Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance -- and Why They Fall

In Day of Empire, Amy Chua discusses defines hyperpowers and posits that it is only through tolerance that a single power can rise to dominate the world. However, it is often this very tolerance that begins to sow the seeds of the empire's fall. Through history, the mechanism of the "conquest" and definition of "tolerance" has changed, yet the successful empires all tend to be much more tolerant than their neighbors. Ancient Rome allowed any free male to become a citizen. It also left the conquered people to continue worshiping their own gods. However, Romans observed a cultural hierarchy. They esteemed Greek culture, and brought their deities into the Roman pantheon. Others were treated as barbarians and not respected. This limited tolerance helped lead to dissension. Other ancient empires also tended to succeed by being more tolerant than others. (However, they would also be ruthless in those that would not submit to their rule.)
In the modern era, Spain rose to power in part by tolerating the Jews and Muslims in their territory. They helped provide the capital to grow the kingdom and inspire the unification and voyages of exploration. However, by the time riches were coming back from the new world, Spain had been casting out its very bankers, leaving it a near bankrupt kingdom dependent on the American gold for its very survival. How might things have been different if Spain remained tolerant? Would the Aztecs and Incas been incorporated as part of the Spanish kingdom, making one of the most widespread global empires?
The Dutch were able to rise to power in the wake of Spain's fall. The Netherlands welcomed religious dissenters of all kinds. It was a capitalist heaven where anybody eager to make a buck was welcome to try. They were able to create a vast maritime network that rivaled any of the day, despite being a fraction of the size of other entities. They had a far-flung empire, yet they rarely tried to "Hollandize" the natives. (While there are huge numbers of Spanish and English speaking populations in the former colonies, the Dutch presence is isolated to a few a pockets, and those are mostly Dutch descendants.)
Britain was next in line after the Dutch. They had both the economic and military power. They would also waffle on the tolerance, often giving a degree of self rule to the colonies, but also attempting to "civilize" the natives. After Scotland bankrupted itself in failed Panamanian speculation, England brought her in the fold through tolerance and acceptance. Scots were integrated into society and hold high offices in the government. Alas, for Ireland, Catholicism proved to be too much to tolerate and could not be easily integrated. Throughout the world, the Britons thought of themselves as more civilized than their subjects. When they let their subjects retain their culture, these same subjects would respect the crown and often even aspire to adopt many aspects of the their rulers. However, when Britain would attempt to force behaviors on the subjects, insurrection and revolutions would break out. Even colonies of seemingly British subjects (like America) rebelled.
Modern powers of today have also used tolerance to come to power. The USSR tolerated the many different ethnic groups and treated everyone equal. (Then it fell as the cronyism dominated.) In China, a melting pot of many different cultures has assimilated into one "Han Chinese" population. Despite having many different spoken languages and different origins, people think of themselves as one people. The non-Han population is also tolerated (provided they respect the dictates of the country.) Indians speak multiple languages, have multiple religions and span multiple ethnic groups, yet they all live together in one big democracy. They struggle with tolerance, living well together at times, while falling victim to religious intolerance at other times. Europe is perhaps the first fully economic empire. Any country can join by meeting the appropriate economic targets. The economies are integrated and free travel and working from other member countries is tolerated. Brexit is even trying to concept of a free exit. However, despite this toleration, there is a marked intolerance of foreign foreigners (especially Muslims). They are often relegated to poor ghettos where they do not assimilate into the European culture.
Today, the United States is the primary hyperpower. On the military stage, there is no country that comes close. Economically, it continues to dominate. Much of the dominance comes on the heals of immigrants. Google was cofounded by an immigrant. Apple was cofounded by the child of an immigrant. Venture capitalism as we know it had immigrant routes. Many of the patents and innovations come from immigrants. Allowing people to come to the country and obtain citizenship is one of the most powerful forces for economic growth. However, the openness to immigrants also leads to xenophobia among those already here. They see the newcomers come and take the good jobs that they feel are rightly theirs. This could be the seeds of the destruction of the "hyperpower" as we know it.
5/7/2011, 9/5/2017