Just Finished Reading: Merchant, Soldier, Sage – A New History of Power by David Priestland (FP: 2012)

It’s an impressive feat to produce a cohesive and readable study of the history of power through western civilisation in a single book of just short of 270 pages. It’s even more impressive to produce such a book looking at power in a new and interesting way – especially when it encourages you to look at the world in a different way. Here the author sees the engine of history as the age long struggle between three distinct castes – soldiers in all of their guises, merchants (of both the soft and hard varieties) and sage/administrators exemplified by priests, intellectuals and career civil servants. Each has their strengths and weaknesses and each, it seems, has their time in the sun before being replaced by another cast or combination of castes. None remain in power for long and none can rule fully on their own. Neither can any truly and finally overcome their rivals without seriously undermining the culture they preside over and thereby bringing their own system of rule crashing to the ground. When soldiers rule the world is beset with interminable warfare and economies collapse. When merchants rule (as they do now) the gap between rich and poor grows ever wider, political unrest grows and the environment suffers. When things get bad the Merchant calls for help from the Soldier to protect the Merchant way of life and growth becomes violent unrest at home and foreign wars abroad as rival mercantile empires fight it out for domination of a shrinking pool of resources. When the Sage rules the system stagnates under the heavy hand of bureaucracy, secret police and the nightmare of totalitarianism.

Today we exist under the widely discredited rule of merchants who promise much and who have delivered so little to so many. The caste responsible for the crash of 1929 and 2008, who seem to learn so little from their mistakes, are in danger of being replaced but by whom? Will their excesses be tempered by the Sage, will wealth be redistributed to reduce the runaway wealth gap and, thereby temper any revolutionary feelings across the globe or, as in times past, will the Merchant be aided in power by the Soldier as it seems to be especially in the US with the election of Donald Trump. Whatever happens we do seem to be on the cusp of a shift in power relations if history, and the authors analysis, is anything to go by. Whatever happens in the next 50 years one thing is certain – it’s going to be interesting and painful in equal measure.

This is the kind of book we need much more of – thoughtful and full of historical analysis. But this book, and the author, not only looks backwards but forwards too. What he sees is less than comfortable but, as always, forewarned is forearmed and to be honest we need all of the forewarning we can get these days. Full of incisive historical examples and brimming with intriguing ideas this is a must read for anyone striving to understand the world we live in, how we got here and where exactly we’re going. I intend to look out for more of this author’s works so expect to see his name again soon. Highly recommended.