Rethinking the World

The post-Marxian new historical materialism described in this book breathes new life into our comprehension of the world. A 200-year perspective on modernity tells us that an all-embracing physical phenomenon holds humankind in its grip.</p><p>History has recorded two distinct global systems thus far: laissez faire/metal money which spanned most of the 19th century and lasted until the outbreak of World War I and mixed economy/weak multilateralism which began after 1945 and exists today. The period between the two systems 1914-1945 was a chaotic transition. This evolutionary pulsation is well known to students of thermodynamics. It corresponds to the behavior of expanding and complexifying material systems.</p> <p>The exhaustion of oil and other natural resources is pushing the world toward a third global system that may be called two-level economy/strong multilateralism. It will be impossible to get there without a new chaotic transition. No repeated warnings academic advice moral advocacy inspired reforms or political leadership can provide a shortcut around it. But if it took 1914-1945 to make a relatively minor adjustment in the global order what will it take to make a major one?</p>