HOLLOW STATES and a CRISIS OF CAPITALISM

Had fun with this post. Working on getting the thinking on this right. Tough to do.

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Hollow, bankrupt states and crisis of capitalism is not a "dystopian future" if it is actually happening now. With almost hourly updates.

I coined the term, "hollow state" back in 2007. The idea derived from what I was seeing develop due to open source warfare and primary loyalties. Here's a run down on what it means:

The modern nation-state is in a secular decline, made inevitable by the rise of a global market system. Even developed nations, like the US, are not immune to this process. The decline is at first gradual and then accelerates until it reaches a final end-point: a hollow state. The hollow state has the trappings of a modern nation-state ("leaders", membership in international organizations, regulations, laws, and a bureaucracy) but it lacks any of the legitimacy, services, and control of its historical counter-part. It is merely a shell that has some influence over the spoils of the economy. The real power rests in the hands of corporations and criminal/guerrilla groups that vie with each other for control of sectors of wealth production. For the individual living within this state, life goes on, but it is debased in a myriad of ways. The shift from a marginally functional nation-state in manageable decline to a hollow state often comes suddenly, through a financial crisis.

This early analysis was right on. Four years on from the above and we're seeing a rapid "hollowing out" of the developed nation-states. So much so that nearly every nation in the developed world is in a debt crisis, cutting services, and losing legitimacy.

The other idea I'm currently working on is: "a crisis of capitalism." It may also take 3-4 years for people to really get that it is real.

The idea is simple.

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