The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn t What It Used to Be - Hardcover

Naím, Moisés

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465031560 ISBN 13: 9780465031566

Publisher: Basic Books, 2013

Synopsis

We know that power is shifting: From West to East and North to South, from presidential palaces to public squares, from once formidable corporate behemoths to nimble startups and, slowly but surely, from men to women. But power is not merely shifting and dispersing. It is also decaying. Those in power today are more constrained in what they can do with it and more at risk of losing it than ever before.

In The End of Power, award-winning columnist and former Foreign Policy editor Moisés Naím illuminates the struggle between once-dominant megaplayers and the new micropowers challenging them in every field of human endeavor. Drawing on provocative, original research, Naím shows how the antiestablishment drive of micropowers can topple tyrants, dislodge monopolies, and open remarkable new opportunities, but it can also lead to chaos and paralysis. Naím deftly covers the seismic changes underway in business, religion, education, within families, and in all matters of war and peace. Examples abound in all walks of life: In 1977, eighty-nine countries were ruled by autocrats while today more than half the world's population lives in democracies. CEO's are more constrained and have shorter tenures than their predecessors. Modern tools of war, cheaper and more accessible, make it possible for groups like Hezbollah to afford their own drones. In the second half of 2010, the top ten hedge funds earned more than the world's largest six banks combined.

Those in power retain it by erecting powerful barriers to keep challengers at bay. Today, insurgent forces dismantle those barriers more quickly and easily than ever, only to find that they themselves become vulnerable in the process. Accessible and captivating, Naím offers a revolutionary look at the inevitable end of power—and how it will change your world.

About this title

About the Author:

Moisés Naím is a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an internationally syndicated columnist. For over a decade he was the editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine and under his leadership, the magazine was re-launched, won the National Magazine award for General Excellence three times and became one of the world's most influential publications in international affairs. Naím also served as Venezuela's Minister of Industry and Trade and as executive director of the World Bank. Naím holds a PhD from MIT and lives in Washington, DC.

Review:

Who is in charge? This book says nobody. The monopolies of coercion that characterised states, the potency of advanced militaries, the media organisations that controlled information, and the religious institutions that defined orthodoxy are all losing control. Readers may disagree; they will be provoked.”
Financial Times, Best of the Year

It's not just that power shifts from one country to another, from one political party to another, from one business model to another, Naim argues; it's this: Power is decaying.”
Gordon M. Goldstein, Washington Post, Notable Non-Fiction Book of the Year

A remarkable new book by the remarkable Moises Naim, the former editor of Foreign Policy. It was recommended to me by former president Bill Clinton during a brief conversation on the situation in Egypt.”
Richard Cohen, Washington Post

"In his new book called The End of Power, Moises Naim goes so far as to say that power is actually decaying. I actually find the argument rather persuasive."
General Martin Dempsey-Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

"I particularly enjoyed The End of Power by Moisés Naim.... It is particularly relevant for big institutions like GE."
Jeff Immelt, CEO, GE

[An] altogether mind-blowing and happily convincing treatise about how 'power is becoming more feeble, transient, and constrained.'"
Nick Gillespie, Barron's

Moisés Naím's The End of Power offers a cautionary tale to would-be Lincolns in the modern era. Naím is a courageous writer who seeks to dissect big subjects in new ways. At a time when critics of overreaching governments, big banks, media moguls and concentrated wealth decry the power of the '1%,' Mr. Naím argues that leaders of all types political, corporate, military, religious, union face bigger, more complex problems with weaker hands than in the past.”
Wall Street Journal

Analytically sophisticated [a] highly original, inter-disciplinary meditation on the degeneration of international power The End of Power makes a truly important contribution, persuasively portraying a compelling dynamic of change cutting across multiple game-boards of the global power matrix.”
Washington Post

This fascinating book...should provoke a debate about how to govern the world when more and more people are in charge.”
Foreign Affairs

Naím produces a fascinating account of the way states, corporations and traditional interest groups are finding it harder to defend their redoubts (He) makes his case with eloquence.”
Financial Times

A timely and timeless book.”
Booklist

Having served as editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy and the executive director of the World Bank, Naím knows better than most what power on a global scale looks like . [A] timely, insightful, and eloquent message.”
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Foreign Policy editor-in-chief Naím argues that global institutions of power are losing their ability to command respect. Whether considering institutions of government, military, religion or business, the author believes their power to be in the process of decaying . A data-packed, intriguing analysis.”
Kirkus Reviews

The End of Power will change the way you read the news, the way you think about politics, and the way you look at the world.”
William Jefferson Clinton

In my own experience as president of Brazil I observed first hand many of the trends that Naím identifies in this book, but he describes them in a way that is as original as it is delightful to read. All those who have power or want it should read this book.”
Fernando Henrique Cardoso

Moisés Naím's extraordinary new book will be of great interest to all those in leadership positions business executives, politicians, military officers, social activists and even religious leaders. Readers will gain a new understanding of why power has become easier to acquire and harder to exercise. The End of Power will spark intense and important debate worldwide.”
George Soros

After you read The End of Power you will see the world through different eyes. Moisés Naím provides a compelling and original perspective on the surprising new ways power is acquired, used, and lost and how these changes affect our daily lives.” Arianna Huffington

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0465031560
• ISBN 13: 9780465031566
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320