Thursday, May 27, 2010

[N428.Ebook] Ebook Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy, by Francis Fukuyama

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Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy, by Francis Fukuyama

Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy, by Francis Fukuyama



Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy, by Francis Fukuyama

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Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy, by Francis Fukuyama

The second volume of the bestselling landmark work on the history of the modern state

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, David Gress called Francis Fukuyama's Origins of Political Order "magisterial in its learning and admirably immodest in its ambition." In The New York Times Book Review, Michael Lind described the book as "a major achievement by one of the leading public intellectuals of our time." And in The Washington Post, Gerard DeGrott exclaimed "this is a book that will be remembered. Bring on volume two."
Volume two is finally here, completing the most important work of political thought in at least a generation. Taking up the essential question of how societies develop strong, impersonal, and accountable political institutions, Fukuyama follows the story from the French Revolution to the so-called Arab Spring and the deep dysfunctions of contemporary American politics. He examines the effects of corruption on governance, and why some societies have been successful at rooting it out. He explores the different legacies of colonialism in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and offers a clear-eyed account of why some regions have thrived and developed more quickly than others. And he boldly reckons with the future of democracy in the face of a rising global middle class and entrenched political paralysis in the West.
A sweeping, masterful account of the struggle to create a well-functioning modern state, Political Order and Political Decay is destined to be a classic.

  • Sales Rank: #82908 in Books
  • Brand: Fukuyama, Francis
  • Published on: 2014-09-30
  • Released on: 2014-09-30
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 9.29" h x 2.04" w x 6.29" l, 1.00 pounds
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 672 pages

Review

“Straightforward and sensible . . . Fukuyama is nothing if not ambitious.” ―Sheri Berman, The New York Times Book Review

“It is not often that a 600-page work of political science ends with a cliffhanger. But the first volume of Francis Fukuyama's epic two-part account of what makes political societies work, published three years ago, left the big question unanswered . . . Political Order and Political Decay is his answer . . . Fukuyama's wealth of insights [are] worthy of the greatest writers about democracy.” ―David Runciman, Financial Times

“Political Order and Political Decay is a courageous book by an author at the peak of his analytical and literary powers. This project started as an attempt to rewrite and update Samuel Huntington's classic Political Order in Changing Societies, published in 1968. Yet Fukuyama has what Huntington sorely lacked, namely the ability to communicate complex ideas through engaging prose. He's both a perceptive political analyst and a wonderful storyteller. Clearly, something has indeed gone haywire in our world: Serious political science is not supposed to be so enjoyable.” ―Gerard de Groot, The Washington Post

“[A] monumental study [that] rest[s] on an astonishing body of learning.” ―The Economist

“Fukuyama has been both a policy maker and adviser . . . His latest opus [seeks] to clarify the fundamental problems of political order.” ―David Polansky, Wall Street Journal

“Fukuyama's brilliant work on political orders [is] cogent, clear, and often intellectually thrilling account of the development of the state . . . There is simply no way to do full justice in a review.” ―Zach Dorfman, The Los Angeles Review of Books

“This and the earlier volume, viewed as a single work, will remain vital contributions to the literature on democracy and government for some time to come.” ―Earl Pike, Plain Dealer

“Fukuyama has succeeded in proving, with a formidable display of erudition, that anyone who wants to reform American democracy had better start by reading his latest book.” ―Michael Ignatieff, The Atlantic

“Learned and lucid, Political Order and Political Decay is jam-packed with insights about political development.” ―Glenn C. Altschuler, San Francisco Chronicle

“This bold political scientist limns the transformation of societies politically galvanized by eighteenth-century revolutions and financially enriched by nineteenth-century industry . . . Strikingly ambitious and provocative.” ―Booklist (starred review)

“[Fukuyama's] superb synthesis of political science and history will be useful to experts as well as students and laypeople.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Th[is] deeply engaged political scientist offers a compelling historical overview . . . Systematic, thorough and even hopeful fodder for reform-minded political observers.” ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

About the Author

Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He has previously taught at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and at the George Mason University School of Public Policy. Fukuyama was a researcher at the RAND Corporation and served as the deputy director for the State Department's policy planning staff. He is the author of The Origins of Political Order, The End of History and the Last Man, Trust, and America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. He lives with his wife in California.

Most helpful customer reviews

146 of 149 people found the following review helpful.
Engrossing and Frustrating Excellence
By Kindle Customer
A mess - the world, not the book which is excellent. In The End of History and the Last Man Dr. Fukuyama asked the question "is there a direction to political evolution?" In Trust: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order he explored the impact of high trust vs low trust societies on the evolution and nature of political governance. In his tour de force The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution we were given an in depth history of political development across many nations and regions. In it Dr. Fukuyama postulates that effective governance requires three sets of political institutions in some kind of balance: the state, the rule of law, and political accountability. In Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy he left me with the feeling that such an outcome (sustained effective governance) was "to dream the impossible dream."

Parts I and II discuss the "State" and "Foreign Influence." In an excellent historical overview he demonstrates that what would appear to be similar circumstances lead to disparate outcomes. Much less than in previous works Dr. Fukuyama treats us to current unanswered questions; how none of the current theoretical constructs adequately explain what has transpired and as such can not give clear guidance on how to proceed.

"The State made War and War made the State." In Part III the discussion turns to Democracy. Although revered on an intellectual basis we find that historically democracy is not the panacea one hopes. Periods of semi-benevolent autocracy have many times been fundamental to the development of the modern state. The extension of suffrage has in many cases resulted in clientism - the political elites purchasing votes from the newly empowered reinforcing rather than reducing the elites' political control.

In Part IV we get to political decay. Fundamental to human nature is the acquisition of power and the desire once obtained to hold on to it. In a constantly changing world this usually leads to a disparity between the needs and desires of the "in group" and the needs and desires of the "out groups." As the balance between state, law, and accountability becomes more and more out of sync and the "out groups" gain power political upheaval, frequently in the form of armed conflict, is the result. But in Part IV we are once again reminded that there are many paths to and outcomes from political upheaval.

I found this book to be both enlightening and frustrating. As an American who in Dr. Fukuyama's words "has a reverence to the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution" his thoughtful analysis of how our political system has contributed to the current state of American governance: political scandal, incompetent bureaucracy, overt and inappropriate power by special interest groups, approval of Congress in the single digits, was hard to accept - but accept it I did. Frustrating is that there does not appear to be a clear path to resolution.

As the book gets closer to modern times I am reminded of Dr. Fukuyama's question in "The End of History." He said (I paraphrase) are we evolving over time to a better form of political governance? Inherent in evolution are two facts: it takes a long time and many evolutionary paths result in dead ends. This suggests that the "mess" the world is in today may be a perturbation in the long term trend of political evolution.

On a personal note I found this a enjoyable book. As can be inferred from the time between its publication and my review I spent a couple of long nights engrossed in reading rather than sleeping. The book is more descriptive than prescriptive. If you are looking to justify your political outlook you will not find it here. Likewise if you are looking for the elegant solution to the world's problems it is not here either. But if you want to be educated into just how complex an undertaking of providing a balance between state, law and accountability this is your book.

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful.
Trust, Political Order, and the End of History
By Paul Krause
Francis Fukuyama is a widely celebrated political economist, and public intellectual. Having burst onto the scene with his classic work at the End of the Cold War, The End of History and the Last Man (1992), Fukuyama has since distanced and even repudiated the neoconservative label that was pinned on him in the lead-up to the Iraq War. In Political Order and Political Decay, Fukuyama brings the history of politics and governance into the modern era.

With an erudite overview of the evolution of the political state, especially of "liberal democracy," upon which the tenets of accountable government (trust), equality of the citizenry, and the rule of law are paramount in the development of democracy. Democracy is not necessarily an engine for these three themes, rather, these three tenets come together to build a robust democracy. The result is the emergence of the political state.

This first tenet, accountable government, or trust, was an entire book in of itself, Trust: The Social Virtues and The Creation of Prosperity (1995). The notion of accountability is not necessarily, again, tied to democracy in-of-itself, but is an important feature that has historically spurred greater democratic reform. Therefore, trust in government, and ultimately trust within a society and amongst peoples of that society, is an important feature of the liberal democratic state. Fukuyama deals with this tenet in the first part of his book. He sheds important insight how trust in government has allowed bureaucracy to flourish and politicians and statesmen to build the modern state. At the same time, he looks at various countries and analyzes this aspect of accountability. For instance, one of the great positives of Denmark is that it has, not only a very accountable government, but a very open and trusting society that spurs this positive view of the Danish government. However, the opposite is true in Italy, which has long wrestled with low trust, deceit, and corruption and is a major issue for the Italians to confront, and, in part, helps explains why Italy, along with Greece (the "historic birthplace of democracy") have become a drain on the European Union and the Eurozone. Fukuyama also looks at the United States' effort to achieve accountability, through the origins of the Federalist Papers, to the emergence of political parties, but the true birth of accountability happens during the Progressive Era when reforms attempted to curb the influence of big business and political machines in the political process -- the end to the spoils system (Ch. 10). This drive for accountability led to new political reforms and a greater democratization of American politics, paving the way for the trust in New Dealers come 1933 and beyond. The high degree of trust and accountability gives legitimacy to the state to build itself up, order and structure things both to the benefit of its citizens.

These developments in the political state also demands an active and equal citizenry, which often spurs such political and economic reforms and demands trust in the government-citizenry dichotomy which serves as the second tenet to democracy. Equality is therefore established by the rule of law, to which the government also says it will be accountable to, the third tenet, completing the triune legs upon which modern liberal democracy is built. You get the picture. Thus, accountability/trust is the most important aspect of modern political society, because everything else can fall in place, so to speak. However, this has dangers as Fukuyama illustrates in the latter part of his book.

Part III ultimately deals with the paradox that war is healthy to the state (if you're not a cynic that is). Emerging as a new force, the state undertakes war since it has the power and ability to do so in many cases, and also brings forth legitimacy for its institutions and a unity among the populace that supports national institutions in times of war. However, these political reforms crucial to opening the door for greater democracy also opened the door for a return of corruption through interest groups that the state will be accountable to, rather than being accountable to its citizenry.

Decay, in Part IV, is the most troubling of the new trends in political development. As governments have lost their accountability, the most important theme for a robust democracy. The return of clientelism (seeking out clients or interest groups), corruption, and government offices and personnel being more accountable to outside parties and groups has eroded trust between the citizenry and the state. Although these democratic states remain promotive of, to a certain degree, the rule of law and equality of the citizenry, even though reforms continue this struggle for greater degrees of equality among the citizenry itself (let's not forget it took a long time for universal suffrage to emerge in the poster-child liberal democracies).

Here, Fukuyama is most devastating but also quietly hopeful come the end of his work. While trust has certainly eroded in the great western liberal democracies, most notably the United States, there is still a global appeal for liberal democratic society and states. People, primarily from low trust nations where equality and the rule of law is lacking, tend to flock to the liberal states where there is found, at least on paper, accountability, equality of the citizenry, and the rule of law. This is, hopefully, going to give the fuel for democracies going forward, yet, Fukuyama doesn't offer a definitive path on how to get out of political decay, by which he mostly means the erosion of accountability/trust in the relationship between the state and its citizenry. Yet, his ending is very close to his misunderstood book "The End of History." Although democracies are having internal problems, by and large, liberal democracy remains the unchallenged political model at a global level. One-party autocratic states and the rise of Islamism is largely isolated and contained to a few parts of the world, and unlike with Fascism or Communism, which did seriously challenge liberal democracy in the twentieth century, no new model has come to challenge the liberal democratic model upon which accountability, equality of the citizenry, and the rule of law still, at least theoretically, reign supreme. The very serious question remains however, will the crucial tenet of accountability ever be regained?

21 of 27 people found the following review helpful.
the sequel offers great examples and good insights
By NJ
As with the part 1, the sequel offers great examples and good insights. However, the book is far more tedious, turgid and repetitive.

For anyone who has not read the first part or forgotten the basic theme, the main objectives behind the arguments could appear obfuscated until first summarized past the halfway. Even who are aware of the main thread of political evolution, the book would appear to be going off the main topic of what creates successful societies far too often. This is tolerable when the author is dealing with good examples but more difficult when one is made to plough through exotic theories or utterly simplistic points (particularly towards the end when the author decides to pinpoint all the analysis of societies over a few millenia over two books to turn preachy on the rot in today's US policymaking).

The book's biggest fault is possibly in the main theory itself which completely ignores the role played by unique individuals for their brilliance and errors. These are individuals that just come into being and not really children of their environment. To the author, such arguments might be too much chance dependent, but not only individuals' roles and influences are undeniable (below) in political evolution, the same is true in biological evolution.

Back to the book: between copious text and often irrelevant details, the author makes some great points in the first half of the book while discussing what creates political order in some societies and disorders in some others. A failed or non-functioning political system is mostly defined in terms of the leaders working for private benefits. The author labours somewhat excessively on the issue of clientalism (or corruption in common parlance). This is the word for pervasive non-merit or favour-driven political system which the author claims is natural to human societies and was a norm in almost all parts of the world until recently.

The broad conclusions with regards to order and chaos are obvious and also repetitive. Yet, interspersed throughout are some great insights, case studies and novel sub-points. For example, the discussion of Italy and Greece made a fascinating point on the sequencing: ie, systems where democracy developed before modernity and its implications on a society's long-term progress. Or the differing evolutions of systems where industrialization was accompanied with modernization and those where it was not.

The contrasting examples of US railway regulatory body versus the efficiently run USDA showed how patchy and personality-driven US emergence to a merit-based system has been. It is not often in modern day books one is told the high positives of relatively quick-to-develop and better German or Chinese bureaucracies/polities versus the favour-based systems of the US. Effectively, the author makes some convincing points on the stresses between democracy and meritocracy - how the presence of one naturally tilts the balance against the other and combining the two requires conscious efforts and a lot of luck. This argument is again illustrated well with examples like Nigeria, Indonesia and Argentina.

The sections on Latin America and Africa make plenty of fascinating points but as the author mentions multiple times at various points, there is no simple way to answer what helped some to prosper and others not. Many arguments appear post-facto justifications with the counter-factuals mostly theoretical. A more pertinent area of study is why certain economies or systems do not make the required mid-course corrections while lagging behind over a considerable period of time. Take Argentina that had seen the good times and had found the "success" formula: why did it not emulate what worked before or elsewhere while the economy was losing for almost a century. Why do failed systems just not learn in real time - particularly those not afflicted with the incapacity to learn because of the wrong institutional/personality-based rigidities?

While most arguments are over-hatched, one point that the author could have spent more time on was "historical amnesia" or the assertion that there are huge (and conveniently forgotten) abuses and mistakes at the root of any great nation building.

The main point the author (hopefully) deliberately skips is the impact of personalities. Like in science, religion, discovery and even wars, mammoth changes are often a result of some Columbus, Newton, or Mohammad. Such pioneers exist in the political space too - at some impressionable stage for any economic or political system, a Lenin or a Washington, a Nehru or a Lee Kuan Yew, a family of Kims or Deng Xiaoping could end up defining how a system evolves. Such personalities are as much a result of their system as any Einstein or Hitler - ie, very little of the society characteristics can explain the extreme impact of these individuals. This is true in every facet of the world of ideas including political ideas.

The most disappointing part is the final section on the "decay". The broad point is fine: every successful system eventually loses its rigour as it establishes resistance to change and as a result lose its vitality. Somewhat unusually, the author makes his sweeping conclusions as an inevitability using big words than any great historic examples like Huttington. As a result, there are hardly any subtle sub-points like in the main section. Rather, what one gets are the lamentations of all things going wrong in Washington.

All that said, the book is a must read sequel of Fukayama's pioneering work.

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