ClippingKK

这么严密的控制其实就是为了维护皇权。可是我们知道，天底下没有一种制度是可以“永垂不朽”的，任何一种基于皇权安全的设置，都不可能让统治者完全放心，也不可能消除皇权面临的一切威胁。这也就是两千多年来中国一直是治极生乱、乱极生治，分久必合、合久必分的原因

Following the Meiji Restoration there was a process of transformative institutional reforms in Japan. In 1869 feudalism was abolished, and the three hundred fiefs were surrendered to the government and turned into prefectures, under the control of an appointed governor. Taxation was centralized, and a modern bureaucratic state replaced the old feudal one. In 1869 the equality of all social classes before the law was introduced, and restrictions on internal migration and trade were abolished. The samurai class was abolished, though not without having to put down some rebellions. Individual property rights on land were introduced, and people were allowed freedom to enter and practice any trade. The state became heavily involved in the construction of infrastructure.

The consequences of these extractive political and economic institutions in Spain were predictable. During the seventeenth century, while England was moving toward commercial growth and then rapid industrialization, Spain was tailspinning toward widespread economic decline. At the start of the century, one in five people in Spain was living in urban areas. By the end, this figure had halved to one in ten, in a process that corresponded to increasing impoverishment of the Spanish population. Spanish incomes fell, while England grew rich.

once pluralism and the rule of law were established, there would be demand for even greater pluralism and greater participation in the political process.

中国后世历代都有这样一种源自法儒、道儒的争论，这并不是自由还是福利的争论，而是反自由还是反福利的争论。都是站在君主立场上博弈，“放”给贵族诸侯亦或收归国家。他们这些反自由者并不搞福利，而反福利的人也是如此，既反福利也不给自由。强调管制的一方主要想管制平民，而强调放任的一方主要想放纵权贵。于是就出现了一种现象，左是老百姓吃亏，右也是老百姓吃亏

their density in New South Wales was insufficient for the creation of an economy based on their exploitation. There was no Latin American option in Australia. The guards thus embarked on a path that would ultimately lead to institutions that were even more inclusive than those back in Britain. Convicts were given a set of tasks to do, and if they had extra time, they could work for themselves and sell what they produced.

In Sierra Leone and many other sub-Saharan African nations, diamonds fueled conflict between different groups and helped to sustain civil wars, earning the label Blood Diamonds for the carnage brought about by the wars fought over their control.

In Guatemala, as in much of Central America, in a typical pattern of the vicious circle, extractive political institutions supported extractive economic institutions, which in turn provided the basis for extractive political institutions and the continuation of the power of the same elite.