Either / Or—why ideas, science, imperialism, and institutions all matter in the "rise of the west"

Jack A. Goldstone is Elman Family professor of public policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Hazel professor of public policy at George Mason University. His research examines long-term economic growth, democratization, the impact of demographic change on security and prosperity, and the causes and outcomes of revolutions in world history. Recent publications include Political demography: how population changes are reshaping international security and national politics (with Eric Kauffman and Monica Duffy Toft, Oxford University Press, 2012), Revolutions: a very short introduction (Oxford University Press, 2014), and The concise encyclopedia of comparative sociology (with Masamichi Sasaki, Ekkart Zimmerman, and Stephen K. Sanderson, Brill, 2014).