What we have learned from this book
The most important takeaway from this book is the connectedness of political and economic fortunes. If citizens of a state desire long term economic prosperity, then they cannot detach themselves from politics, ensuring their wills could be expressed and have a fair chance of being considered in policy-making.
A good political framework is one with centralised, strong government, such that policies could be enforced in all corners of the state, preventing governmental voids that encourage local elites to exploit and extract. However, a strong government runs the risk of becoming being dominated by a small party of incumbents and their friends, and so it should be subject to elections for contest and also restrictions in other aspects of power. There needs to be a constant voice from different interest groups within the state to steer the government - the parliament/congress. An independent judiciary comes into the scene in the same way as a parliament does, namely preventing any faction from becoming too dominating and interpreting the laws to their sole advantage. Fair election or democracy is to allow all citizens to have an equal right in giving them a voice, either by running for governmental or parliamentary office, or simply giving support to the candidates that represent their points of view. Hence democracy is not about 'voting' as this will mean weak and disjointed policies, but a functioning government that ensures all citizens have equal rights to voice out and influence how the state should move forward.
An hidden concept for such a political state is that of 'pluralistic' society. This contrasts with a more 'singular' or 'simplistic' society where people gather around a very limited number of identities such as race, origin or wealth. Under the 'pluralistic' banner, people can be more of themselves rather than making one small part of their identity the whole of self. When a society is pluralistic, people will want their identities to be respected and have little motivation to force the others into specific identities; furthermore, when no two people are the same, respect and consensus will be negotiated rather than assumed, and formal mechanisms to bring out such consensus will take paramount importance - inclusive society becomes a necessity for all.
It is pluralism that resulted in inclusive societies, as the French, American and UK revolutions demonstrated, and it is the lesser pluralism in the Meiji reformation that resulted in backward movements to militarism by mid 20th century. However, this book also demonstrated through historical cases that forward progress should not be assumed and results are not pre-determined. There are times when inclusiveness turned sour like the aftermath of French revolution or the period following US Civil War, but what distinguishes a successful state from a failed state is the existence of 'virtuous circle', namely the existence of a pluralistic society. If pluralism is recognised, then it is more likely than not that the critical junctures would incentivise inclusive society, vice versa.
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