<"Way before you can have a liberal democracy, you have to have a functioning state. There is a reasonably strong connection between development and democracy at relatively high levels of per capita income, but this correlation doesn't explain how the modernization process gets off the ground in the first place. The chicken of economic growth precedes the egg of democratic politics, but must in turn be preceded by the egg of state-formation, and we don't really know what chicken lays that egg."> ". . . . and we don't really know what chicken lays that egg." Yeah we do! But before we get to that, I do agree that the 'economic option' offers a way to 'tease' the rest of what needs to happen into being. Just where did states begin? They began when tribes came to identify themselves with a given extent of land as 'theirs' - theirs in perpetuity. Why did that happen? It happened with the agricultural revolution, when the advantages of societies built around large scale domesticated agriculture became apparent. These (now!) 'states' all manifested the elements - institutions, in Dr. Fukuyama's formulation - that he would recognize as those which, in the modern era, are meet for evolution into the entities of modern liberal democracy - or at least some idiosyncratic functional equivalent thereof. So where did those elements come from? A bit of a longer story here. From the overwhelming body of historical evidence, this nascent set of 'state' entities exhibited striking similarities. They required control of fertile land and people constantly on that land to work it. This could be, and, and far more of than not, was, secured by main force. The form these societies took ultimately was a function of the ways in which they were formed. They were the result of conquest, either by one tribal entity of another's land, or the suborning by a tribe of a labor force to use on land they already controlled. From this flowed the top down authoritarian nature that constitutes almost the entire historical record of this epoch of human history. The tribal leaders who drove the initial conquest became more than chiefs. They became kings. Power would descend from a royal supremacy, with heads of state not infrequently worshipped as divine or semi divine rulers. Authority was exercised by small groups of military, religious and governmental (i. e. royal) elites. Most, but not all, of the institutions which Dr. Fukuyama seeks were in place in proto form from the beginning - meet for such evolution as needed - implicit in the wisdom of the ancestors and laws and customs of the conquering tribe. What additionally was required were such entities which would serve the particular needs of far more extensively organized societies, and these were shaped by the new elites as necessity required - with authority coming from on high, and, where necessary, with enforcement by professionally organized coercive force. However, the fundamental societal glue, which Dr. Fukuyama's institutions body forth, was already present as the culture which bound the successful conquering societies together in the first place. That is how what we understand as 'states', with the characteristic institutions Dr. Fukuyama rightly posits as necessary, came about. So where does this leave us in the modern world? It is my particular conceit (see the piece 'An Alternate View' elsewhere in this discussion) that the modern world prospers by the educated creativity of its people. It is no longer the land a people occupies, or even the resources that land harbors, but the creative abilities of the people themselves that become the fundament of economic success. The land is, ultimately, incidental. With little more than a simple education, the ability to read, write and do simple arithmetic, a vast wealth of opportunity opens for people. (Consider modern Ireland!) This suggests a path. Work with already existing defined societal entities, each with its own unique 'societal glue'. Since it is unavoidable in the world as we have it, define boundaries within which each of these entities can feel secure. Aggressively promote the kind of relations between these entities that have come to characterize relationships between developed world societies, for example, the facile movement of products, services and people across borders. Insist on, and help bring into being, universal education - anywhere and everywhere. Do our best to flood the under and undeveloped world with genuinely graspable economic opportunity. Strive with all the resources at our command to lessen the strains which will inevitably accompany this process as it unfolds. Not until people experience the viability of this 'new way' over time can any real success be realized, but the basis for evolving the institutions Dr. Fukuyama seeks are already present within existing defined societal entities - opening the door to its peaceful unfolding is the immense task we have before us. Message was edited by: ronr327