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Nearly four centuries later, O’Sullivan anticipates
a “leveling” of political and economic power between
and within states. “With democracy under attack, it is
to the Levellers we must turn for inspiration,” he writes.
O’Sullivan draws a link between the 17th century
and today’s twin crises of governance and economic
growth. “There are some parallels between the times of
the Levellers and today: both are periods of economic
dislocation, change and creativity,” he explains.
The tale of the Levellers is fine as a departure point
for an analysis of life after globalization. But as an all-
purpose frame and analytical aid for understanding our world, it doesn’t entirely
stand up. That’s because although O’Sullivan is on firm ground when discussing
global financial markets, he offers proposed solutions for political and economic
discontent that seem either theoretical or fanciful. He calls for a modern “agree-
ment of the people” written over social media by citizens of multiple countries.
(What could go wrong?) And he proposes a global debt conference to produce a
“Westphalia of finance,” a nod to the
17th-century Treaty of Westphalia that
created an international system based
on sovereign nation-states.
These are creative ideas, but
O’Sullivan devotes too little attention
to the difficulties involved in making
them operational. Likewise, when he
calls for another global treaty to prohibit central banks from employing extraor-
dinary monetary easing — except in predetermined “conditions of great market
and economic stress” — the notion seems destined to be a nonstarter. O’Sullivan
is vague in explaining how this ambitious accord would come about except to say
that central bankers or “their political masters” would do the bargaining.
In the case of the Federal Reserve, the world’s most important central bank,
it’s not at all clear how this would occur or that it would be a good idea if it did.
The president of the United States is legally prohibited from signing such an
The author draws a link
between the 17th century
and today’s twin crises
of governance and
economic growth.