END TIMES: ELITES, COUNTER-ELITES AND THE PATH OF POLITICAL DISINTEGRATION

Peter Turchin, one of the most interesting thinkers today, has infused the study of history with insights from other fields for over a quarter of a century. End Times is the culmination of his work to understand what causes political communities to cohere and to fall apart. The lessons of 10,000 years of world history are clear, Turchin argues: when the equilibrium between ruling elites and the majority tips too far in favor of the elites, political instability is all but inevitable. Before the industrial era, the imbalance between labour and capital, signaled by growing economic inequality, was usually caused by excessive population growth. For the past 250 or so years, it has been laissez-faire government, technological innovation, globalization and immigration that have tended to disrupt the balance. Whatever the cause, when income inequality surges the common people suffer, and prosperity flows disproportionately into the hands of the elites.