The Great Degeneration summary

About 500 years ago, a powerful geopolitical shift began to take place on Earth. Prior to this, Western nations had not been particularly powerful or influential in global affairs. But then began what is known as the great divergence. Western nations started to outstrip the rest of the world in terms of economic growth, military power and technological development.

Why did this divergence happen?

The West may have been the dominant economic and geopolitical force for the past 500 years, but this time seems to be coming to an end.

This can be seen in the way the rest of the world is catching up to the West in terms of economic power. To see this trend, it is enough to glance at recent economic growth figures: In 2012, the US economy grew by a measly 2 percent, while the European economy actually contracted. Meanwhile, the Chinese economy grew by a whopping 8 percent.

In the eighteenth century, the political philosopher Edmund Burke put forth the idea that civilized society was in fact a kind of contract between generations: those dead, those now living and those yet to be born. In a civilized society, no one generation should act without considering what the others would think, meaning that the values of dead generations cannot be trampled on and the well-being of future generations must be considered. This philosophy was thought to bring about a stable, prosperous society.

However, in the West today, this cross-generational contract has been broken: older and middle-aged people are living selfishly at the expense of those not yet born. They do this by enjoying generous government benefits, in terms of wages, health care plans and pensions. But these benefits are not free, and the government is running up a huge public debt by spending on these things. The public debt of Japan, a Westernized nation, has reached the dizzying level of almost 2.5 times their gross domestic product.

You may recall that after the 2007 financial crisis, there were ever louder calls for stronger regulation of the financial system.

This approach is misguided and dangerous, because financial crises are caused not by lack of regulation, but rather by bad regulation.

The legal systems of both the United Kingdom and the United States are developed through the process of common law, meaning the law is not determined solely by a strict legal code but can be interpreted and developed by judges. This common law system was one of the main drivers behind these two countries’ evolution into global economic powerhouses.

This is because, first of all, common law protected hard-working citizens from having their property seized by the state. This made populations under common law more entrepreneurial, driving growth.

Until the early twentieth century, many people in the West were active in various societies and clubs – for example, in political parties and private clubs.

This phenomenon is known as civil society, where such organizations form an important part of how a community deals with those less fortunate. Clubs and societies encouraged people to pull together for the common good and to help each other.

It’s no secret that the population of world is growing. In fact, it is slated to reach nine billion souls, with most of them living in the developing world.

Even more precisely, the growth will be primarily in cities and megacities (a city with a population over ten million) in the developing world. It has been predicted that over half of all global population growth between 2012 and 2025 is estimated to come from less than 500 cities, all non-Western.

The decline of Western power and influence is likely to continue into the future. This is because Western nations are currently crippled by huge debts, so instead of expanding their influence in the world they will have to deleverage – which means they will have cut back their global economic, military and political presence in order to save money and reduce their debts.

For example, Western powers used to play a vital role in maintaining security in the Middle East, but they may soon need to withdraw from such areas.