The Triumph of the Flexible Society: The Connectivity Revolution and Resistance to Change

(Hardback)

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Hinds takes offers a fresh perspective on the social, political, and economic disturbances now affecting our world. This book looks at those disturbances not as separate problems, but rather as the coherent symptoms of a deep technological revolution that is changing the shape of society on the scale of the Industrial Revolution: the Connectivity Revolution, the basis of the New Economy. Analyzing the resistance to change that erupted violently in response to that last major economic upheaval, Hinds shows how Communism, Nazism, and fundamentalism owe their triumphs not to the prevalence of poverty or oppression but to the rigidity of societies threatened by profound social changes prompted by rapid technological progress. Demonstrating that their rigidity was caused by the same kind of state intervention in the economy that is now being proposed to stop globalization, he argues persuasively that only a horizontal, flexible society can smoothly manage change in such a way that the pain of transformationand therefore, the risk of giving birth to new varieties of destructive regimesis minimized.

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"Provides the reader with a remarkable analysis of the challenges that the new 'information-related' technologies present in today's world. Manuel Hinds, an eminent Latin American policymaker in his own right, describes the difficulties of our current global environment, enriched by a fascinating historical perspective. Mr. Hinds's strong belief in the values of democracy and of the market economy is inspiring. Yet, it presents a major challenge to policy and opinion makers alike: how to use the technological revolution to improve society at large, without incurring the tragic mistakes of the past."-Claudio M. Loser The Inter-American Dialogue
Comprehensive graduate collections.-Choice
Comprehensive graduate collections.Choice
"Comprehensive graduate collections."-Choice

Author Bio

MANUEL HINDS is a consultant to private and public institutions, including the World Bank, the Inter-American Bank of Development, and the International Monetary Fund.