Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy

Title: Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy

Author: Francis Fukuyama

ISBN: 9781846684371

Language: English

Series: Political Order #2

In The Origins of Political Order, Francis Fukuyama took us from the dawn of mankind to the French and American Revolutions. Here, he takes up the thread again, in the second volume of his definitive account of mankind's emergence as a political animal. 

Beginning with the Industrial Revolution, he reveals how state, law and democracy developed after these cataclysmic events, the origins of the current uneasy tension between liberal democracies and dictatorships —and how unmistakable signs of decay have emerged in developed democracies. 

If we want to understand the political systems that dominate and order our lives, we must first address their origins, and be alert to the possibility of decline. This masterful account is required reading for anyone wishing to know more about the world we live in. 

'An astonishing body of learning' Economist 

'This excellent volume of comparative history and political science should be read by politicians and public alike.' Spectator 

'Contains a wealth of insights worthy of the greatest writers about democracy' Financial Times 

'Magisterial ... wonderful' Observer

Francis Fukuyama, author of the bestselling The End of History and the Last Man and one of our most important political thinkers, provides a sweeping account of how today’s basic political institutions developed. The first of a major two-volume work, The Origins of Political Order begins with politics among our primate ancestors and follows the story through the emergence of tribal societies, the growth of the first modern state in China, the beginning of the rule of law in India and the Middle East, and the development of political accountability in Europe up until the eve of the French Revolution.