Political Order and Political Decay

Starred review from August 18, 2014
The distinction between strong and accountable government is seen as a driver of history in this second volume of the author’s magisterial study of politics and the state. Following up The Origins of Political Order, Stanford scholar Fukuyama surveys political developments of the past 250 years, from the French Revolution to the Arab Spring, focusing on the often clashing imperatives of democratic accountability, rule of law, and effective governmental administration. Organizing his commentary around these three themes, Fukuyama addresses an enormous range of moments in political history, paying close attention to Asia, Africa, and Latin America, as well as to the West. (The U.S. figures less as a paragon than as a governmental slacker whose current problems with legislative gridlock, corruption, and chaotic administration-by-lawsuit makes it an exemplar of political decay.) Fukuyama’s erudition is complemented by lucid, graceful prose and an inveterate even-handedness that fairly assesses liberal, conservative, and Marxist traditions; giving material influences their due without lapsing into economic reductionism and treating politics and governance as an autonomous realm with its own ideological and institutional dynamics. His superb synthesis of political science and history will be useful to experts as well as students and laypeople. Agent: Esther Newberg, International Creative Management.

Starred review from August 15, 2014
In his companion to The Origins of the Political Order, the deeply engaged political scientist offers a compelling historical overview of a useful template for the retooling of institutions in the modern state. Former neoconservative academic Fukuyama (International Studies/Stanford Univ.) is concerned about the functionality of government, specifically what he sees as the current "vetocracy" in the United States, which signals the beginning of political decay. Moving from the French Revolution onward and using myriad examples from Prussia to Nigeria, the author lays out the evolution of three essential political institutions: the state, the rule of law and democratic accountability. Fukuyama is commenting on (and updating) his teacher Samuel P. Huntington's Political Order in Changing Societies (1968), in which Huntington argued that "before a polity could be democratic, it had to provide basic order"-e.g., the introduction of the Napoleonic Code in France. Fukuyama defines institutions, after Huntington, as "stable, valued, recurring patterns of behavior" around which humans act for the greater good. Why have some countries developed stable institutions like public safety, a legal system and national defense while others have not? The author delves into the making of the first stable and effective modern states, notably in Prussia, where Calvinist doctrine infused in leaders a sense of austerity, thrift and intolerance of corruption, and spurred a substantial army and education and taxation systems. Elsewhere, particularly in Greece, Italy and Argentina, where stable institutions should have developed, states were stymied by an absence of social trust and by clientelism, which depends on patronage. Fukuyama also looks at the roles of geography, climate and colonialism. Shaking off patronage-laden bureaucracies, as Britain and America managed to do, is essential to a stable state. In the U.S., Fukuyama decries the creeping "repatrimonialization" in the form of lobbyists and special interest groups. Systematic, thorough and even hopeful fodder for reform-minded political observers.

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Starred review from October 1, 2014
Famous for proclaiming the end of history, Fukuyama has called no halt to his work interpreting that history. In his capacious sequel to The Origins of Political Order (2011), this bold political scientist limns the transformation of societies politically galvanized by eighteenth-century revolutions and financially enriched by nineteenth-century industry. As Fukuyama ranges through Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia, readers see how radically different countries have defined the state, ensured the rule of law, and established political accountability. Major individual figuresincluding Otto von Bismarck, Andrew Jackson, Mobutu Sese Seko, and Mao Zedongstride across the global stage, but Fukuyama focuses chiefly on the national institutions that have outlived the titans who helped shape them. Repeatedly, readers see how evolutionary history determines institutional health. In countries (such as Greece) where democracy emerges before the modern state coalesces, politics becomes a game of satisfying clients rather than fostering economic efficiency. In countries (such as Germany) where the modern state matures before the people win the franchise, the economy booms, but elites grow dangerously unaccountable. Fukuyama devotes particular attention to the U.S., where aggressive special interests are paralyzing representative government, and to China, where unresolved social tensions threaten the country's command-and-control mode of governance. Strikingly ambitious and provocative.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

Starred review from October 1, 2014

Following his Origins of Political Order (2011), this weighty volume concludes Fukuyama's (Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Stanford Univ.) analysis of how states evolve and the sources of political stability and instability in large polities. He also examines the causes of political decay within states. Fukuyama studied with Harvard University theorist Samuel Huntington, and his work is a conscious attempt to build on and refine Huntington's groundbreaking 1968 Political Order in Changing Societies. The author is scrupulous in commenting on the other modern theorists of state political action. He stresses the importance of sequencing in the establishment of the three foundations of the modern state--a strong state bureaucracy, rule of law, and accountability (democracy). Yet, democracy's establishment too early can work against stability. Even today, our reliance on the courts to flesh out laws and rules and redress grievances puts stress on the system, as does a hypertrophied system of checks and balances. The author concludes by recounting instances of elite or special interest groups attempting to influence officials via shortcuts and favors within American political history. VERDICT A book as rich and well considered as Fukuyama's has much to offer both generalists and specialists. An impressive effort. [See Prepub Alert, 3/17/14.]--David Keymer, Modesto, CA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2014

Following his Origins of Political Order (2011), this weighty volume concludes Fukuyama's (Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Stanford Univ.) analysis of how states evolve and the sources of political stability and instability in large polities. He also examines the causes of political decay within states. Fukuyama studied with Harvard University theorist Samuel Huntington, and his work is a conscious attempt to build on and refine Huntington's groundbreaking 1968 Political Order in Changing Societies. The author is scrupulous in commenting on the other modern theorists of state political action. He stresses the importance of sequencing in the establishment of the three foundations of the modern state--a strong state bureaucracy, rule of law, and accountability (democracy). Yet, democracy's establishment too early can work against stability. Even today, our reliance on the courts to flesh out laws and rules and redress grievances puts stress on the system, as does a hypertrophied system of checks and balances. The author concludes by recounting instances of elite or special interest groups attempting to influence officials via shortcuts and favors within American political history. VERDICT A book as rich and well considered as Fukuyama's has much to offer both generalists and specialists. An impressive effort. [See Prepub Alert, 3/17/14.]--David Keymer, Modesto, CA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.