Using a variety of economic, financial, and political indicators, this book demonstrates that the global system has become an 'architecture of collapse'. The global financial crisis of 2008, the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and China, and the European sovereign debt crisis illustrate the causes and the consequences of global instability

• Preface


• 1: The Global System


• 2: Complexity


• 3: Coupling


• 4: Complexity, Coupling, and the Great Recession


• 5: The U.S./China Relationship


• 6: The Euro Zone as a Complex, Tightly-Coupled System


• 7: The Future of the Global System

Mauro F. Guillén is the Zandman Professor of International Management at the Wharton School, and Director of the Lauder Institute, University of Pennsylvania. His research has to do with globalization and its impact on patterns of organization and on the diffusion of innovations. He is the author of a dozen books and over 40 scholarly articles. He is an elected fellow of the Sociological Research Association, a former Guggenheim fellow, a recipient of the Aspen Institute's Faculty Pioneer Award, and a member of the Global Agenda Council on Emerging Multinationals at the World Economic Forum.