The Fourth Revolution Paperback – 18 June 2015

The Fourth Revolution of Micklethwait and Wooldridge amounts - ultimately - to only half a revolution as they are recounting 3,5 previous revolutions in the history of the Western state: Hobbes (Rise of the Nation State), Mill (Liberal State) and Webb s Welfare State. Friedman s Lost Paradise was not recaptured by Reagan and Thatcher as their revolution got stuck half way, hence accounts for only half a revolution. This stalled revolution shall now be completed in the spirit of the 19th century Victorian liberal state: Lean State and individual freedoms taking centre stage. This is nowadays necessary - according to the authors - as the modern Western welfare state is overburdened and inefficient, economically struggling and loosing ground to the Beijing model of economic governance. The Asian reference (China and Singapore as new Asian governance models) caught my eye in the first place but eventually the authors decided that Sweden was to be the new model to follow. It was interesting to read an appraisal of the Asian Developmental State (meritocratic governance and interventionist state capitalism) from Economist journalists. Also a few ideas (from international management and technology benchmarking) read quite interestingly. All in all, a good read for everyone interested in the current debate about reforming governance and government institutions.

Important perspective given global societal and government challenges.

Os autores apresentam um quadro analítico sofisticado, muito bem elaborado, escrito no melhor inglês. Apenas, a saída para o Estado Contemporâneo, segundo o modelo de Singapura ė duvidoso. Conciliar um Estado eficaz, eficiente, efetivo e ético em suas ações (seu sentido de existência) com uma plena democracia é uma obra inacabada.

Just over a decade ago political scientists started to believe that we had reached the final stage of historical evolution for government. With the fall of communism and the supposed triumph of the democratic state there was a complacency about the success of Western democracy as the supreme form of government. In the Fourth Revolution authors John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge look back at the stages of developement of western government and consider it as having gone through 3 revolutions with being on the brink of a 4th in which the liberty of the individual is prioritized over the nanny state that the authors see us having grown into. The authors discuss the modern landscape of government and look at the various models which have been successful both in history as well as geographically and lay out clearly the history of political ideas and eras that took us from the past to the present. Many will disagree with the conclusions and the relative priorities put forth by the authors with respect to liberty relative to social benefits but this is a must read about some of the growing problems with the western state and how to think about some of the solutions.The book is split into 3 parts, the first one is titled The Three and a Half Revolutions. The first section is a history of political thought which the authors begin with Leviathan by Hobbes. The fundamental idea that a state is needed to help restrain the fallible nature of man and create a social contract that enables society to form with stability was documented in Leviathan and the authors view this work as the first major work that had the idea of what a modern state required. The authors then discuss and the first ideas that sparked utilitarianism as well as libertarianism and some of the conflicting aspects of the two philisophies. But the priority of individual liberty and the goal of the state to allow pursuit of individual goals as long as they dont conflict with the needs of others is considered the second major political revolution. The authors then describe the growth of the welfare state which is considered the third revolution that takes people to the goal of the inclusive society with a focus on equality of opportunity. The author then ends with some discussion of Milton Friedman who started the road to the Fourth revolution in which liberty is re-prioritized and government becomes more constrained and efficient.The second part is titled From the West to the East. The authors discuss the state of California and its political economy. The desire for social benefits without the budget for them is detailed; the high pension benefits of government workers is discussed and the fundamental divide of Palo Alto with Sacramento is used to articulate the problems with governance in the modern world. In particular the authors discuss how voters are furious about government largess and want it constrained but simultaneously want the benefits of a large state. The authors pivot to asia and discuss the Singapore and China model and how the representatives of the state are extremely well qualified with compensation to match. The authors focus on the political philosophy of Lee Kuan Yew. They discuss how the state focuses on results and the system forces citizens to rely on themselves for their success (again singapore).The final section is titled The Winds of Change. This section wraps things together and discusses some of the methods that might chip away at the problem. The authors focus on the fact that government is a labour intensive business and labour intensive businesses have much slower productivity growth and are more inflationary than capital intensive businesses - Baumol's disease. They see the internet revolution as helping people to self regulate and will allow for a smaller state with greater individual interconnectivity that would require less state largess. They also see the need for states to adapt faster given the growing debt problems and competition among modern states. The US and Europe need to adapt to compete with the modern states in Asia which are more free to redefine the role of the state with less baggage. The authors also note the lack of democratic participation in the growing EU presence and how it has catalyzed more extremist parties.The Fourth Revolution takes a look at modern democracy, its history and the future. It is well written, clear and concise. The author give a good history of the modern democratic state and the ideology that helped form where we stand today. They discuss the economics of the state and avoiding the tyranny of the majority and how democratic short sightedness has always been a risk that political philosophers have been aware of. The authors demonstrate clearly that short sightedness is creating growing risks in the modern western state with unfunded pensions and weakening demographics. It is hard not to be troubled by western politics today and its seeming apathy to do real introspection- the Fourth Revolution argues strongly for the need to reform aspects of the growth of the state and to use modern technology to facilitate less labour intensive governance.

Un must-read per chiunque sappia guardare con intelligenza a economia e politica. Fondamentale per chi ha a cuore un nuovo welfare, efficiente e capace di essere più inclusivo.