47 pages • 1 hour read
Fareed ZakariaAge of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Cycles of Progress and Backlash
As the author states, “The theme of this book has been ceaseless action and reaction, progress and backlash” (309). Whether in fiction or nonfiction, rarely does an author so explicitly state the central theme of a work. Zakaria offers this encapsulation at the conclusion of Age of Revolutions. It is a sweeping statement, and the author leverages many powerful examples from history to prove his point. By beginning with the Dutch Revolution in the 16th century and tracing a pattern of action and reaction, the book shows the degree to which each advancement is inevitably met with resistance. The Dutch Republic was Europe’s first example of decentralized government and multiple independent urban centers. However, the prosperity of the Netherlands was cut short by Louis XIV’s invasion, whose actions demonstrate the inevitable backlash to progress. Likewise, monarchists throughout Europe resisted the notion of a prosperous republic within their midst.
The French Revolution began as a well-intended effort to give the populace a voice in government, but extremists within the revolutionary government triggered a Reign of Terror in which everyone became a potential political enemy. As with the Dutch, the surrounding monarchies again were threatened by a republic in their midst and sought to crush France and progress was once more followed by a backlash. The pattern repeated again with the English Industrial Revolution, which changed the landscape and the economy of the island nation and allowed for an unprecedented period of prosperity during the Victorian Age. As the country’s imperial ambitions grew, the greatest threat was posed by the need to maintain its far-flung empire. As Zakaria observes, “As new economic competitors caught up economically, Britain found itself with growing overseas commitments and declining capacity to fund them—imperial overstretch” (140). Thus, this example showcases a period of progress followed by collapse.
In the aftermath of the successful American Industrial Revolution that culminated during the Gilded Age, populism emerged as an opposing force to challenge the robber barons of the day. That strain of populist sentiment would carry through to the economic and technological revolutions of the 20th and 21st centuries. By tracing this pattern of action and reaction, Zakaria highlights the cyclical nature of progress and its rebound. More importantly, he argues for tolerance toward the inevitable counterattack by recognizing the natural human tendency to fear rapid change. He suggests that more care should be taken to soften the blow for those who find themselves to be the most negatively affected by progress.
The Effects of Beneficial Versus Detrimental Revolutions
In Part One of Age of Revolutions, the author examines four past examples of revolutions in order to ferret out the commonalities that they all demonstrate. He also seeks to prove that there is an effective way and an ineffective way to go about revolutionizing a culture. Zakaria is a proponent of the ground-up model of innovation, and he seeks to support the virtues of this stance by foregrounding the Dutch Golden Age of the 1600s, which was a time of artistic expression, economic prosperity, religious tolerance, and technological innovation. More importantly, this state of affairs grew organically from the people and the singular nature of their relationship to the swampy land they inhabited, for the very need to manage flooding and reclaim the land itself gave people a greater sense of ownership of their surroundings.
Additionally, the land never could be amassed into great feudal estates that were owned by one lord and farmed by a peasant class. The region was urbanized far earlier than the rest of Europe because the population was required to cluster together within dry patches that were surrounded by flood-prone areas. Taken together, these factors contributed to a political system that was both urban and democratic and grew in that direction organically, unlike the rest of Europe, which was still under the thrall of absolute monarchs. Zakaria contends that the Dutch succeeded in revolutionizing their society because democracy and innovation were already woven into the fabric of their culture. As he asserts, “Change in society must take place organically; when forced too fast, the ensuing disruption, chaos, and backlash can often break civilization itself” (74).
The author contrasts this shining example of progress with the bloodbath that was the French Revolution of 1789. While this particular revolution was originally intended to improve the lives of the common folk, French culture had not evolved in the same way as Dutch culture. The French aristocracy controlled vast agricultural estates that were farmed by the peasant class, and Paris was the only urban center in the country, while the government itself was defined as an absolute monarchy. Lacking the agency of Dutch citizens, the common citizens of France were ill-prepared to embrace the concepts of liberty, equality, and fraternity that were thrust upon them, for these were utterly foreign to their experience of life.
Unlike the Dutch Revolution, the French Revolution was mandated from above and did not evolve organically from the culture itself, and this detail proved to be its undoing. Thus, Zakaria uses this historical example to warn of the danger of revolution by decree and predicts an extreme backlash whenever people are forced to accept values that seem foreign to them. Because French leaders of the revolution “tried to reshape society in one fell swoop” (74), their efforts ultimately failed.
The Paradigm Shift of Globalization
Age of Revolutions is divided into two distinct parts. The first section of the book examines revolutions that occurred in the past, while the second part describes the revolutions in economics, technology, and identity that the world faces today. The one element that differs between past and present is the dawn of an interconnected world, for Zakaria observes that countries are now interdependent in a way that would have been inconceivable even 300 years ago. Given the advent of the paradigm shift of globalization as a metaphorical wild card, Zakaria believes that extrapolating future outcomes from past events is a chancy proposition at best, for societies have never been so closely intertwined. He states, “Since 1945, the world has been organized in new ways that emphasize rules, norms, and values. There are now thousands of international agreements [...] that create forums for discussion, debate, and action” (274). This new world order stands in sharp contrast to the siloed approach of the past. Each nation once acted in its own self-interest with little thought to the ripple effect on other nations. In fact, there may have been very little ripple effect because trade between nations was limited prior to World War I.
However, Zakaria contends that this state of affairs was irrevocably altered by the Digital Revolution of the late 20th century, and now, because the internet connects people across the globe, information is no longer controlled by elites alone. Likewise, advances in transportation make shipping products around the world much easier than ever before, resulting in “an explosion of trade, investment, travel, and communication among nations” and a rapid increase in “interdependence” (274-275). This interdependence has major ramifications for the ways in which nations interact with one another. In the past, military might was used to crush opposition, and countries were invaded with impunity in the push to acquire fresh resources. However, Zakaria posits that this realpolitik model is no longer viable in an interdependent world, stating, “Looking at the broad sweep of history, it is still undeniable that there has been a liberal revolution in international affairs over the last century, one that broke with centuries of realpolitik” (276).
Zakaria presents the examples of China and Russia, both of which might still use realpolitik to gain an advantage. China’s new position as an economic power requires a more diplomatic approach to achieve its objectives. Its interdependence with America and its Asian neighbors makes military aggression unlikely. While Russia has attempted old-style aggression to recapture Ukraine, the European Union has banded together to reject that strategy. Ultimately, Zakaria foresees the paradigm shift of globalization in a positive light. As he states, “It is in fact the embodiment of a grand idea, that nations which warred against each other for centuries now live as one closely tied political community” (325). While the future is impossible to predict, Zakaria concludes that humanity’s interconnectedness may be its salvation.
