Why the West Rules—for Now

Why the West Rules—for Now is a sweeping macro-history of the forces that propelled Western civilization to global dominance over the last five centuries, and a forecast of what might upend that order in the coming decades. Ian Morris argues that the West's rise was driven by three converging factors: the political unification of states, the geographic advantages of a maritime and land-based empire, and the economic power of a money-based economy. He then projects these same variables onto the 21st century, examining how the rise of China and the shifting balance of global power could reshape the world's political and economic landscape.