ABSTRACT
The ‘rise and decline’ of nations and empires has long been a seductive way to write about the past. Central to most of this kind of ‘declinology’ is a focus on the place of individual states in the world system of power; it is global strategic and political capacity relative to others that measures rise and decline. Declinism has had its impact on almost all parts of the political spectrum, from extreme Left to extreme Right, and most points in between. Declinism comes in a number of forms, but the two major types that may be discerned are, on the one hand, centrally concerned with global status, and on the other with economic performance. The excesses and political dangers of declinism are parallel to those of ‘globalisation’. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
