"Countries that at different times in history were among the world's greatest powers, such as Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Britain, and Germany, have gradually shifted their sights either in the wake of defeat or after protracted periods of grappling with decline, from winning the great power sweepstakes to topping the lists of nations offering the best quality of life." David Rothkopf "One critical measure of the health of a modern democracy is it ability to legitimately extract taxes from its own elites. The most dysfunctional societies in the developing world are those whose elites...

"Countries that at different times in history were among the world's greatest powers, such as Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Britain, and Germany, have gradually shifted their sights either in the wake of defeat or after protracted periods of grappling with decline, from winning the great power sweepstakes to topping the lists of nations offering the best quality of life." David Rothkopf "One critical measure of the health of a modern democracy is it ability to legitimately extract taxes from its own elites. The most dysfunctional societies in the developing world are those whose elites...