At just 153 pages plus notes this is one powerful read.
"The decline of the West is something that has long been prophesied. Symptoms of decline are all around us today, it seems: slowing growth, crushing debts, aging populations, anti-social behaviour. But what exactly is amiss with Western civilization? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues, is that our institutions – the intricate frameworks within which a society can flourish or fail – are degenerating."
More about it from goodreads, here…
We were fortunate enough to be invited to hear him speak last year by some good friends. Having heard his speech about China, provides even more persepctive for enjoying this book. He's as powerful a speaker as he is a writer.
It is true that Professor Niall is a great interpreter of past events but I question his ability to make sense of possible scenarios for the future.
As a self-avowed Economic Historian, he is great at extrapolating past and current events but his Interpretivist nature may prevent him from seeing how the world could be ….
Yes, I agree that civilisation generally is in decline (and particularly, I rue the fact that lawyers are assuming the rule of law), along with his observation that institutions are dying. But what about those new institutions that are taking their places?
The Internet was not around 30 years ago, so nobody at that time could have predicted the rise of social interaction in Cyberspace. The world’s financial system collapsed 5 years ago but who would be so naive as to think a new one will not rise to take its place? Finally, as information and the means to process that information proliferate, and people integrate and mix at an increasing rate, one would be foolish to think these are portents of a bleaker future!
He speaks very eloquently to your point about the Internet and social interaction S3S. Let’s say he offers a different perspective.
I am optimistic too, but in the hope that our institutions can/will be rescued.
Indeed, a different perspective – one looking in the rear-view mirror. Because if we take North’s (1991) definition of ‘institutions’ as “humanly devised constraints that structure political, economic and social interactions”, then again, we would be foolish to think that any current degeneration is permanent or irreversible.
But who is saying that “current degeneration is permanent or irreversible”?