World on Fire
how exporting free market democracy breeds ethnic hatred and global instability
by Amy Chua · first published 2003
60% recommend40% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Explores how market-dominant ethnic minorities and rapid free-market democratization can fuel ethnic hatred and instability; cited as the go-to work on globalization and on why democracy falters.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The New York Times bestseller. In the current affairs/globalisation tradition of Naomi Klein and Noreena Hertz; the most original contribution to the globalisation debate in years.Amy Chua's remarkable and provocative book explores the tensions of the post-Cold War globalising world. As global markets open, ethnic conflict worsens and democracy in developing nations can turn ugly and violent. Chua shows how free markets have concentrated disproportionate, often spectacular wealth in the hands of resented ethnic minorities - 'market-dominant minorities'. Adding democracy to this volatile mix ca
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…Balkans of Muslims Turks eventually filled those socioeconomic niches. Until Erdogan it looked like Turney would be richer than Greece pretty soon. Any Chua wrote a great book on merchant minorites, World On Fire.
on “Why Are Some Societies More Entrepreneurial than Others?” ↗…Germany before 1870, but decades of politicians vying for power by blaming an outcast group turned anti-semitism into a terrible disease. Democracy universally makes ethnic conflict worse. Read Amy Chua World on Fire. To put it another way: can you point to any model societies that are really great and are governed by a small ruling elite? America before the era of Jacksonian democracy ( 1620 to 1820's). Victorian…
on “The FTC Confuses Newspapers With Journalism” ↗…don't believe they are smarter and don't believe they have earned it, then the explanation you are left with is that they are tricky and their gains were ill-begotten. And if you read Amy Chua's book World on Fire you'll see this pattern over and over again. A certain ethnic group (Jews, Chinese, etc) does better everywhere they go. But then get demonized by the local population for their overachievement, and pogroms…
The Triumph of Conservatism by Gabriel Kolko - the book for understanding the rise of corporate serfdom The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig - will make you nostalgic for the days of monarchy World on Fire by Amy Chua - the single best book for understanding globalization that I have read. The antidote to Tom Friedman. America's Great Depression by Murray Rothbard - very different from the story you get…
on “Ask YC (and PG): What books do you have on your bookshelf? ” ↗…away richness from the upper class (e.g. socialism, revolution, etc.) -- either way it is a mess once the divide becomes entrenched and social cohesion breaks down. One book that covers this well is World on Fire: https://www.amazon.ca/World-Fire-Exporting-Democracy-Instabi...
on “Where the Middle Class Is Shrinking” ↗…in the South. Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Chinese in Southeast Asia, Jews all over Europe, they get much more hostility, and pogroms because they're rootless cosmopolitans. For much more check out World On Fire, Amy Chua. The Chinese in Southeast Asia get the same Elders of Zion level conspiracy theorising and craziness. There are elements that are distinct to the history of the Jews, like the blood libel,…
on “I Am Fully Capable of Entertaining Myself in Prison for Decades If Need Be” ↗…better", but there are instances where democracy doesn't work. Just a book recommendation, but for people interested in learning more about these kinds of situations, I'd really recommend Amy Chua's "World on Fire."
on “Who Are My Investors?” ↗See also Amy Chua's book World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability (2003).
on “Arabs believe economy is weak under democracy” ↗It is strange that this analysis goes into so much detail and yet skips over so much. The spread of democracy has caused a great deal of chaos as well documented by Amy Chua in her book World on Fire. If we are counting on democracy as a foundation for progress and it causes instability then this concept of world order is bound to destroy itself. The more interesting problem is why democracy not…
on “Bound to Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Liberal International Order (2019)” ↗…relevant variable. Egypt under Evelyn Baring. Mexico under Porfirio Díaz. Aren't these autocrats? Do you have any model societies where a small fraction of the population votes instead? Read Amy Chua World on Fire. Actually, I have read that book and I think you're misrepresenting Chua's thesis. Her claim was not the idea that democracy lead to political demagogues which lead to mass violence. Rather it was the…
on “The FTC Confuses Newspapers With Journalism” ↗> Amy Chua authored Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and is a political moderate She also authored World on Fire. "Political moderate"?
on “What is going on at Yale Law School?” ↗> The spread of democracy has caused a great deal of chaos as well documented by Amy Chua in her book World on Fire. No surprise there actually. Sensible people have always been aware that liberal/bourgeois values and Constitutional protection of fundamental rights are basic prerequisites for meaningful democracy,…
on “Bound to Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Liberal International Order (2019)” ↗…strong and persistent ethnic basis to the inequality) is something that neoliberal international trade regimes promote on both the more developed and less developed sides of trade arrangements. See, e.g., World On Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, Amy Chua (2003).
on “Capitalism Has Gone Off the Rails” ↗