This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“Liberal democracy is about rules, not outcomes. We uphold freedom of speech, rather than favoring specific speech. We want elections to be free and fair, rather than favoring one candidate. We make law by census and compromise, not by decree. But increasingly there are those – frustrated by the process, sure of their virtue, loathing the other side – who want to ban what they regard as “bad” speech, make policy by fiat, or even manipulate the democratic process. The ends justify the means.” – Fareed Zakaria, Introduction: A Multitude Of Revolutions, Page 11
“But it was only after the Dutch Revolution, when the
Netherlands broke with the Catholic Church, that the country truly became an
open marketplace of ideas. The general
distaste for Inquisitors and censors allowed philosophical strains that would
have been repressed elsewhere to flourish.
As a deadening blanket of repression and censorship known as the
Counter-Reformation fell across Catholic Europe, Protestant societies began
producing significantly more scientists than their Catholic counterparts.” – Fareed
Zakaria, Chapter 1: The First Liberal Revolution: The Netherlands, Page 46
“Above all, the French Revolution shows the danger of revolution imposed by political leaders, rather than growing naturally out of broad social, economic, and technological changes. French leaders tried to impose modernity and enlightenment by top-down decree on a country that was largely unready for it. The core problem was this: modernization takes decades if not centuries to develop. In those countries where liberalism had taken deep root, it had developed by fits and starts, in the Netherlands’ city halls and merchant associations or in England’s parliamentary committees and joint-stock companies. It had grown through a bottom-up process of economic and technological transformation, coupled later with skillful leadership that navigated these new currents.” – Fareed Zakaria, Chapter 3: The Failed Revolution: France, Page 75
Is This An Overview?
A revolution is about change. Change can have benefits, but also
disruptions. People want change when
their conditions would improve, but disruptions cause a backlash. People want to retain their condition when
the disruptions cause a deterioration in their situation, such as through
allocating resources away to others.
Societies develop over time, changing over time. Societies can be torn apart when the society
cannot abord the disruptions. Although there
is no certainty to what happens to societies, much of what happens next depends
on human action and interaction over time.
The historic experience of states, the various different
methods that states used to achieve their status, has provided guidelines for
what can improve welfare and what can harm welfare. States improve their welfare when political power
is diffused. When society is based on
rules rather than outcomes. When laws
are made by consensus and compromise rather than decree. When there is free speech rather than
censorship. When there are competitive
elections rather than a candidate forced unto a people. When the private and public sectors support
each other. Societies fought through
various conflicts to obtain these features.
Even as states have improved through the features, the same states have
changed to prevent the features. There
are those who benefit from restricting what others do and think, and want to
dictate the terms others live by.
Caveats?
The book is split into a few historic revolutions and a few
contemporary revolutions. While the
historic revolutions have coherent timeline for events that includes a
conclusion, the contemporary revolutions are still progressing which makes
their conclusions uncertain. There is a
bias in the features that are meant to improve or hinder society, which
influence explanations for content.
