EAN: 9780241637791

END TIMES - PETER TURCHIN KARTONIERT (TB)

Peter Turchin  one of the most interesting thinkers today  has infused the study of history
with insights from other fields for over a quarter of a century. End Times is the culmination
of his work to understand what causes political communities to cohere and to fall apart. The
lessons of 10 000 years of world history are clear  Turchin argues: when the equilibrium
between ruling elites and the majority tips too far in favor of the elites  political
instability is all but inevitable. Before the industrial era  the imbalance between labour and
capital  signaled by growing economic inequality  was usually caused by excessive population
growth. For the past 250 or so years  it has been laissez-faire government  technological
innovation  globalization and immigration that have tended to disrupt the balance. Whatever the
cause  when income inequality surges the common people suffer  and prosperity flows
disproportionately into the hands of the elites. This vicious cycle is the wealth pump - the
mechanism that causes both the relative impoverishment of most people and the increasingly
desperate competition among elites. The wealth pump has been operating full blast for two
generations in America and in many Western countries. In historical terms  our current cycle of
elite overproduction and popular immiseration is already far along the path to violent
political rupture. Time will tell whether Peter Turchin's warning is heeded.

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