THE LEVELLING by Michael O'Sullivan focuses on "What's Next After Globalization." O'Sullivan, currently chief investment officer for Credit Suisse's International Wealth Management Division, describes the shift from the world-order of the last forty years to one that is "less interconnected, more multipolar." He draws parallels with past periods of transition, especially between the Grandees (elites) and the Levellers of the 1640s. A fan of Alexander Hamilton, O'Sullivan devotes another chapter to the question of What Would Hamilton Do? and outlines some possible courses of action for Europe (e.g., revising and condensing a constitution-type document so as to increase the union's relevance and force in geopolitics), the United States (e.g., seeing immigration as a necessary part of economic vitality) and China (e.g., promoting development of social infrastructure). In terms of the future, he takes a fairly negative perspective, noting "the probable onset of a recession by early 2020" and "the need to accept expectations that the trend level of growth worldwide will be lower in the next ten to twenty years than it has been over the past forty." Having used a rather verbose writing style throughout, O'Sullivan concludes with a sweeping statement that the "deep persistent underlying issues in our world are the need to reduce imbalances in indebtedness globally, the need to decommission the vast power of central banks, wealth inequality, the role of women in economies, the search for a new model of economic growth, and the rise of emerging countries to rival incumbent powers." His expertise and concern are obvious, but the sometimes convoluted argument does not seem very practical, actionable or, at times, relevant for the general reader.

My review will appear in the September-October issue of Wiley's journal Global Business and Organizational Excellence.

I will also post something brief about the book to my blog, and twitter account as the publication date approaches.

I am sorry that I had to read this terrible book. It was too long and contained chapters which could easily be deleted losing nothing of the authors ideas. More importantly, one of the books main points is that the current supremacy of the USA will be replaced by a multipolar world as globalization surely declines. The three poles will be the USA and several of its allies, Europe and China. [Note: There may be a fourth pole if India gets moving.] Sadly, the author then argues that globalization must grow stronger in order to deal with global warming, and cyber war. Mr. O'Sullivan must make up his mind. He may not have it both ways. Either globalization is ending or it is not!

Well done. I don't read a lot of these kinds of "state of the world" books because they become dated quickly, and any predictions are mostly or all wrong (simply because it is nearly impossible to predict the future). However, I really enjoyed this analysis. It is intelligent and pretty comprehensive for the material it covers. I plan to read similar books for contrast and perspective, but I learned a number of things, and got some perspective on events and the evolution of economic issues and historical events I hadn't had. Recommended.

There were some formatting issues and typos in the digital advanced copy, but I'm sure they'll be addressed in the final version. I really appreciate the free copy for review!