Introduction

The British historian Arnold Toynbee (1995) once likened civilisations to climbers on a cliff-face. Advancing societies climb steadily towards the top, while others plunge to their demise or are trapped on a ledge, unable to ascend any further. At the top of the cliff is a higher state of civilisation with hitherto unimagined levels of security, wellbeing, education and creativity for all citizens. At the bottom are chaos, barbarism and suffering. Toynbee argued that a fall from the cliff-face is not inevitable, but that a civilisation must take measures to ensure its progression, rather than falling into stagnation or decline.