I read Walter Russell Mead's book God
and Gold very carefully. I learned a great deal and will share some
of his more useful observations and comments before talking about the
book as a whole.
Mead has made a nominal but convenient
improvement on Mancur Olson's thesis.
Olson was the first to
understand that commerce thrives in the middle between too weak a
government where laws and contracts can't be enforced and too strong
a government where el presidente's brother takes your business. Mead
calls this in-the-middle state: Goldilocks.
I like the simplification but Mead doesn't give due credit to Olson. He doesn't give Olson any credit.
Mead starts off his book in a cute way. He apologizes for what he is about to say. That 'America is the sole global super power and must behave that way'. Then he apologizes for having said it.