Powers and liberties: the clauses and consequences of the rise of the west

"This is a major contribution an important debate. Why did the West rise? What are the general conditions under which societies develop, stagnate and decay? These are the issues covered. It is written with great clarity and verve and contains many interesting and striking ideas. I can safely predict that it will attract both readers and reputation. Michael Mann, London School of Economics and Political Science
This book is a philosophic history in the tradition of Hume, Adam Smith, Marx and Weber. The first half offers an explanation of the emergence in one of the world's civilisations of a self-sustaining economic dynamism that took on a broadly capitalist form. A solution is therefore offered to Max Weber's problem, that capitalism was somehow related to Christianity, but it is an answer far removed from that of Weber himself. The second half examines the three worlds of modernity, state socialism, the Third World and the liberal polities of the West, each of which is now interlinked by the force of international military and economic competition. The concluding chapter spells out the possible strategic options available to modern Europe.