“Political Order and Political Decay”: The Most Fundamental Work On This Topic I’ve Read

It’s just a fun, short book (yeah, sure)

I had this book in my “want to read” list for ages. It took me like two months to read it end of last year, and I’m glad I did:

This is a fundamental work on the topic and is actually the second volume of a two-part series.

The first book explores political history from ancient times up to the French revolution, while the second focuses on the period from the Industrial revolution to the present. (You don’t need to read the first book to enjoy the second one – I didn’t, and I still loved it).

I found myself making notes on almost every other page, so it’s impossible to write a short review with just a few key takeaways for such a monumental work.

The main themes that Fukuyama explores in this book are the formation of states (across various regions and continents, with concrete examples from modern countries), the importance of political institutions, and the development of the rule of law.

Some of the takeaways (again, impossible to fit them all):

• Patronage and clientelism (i.e., favoring family and friends over strangers) are among the most basic forms of human social organization; they are natural to us. What modern political systems do is to outlaw and replace them by impersonal, bureaucratic organizations. The political divide between the Northern and Southern Europe is about the differences between clientelistic and non-clientelistic systems.
• Bureaucracy and stable institutions are the foundation of stable political systems. Personalities come and go, but institutions stay, preserving the agreed upon rules of social co-existence.
• Nation-building is a complex topic; it is a by-product of modernization and, as most scholars agree, it is “socially constructed”. (Consider most modern states and see how many different ethnic and cultural groups live in the same overarching national state).
• Fukuyama’s detailed exploration of state formation across a wide range of countries is an absolute must-read (from Brazil to South Korea, Nigeria to the US, Russia to China). He provides context on how these modern states came to be, exploring the influence of geography, climate, colonialism, and other factors.
• The political decay explored extensively in the book revolves around institutional rigidity and the power struggles among elites. Again, so insightful.

In short, Fukuyama’s “Political Order and Political Decay” is THE book on political science I’d recommend to anyone interested in the topic. Doesn’t matter how much or little you read on political science before — you will truly appreciate this book.

(Yes, reading it is a time investment, but it’s dark winter — so if not now, when?)

You might know that I don’t post book reviews without a beer recommendations. Books and beers, this is what I do.

Today’s beer is a lager by the Swiss brewery Rugenbräu enjoyed during a stunning hike in the Interlaken area in Switzerland a few years back.

I’m not a lager or pils girlie, but sometimes I can make an exception – like in this picturesque spot after hours of hiking!