1. The End of Power
Dr. Riccardo Colasanti
Director, Rielo Institute for Integral Development
(RIID)
November 4, 2013

2. Introduction
In his last book The End of Power (2013), Moises Naim
shows us that power, from a global point of view, is
decaying. Naim argues that we are living in a world
where the economic, political and religious historical
powers are less free to operate and are conditioned by
mass-media and social media as never before.

3. There is a central question if we
focus on western democracies:
Does less power mean
a positive evolution of
liberal democracy,
or is this a symptom of a
terminal decay?

4. Positive Effects:
1. The End of Power
may mean more
“checks and
balances”
fundamental to
democracy
2. Less
representation,

5. Beppe Grillo (right),
leader of the
MoViemento Cinque
Stelle (M5S)
An example: M5S
In the 2013 elections (Chamber of
Deputies), M5S (Five Star Movement)
reached 25.55% of the vote in Italy and
9.67% of overseas voters, for a total of

6. M5S Denies Representative
Democracy:
Elected
Political
Expert
Citizen
Citizen
Citizen
Citizen
Citizen
Citizen
Citizen

7. … and fosters Direct
Democracy:
Nobody speaks for others
One is worth One
Direct Democracy = E-Democracy

9. Negative Effects:
But what about the second possibility?
What if this decay of power is the expression of
a
sickness of liberal societies?
The moment of a transition to a new,
different social structure?
The first sign of the fall of a
civilization?

10. Power becomes fragile in
pre-revolution times …
revolutions start up, a
new strong power is created, and a new
order
Thereafter,
substitutes the previous one.

11. Example: The Fall of the
Roman Empire

12. The Roman Emperor
Constantius II is the typical
example of a big power, with
no limits:
Nevertheless, the 4th century Roman historian, Ammianus
tells us that before Constantius, the emperor and supreme
leader, could propose an advantageous peace agreement
to the Alamanni (354 a.d.), he had to beg permission from
all of his army, using the rhetoric of humility and flattery and
not the usual words that we should expect from an
emperor.

13. Emperor Constantius II
remarks to his troops:
“and I believe that there are many reason
why,
if I have your approval,
it [peace treaty] should be granted.”

14. Fifty years later:
Alaric, King of Goths, sacked
Rome with his army

15. France, 1787 …
King Louis XVI, still the expression of the absolute power
of the monarchy in France, summoned a representation
of notables to assure support for the new tax reform.

16. The assembly that was created to
support a reform, where the members
were selected by Calonne (his Finance
Minister), floundered.
Calonne was dismissed and
exiled.
The absolute king’s power was only
formal.
Even the elite close to him, denied the

17. Five years later the King’s head felt down
into the basket and was shown to thousands
of people gathered to see the execution at
Place de la Concorde.

18. By the way …

19. Revolutions are not
anticipated
Twenty five years ago …
Tmur Kuran, at the University of Southern
California,
published a paper showing that:
“A feature shared by certain major
revolutions is that they were not
anticipated”
not only to the political power but even to the
leaders of revolutions

20. 1917 Russian
Revolution
Indeed, in the early days of 1917, Lenin
told an audience in Switzerland that older
men like himself would not live to see
Russia's great explosion.

21. February Revolution 1917
October 1917
Bolshevik Revolution

22. Just three days before the Romanov
dynasty was over- thrown …
the British Ambassador cabled his
Foreign Minister:
“Some disorders occurred today, but
nothing serious.”

24. Adbuster October 10, 2013

25. End of Power
or
End of Consent to
Power?

26. Power needs consent
Power does not exist without
consent and trust.
Consent is coessential with power.

27. Even the Mafia’s Godfather,
without the trust of his fellow,
is just a puppet.

28. Decay of
Power?
Nobody can deny that
the trust of the electors
is vanishing everywhere:
fewer people
vote,
in
fewer people trust
their government.
Decay of power or
decay of consent to
actual power?

29. People understand
that:
something is wrong …
something is not working …
something has to be
changed …

30. Sickness of
Democracy
Is the acute crisis of
Democracy the outcome of
some bad events: (financial,
political, hegemonical)?
or
Is it a genetic disease of
our civilization?

31. Two “genetic” problems
in Democracy:
1. People think that freedom
and equality will solve every
social problem.
2. We have limited civil human
relations to the realm of the
free market.

32. Will freedom and equality
solve every social problem?
While freedom and equality are
necessary conditions for a wonderful
society, at the same time, they are not
sufficient to achieve the goal of a
society rich in meaning and worthy to
be lived;
in order to “pursue happiness”…
something is missing.

33. Limiting civil human relations
to the realm of the free market:
While the society of freedom puts
forth a strong definition of the
“individual human being”… at the same
time, the concept of relationship is
blurry: civil relationships among
humans …
cannot be limited to swap

34. Indeed, in many cases, the model
of society as a “Free Market”
is a herd of Selfish Egoist Beings,
with:
no present,
no past,
no future.

35. yet, at the same time:
in the “Society of
Equality”,
like Marxist societies,
the group is more important
than the individual:
equality constrains
liberty.

36. Grounding the best society on the
closedness
of the individual (free society)
or of the group (equal society)
does not work: it is a nightmare.
Everywhere prevails fears and rage

37. We need a new paradigm

38. Not of Violence, Guns or Sticks
To prevent a revolution, or the fall of the empire,
we have to fix the contradictions deeply rooted in
our modern civilization.

39. Fixing
Identity with
Relationship:
Fixing the Principle
of Identity with the
Principle of
Complementarity

40. Maybe the “End of Power” is
the twilight of the old empire,
or
maybe it is a forewarning
of
the dawn of a new society:
not
the
or the
the
where the central dogma is
the radical
exaltation of
individual human being
totalitarian exaltation of
group.