Carles Boix is the Robert Garrett Professor of Politics and Public Affairs in the Department of Politics and at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. His first book, Political Parties, Growth and Equality (Cambridge, 1998), examines the different means through which partisan governments manage the economy in a globalized world. In his more recent work, Democracy and Redistribution (Cambridge, 2003), Boix describes the economic and institutional conditions that lead to democratization. Both books received the William Riker award for the best book on political economy. Boix coedited the Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics (2007), which has quickly become one of the main works of reference in political science, and has published in the top journals of the discipline, such as the American Political Science Review and World Politics. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

'With analytical clarity and fresh data, Carles Boix has produced a work that cannot be ignored by scholars interested in the biggest questions about politics, economics and society. What kinds of regimes generate the strongest economies? Where do these regimes come from? What is the relationship among politics, growth and inequality? Boix does not offer sound bite answers. Deeply historical, this book provides a multi-layered, interdisciplinary analysis of how we got where we are today and what our prospects are for the future.' Frances Rosenbluth, Damon Wells Professor of Political Science, Yale University, Connecticut

• 1. Tabula rasa; 2. Political order; 3. Technological progress; 4. Warfare; 5. Inequality; 6. Modern breakthrough; 7. Conclusions.

Carles Boix is the Robert Garrett Professor of Politics and Public Affairs in the Department of Politics and at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. His first book, Political Parties, Growth and Equality (Cambridge, 1998), examines the different means through which partisan governments manage the economy in a globalized world. In his more recent work, Democracy and Redistribution (Cambridge, 2003), Boix describes the economic and institutional conditions that lead to democratization. Both books received the William Riker award for the best book on political economy. Boix coedited the Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics (2007), which has quickly become one of the main works of reference in political science, and has published in the top journals of the discipline, such as the American Political Science Review and World Politics. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

'With analytical clarity and fresh data, Carles Boix has produced a work that cannot be ignored by scholars interested in the biggest questions about politics, economics and society. What kinds of regimes generate the strongest economies? Where do these regimes come from? What is the relationship among politics, growth and inequality? Boix does not offer sound bite answers. Deeply historical, this book provides a multi-layered, interdisciplinary analysis of how we got where we are today and what our prospects are for the future.' Frances Rosenbluth, Damon Wells Professor of Political Science, Yale University, Connecticut

• 1. Tabula rasa; 2. Political order; 3. Technological progress; 4. Warfare; 5. Inequality; 6. Modern breakthrough; 7. Conclusions.

Carles Boix is the Robert Garrett Professor of Politics and Public Affairs in the Department of Politics and at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. His first book, Political Parties, Growth and Equality (Cambridge, 1998), examines the different means through which partisan governments manage the economy in a globalized world. In his more recent work, Democracy and Redistribution (Cambridge, 2003), Boix describes the economic and institutional conditions that lead to democratization. Both books received the William Riker award for the best book on political economy. Boix coedited the Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics (2007), which has quickly become one of the main works of reference in political science, and has published in the top journals of the discipline, such as the American Political Science Review and World Politics. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

'With analytical clarity and fresh data, Carles Boix has produced a work that cannot be ignored by scholars interested in the biggest questions about politics, economics and society. What kinds of regimes generate the strongest economies? Where do these regimes come from? What is the relationship among politics, growth and inequality? Boix does not offer sound bite answers. Deeply historical, this book provides a multi-layered, interdisciplinary analysis of how we got where we are today and what our prospects are for the future.' Frances Rosenbluth, Damon Wells Professor of Political Science, Yale University, Connecticut

• 1. Tabula rasa; 2. Political order; 3. Technological progress; 4. Warfare; 5. Inequality; 6. Modern breakthrough; 7. Conclusions.