In 2014, when I first reviewed The Fourth Revolution: The Global Race to Reinvent the State by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, I was struck by how boldly they tackled the impending crisis in governance. They identified the key political challenge of the coming decade: fixing the bloated and dysfunctional state. Their analysis was as sharp as it was prophetic, revealing deep-seated issues that have only become more glaring in recent years. Looking back, it’s remarkable how prescient the authors were in implying the rise of populism and the erosion of trust in government. Today, in 2024, we are living through the very "fourth revolution" they foresaw. John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News since 2015 and former editor-in-chief of The Economist (2006–2015), is a respected journalist whose insights have contributed significantly to discussions on global governance. Adrian Wooldridge, the Global Business Columnist at Bloomberg Opinion, has an equally distinguished career, having spent more than two decades at The Economist, where he served as Washington Bureau chief and later as political editor. Together, their extensive experience lends significant authority to their vision of what’s next for governance. Three revolutions that have shaped the Western State Micklethwait and Wooldridge outlined the three-and-a-half great revolutions that have shaped the Western state. The first occurred in the 17th century, when Europe’s princes built centralized states that propelled them ahead of global competitors. The second, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, saw liberal reformers replace monarchic patronage with more meritocratic, accountable governments, exemplified by the American and French revolutions. The third came with the rise of the welfare...
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