A Realist Dynamic Theory

Abstract

While the dynamic-strategy model will be discussed in detail in the chapters that follow, a brief overview at the outset will provide the necessary perspective. The model, which is self-starting and self-sustaining, is built around a dynamic mechanism that generates both strategic confidence and strategic demand for new units of capital, labour, materials, ideas, and institutions. It is a model capable of generating fluctuations of a shortrun (3 to 10 years), longrun (20–60 years) and very longrun (300 years) nature. It can explain why some societies have been successful and others have stagnated and collapsed. It can show how political systems are transformed to accommodate changes in this fundamental dynamic mechanism. It can make sensible predictions about the future in both the short and long term. And it can generate far-reaching policy measures.