Summary Of Collapse By Jared Diamond

Jared Diamond’s book “Collapse” is a modern publication with a retrospective view of long-lost civilizations. He states on the cover “How Societies Choose to Fail of Succeed”, as a principle tone for readers. The thesis he introduces may best be captured as, any civilization can collapse if not developed in an environmentally stable means. Dimond then goes to offer more structure to his argument with the principal; that good governance and proper civilization/urban planning, which incorporates sustainable fundamentals, is the only long-term solution.

The Roman Empire was such an impressive civilization that many operating policies of the United States of America are taken directly from them. The Roman empire, just like great colonial empires

that come after, based progress by quantifying land acquisitions to strength. The basic operating principle of an imperial power is to strip the land of its resources and in some cases enslave its people. The Romans were able to control of a vast empire not by brute force, but by allowing concurred people to maintain religious and cultural aspects while enforcing a tax. The peace these policies created allowed the concurring force to move forward to attain more land.
The theory to the Roman Empire’s demise, which Dr.

Diamond introduces, is only speculative in nature but has merit. Dr. Diamond bases his position on non-sustainable growth; both in agriculture and governance positions. Trust being the basic fundamental of any economy, the Roman Empire required tax’s to constantly and continually be paid in order for the government to operate. The tax would have been paid in mineral or agriculture stipends. As seen in South America, Rome is accused of too few people having an overwhelming power through wealth and land ownership. The leaders may have empowered a few people in order to gain favor, thus creating a large bureaucracy and diminishing trust in government. These taxes were distributed to the influential members who created palaces amongst slums in cities, inciting resentment and a larger class divide. Environmental variable may have been introduced, such as a drought or poor crop yield. The resulting tax shortage would have dramatic effects on citizens, which may have acted as a catalyst which societal tensions grew on. Taxes were known to be high during the weaning years in the empire, the tremendous economic pressure put on residents would be crippling and created an inflationary environment. The stress of not being able to provide would culminate with civil disobedience as basic survival needs are not meet. The scenario introduced which, singularly or combined with other factors, could create enough instability to

collapse an empire.
Walter Scheidel appears to contradict some of the theory introduced by Dr.

Diamond. Scheidel says that “Roman Italy would probably have been capable of producing enough food to support a population of the size” (Scheidel, 2007). However, Scheidel paper is only a comparison of two known theories of the Roman Empire; “This survey has failed to produce a conclusive answer to the question of the size of the population of Roman Italy” (Scheidel, 2007). Although inconclusive, Scheidel research does appears to debunk previous underlying theories; thus, streamlined research may be forthcoming with a more plausible conclusions. Regardless of the position chosen, agriculture performance would not have been the catalyst to the collapse of the Roman

Empire.
We currently live in a unique environment which has many parallels to lost civilizations which preceded us, but we are a more knowledgeable society overall. The current political situation in the United States is unique to say the least. We live in a world dominated by a global economy where countries cannot hide behind geographic barriers hence, the option of allowing another to collapse is not available. If the United States were to falter another country would assist out of fear of economic fallout. America it is part of a global market where, like it or not, no one government holds absolute power.
I believe that Americans still have faith in the currency (although not on a standard), although I would be remiss if I did not mention the current shift in society where traditional definitions are being eradicated and replaced with more inclusive terms. Although the current political rhetoric is shifting away from sustainable principles, the majority of Americans understand the long-term sustainable thinking is the future.