The End of Power

Naim’s argument is that power has become easier to acquire, harder to use and easier to lose, across every field at once: armies losing to insurgents, incumbent parties to upstarts, corporate giants to small entrants, established churches to storefront congregations. He calls the newcomers micropowers, and is careful that the thesis cuts both ways, since decay of power also weakens the institutions that solve collective problems. The book that opened Zuckerberg’s reading year.