“State-Building, Governance and the New World Order in the 21st Century” by Francis Fukuyama

State-Building, Governance and the New World Order in the 21st Century is a compact book written by Professor Fukuyama after 9/11 but before the global financial crisis of 2008. Yet, he grasps the fundamentals of the world and its order; and provides an enduring framework for analyzing individual nations and their interactions. He posits that the fundamental ideas centered on order, security, law and property rights enabled America’s success of the last half of the 20th Century.

 Building states that consistently provide order, security, the rule of law and the rights of property will continue to serve us well if we have the institutional framework and fortitude to perpetuate them. 

His essential point is that the assignment of our times is state-building, not state reduction. The need is to design and implement a system that serves our grander visions of building an effective “state” that lets each of us individually and all of us collectively achieve our dreams.