanced perspective on global justice.

Moderators: Graziella Moraes Sivla & Julien Debonneville