Industrial-Colonial Paradigm
Term
Industrial-Colonial Paradigm
Idea level
☐ Paradigm
Definition
Industrial–Colonial Paradigm is a term coined by Yuen Yuen Ang to describe the dominant worldview that shaped political economy from the eighteenth through twentieth centuries, combining mechanical thinking (treating societies as controllable machines) with a colonial logic of assimilation (treating an idealized West as a universal benchmark).
This paradigm underpins conventional approaches to governance and development that prioritize control, linear causality, and Western-centric “best practices,” while downplaying or rejecting adaptation and learning, non-linear development, and non-Western innovations.
Sources
Early articulation:
Ang, Y.Y. “Doing Development in the Polycrisis.” Project Syndicate, 25 Nov 2024. (Reprinted at UNDP Blog and Development Policy Review)
Ang, Y.Y. Keynote at UNDP Global Leadership Retreat, 27 Nov 2024.
Formal articulation:
Ang, Y.Y. Turning Polycrisis into Polytunity. UNDP Policy Brief (2025).
Genealogy
[Paradigm] Industrial–Colonial Paradigm: dominant worldview of political economy from 18th-20th centuries, grounded in mechanical thinking and colonial logic
→ [Application: Development] Mechanical thinking: emphasis on single interventions and RCTs over macro drivers of social transformation
→ [Application: Development] Colonial logic: one-size-fits-all “good governance” reforms that fail to localize, adapt, or respond to contingency
→ [Iteration] Crisis of the industrial–colonial paradigm in the 21st century, often labeled “polycrisis”
→ [Paradigm] AIM (Adaptive, Inclusive, Moral) Political Economy — alternative paradigm advanced by Yuen Yuen Ang for a disrupted, multipolar world
Quotes
“Our reality is rapidly changing, but the industrial-colonial paradigm—the mental operating system we use—is still stuck in the last century, shaped by the global institutions and norms of that era.”
“Disruption triggers deep anxieties because it exposes the failures of these two outdated logics [mechanical and colonial thinking].”
- Ang, Keynote at UNDP, 2024 (transcript)
Terms Related to Industrial-Colonial Paradigm
These expressions appear in different literatures and emphasize different dimensions; Ang’s formulation integrates them into a single paradigm that links mechanical thinking with colonial logic in political economy.
Colonial industralization / colonial-industrial
Industrialization and imperialism
Global coloniality
Colonial capitalism
Concept Constellation
Across Ang’s work, the Industrial–Colonial Paradigm consistently co-occurs with the following concepts and analytic themes:
Age of Domination
Mechanical thinking / thinking in machine mode (societies as machines; control over adaptation)
Colonial logic of assimilation (Western paths as universal benchmarks)
Polycrisis (breakdown of old order)
Polytunity (potential for shaping World Order After 2025)