The Mechanics of Changing the World

<p>'I have nominated this book as my <strong>Book of the Year</strong>. I read over 30 books a year in the course of my work so this it is in a good field.'</p><ul><li><strong>Prof Guy Standing author of <em>The Precariat</em></strong></li></ul><p></p><p>'A <strong>formidable</strong> effort... It has family resemblances to <em>The Dawn of Everything</em> by David <strong>Graeber</strong> and David Wengrow Yuval Noah <strong>Harari's</strong> three volumes and books by Steven <strong>Pinker</strong> and Jared <strong>Diamond</strong>.'</p><ul><li><strong><em>Barry Jones global best-selling author former Minister for Science & president of the Australian Labor Party</em></strong></li></ul><p></p><p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The Mechanics of Changing the World</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> argues that war tax havens and environmental overshoot are insoluble within the current political framework. That present-day politics is a 'displacement activity'-a substitute for the one thing that can end our crises: to rewrite the political system that generates them.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>This 'third draft' of the democratic ideal flows from the Athenian and Euro-American 'drafts': rewiring democracy institution by institution to match it to all we've learned about human nature since 1789.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The last half-century has seen the antiwar movement </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>perestroika</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> Tiananmen Occupy and the Arab Spring. Strong ideals and strong popular support-yet none built anything lasting.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>One-off campaigns are fragile. Changing the world needs more than inspired troubleshooting: it needs architecture.</span></p>