The 1980s were the years of profound transformations since the years of Great Depression of 1929. The Great
Depression revealed the Social Welfare State. However, the Welfare State left the stage to Neoliberalism in the
1980s. Today, in the second decade of the 21st century, we are right in the middle of a similar transformation as
the Neoliberal paradigm is at the brink of collapse. Now the world is heading towards another new profound
transformation. Prepare to the reappearance of the Welfare state.
While the 19th century was the century of England, the 20th century became the century of the U.S. as the world
imperial power. On the world stage, the "West," which embraces the United States and Europe, is now
approaching to be out of the center. The period of Western refraction we witness today will likely lead to the hand-
shifting of the world imperial power in the coming decades.
This book presents an analysis of the last 200 years by using a framework synthesizing the Kondratieff waves and
paradigm concept. Each Kondratieff cycle corresponds to a social, economic, cultural and political paradigm. We
are about to complete the fifth wave and rapidly moving towards the sixth, the New Welfarism being the emerging
paradigm.
