From the bestselling authors of The Right Nation, a visionary argument that our current crisis in government is nothing less than the fourth radical transition in the history of the nation-stateDysfunctional government: It’s become a cliché, and most of us are resigned to the fact that nothing is ever going to change. As John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge show us, that is a seriously limited view of things. In fact, there have been three great revolutions in government in the history of the modern world. The West has led these revolutions, but now we are in the midst of a fourth revolution, and it is Western government that is in danger of being left behind.Now, things really are different. The West’s debt load is unsustainable. The developing world has harvested the low-hanging fruits. Industrialization has transformed all the peasant economies it had left to transform, and the toxic side effects of rapid developing world growth are adding to the bill. From Washington to Detroit, from Brasilia to New Delhi, there is a dual crisis of political legitimacy and political effectiveness.The Fourth Revolution crystallizes the scope of the crisis and points forward to our future. The authors enjoy extraordinary access to influential figures and forces the world over, and the book is a global tour of the innovators in how power is to be wielded. The age of big government is over; the age of smart government has begun. Many of the ideas the authors discuss seem outlandish now, but the center of gravity is moving quickly.This tour drives home a powerful argument: that countries’ success depends overwhelmingly on their ability to reinvent the state. And that much of the West—and particularly the United States—is failing badly in its task. China is making rapid progress with government reform at the same time as America is falling badly behind. Washington is gridlocked, and America is in danger of squandering its huge advantages from its powerful economy because of failing government. And flailing democracies like India look enviously at China’s state-of-the-art airports and expanding universities.The race to get government right is not just a race of efficiency. It is a race to see which political values will triumph in the twenty-first century—the liberal values of democracy and liberty or the authoritarian values of command and control. The stakes could not be higher.

Evaluates the conservative movement that has swept America in recent years, contending that conservatives have waged deliberate campaigns against liberal advances, in an analysis that offers insight into right-wing politics.

The central claim of Measuring the Mind is that, contrary to popular opinion, the psychologists who dominated educational policy-making between the wars were educational progressives and political radicals. They argued that education should reflect the requirements of children rather than the convenience of adults, and regarded intelligence testing as an instrument of child-centered education. These psychologists owed their political inspiration to the meritocratic ideal and lost popularity with the waning of this ideal after the war. Four main themes dominate the discussion: the emergence of educational psychology as a distinct discipline; the recent history of ideas about children's mental developments; the role of experts in formulating educational policy; and the rise and fall of the measurement of merit.

The authors of A Future Perfect provide a close-up look at the history of the joint-stock company and examine its influence on world history, describing the institution's continually evolving forms and how it continues to shape global power. Reprint. 32,500 first printing.

Addressing the major concerns about globalization, the authors defend the emergence of the new world economy, arguing that it will ultimately improve the human condition. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

Addressing the major concerns about globalization, the authors defend the emergence of the new world economy, arguing that it will ultimately improve the human condition. 35,000 first printing.

An award-winning book by two bureau chiefs for The Economist magazine analyzes the culture of management theory, putting the screws to the self-inflated, self-appointed wise men and their weighty ideas. Reprint. 25,000 first printing. Tour.