Globalization has been linked, approvingly, with the advantages, benefits, creative destruction, modernity, and progress it has brought to entire nations. China has been by far its greatest beneficiary, as the country’s reintegration into the global economy helped to reduce the number of people living in extreme poverty by 94 percent between 1980 a

... See more

For the region as a whole, real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita (in constant 2010 dollars) has risen from roughly $1,300 in 1960 to over $10,000 in 2018. There are many reasons for this economic success, and there are of course differences that account for what happened in each country. That said, what tended to be common was significant po

... See more

While technology is by far the most important factor today, and apparently growing more so, all four major megapolitical factors have played a role in determining the scale at which power could be exercised in the past. Together, these factors determine whether the returns to violence continue to rise as violence is employed on a larger scale. This

... See more

Progress that is both rapid enough to be noticed and stable enough to continue over many generations has been achieved only once in the history of our species. It began at approximately the time of the scientific revolution, and is still under way. It has included improvements not only in scientific understanding, but also in technology, political ... See more