Moisés Naím’s The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn't What It Used to Be, has a somewhat misleading title. Naim is not so much writing about the end of power, but its radical transformation at the very end of the twentieth century and onward.
Power, although in many instances still concentrated in the hands of the few, is now spread out among multiple players - more so than anytime in history. This makes power more difficult to procure, exercise, and maintain.
Naim’s book is wide ranging and full of examples of how our world of decentralized power has had an impact on everything from politics, religion, economics and warfare - to name a few. His section on the decentralized nature of power and the rise of demagogues has a particular and eerie resonance with the rise of Donald Trump.
Naim’s book is part contemporary history, exploring leanings that are very much in the news right now, and part prophecy. There is a danger in this; if trends veer in another direction, this book will just chart an historical dead end.
Power, although in many instances still concentrated in the hands of the few, is now spread out among multiple players - more so than anytime in history. This makes power more difficult to procure, exercise, and maintain.
Naim’s book is wide ranging and full of examples of how our world of decentralized power has had an impact on everything from politics, religion, economics and warfare - to name a few. His section on the decentralized nature of power and the rise of demagogues has a particular and eerie resonance with the rise of Donald Trump.
Naim’s book is part contemporary history, exploring leanings that are very much in the news right now, and part prophecy. There is a danger in this; if trends veer in another direction, this book will just chart an historical dead end.
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