Table of Contents
Preface: How This Book Came About xi
Chapter 1 The Decay of Power 1
Have You Heard of James Black Jr.? 2
From the Chess Board … to Everything Around Us 4
What Changed? 10
The Decay of Power: Is It New? Is It True? So What? 12
But What Is Power? 15
The Decay of Power: What's at Stake? 17
Chapter 2 Making Sense of Power: How It Works and How to Keep It 20
How to Talk About Power 22
How Power Works 23
Why Power Shifts-or Stays Steady 27
The Importance of Barriers to Power 28
The Blueprint: Explaining Market Power 30
Barriers to Entry: A Key to Market Power 31
From Barriers to Entry to Barriers to Power 33
Chapter 3 How Power Got Big: An Assumption's Unquestioned Rise 35
Max Weber, or Why Size Made Sense 38
How the World Went Weberian 42
The Myth of the Power Elite? 45
Chapter 4 How Power Lost Its Edge: The More, Mobility, and Mentality Revolutions 51
So What Has Changed? 52
The More Revolution: Overwhelming the Means of Control 54
The Mobility Revolution: The End of Captive Audiences 58
The Mentality Revolution: Taking Nothing for Granted Anymore 64
How Does It Work? 65
Revolutionary Consequences: Undermining the Barriers to Power 70
Barriers Down: The Opportunity for Micropowers 74
Chapter 5 Why Are Landslides, Majorities, and Mandates Endangered Species? The Decay of Power in National Politics 76
From Empires to States: The More Revolution and the Proliferation of Countries 80
From Despots to Democrats 82
From Majorities to Minorities 86
From Parties to Factions 91
From Capitals to Regions 95
From Governors to Lawyers 97
From Leaders to Laymen 100
Hedge Funds and Hacktivists 101
The Political Centrifuge 103
Chapter 6 Pentagons Versus Pirates: The Decaying Power of Large Armies 107
The Big Rise of Small Forces 112
The End of the Ultimate Monopoly: The Use of Violence 115
A Tsunami of Weapons 118
The Decay of Power and the New Rules of War 121
Chapter 7 Whose World Will It Be? Vetoes, Resistance, and Leaks-or Why Geopolitics Is Turning Upside Down 129
The Stakes of Hegemony 135
The New Ingredients 137
If Not Hegemony, Then What? 139
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Traditional Power at Bay 141
Soft Power for All 147
The New Rules of Geopolitics 149
Just Say No 150
From Ambassadors to Gongos: The New Emissaries 152
Alliances of the Few 155
Anyone in Charge Here? 156
Chapter 8 Business as Unusual: Corporate Dominance Under Siege 159
In the Land of Bosses, Authority, and Hierarchy 163
What Is Globalization Doing to Business Concentration? 165
The Power and Peril of Brands 166
Market Power: The Antidote to Business Insecurity 168
Barriers Are Down, Competition Is Up 171
New Entrants and New Opportunities 184
What Does All This Mean? 191
Chapter 9 Hyper-Competition for Your Soul, Heart, and Brain 193
Religion: The Nine Billion Names of God 194
Labor: New Unions and Nonunions 200
Philanthropy: Putting the Bono in Pro Bono 205
Media: Everyone Reports, Everyone Decides 211
Chapter 10 The Decay of Power: Is the Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty? 218
Celebrating the Decay of Power 219
What's Not to Like? The Dangers of Decay 221
Political Paralysis as Collateral Damage of the Decay of Power 222
Ruinous Competition 224
Be Careful What You Wish For: Overdosing on Checks and Balances 225
Five Risks 227
Chapter 11 Power Is Decaying: So What? What to Do? 233
Get Off the Elevator 234
Make Life Harder for the "Terrible Simplifiers" 236
Bring Trust Back 237
Strengthen Political Parties: The Lessons from Occupy Wall Street and Al Qaeda 239
Increase Political Participation 241
The Coming Surge of Political Innovations 243
Appendix: Democracy and Political Power 245
Acknowledgments 255
Notes 259
Bibliography 279
Index 289
