Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy. By Francis Fukuyama. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014. ISBN-13: 978- 1374227357. 672 pp. Hard Cover, $ 35.

Abstract

Modern states and changing nature of political order has always been of interest to historian and political scientists. Scores of volumes are written on the subject matter from various perspectives covering the origin of state system to the fragmentation of political boundaries, development of supranational entities to the global networks of groups, and institution of market system to the implications of transnational corporations. Moreover, the advent of globalization, with the growing interconnectedness of the world in terms of economies and political order, instigated research studies on the eroding political system, state order and rule of law in many countries.  To bring a comprehensive and an interesting account to readers on the history of modern state, Francis Fukuyama has contributed an impressive study in two volumes beginning from , the prehuman times to the globalization of democracy. The two volumes revolve around the argument that functioning and successful liberal democracy combines three essential elements: the state, rule of law and accountability. The book, a cohort of the first volume, is a project that attempted to advance and update Samuel P. Hungtington’s classic, Political Order in Changing Societies, presents a detailed account of evolution of government and political order in different parts of the world. With some success stories, Fukuyama critically evaluates the causes and consequences of “political decay” of modern state system in many regions.