Political order and political decay : from the industrial revolution to the globalization of democracy / Francis Fukuyama.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 601-631) and index.

Introduction: Development of political institutions to the French Revolution -- Part I: The State. What is political development? ; The dimensions of development ; Bureaucracy ; Prussia builds a state ; Corruption ; The birthplace of democracy ; Italy and the low-trust equilibrium ; Patronage and reform ; The United States invents clientelism ; The end of the spoils system ; Railroads, forests, and American state building ; Nation building ; Good government, bad government -- Part II: Foreign institutions. Nigeria ; Geography ; Silver, gold, and sugar ; Dogs that didn't bark ; The clean slate ; Storms in Africa ; Indirect rule ; institutions, domestic or imported ; Lingua francas ; The strong Asian state ; The struggle for law in China ; The reinvention of the Chinese state ; Three regions -- Part III: Democracy. Why did democracy spread? ; The long road to democracy ; From 1848 to the Arab Spring ; The middle class and democracy's future -- Part IV: Political decay. Political decay ; A state of courts and parties ; Congress and the repatrimonialization of American politics ; America the vetocracy ; Autonomy and subordination ; Political order and political decay.

"The second volume of the bestselling landmark work on the history of the modern state Writing in The Wall Street Journal, David Gress called Francis Fukuyama's Origins of Political Order "magisterial in its learning and admirably immodest in its ambition." In The New York Times Book Review, Michael Lind described the book as "a major achievement by one of the leading public intellectuals of our time." And in The Washington Post, Gerard DeGrott exclaimed "this is a book that will be remembered. Bring on volume two." Volume two is finally here, completing the most important work of political thought in at least a generation. Taking up the essential question of how societies develop strong, impersonal, and accountable political institutions, Fukuyama follows the story from the French Revolution to the so-called Arab Spring and the deep dysfunctions of contemporary American politics. He examines the effects of corruption on governance, and why some societies have been successful at rooting it out. He explores the different legacies of colonialism in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and offers a clear-eyed account of why some regions have thrived and developed more quickly than others. And he boldly reckons with the future of democracy in the face of a rising global middle class and entrenched political paralysis in the West. A sweeping, masterful account of the struggle to create a well-functioning modern state, Political Order and Political Decay is destined to be a classic"-- Provided by publisher.