Merchant Soldier Sage A New History Of Power Summary

The work entitled “Merchant Soldier Sage: A New History of Power” by David Priestland focuses on the 2008 financial crisis. The book follows a historic time-line to show what enabled the world to come to a near total economic collapse while expressing the many possibilities of the future economic direction of the world. Priestland has a thesis as to how the world works in terms of economic success and failures of the world; his thesis is shown in the introduction and beginning paragraphs of the book, followed by several chapters of historical events as supporting evidence. Priestland's thesis focuses on the economic classes of the modern world, which he refers to as “castes” (Priestland, p 5). These castes are the Merchant, Soldier, Sage,

Many countries are in the process of industrializing, such as China, and other countries are in their post industrial era like the United States. When the economy failed in 2008, the entire world was affected. While many of these countries faced hard times after the economic failure, the elites of most still flourished (Priestland, p 232, 233). Any country that was tied to the global market in some way was affected. They were affected because the merchants had created a world economy in which all major world nation participated. The merchants succeeded because they took extra care into knowing their demographic, according to Priestland. Knowing their demographic helped further the merchants rise to power. They were able to make political and economic ties where it mattered. In Communist China, the merchants portrayed themselves in a communists light (Priestland, p 277). This enabled them to make deals and trades with the Chinese elites, both political and other. Having allies meant success because they could always count on someone to place the cards in their favor. The same ideal applies to

Throughout the past centuries, the merchants have been on top of the economy of the world; they essentially created it. After organized empires and governments were created, the merchants gained political power. This political power gave them the opportunities they needed to advance economically. Still today, the merchant caste rules society and the economy even after the financial crisis of 2008. According to Priestland, this is due to the fact that the initial damage was lulled over much more quickly than it has been in the past. People of the middle-class were not subjected to looking at thousands of homeless people starving everyday because the crisis did not cause it (Priestland, 261). In fact, the economic crisis in 2008 solved nothing. Priestland says, “The West has restored the old pro-merchant world order, but the underlying problems caused by the crisis are still there. Meanwhile, as society frays, the warrior is waiting in the wings” (Priestland,