The Architecture of Collapse

A careful conceptual construction of complexity and coupling... [providing] new insights into why countries are likely to experience more frequent crises. Guillen skillfully navigates a multidisciplinary interrogation of the increasing fragility of the global economic system. * CHOICE * This book offers a sobering analysis of the risks facing the global economy, from population aging to financial inter-connections. The policy recommendations are important and timely. * Lady Barbara Judge, CBE * A fascinating perspective on the sources of instability in the global system. Professor Guillen brings to bear powerful concepts from the study of system complexity. A must read for anyone interested in financial markets, international migration, and the rise or fall of nations. * Simon Johnson, MIT Sloan School of Management and former IMF Chief Economist * A brilliant critical engagement with different interpretations of what makes a system prone to failure. The author develops a multi-level and multi-nodal analysis that allows him to single out strategic sources of systemic instability and to demonstrate what can be done. * Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, author of Expulsions * Few social scientists have the urbane vision and capacious intellect of Mauro Guillen. His dissection of the shock inducing and absorbing features of our interconnected world system vividly details the risks we presently face, but also paves the way for steps that could cushion the present volatility. * Walter W. Powell, Stanford University *