The Great Transformation

Thomas Jefferson: “Every generation needs a new revolution.” However, Drucker quickly makes it clear that, as much as he admires Jefferson, this comment is off the mark. Drucker notes that most of the revolutions we have witnessed in recent history have, in fact, failed to deliver what they promised. As French philosopher and political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville pointed out, revolutions do not demolish the prisons of the old regime; they tend to enlarge them. The conditions that typically lead to revolution in the first place are oppressive leadership, bankrupt ideas and institutions, and, above all, society’s failure to renew itself. Achieving large-scale social change without going through the upheaval of a revolution is obviously the better option. The term “transformation” aptly describes this preferable path. A key question we face today is whether the Western world has the capacity to transform itself in ways that will achieve growth and prosperity, rather than to move inexorably toward social and economic decline and, quite possibly, experience the wrenching trauma of a citizens’ revolt along the way.