The Sovereign Individual: How to Survive and Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State (Hardcover)

~ (Author), (Author) "The coming of the year 2000 has haunted the Western imagination for the past thousand years..." (more)
Key Phrases: megapolitical conditions, megapolitical factors, commercialized sovereignty, United States, Middle Ages, Sovereign Individuals (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The computer revolution, in the authors' dire scenario, will subvert and destroy the nation-state as globalized cybercommerce, lubricated by cybercurrency, drastically limits governments' powers to tax. They further predict that the next millennium will see an enormous decline in the influence of politicians, lobbyists, labor unions and regulated professions as new information technologies democratize talent and innovation and decentralize the workplace. In their forecast, citizenship will become obsolete; new forms of sovereignty reminiscent of medieval merchant republics will spring up; electronic plebiscites will decide legislative proposals; mafias, renegade covert agencies and criminal gangs will exercise much more behind-the-scenes power. Davidson and Rees-Mogg, who publish Strategic Investment, a financial newsletter, present an apocalyptic exercise that is unconvincing. Appendices offer advice to "Sovereign Individuals" (members of the information elite) on how to invest, find tax shelters, avoid criminals and list one's business on the World Wide Web.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Following up their equally visionary Blood in the Streets (LJ 5/1/87) and The Great Reckoning (S. & S., 1993), the authors offer a sweeping analysis of the implications, especially financial, of the information age. According to Jupiter Communications, a research firm specializing in emerging technologies, in the year 2000 online transactions will total about $7.3 billion, and new payment methods such as electronic money will be used for almost half of that amount. The authors explain that such developments are driving a "megapolitical" level of societal transformation similar in scope and significance to the end of the Roman Empire or the 15th-century gunpowder revolution. The key result of this information revolution will be the advent of the "sovereign individual" and the death of mass democracy and the welfare state. The authors are serious, conservative thinkers whose advice will attract attention on Wall Street. A major work; strongly recommended for academic libraries.?Dale F. Farris, Groves, Tex.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (February 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684810077
• ISBN-13: 978-0684810072
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #430,777 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Future Trends and being Financially Independent, July 12, 2000

By	Ng Chon Hsing (Singapore) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad recommends The Sovereign Individual as one of the must-read books for those who want to be Financially Independent. I like this book for its contribution to future-trend-watching. It ranks as one of the essential readings for those who want to be Financially Independent.

James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg are experts at predicting future trends and tailoring financial strategies and self-reliant measures to protect oneself against the future. The Sovereign Individual is about self-accountability and taking action. The Sovereign Individual is not beholden to his government and looks out for himself/herself and his/her loved ones. The Sovereign Individual takes steps to ensure his/her physical safety, job/business and finances.

This book challenges the concept of nationhood and all the propaganda fed to us. The concept of nationhood as we have come to known is a relatively young one and not necessarily a good one. Governments, spouting patriotism, can make use of its people for its own ends e.g. burdensome taxes, raising armies for wars, treating its citizens like low-classed employees - all for the benefit of a select elite few.

A warning for the interested would-be reader. The Sovereign Individual is written in the typical Davidson/Rees-Mogg famed-style - alarmist, paranoid and hyberbolic. I urge the reader to see pass this style because there is much to be gained from reading this book.

For the interested reader, I would also recommend The Roaring 2000s by Harry Dent.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Controversial, but a must-read, August 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age (Paperback)

This is more than simply a reprint of the hardback edition. The authors have added material on the possible effects of y2k, and have rewritten their assessment of Bill Clinton, for example. I think the best part of the book is the historical analysis of how changes in the monopoly on violence impact civilization. This aspect of the book alone makes it a must read in my view.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a well reasoned guide to the next 25 years, January 7, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age (Paperback)

This book contains an explanatory theory of what the authors call Megapolitics. The theory is grounded in three past revolutions and predicts that we are in the middle of a fourth.

Each revolution is brought about by technology, occurs very quickly and almost invisibly to the participants.

The first revolution was the transition from hunter-gatherer to a world of private property, brought about by the technology of agriculture.

The second, around 1000AD, resulted from knights on horseback, and involved the transition from lawless anarchy to a world dominated by the Church and the code of chivalry.

The third transition happened due to gunpowder and the invention of the movable type printing press, around 1500AD, and resulted in the fall of the power of the Church, and the rise of centralized military power and eventually the nation-state.

The authors make a convincing case that the fourth transition is happening now due to the Internet and microprocessor. Over the last 1000 years, the returns on violence were going up, but now, with the Net and computing resources, the returns have gone down.

The authors say this will result in the decline of nation-states, and skilled individuals opting out of their "contract" between themselves and their government. These individuals, call them "haves", will be able to move their assets and possibly themselves so that they are subject to dramatically lower taxes.

There are a lot of nuances here but what makes this book so interesting is that it has detailed historical back-up. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the ramifications of the web and the microprocessor.