The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die. By Niall Ferguson. Penguin, New York. 2012. ISBN: 978-1-59420-545-3. 174 pp. Hardcovex. $ 26.95.

Abstract

Wars, violent revolutions, armed struggles and economic crises constitute a major part of the world history. Many nations and states faced testing times politically as well as economically. If empires grew, economies boomed, ideologies popularized, and systems flourished then there came a time when those empires vanished, economies crippled, ideologies faded and  systems failed. Taking the case of the US, the power of present times, there is a common understanding that it is all about institutions, strong system and efficient policies that it has gained power and influenced the world. But with the emergence of other powers counts the US in world politics of late, especially China, the question that is being posed is: if the US is losing its influence? This central question has set the discourse across the globe and invited research enquiry about the claims on the gradual decline of the West.