Origins of Political Order

I recently read "Origins of Political Order" by Fukuyama and was very impressed - and a little upset too - many of hte themes he presents are themes I've been playing with for several years in an attempt to understand why political system succeed or fail. "Origins" is certainly more convincing and helpful that Diamond's "Collapse", which I found - frankly - to be simplistic and written with an agenda in mind. "Origins" on the other hand, does an excellent job of integrating politics, power, biology, religion, and ideas into a reasonable picture of how historic political systems came to be. It does not address the current global political structures, since the analysis ends at about 1800. But he has promised a sequal to address development since that time.

While I found it to be a comfortable read, it isn't an easy read, and one compliant I have is that Fukuyama tends to be a little to free with some technical jargon and historic allusions that could use more definition and support.

If you are interested in what makes a political system durable, and what factors historically weakened political systems, I strongly recommend this book.