vicduggan

With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the last great theoretical alternative to liberal democracy appeared to have collapsed under the weight of its own internal contradictions. With no little hubris, Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the “End of History”. Liberal democracy enjoyed something of a golden era, until at least September 11th, 2001, and arguably until the global financial crisis of 2008.

As even Fukuyama has long acknowledged, liberal democracy has since been in retreat. Russia under Vladimir Putin, and latterly China under Xi Jinping, have taken increasingly authoritarian turns. India, the world’s largest democracy, has succumbed to Hindu nationalism. All have moved farther away from the liberal democratic ideal.

*** A version of this book review was first published in The Irish Times on 24 January 2026 ***

Recent years have seen somewhat of a populist backlash to globalization, and trade and immigration in particular. Seemingly less controversial are technological advances that have changed the way we work, play, learn and interact. Indeed, a certain brand of techno-optimism looks to the ‘white heat’ of technology as humanity’s savior, whether to tackle climate change or provide us all with lives of infinite leisure, unconstrained by the physical limits of planet Earth. Often, those who challenge the prevailing narrative are dismissed as neo-luddites, standing astride the march of progress yelling stop.

A new book by two esteemed MIT economists presents a necessary corrective. Simon Johnson was Chief Economist of the IMF at the onset of the global financial crisis. Darren Acemoglu, an important thinker in political economy, co-authored the influential Why Nations Fail in 2012 and The Narrow Corridor in 2019. They have teamed up to write Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity.

*** A version of this book review was first published in The Irish Times on 12 August 2023 ***