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The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn't What It Used to Be

by Moisés Naím

3.58 · Rating Details · 1,753 Ratings · 226 Reviews

We know that power is shifting: From West to East and North to South, from presidential palaces to public squares, from once formidable corporate behemoths to nimble startups and, slowly but surely, from men to women. But power is not merely shifting and dispersing. It is also decaying. Those in power today are more constrained in what they can do with it and more at risk ...more

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published March 5th 2013 by Basic Books

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Feb 21, 2014 Katie rated it liked it

Interesting thesis, but it could have been said in 30 pages rather than 300. The writing is dull and dry. The examples are broad but the research is not deep. There are too many statistics and not enough stories. The evidence cited is shallow enough that the book is not convincing and the writing repetitive enough that it is not engaging.

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May 07, 2013 Thomas rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction-general, nonfiction-politics, nonfiction-business

A couple of weeks ago I saw a PBS NewsHour interview with Moisés Naím on his new book, THE END OF POWER, and I just had to read it. I did so this week. I found it to be a fascinating examination of the erosion of centralized authority in a broad pantheon of fields: government, finance, the military, education, business, religion, philanthropy, labor unions, even competitive chess. Naím draws intriguing examples from the proliferation of sovereign states and from such disparate entities as the AF ...more

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May 13, 2013 Bill Pardi rated it liked it

Shelves: current-events, history, economics

The End of Power by Moisés Naím has some problems, more on that later. But something fundamental bothered me about it the entire time I was reading it. After a few weeks of reflecting on it here and there I figured it out—it was the title. This book is not about the end of power at all, it's about the shifting of power. The book title was likely concocted by the publisher's marketing department. Let's face it, definitive, catastrophic statements sell better than ideas about movement or shifts. B The End of Power by Moisés Naím has some problems, more on that later. But something fundamental bothered me about it the entire time I was reading it. After a few weeks of reflecting on it here and there I figured it out—it was the title. This book is not about the end of power at all, it's about the shifting of power. The book title was likely concocted by the publisher's marketing department. Let's face it, definitive, catastrophic statements sell better than ideas about movement or shifts. But the title sets up a premise that the content doesn't really hold up. Sure, power and influence are decaying or even ending for some traditional institutions. But it's not "ending" all together, it's shifting to different groups and in many cases to individuals. This is key, and while Naím certainly does explore this shift, it's somehow not contextualized properly in this book. Because of that I found myself arguing with a great many of his examples of power's decline with a "yea, but…"

Naím is an economist, and The End of Power is at its core a different pivot on a now common thread in current social, philosophical, political, business and technology writing: that the old guards of influence and control are transferring, reluctantly in most cases, to new players and individuals. Naím spends much of the book describing how big governments, religions, corporations and military forces no longer carry the same authority they used to. Power he writes, is easier to gain, easier to lose, and more dispersed than ever before.

Unlike a lot of conventional wisdom, Naím doesn't attribute the power shift primarily to the influence of technology, but rather he credits the three "M" revolutions of "more, mobility, and mentality." The "more" revolution occurs because we have more of everything, be it products, ideas, food, social networks, etc., and more people to choose among these things. This, he argues, overwhelms the ability of a small number to maintain any type of control. We have more to choose from, and choose we do. The "mobility" revolution refers to the ability to move around, and away from being a captive audience to anyone or anything we don't like. Naím points to evidence that suggests as incomes rise throughout the world people can move themselves more easily than ever before to areas that carry more affinity to their current likes and aspirations. Tying all this together is the "mentality" revolution, a movement of expectations and values that allow people to evaluate just about everything on its merit and not take much for granted any more. People are becoming much more savvy in evaluating the claims of the establishment and more apt to question existing authorities. Technology is an enabler in all three, but not the root cause.

When taken for its main points, The End of Power certainly presents a reasonable case for how power is shifting in modern society and is consistent with the trends we've been seeing for the last 30-40 years. But as a book it's a difficult read. Naím lays out his main argument in the first chapter, but after that the narrative gets muddled, and Naím jumps from one idea to another in seemingly random fashion. It's consistency comes in being self-referential and verbose. Naím often repeats the same concepts, and uses way too many words to express them. While I think Naím gets it mostly right when it comes to the ideas, there are better treatments of his subject matter. ...more

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Jan 15, 2014 Athan Tolis rated it it was ok

The End of Power starts like dynamite.

Moises Naim, an extremely well-respected and well-informed author (he thanks everybody who's anybody in the acknowledgments except perhaps for David Beckham) is truly on fire to begin with. He starts the book by telling you what power is. He defines it as the ability to make others do what you want them to do. It's not about the size of your army or your nuclear stockpile or your advertising budget. It's the ability to get your way.

Next, he sets up a matrix, ...more

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Jan 14, 2015 Meetu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The end of power by Moises Naim

This book has had me in its grip like few nonfictions have. I started this book simply because of Mark Zuckerberg’s Year of Books suggestion on Facebook. I was interested in experiencing the reading of a book at the same time that thousands others were reading it and discussing it online. That hasn't really happened. No posts have emerged from the page after the suggestion. :/

So it is gratifying that I liked the book so much. I started off disagreeing with a lot of The end of power by Moises Naim

This book has had me in its grip like few nonfictions have. I started this book simply because of Mark Zuckerberg’s Year of Books suggestion on Facebook. I was interested in experiencing the reading of a book at the same time that thousands others were reading it and discussing it online. That hasn't really happened. No posts have emerged from the page after the suggestion. :/

So it is gratifying that I liked the book so much. I started off disagreeing with a lot of the notions being put forward. For a while the writer seemed to be an apologist for the failures of capitalism. It sounded to me like he was going to conclude with the suggestion that for all its failures, capitalism is necessary for the broadest good etc.

In the first chapter he defines power and says that it is decaying.

“Power becomes entrenched as a result of barriers that shield incumbents from rivals.” This is surely changing as shown by the numerous examples he gives. These examples reel you in with their fascinating facts. One thing that helped me trust the book was that I did not feel the facts about emerging countries were being misrepresented to reach a conclusion. A few books I have read do this, on the assumption that the readers would not be from these countries and would have no way of knowing except from hyped media reports.

He then talks about how measuring power is virtually impossible. We know when it exists. We know it has limits but we do not really discuss power in any meaningful way except in terms of ranking which is subjective to the criteria used. He defines Power as “the ability to direct or prevent the current or future actions of other groups and individuals”. He dwells on the channels through which power is exercised. He talks about the importance of barriers to power and how these are radically falling. So while there may not be a shift in power, there is a severe limiting of the ability to exercise power. While I was reading this, it reminded me of an article on how marriage is about power and traditionally had the man wielding it. Economics is the most obvious base of power. Chastity of women was emphasised so hard so that men invest only in their own offspring. Codes of power related to shaming or killing women over chastity. Then love marriages upended this code by making marriage about companionship and not offspring. But the ability of women to earn was what changed the power structure effectively for individual women. It removed the most important barrier to power. Thus, while power has definitely not shifted, the changes of the past century severely constrain the earlier power of husbands.

One of the most interesting parts (and this book has many) is about Max Weber. He is known as the father of modern social science. “And so, Weber believed, the key to wielding power in modern society is bureaucratic organisation. Bureaucracy to Weber was far from the dirty word it has become today. It described the most advanced form of organisation humans had achieved and the one best suited for progress in a capitalist society.”

Moises’ theory of “How Power Lost its Edge” is based on the idea that three factors propelled the decay of power. These are the “More” , “Mobility” and “Mentality” revolutions. More refers to the fact that there is More of everything today than there ever has been in the history of the world. There is apparently much to celebrate as more people have more things. I was very incredulous about this chapter. Anyway, the More everything means that people “become more difficult to regiment and control”. The Mobility revolution means that power loses its grip over a “captive audience” as people move out from under it and go where they want in today’s world. “Nowadays remittances are more than five times larger than the world’s total foreign aid and larger than the annual total flow of foreign investment to poor countries.” These lead to the Mentality revolution which indicates the disconnect between aspirations and reality. “It breeds skepticism and mistrust of authority and an unwillingness to take any distribution of power for granted.” These three revolutions pose challenges to power in all its channels.

The next few chapters elaborate on exactly how this is unfolding. The examples drive home the point effectively. This is why I loved the book. That it changed an important way of perceiving the world. By the end I was taking for granted the assertion that power is indeed unstable and dangerously so.

My only gripe is that the last chapter which I hoped would talk about some kind of strategy was a disappointment. It legends promisingly as “So what? What to do?” and then comes off saying very little. It does say what Not to do. (Don’t rank power. It is utterly meaningless. Don't encourage the “Terrible simplifiers” who will use disenchantment to gain temporary power and merely cause instability.) But the “Bring Trust Back” suggestion is incomprehensible. That seems to me to hinge on the Beginning of Responsibility by those who govern.

This leaves the hopeful assertion that there will be disruptive innovation in politics as we are “on the verge of a revolutionary wave of positive political and institutional innovations” on a shaky note.

But, like i said, the impact of the idea that Power is decaying and it affects us big time, is a forceful one. ...more

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Jan 09, 2014 Vinod Ravi rated it really liked it

This book should be a (new) compulsory text for anyone studying / interested in power and politics. Systematic and comprehensive account of how power is not only shifting but inherently changing. Not all of it is necessarily his own original thought, but Naim nonetheless offers a compelling argument as to why we need to recognize that power is not only changing hands, but that that our fundamental conceptions and assumptions surrounding 'power' are in need of redefinition as well. Loved it.

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Dec 02, 2013 Laurie rated it really liked it

Sometimes a bit long and repetitive, and I didnt think the title appropriate until the last chapter, since I agreed with another comment that power has shifted more than disappeared. But his points are all valid and his writing fluid and enjoyable to read, if overly long. The last chapter, though, especially gave me food for thought. I have long felt the loss and the need for elected representatives whom I can trust to follow the guidelines of a philosophy spelled out in the platform of a politi ...more

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Mar 10, 2015 Brent rated it liked it

Shelves: public-policy, government

I hopped on the Zuckerberg bandwagon and decided to read this book. It took me a long time to finish because although the concept is engaging (like, you mean the END of power?) the writing is not so much.

Chapter 4 (about the More, Mobility, and Mentality Revolutions) and chapters 5 through 9 (examples of decay in different contexts) were the most enjoyable. Naím makes a good case that power, indeed, is decaying in business, the military, politics, and elsewhere.

Where he lost me was in chapters 1 ...more

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Jul 14, 2013 Frank Kelly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: foreign-policy, business-management, finance-economics, leadership-management, 2013

Pardon the play on words but this is a very powerful book. Naime attempts to delve into why ever major traditional source of power we have known for generations - indeed centuries -- has been rocked and knocked from their pedestals. I do not agree with a number of his conclusions but I am somewhat haunted by the book (in a good way). My view is we have entered a new Dark Ages of sorts, where materialism, fear and the collapse of faith in God has led to the implosion in faith and respect for poli ...more

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Jan 06, 2015 Craig Newmark rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

(Speaking for myself only, not the site I founded which is generously cited in this book)

Power is flowing to regular people, people who've never had much of a voice, largely facilitated by the Internet.)

The End of Power discusses the categories of power and influence, and how the nature of power is decentralizing at an evolutionary pace. (Not so bad, since modern revolutions get people killed, and often the new boss is as bad as the old boss, or worse.)

Maybe End of Power will inspire more people ...more

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Mar 16, 2015 Mal Warwick rated it it was amazing

Mark Zuckerberg hit it out of the park with this one, the first selection in his attempt to channel Oprah Winfrey with his own “book club.” The End of Power is a remarkably insightful inquiry into the limits of power in today’s wired world, when a tiny group of fanatics can upend national policy half a world away. As Naim writes, referring not just to global leadership but to corporate executive suites, established churches, and the military, “the powerful are experiencing increasingly greater l Mark Zuckerberg hit it out of the park with this one, the first selection in his attempt to channel Oprah Winfrey with his own “book club.” The End of Power is a remarkably insightful inquiry into the limits of power in today’s wired world, when a tiny group of fanatics can upend national policy half a world away. As Naim writes, referring not just to global leadership but to corporate executive suites, established churches, and the military, “the powerful are experiencing increasingly greater limits on their power. . . In the twenty-first century, power is easier to get, harder to use — and easier to lose.”

We often speak of the complexity of the modern world, but we tend to lose sight of just how complex it is. Consider this: in 1941, when I was born, world population stood at roughly 2.3 billion, whereas today we humans number 7.2 billion. Then, there was a total of 61 sovereign states on the planet. Today, there are 193 members of the United Nations, more than three times as many. But the number of players on the world stage today is far greater than that, including a plethora of global and regional organizations and what the media has come to call “non-state players” such as ISIS and Al Qaeda, all of which have come into being in the last seventy years. The upshot is that a US State Department list of treaties currently in force runs to almost five hundred pages! Add to these facts the speed and breadth of reach of information technologies and “profound shifts in expectations, values, and social norms,” and the case seems made. “But the more fundamental explanation as to why barriers to power have become more feeble,” Naim writes, “has to do with the transformation in such diverse factors as rapid economic growth in many poor countries, migratory patterns, medicine and healthcare, education, and even attitudes and cultural mores.” In the midst of all this complexity, how could anyone hope to be the master of all he surveys?

Naim analyzes the means by which power is expressed, referring to them as Muscle (coercion), Code (obligation), Pitch (persuasion), and Reward (inducement). He posits three overarching phenomena that give rise to weakening the barriers to power: the More revolution (there’s more of everything now), the Mobility revolution (we and our money, not just communications, move around a lot faster now), and the Mentality revolution (“taking nothing for granted anymore”). Like any typology, Naim’s are debatable — other thinkers may carve up reality along different lines — but they ring true to my ear. After all, to note what he calls “a cascading diffusion of power,” we have only to look at the gridlock that has overtaken the political process in many nations (not just the US) and the shocking ability of micropowers — those “non-state actors” — to change the course of world history. Even “a core axiom of war has been stood on its head. Once upon a time, superior firepower ultimately prevailed. Now that is no longer true.” There are parallel developments in nearly every realm of human endeavor. For example, “the advantage long considered to be built into corporate scale, scope, and hierarchy has been blunted, or even transformed into a handicap.”

These are not superficial changes or limited to one region of the globe. “[S]ince 2004,” Naim writes, “three-quarters of the world’s economies have made it easier to start a business.” Rising competition, indeed!

Naim sees these developments as fraught with risk. He writes of five significant ones: Disorder (obviously), De-Skilling and Loss of Knowledge (witness Fox News), the Banalization of Social Movements (through social media, “sound bites,” and oversimplified pitches by politicians and NGOs), Boosting Impatience and Shortening Attention Spans (just look around), and Alienation (obviously).

The End of Power is endlessly thought-provoking — a worthy addition to our understanding of the way the world works today.

Moises Naim has an extraordinary resume. Born in Libya, educated at MIT, a former Venezuelan Minister of Trade and Industry and former Executive Director of the World Bank, he was the editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine from 1996 to 2010. The End of Power is only the latest of the more than ten books he has written or edited. ...more

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Feb 19, 2015 Bill rated it liked it

The premise of this book was very interesting. The execution of the premise was kind of mind numbingly hard to read. It felt repetitive and overwrought. While the author tries to tie things into a positive ending, he spends so much more time talking about how almost every existing bastion of power, from corporations, to governments, to churches, to charities, are losing the ability to make changes (for good or for bad). I also felt the author went out of his way to discredit the role that the in ...more

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Feb 21, 2015 Susana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio

Un profundo y brillante análisis de Moisés Naim sobre el poder en nuestros días, con una tesis central aparentemente sencilla cada día es más fácil obtener el poder, pero más difícil mantenerlo", conclusión que ilustra con innumerables ejemplos de las tres revoluciones que han originado esta situación: Masa, Mentalidad y Movilidad. Pero no todo es alegría en este escenario, porque la ausencia de instituciones fuertes, la preeminencia de las ONGs no favorece el equilibrio en el poder. En este sen ...more

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Jan 13, 2015 John Doyle rated it liked it

The End of Power expands the banal point that challenges to power in business, politics, religion and other realms arise more quickly, less predictably and more successfully than ever before in human history. The author attributes this shift in power dynamics to material abundance, population mobility, and rising aspirations among societies as they climb Maslow's hierarchy. From here he proposes new social, political and economic mechanisms to harness power and avoid chaos. If this logic flow se ...more

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May 16, 2015 Erhardt rated it liked it

Moise Naim offers an exhaustive account of all the ways power is more diffuse and less easy to hold onto in the contemporary era. The "end of power" affects all players too: corporations, philanthropies, religions, NGOs, and of course governments. He argues this is the result of three concurrent revolutions:

1) The More Revolution: there is more of everything now, especially people who live longer and have access to more economic and technological resources, and it is "overwhelming the means of c ...more

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Mar 17, 2015 Shannon Clark rated it really liked it

Shelves: a-year-of-books

Thought provoking and a good thing to have read - however I do think some of his conclusions are weakened by context (i.e. he's focused only on certain aspects of power and certain networks). Not sure I fully agree he has proven his thesis - though the basic message that "power" today isn't the same as power was in the past is fairly true - if also not as notable as he seems to think it is.

I don't mean to be harsh - I learned a great deal and enjoyed reading this book for the thought provoking ...more

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Oct 26, 2013 Marc Brackett rated it really liked it

What attracted me to this book was the credentials of the author, a former high ranking official in the Venezuelan government- would seem to be a position where one would quickly learn about the abuse of power. Sadly there is no mention of the authors time in the South.

Instead the author crafted a most excellent story about change and what it means for all of us, good and bad.

To start with the decline of power has largely been a good thing, more people are now capable of living life on terms t What attracted me to this book was the credentials of the author, a former high ranking official in the Venezuelan government- would seem to be a position where one would quickly learn about the abuse of power. Sadly there is no mention of the authors time in the South.

Instead the author crafted a most excellent story about change and what it means for all of us, good and bad.

To start with the decline of power has largely been a good thing, more people are now capable of living life on terms they choose than ever before. From government, business, to our personal lives there is more accountability than ever as well as a need to be responsive.

The end result has not been as clear as it appears on the surface however. While evangelical Christianity appears to be spreading like wildfire by being responsive to the needs to individuals, the story isn't quite that simple. What we actually have is case of The Secret 1 meets religion. Polls and surveys of evangelical Christians show nearly 75% of them believe in a health and wealth gospel. Or the strength of your beliefs will result in financial success and physical health. No doubt this message is attractive and well suited for the sheep, but since when did this life become the Kingdom of Heaven? Like the politician who promises everyone everything this movement when it fails to deliver will gut Christianity. Live by the sword die by the sword.

The decline of power has both created and empowered what could be called the "simplifier." We all know these people and are often them ourselves. "All we need to do is drop a couple nuclear bombs and the problem would be solved," or "If we just sit down and tell them how we feel they would stop doing these things we don't like." There's a reason why there are so many unsolved issues in the world. These issues are complex and require an approach that consists of more than soundbites. Yet more and more leaders with simple unrealistic messages are gaining power. While it does represent the will and mentality of the people, the results haven't been quite as impressive.

We are also seeing more and more "slacktivism." Where people instead of taking to the streets or organizing consider their contribution to be clicking like or share. Real change requires real people to make real effort. Nothing changes when everyone is waiting for someone else to do it or not willing to contribute.

All of these trends are converging to make addressing big issues nearly impossible as the number of players involved has increased while the increased scrutiny has eliminated many of the bargaining tools (bribes, threats) that were once used.

Consider this, for the past several hundred years our systems of government really haven't changed or advanced, while science and our way of living has dramatically changed. We just might be due for some upgrades in governance.
...more

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Feb 16, 2015 Amy rated it liked it

Shelves: audible-com

The central premise of this book is that technology, society, and the world has changed such that small groups or organizations can take or threaten the power of longstanding large entities like never before. The author provides statistics, facts, and anecdotes through history and today to illustrate and support. Not a huge ah- ha for me, as the first 2/3 of the book are concepts I learned in business school. Decent read though for someone without as much knowledge of power shifts.

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Mar 28, 2016 Ionut Chiruta rated it liked it

I enjoyed the book of Mr. Naim, due to its intriguing, catchy, and appealing topic that reflects a gruesome reality. Nevertheless, the approach taken by the author, as well as the writing made it for me hard to comprehend it in some occasions. Moreover, the lack of storytelling, together with the surfeit of different examples, created the threshold of a havoc in my reading.
In contrast, the incentives of this reality-based-topic managed to convince me that the theme of the book is one that needs ...more

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Mar 18, 2015 Gustavo Morles rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, philosophy, history

Mr. Naim makes the point that the power of the elites is eroding; nothing new here. The kings of the 1600’s (L'état, c'est moi- anyone?) had more power than anyone does today, but even they had less power than Caesar or Pharaoh. The central conceit of the book is the belief that the State, and its power-sharing partners: the church, the military, big business, and the other members of the oligarchy, are necessary for society. Mr. Naim’s education stopped at Hobbes, he has never read Schumpeter, ...more

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Jan 05, 2015 Lloyd Fassett marked it as to-read

Shelves: business

1/5/14 heard about it because the general press covered the fact that Mark Zuckerberg is kicking off his 'book every two weeks book club' with it on Facebook and, well, you know, that's ironic that I would find out about it that way and it's probably ironic that you're reading this.

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Jan 18, 2015 Dana Lynn rated it really liked it

Something completely out of my genres that I normally read. Was interesting and enlightening and made me curious about looking deeper into these issues

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Jun 25, 2013 David Rathel rated it really liked it

The chapter on the collapse of power in the religious world could have been more substantive. Concentrating almost exclusively on the Roman Catholic Church's loss of influence in Latin America, Naim ignores such trends as the rise of non-demoninationalism in the U.S., the emerging church movement, and the increasing number of people who say they have no official religious affiliation. On the whole, though, this is a very insightful read.
I would have to say that it is one of the most interesting ...more

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May 13, 2016 Kimball rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books, post-college, i-read-while-at-city-of-plano

This book seemed to just piggyback off The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. The beginning was good then it lost me but that's plobly my fault. I did have some wild thoughts about power that are a little off the deep end though. Power operates in relation to others. If we lived in the Marvel or DC or other Superhero universe then power would be a real substance. Otherwise it is an intangible. Superheroes and villains can utilize power in ways that we cannot. Basically p ...more

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Dec 17, 2015 Luís Gouveia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: diversos

Li a versão em Português, editada pela Gradiva

É um texto útil para a reflexão do impacto que a sociedade em rede provoca na forma como nos organizamos e como as nossas instituições gerem a sua influência e poder.

A ideia força é a de que as formas tradicionais de poder estão em decadência e que tal exige de cada um de nós e das nossas organizações, formas de acomodar a transformação de modo a nos afastarmos do resultado dessa decadência e perda de influência de quem regulava o mundo.

Útil, mas ass ...more

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Dec 07, 2015 Colton rated it really liked it

If you enjoy playing monopoly or aspire to reign the entire galaxy, this book is for you. According to Moises Naim, all you need to do is adapt to the decay of power in the world today. It should be noted that Moises Naim possesses an incredible resume. He has exercised power through different means as the Minister of Trade and Industry in Venezuela, as the executive director of the World Bank, as the editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine and as an academic in multiple think tanks and the C If you enjoy playing monopoly or aspire to reign the entire galaxy, this book is for you. According to Moises Naim, all you need to do is adapt to the decay of power in the world today. It should be noted that Moises Naim possesses an incredible resume. He has exercised power through different means as the Minister of Trade and Industry in Venezuela, as the executive director of the World Bank, as the editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine and as an academic in multiple think tanks and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in DC. He has been awarded a plethora of journalistic awards and has been honored with National Orders of Merit by Argentina, Italy, France and Venezuela. He combines his technical education with his writing skills in The End of Power to deliver an attempt to change the way people think about Power and about the world.

Like energy, power can’t be created or destroyed but it spreads through a series of agents and micro-powers -as Naim calls them- at the same time it is decaying. Moises Naim explores the dynamics of this decay or shift in power and how it’s shaping the globe. One of the central arguments that he makes is that power is easier to obtain, harder to use and easier to lose as well. It’s certainly a controversial statement given how multinational corporations, authoritarian governments, political organizations and even some individuals have seemingly experienced a surge in power. He does, however, say that the phenomenon of power constantly becoming more fragile and vulnerable contradicts the perception that we live in an era where power is getting more and more concentrated and that its holders are stronger and safeguarded.

The book explores events that have happened in the last few decades, with a strong emphasis on the 1990-2013 time frame, while narrowing the whys behind those events to three “M” revolutions: the more revolution, the mobility revolution and the mentality revolution. There’s more of everything, including the number of countries, technologies, food sources, political parties, religions and organizations. At the same time, globalization and the disappearances of frontiers reduces captive environments. Finally, people have adopted different mindsets, and thus, are more likely to reject authoritarianism and injustice.

Using politics, economics, and militaries as topics of discussion, Naim uses many well researched trends and historical events to support his thesis. Later in the novel, he reinforces his ideas by arguing against the counter evidence. There is no shortage of information here, and people who enjoy history, politics, and economics will thoroughly enjoy the content of this novel.

Naim utilizes a very unique but coherent style when outlining otherwise difficult concepts to an everyday audience in The End of Power. To start, the bulk of his chapters are neatly broken up according to the category of information they present. For example, one chapter will discuss power and its implications from a geopolitical stance, while the next discusses similar concepts from an economic standpoint. There is even one chapter in which all the “miscellaneous” topics are grouped – the more social topics such as religion, advertisement, and philanthropy. In my opinion this helps greatly to avoid obscurance in his message, as well as provide a multidimensional approach to the ambiguous concept of power in a collective piece of writing.

To dive even further into the organization of each individual chapter, most are similarly structured; the chapter begins with an anecdote, often regarding a conversation Naim had previously with an expert in the field he is about to discuss. He then goes on to provide an abundance of evidence via historically relevant examples throughout the majority of the chapter, supporting his statements with numerous graphs and statistics, and then finally closes the chapter with a paragraph summarizing the main points of focus. Smaller paragraphs divide up the information in a structured yet fluid manner, giving the reader periodic pauses or stopping points to absorb and process the multitude of information they are given.

At the final level of the language itself, Naim speaks to an intellectual audience, but does not over-embellish more than necessary, which I found made the book refreshingly easy to read. Sentence structures remain mostly compound or compound-complex, but are straightforward in their message nonetheless and take on a largely frills-free approach. Stylistically as a unit, Naim successfully compiles a breadth of information into a concise and well-written book that has the potential to be a satisfying read for anyone from a student to a political science professional.

The book starts off quite strong, throwing new ideas, making you question what you think power really is. Naim spends nine chapters and over two-hundred pages talking up his proposition on “the decay of power”. And after all this build up, all the hours spent reading this text, grinding through the geopolitical, economical and historical terms; I was honestly let down. I expected more with the last two chapters. In Chapter Ten, Naim starts off with a strong counterpoint to all his claims, essentially stating that a lot of companies and government are seemingly becoming stronger. Although they are becoming stronger, it is becoming more difficult to stay on the top. This is my first problem with his conclusions. Why does it matter if it’s harder to stay at the top? What I mean by this is, just because a very powerful and corrupt company goes under, who is to say that another equally corrupt company will not take its place? After reading through chapter ten, I figured maybe Naim has answers to this in his final chapter, and maybe even has a solution to this decay in power. In Chapter 11, Naim does give us a few suggestions. I did quite like his analogy to the elevator, maybe instead of thinking who is at the top, we as a society could work on a level playing field and thus accomplish more. He then brings up another good point at which we need to become increasingly more skeptical. This would in turn prevent us from trying to simplify very complex problems that need time to solve. He then explains how we need to restore trust in our governments and political leaders. Doesn’t this contradict his previous point on skepticism? Then he talks of increasing political participation and how we need to increase the strength of our political parties. These are all nice ideas on paper, and as with all things on paper I fail to see how this can translate to the real world. The last part of the book seemed like an attempt at this, but failed to convince me. Naim states that the world needs some new political innovation to fix this decay of power. Which, to me, seemed like a bit of a cop out.
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Oct 09, 2015 Shishir rated it really liked it

A powerful small book taking a contrarian view on disparity between rich and poor people; This book explains and quite compellingly examines many forms of bastions of power. Moises Naim takes the view that numerous changes globally are undermining the ‘old’ entrenched powers. Aspects of power in Economics, Military, Laws and legislation and Media are identified and their respective emerging weaknesses highlighted. Indirect powers and influences of Religion Politics and Corporatocracy are all exa ...more

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Feb 04, 2015 Chris Lemery rated it really liked it

Shelves: politics, management

In "The End of Power," Naim argues that power is easier to come by these days but harder to hold on to once acquired. He views the shift and decay in power through the prism of the "more," "mobility" and "mentality" revolutions. I found this framing to be compelling and thought-provoking, and his illustrations of these changes were well-done.

While the "end" of power, has had many positive effects, the book argues that the erosion of power has degraded our capacity for positive, collective action ...more

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Jan 19, 2015 Daniel rated it it was ok

I'm making an attempt to keep up with Zuck's book reading for 2015 (https://www.facebook.com/ayearofbooks). This was the first one.

Naim's primary thesis is that across the world, there's a trend towards a greater distribution and diffusion of power. This means that individual people and small groups are more easily able to obtain and wield power than ever before. But conversely, those with power are more limited in what they can do with it than ever before.

Naim has impeccable credentials, and th I'm making an attempt to keep up with Zuck's book reading for 2015 (https://www.facebook.com/ayearofbooks). This was the first one.

Naim's primary thesis is that across the world, there's a trend towards a greater distribution and diffusion of power. This means that individual people and small groups are more easily able to obtain and wield power than ever before. But conversely, those with power are more limited in what they can do with it than ever before.

Naim has impeccable credentials, and the book reflects his broad knowledge and experience. And in some its broad strokes, I agree. However, I still found myself largely unconvinced - I objected to parts of virtually every chapter. Part of the objection is that I think he cherry picks his examples. And the details of examples in areas I know best seem sloppy. Some of is minor ("In-stagram"). Some is funny, like this great sentence: “In December 1990, Tim Berners-Lee... sent the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol and a server via the Internet, thereby creating the World Wide Web.” And some of it just seems unaware, like how he consistently mixes up Evangelicalism with Pentecostalism. They don't necessarily take away from his point, but these errors do make me question how well he understands other domains with which I'm not as familiar.

But I think my primary objections are along two lines: I'm not convinced how unique this trend is, and I'm not convinced how universal it is. Naim consistently argues that this type of breakdown of power is unique in history and that it's happening in pretty much any domain you can think of. On both those points, I'm not sure.

On the first point - it feels like the vast majority of his examples pull from the last 100 years. He cites Weber in explaining why there was a wave in the consolidation of power starting about 100 years ago, and why it's breaking apart now. But if there was a huge wave of consolidation 100 years ago, there must have been division before, the same thing he says is happening now. When he does look further back in history, he sometimes notes that this (decay of centralized power) has happened before. But that's mentioned without further explanation or comment. Power has centralized and broken apart throughout history, tribes forming empires and breaking down back into tribes in endless cycles. While he lays out the proximate causes of this cycle, I don't think he does enough to say why it's unique, why this breakdown of power is unlike any before.

And to me, this is important, because the book ends with a discussion on how to deal with the end of power. If it's just another cycle in history, we would do well to look at what's happened before instead of trying to deal with it as unprecedented and thus requiring novel solutions. And if it is unprecedented and permanent, in my opinion he needs to make a stronger case. The best he does is argue that technology has changed everything. The thing is, throughout history, technology has driven cycles of power consolidation as well. In my opinion, there's nothing about "technology" that necessarily distributes power, even if it's happening now.

On the second point, I think his case that the end of power is universal is overblown. One big problem I have with that argument is an exception that he mentions several times but never really addresses: the fact that wealth has become so extremely concentrated. Money isn't the same thing as power, but it's pretty highly correlated. And I can't quite understand how the wealthy are able to exponentially increase in wealth if their power, as the book argues, is becoming so limited. Shouldn't the greater number of empowered stakeholders prevent that from happening? There may be an explanation for it, but the book doesn't provide one, and it seems a glaring hole in his argument.

In my opinion, the answer is that the end of power is not a universal trend. There are some places where it's happening, but others where it's not. Even in areas like business - while Naim argues that it's easier than ever for small, nimble companies to disrupt the status quo, the fact is that the startup rate has actually been declining for decades (http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/ex...). Countries are breaking up, but they're also willingly entering into massive (unwieldy) political unions like the EU. I'm unconvinced that the end of power is as widespread as he argues.

Finally, one last strike against the book is that he cites Winter Sonata (a K-Drama) as an example of Korean soft power. That's automatically a star taken away. ...more

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Aug 04, 2015 Joe Vander Zanden rated it liked it

Although I agree with Mr. Naím's definition of power and his observations on its changing dynamics, his arguments for causation missed the grand observation that free market principles are the driving force behind the increasing disaggregation and velocity of power in the 21st century. For example, one can simply substitute power for the free flow of ideas, money, people, or any other form of “capital” to observe the same dynamics at work using standard economic theory. Instead, Mr. Naím attribu Although I agree with Mr. Naím's definition of power and his observations on its changing dynamics, his arguments for causation missed the grand observation that free market principles are the driving force behind the increasing disaggregation and velocity of power in the 21st century. For example, one can simply substitute power for the free flow of ideas, money, people, or any other form of “capital” to observe the same dynamics at work using standard economic theory. Instead, Mr. Naím attributes these changing dynamics to a multitude of factors without leaving open the possibility that many of these factors are a consequence of a primary factor; voluntary cooperation and exchange. To be fair, there is recognition that information technologies are the driving force behind these changes by reducing transaction costs (a la Coase), but the connections that I would have liked to see take shape in the final analysis do not come to fruition. Furthermore, Mr. Naím’s characterization of “anarchy” implies the absence of rules as opposed to the absence of rulers. With this assumption in place the existence of the State is positioned as an inevitable consequence thereby serving as a platform upon which to construct arguments for its continued existence. Mr. Naím’s prescriptions for how the State and its agents can remain relevant in the changing power dynamics of the 21st century were assumed to be requirements for the continued peace and prosperity of the world. I’d argue that there is insufficient evidence to make this case empirically, however, as a career academic and bureaucrat I can understand why Mr. Naím holds this point of view. Lastly, I had issues with Mr. Naím’s characterization of intellectual opponents as “simplifier”. I think characterizing anyone as a “simplifier” does not make for a substantive argument in opposition to their perspectives. Ironically, it seems like a “simplification” of your opposition in and of itself. Overall, despite my differences with some of its arguments and conclusions, the book is well researched and written.
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About Moisés Naím

Moisés Naím is an internationally-syndicated columnist and best-selling author of influential books. In 2011, he launched Efecto Naím, an innovative weekly television program highlighting surprising world trends with visually-striking videos, graphics and interviews with world leaders which is widely watched in Latin America today. Dr. Naím gained international recognition with the successful re-l ...more

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“PROPENSITY OF THE YOUNG TO QUESTION AUTHORITY AND challenge power is now amplified by the More and Mobility revolutions. Not only are there more people than ever under thirty, but they have more—prepaid calling-cards, radios, TVs, cellphones, computers, and access to the Internet as well as to travel and communication possibilities with others like them at home and around the world. They are also more mobile than ever.” — 2 likes

“He who is active in politics strives for power, either as a means in serving other ends, ideal or egoistic, or as ‘power for power’s sake,’ that is, in order to enjoy the prestige-feeling that power gives.” — 2 likes

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