The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution [Hardcover]

Why have Western attempts to impose democracy on autocratic regimes met with such limited success? Why do so many developing countries remain mired in endless cycles of conflict and corruption? And why do manifestly authoritarian countries like China continue to prosper despite their widespread abuse of human rights?

In this hugely ambitious, yet accessible book, Fukuyama attempts to answer these questions by tracing the history of the development of human societies into fully functional states. Beginning in pre-human times, he analyses the reasons why isolated and generally nepotistic tribal groups started to co-operate and organise themselves into states. The answer, he argues, generally consists of war, religion and various combinations of the two.

It is becoming customary for Western liberals to demonise religion and, John Lennon-like, imagine that a world without it would be a better one. Some of Fukuyama's conclusions may surprise and even disturb them. Religion, he argues, is one of the very few forces capable of persuading human beings to abandon their traditional nepotism and work together towards a common ideal. Not everyone will be comfortable with his generally positive analysis of the role played by the Catholic church in medieval times, albeit accidentally, in promoting what he describes as "the rule of law." This phrase he defines at some length as being the concept of a moral code greater, even, than the power and authority of kings; this, combined with a strong state and universal democracy is a key attribute of a successful human civilisation.

Fukuyama analyses the development of the first sophisticated civilization in China, pointing out its strengths and weaknesses - these can still be recognised as characteristic of a number of Asian societies today. Stopping off to discuss the deep social divisions that have made Indian government democratic but frequently ineffectual, he proceeds to an account of the radical approach to nepotism adopted by the Ottoman empire - their solution was to enslave conquered peoples by forcibly removing their most promising sons to run their state bureaucracy; they were given enormous powers and privileges but forbidden to intermingle with their host society and, crucially, to bequeath their social capital to their children. The celibacy of clergy in the Catholic Church was a similar attempt to address this problem.

Fukuyama then turns to Europe where, he claims, the conditions of a successful state were most effectively established, particularly in England. Extensive and comparatively egalitarian participation in the machinery of justice at local and regional levels paved the way for a parliamentary assembly able to impose the rule of law on monarchs that overstepped their powers, culminating in the Glorious Revolution of the late 17th Century that paved the way for the French and American revolutions just over 100 years later. This is the point at which Fukuyama's narrative ends; a second volume will continue the story under the vastly different conditions prevailing after the Industrial Revolution. However, Fukuyama acknowledges that the English success was not unique by examining the very different route taken by Dennmark to a similar outcome, and before he discusses the English case he looks at the problems encountered by the ancien regime in France, weak absolutism in Spain and its malign influence on Latin American postcolonial societies, and the limitations of serfdom and oligarchy in Russia and Hungary. All this undermines any Eurocentric triumphalism.

It is greatly to Fukuyama's credit that he manages to explain all this in terms that are comprehensible to the intelligent layman. This is an easy book to read, but it is dense in argument and information, so much so that it would probably be impossible to grasp all its nuances in a single reading. What makes it absorbing and exciting to read are the frequent occasions when light is shed on a seemingly intractable political problem in our own times. It will deepen any thoughtful reader's understanding of the challenging and often dangerous world we live in, and every day listening to a news bulletin will throw into focus the general principles of Fukuyama's analysis. He discusses 21st century military adventures in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and devotes several pages to the global implications of China's phenomenal economic growth. It is to be hoped that the events of the Arab Spring, which appear to have taken place after the manuscript was completed, will be addressed either in the promised second volume, or possibly a revision of the first. This book is likely to become a key primer in international relations and political science, and therefore likely to run to more than one edition.

Fukuyama has a gift of writing intelligibly for the non-academic although he does use some jargon. This is history as I wish I had learned it; not battles, kings, generals and prime ministers but the institutions and structures that lead some societies to collapse, others to tyranny and a few to liberty and prosperity. While testing such theories by experiment is not possible, he draws on a wide range of sources and disciplines and a global reach to give a plausible account. He teases out the key factors in the development of societies that offer freedom and the protection of the law to their citizens in contrast to others that are ostensible democracies but continue to deny these to their citizens. Having lived for a number of years in a country with a democratic constitution and regular elections, but where the watchword was: "Why pay a lawyer when you can buy a judge?", I find his insights of much more than academic interest.
I look forward impatiently to the publication of Volume 2 covering the period from the French Revolution to today.

Francis Fukuyama is one of those authors for whom "all of history" is a challenge. Rather than shy away from delving too far into the past, he has taken it upon himself to explain the origins of our political world and its institutions by looking at the whole of human history.

'Origins of Political Order' is broad, and it is sweeping. From pre-human times to the French Revolution, stopping on the way in early China, India, Turkey, and England. The amazing thing is that the book doesn't lose its thread, and teaching us about these early civilisations, continues to get across its point: that the state, the rule of law, and accountability are the key elements in the formation of the modern state.

Certain areas are more gripping than others (obviously depending on where one's interests lie); personally, the chapters on China interested me a lot more than, say, the Ottomans - the overview of Chinese bureaucratic was fascinating, and very well argued. And while I don't agree with all the conclusions being drawn, I cannot deny the fantastic skill of the writing.

Whether you agree with him or not, this book is a fantastic one to read. It's brilliantly written, and the scope is simply astounding. If you have any interest in politics, or are even slightly curious as to how the institutions we know today came about, then this is definitely one to read. My copy will be well thumbed and well referenced before too long!