A Book Review of “The Fourth Revolution: The Global Race to

Reinvent the State”

John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge. (2014). The Fourth Revolution: The Global Race to
Reinvent the State. New York: The Penguin Press.

Thesis of the book

The Fourth Revolution: The Global Race to Reinvent the State is a chronological account
of the development of governance, particularly of the state. More importantly, it is an articulation
of issues that modern states, particularly the democratic states, are facing today. The book’s
authors, Micklethwait and Wooldridge, argued that there have already been three and a half
revolutions in governance in the West. The first revolution was the emergence of nation-states in
Europe during the 17th century. Micklethwait and Wooldridge linked this first revolution to The
Leviathan’s author Thomas Hobbes. The second revolution was the rise of the ‘liberal state’ in
the late 18th and 19th centuries. Here, states became more meritocratic and individual liberty was
given more importance. This second revolution was linked to philosophers like John Stuart Mill.
The third revolution, on the other hand, was the rise of the ‘welfare state’ during the 20 th century.
This third revolution was linked to the ideas of Beatrice Webb. The success of the third
revolution, however, became unforeseeably inimical for modern western states. Less vaguely,
welfare states became ‘bloated’. It was because of this that in the 1980s, a half revolution,
particularly fueled by the ideas of economists like Milton Friedman, attempted to hamper the
advancing of the third revolution. However, it was only partially successful.

Overall, Micklethwait and Wooldridge argued that the West has managed to lead the
world for centuries due to its ability to reinvent the state. However, such ability is currently being
tested. The Western states today, particularly the democratic ones, are overburdened by
dysfunctional governments, distempered publics, bloated economies, and so on. Because of this,
these Western states are at risk of losing their advantage to the more autocratic Asian states (e.g.
China and Singapore). According to Micklethwait and Wooldridge, for Western and/or
democratic states to remain intact, their reformers must engage in a grander project – that is,
reviving the spirit of limited government in order to revive the democratic spirit. This is what the
‘fourth revolution’ is about – it is about reviving the spirit of liberty by putting more emphasis on
individual rights and less on social rights and the spirit of democracy by lightening the burden of
the state. Along with this, the fourth revolution also sees the importance of harnessing the power
of technology to provide better services to the people and of being open to various clever ideas
from every corner of the world.

Critique

This book provides engrossing discussions on the attempts of creating effective and
responsive ways to govern from all around the world. Its explanation of the three and a half
revolutions and the need for a complete fourth (as best exemplified by the case of California) is
useful for anyone who wishes to understand the history of ideas regarding governance and the
state in the West.

Particularly, I praise Micklethwait and Wooldridge for presenting a compelling argument

on the problems of Western democracies today. According to Micklethwait and Wooldridge,
“democracy has become too sloppy and self-indulgent over the recent decades of prosperity: It is
overloaded with obligations and distorted by special interests” (p. 144). Micklethwait and
Wooldridge particularly used the case of America in their attempt to explain the ongoing
democratic deficit in the West. The inadequacy of checks and balances, gerrymandering, and
money politics are the main structural problems that exacerbate much of America’s problems
today. Aside from these, Micklethwait and Wooldridge also cited threats from above and below
that currently challenges much of western democracies. From above, there is globalization which
changes national politics profoundly.
National politicians have surrendered ever more power, for example over trade
and financial flows, to what might be loosely called global capitalism. They have
either pooled sovereignty in various supranational bodies, like the World Trade
Organization or indeed the European Union, or they have handed power across to
technocrats, notably central bankers, in order to gain the confidence of the
markets (p. 148-149).

From below, there is a number of challenges that threaten democracies. Breakaway nations
which try to reclaim the powers they have surrendered to national governments and ‘micro-
powers’ (i.e. NGOs and lobbyists) which are disintermediating traditional politics are some of
them. Yet, the biggest challenge from below comes from voters themselves. There is an
increasing lack of interest from among the public and the citizens have become increasingly
cynical about their politicians. For Micklethwait and Wooldridge, such challenge greatly
threatens the very fabric of democratic states.
Such cynicism might be healthy if people wanted little from the government. But
they continue to want a great deal. The result can be a toxic and unstable mixture:
dependency on government on the one hand and disdain for government on the
other. The dependency forces government to over-expand and overburden itself
while the disdain robs government of its legitimacy and turns every setback into a
crisis. Democratic dysfunction goes hand in hand with democratic distemper (p.
149).

Indeed, democracy is currently being battered by challenges that make people question its
long-run effectiveness and ability to sustain itself. The threats mentioned by Micklethwait and
Wooldridge should be taken into full consideration if the West is to save democracy (increasing
globalization, breakaway nations, micro-powers, apathetic voters, and so on). In addition to this,
more specific problems from within the state should not be neglected so as to avoid nitpicking
and to ensure that whatever reforms will be taken will not be narrow. For example, in Tormsen’s
article entitled 10 Problems with Modern Democracies and their Institutions (2015), it was
argued that some of the reasons why democracies are becoming defective are economic
inequality, unrestrained executive branches, inefficient institution building, and governments’
failure to provide adequate levels of public goods like education and health care. 1 Truly enough,
however, it may still be true that voters play an important part in maintaining the effectiveness of
democracy as stated in the book. Aside from cynicism among voters, their obvious ignorance
also make it possible for leaders who are power-hungry and detrimental to democracy to be
elected. According to Brennan (2016), most voters are systematically misinformed about the
basic facts regarding elections. People get low-quality governments because they themselves do
not know what they are doing. Brennan even mentioned the example of Donald Trump’s
presidency to justify his point. According to him, at best, what states could do to save the
democratic institutions from being consumed by undemocratic leaders is to push for the idea that
citizens should not just vote, but also be informed voters.2

1
David Tormsen, “10 Problems With Modern Democracies And Their Institutions,” Listverse, 28 July 2015,
https://listverse.com/2015/07/28/10-problems-with-modern-democracies-and-their-institutions/.
2
Jason Brennan, “The problem with our government is democracy,” The Washington Post, 10 November 2016,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/11/10/the-problem-with-our-government-is-
democracy/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.91d76be6eb1e.
 Despite Micklethwait and Wooldridge’s (perhaps Brennan as well) convincing discussion
on the problems of democracy and of the states in the West today, their book seems to lack
something important – a coherent framework of change. Micklethwait and Wooldridge
repeatedly argued that, with the help of ideas being crossed from borders to borders, the West
can still save democracy and restore liberty. But just how exactly will the West do this? The
book mentions various ways – embracing new technologies, prohibiting gerrymandering,
reducing entitlements, and so on. But the question still lingers, how can the West do all these
things in a manner that is coherent and effective (that is, without much resistance or
questioning)? Moreover, what is also perhaps lacking in this book is Micklethwait and
Wooldridge’s acknowledgement that the ‘reinvention’ of the state by the West and the
‘improvement’ of Western governance in the past centuries have inextricable links with wars,
catastrophes, and mass bloodbaths. For example, the emergence of modern nation states was a
result of the Thirty Years War that happened in Central Europe during the 17th century.
Similarly, the reforms in the 18th and 19th centuries which championed individual liberty were
bound up with a number of wars and revolutions such as the Napoleonic wars and the French
Revolutions. Thus, Micklethwait and Wooldridge need to take such pattern into consideration
before advocating for grand reforms and another ‘reinvention’ of the state and Western
governance.
Aside from lacking a coherent framework of change, one thing that’s worth questioning
about this book is its authors’ outright attack of the Left. Despite its attempt to seem unbiased by
also attacking the Right (e.g. for advocating special tax deals and subsidies for the rich), the
attacks of Micklethwait and Wooldridge are still obviously directed towards the Left. For
example, Micklethwait and Wooldridge argued that “the main culprit [of overfeeding the state] is
the Left which has repeatedly reinterpreted the concepts of equality, fraternity, and liberty to
justify overstuffing the state” (p. 132). This book’s attacks against the Left seems to be one-sided
and, therefore, counter-productive. If the goal of this book is to help find solutions for western
democracy and the state, then it must provide a discussion that is open and unbiased.

Conclusion
The Fourth Revolution: The Global Race to Reinvent the State is a good book that
provides a chronological discussion of the reinvention of the state and the improvement of
governance the West through its classification of the three and a half revolutions. It also gives
riveting examples and explanations of the various attempts and experiments that seek to create an
affordable and effective kind of governance in today’s world. Its discussion on the current
problems of democracy particularly in the West is helpful in recognizing and understanding the
authors’ stand and preference when it comes to governance. Indeed, Western democracies today
are at the verge of failing. What is lacking in the book, however, is its provision of a coherent
framework of change that would possibly save these failing democracies. Although it did
mention some solutions such as improving the active role of citizens and embracing new
technologies, such solutions are still found lacking due to the book’s inability to recognize some
important considerations like the cause of radical changes in the state. Furthermore, the book is
also susceptible to bias due to its outright attacks against the Left. Nevertheless, the book is
informative for anyone who studies the development of the state and of the ideas of governance.
Its authors, Macklethwait and Wooldridge, offer compelling arguments that are worth thinking
through.