Author

Ray Dalio

Summary

A historical account of the rise and fall of empires and the reasons behind them.

Takeaways

History is repeating itself in well-defined cycles that determine the world order and the relationship of countries. Empires and dynasties rise and decline in a Big Cycle that is driven by universal cause and effect relationships that are in turn determined by fundamental characteristics of human nature such as fear, greed, jealousy, and other basic emotions. Each cycle has clear markers that allows us to see where we are in it.

Within each cycle are other cycles. The most important three cycles are the long-term debt and capital markets cycle, the internal order and disorder cycle, and the external order and disorder cycle. Each cycle follows a specific progression. As an example, the internal order cycles typically proceeds in the following way.

1. New internal order and new leadership
2. Resource-allocation systems and government bureaucracies are built and refined
3. Peace and prosperity
4. Excess and widening of wealth and other gaps
5. Bad financial conditions and intense conflicts
6. Civil wars and revolution

As we move through the cycles we will encounter times that are radically different than the past but similar to many times in history. Developing a deeper understanding of the universal principles that govern the development of cycles and new world orders helps to better anticipate what is to come.

Quotes

“Values change from generation to generation during the rise to the top—from those who had to fight to achieve wealth and power to those who inherited it. The new generation is less battle-hardened, steeped in luxuries, and accustomed to the easy life, which makes them more vulnerable to challenges."

“By the way, spending money on investment and infrastructure rather than on consumption tends to lead to greater productivity, so investment is a good leading indicator of prosperity."

“In fact, improvements in education and infrastructure, even those financed by debt, were essential ingredients behind the rises of virtually all empires, and declines in the quality of these investments were almost always ingredients behind empires’ declines. If done well, these interventions can more than counterbalance the classic toxic mix."

“Watch populism and polarization as markers. The more that populism and polarization exist, the further along a nation is in Stage 5, and the closer it is to civil war and revolution. In Stage 5, moderates become the minority. In Stage 6, they cease to exist."

Summary

A historical analysis of the working mechanisms of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

Takeaways

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been the sole legitimate governing authority in China since 1949. By the end of 2009 when the book was published, the CCP had 78 million members.

The Party consists of a giant network of people that are involved in every important decision and its members have built up the skills and experience to run the country. It has remained in power by supporting a boisterous private economy and keeping strict control over personnel, propaganda, and the army. Since the Party was founded it has systematically “has eradicated or emasculated political rivals; eliminated the autonomy of the courts and press; restricted religion and civil society; deningrated rival versions of nationhood; centralized political power; established extensive networks of security police; and dispatched dissidents to labour camps.”

Quotes

“As an organization, the Party sits outside, and above the law. It should have a legal identity, in other words, a person to sue, but it is not even registered as an organization. The Party exists outside the legal system altogether."

“The Party’s control over personnel was at the heart of its ability to overhaul state companies, without losing leverage over them at the same time. So important does the Party rate its power to hire and fire government officials that it places it on a par with its control over the media and the military."

“The policy cycles follow a familiar pattern, the Chinese economists say: ‘Decentralization leads to disorder; disorder leads to centralization; centralization leads to stagnation and stagnation leads to decentralization.’"

“Deng, and Jiang after him, grasped what many of their conservative opponents never did–that the Party had much in common with private entrepreneurs, who disliked democratic politics and independent unions as much as they did. The Party’s authoritarian powers not only kept workers in line. They also bestowed on policy-makers a flexibility that politicians in democratic countries could only dream about. Even by the standards of a capitalist economy, the Party could be unusually pro-business, as long as the state got a cut along the way."

Author

William Dalrymple

Summary

The history of the rise and fall of the East India Company.

Takeaways

The East India company was a trading company based in London that rose from humble beginnings to a fully fledged imperial power that managed to replace the ruling Mughal empire on the Indian subcontinent in a short period of time between 1756 and 1803. In that time period the East India Company extended their sphere of influence through treachery, forged contracts, collaboration with local banker, bribes, and military prowess in armed conflicts and wars.

As a company, the EIC was answerable only to its shareholders. With no stake in the just governance of the region, or its long-term well-being, the Company’s rule quickly turned into the straightforward pillage of India, and the rapid transfer westwards of its wealth.

Quotes

“In many ways the East India Company was a model of commercial efficiency: one hundred years into its history, it had only thirty-five permanent employees in its head office. Nevertheless, that skeleton staff executed a corporate coup unparalleled in history: the military conquest, subjugation and plunder of vast tracts of southern Asia. It almost certainly remains the supreme act of corporate violence in world history."

“In the end it was this access to unlimited reserves of credit, partly through stable flows of land revenues, and partly through the collaboration of Indian moneylenders and financiers, that in this period finally gave the Company its edge over their Indian rivals."

“Because it was not the British government that seized India in the middle of the eighteenth century, but a private company. India’s transition to colonialism took place through the mechanism of a for-profit corporation, which existed entirely for the purpose of enriching its investors."

Author

Bob Joseph

Summary

A sample of 21 of the destructive and damaging statues and policies that constitute the Indian Act.

Takeaways

The Indian Act, passed in 1876, regulated and still regulates the lives of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. One of the most damaging and destructive parts of the act was the introduction of residential schools that forced children to move away from their families and forbade them to speak their home language and practice their traditional religion.

In recent years, the Canadian public and government have increased focus on reconciliation, paving the way to dismantle the Indian Act and move towards self-governance for Indigenous Peoples.

Quotes

“If Canada and Canadians are going to reconcile with Indigenous Peoples, then the existing relationship —the one based on the Indian Act— has to be rebuilt. The past cannot be overlooked or dismissed as ‘ancient history’, because it isn’t; the impacts of the past are ongoing."

“The focus should now be on dismantling the Indian Act, moving towards self-government in an orderly and timely fashion, and creating a self-governing future for Indigenous Peoples outside of the Indian Act."

“While self-government is not a quick fix for the deeply rooted social, health, and economic issues that plague Indingenous communities, it is a step towrds empowering communities to rebuild and heal from the intergenerational effects of residential schools."