It is the view of this Blog that we are moving into uncertain times because two models, one of government and the other of the present form of capitalism, are not working. Or they work only for the political class and the financial sector, specifically the part engaged lending and trading money.
We now know that for the first time the richest one percent in the world own more than all the other 99% put together. That is unjust and cannot last. Change may come in a measured form but it rarely does; it may be forced and it may even be violent. On the political side change is already in motion. Mainstream political parties are losing members, while smaller parties gain in popularity. These smaller parties are usually focussed on issues of discontent and often of the far right or left. They are gaining ground all across Europe.
The highly respected Economist Intelligence Unit, in a project commissioned by the BBC, has reached the conclusion that Britain may be heading for a period unstable government when no clear majority exists after the next election for a structured legislative programme. Individual preferences will have to be traded one against the other, with the prospect of a fall of the government ever present. In America gridlock is a fact of political life.
The critical factor which will drive change is that the 99% have lost confidence in the system. Just as communism in its old form tottered and fell in the nineties when the people lost confidence in the doctrine. To the extent it did survive it was remodeled, as in China. A remodeling of how capitalism functions on a global scale and the nature of the democratic institutions which underpin it, is a process now in gestation. It may have begun already.