Hilton L. Root, Network Origins of the Global Economy: East Vs. West in a Complex Systems Perspective | SpringerLink (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020). xxxi + 306 pp. USD 39.99 (hardback)

• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Author: Heidi Jane M. Smith
• Date: 01 September 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13541

964Public Administration Review • September | Oct ober 20 22

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 82, Iss. 5, pp. 964–965. © 2022 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13541.

For those looking for an innovative and grand

perspective of comparative public administration,

whether they study global governance,

complexity, network theory, policy diffusion, global

policy, or transnational administration, Network

Origins of the Global Economy by Hilton Root is a

must read. Root’s far-reaching book compares Eastern

and Western complex networks from colonial to

present times to understand not only the function of

bureaucracy but also how their political and economic

determinants may converge into the future.

Root employs a complex systems approach to network

theory to characterize how Western European

and Eastern Chinese leaders managed their states,

bureaucracies, economies, and the political arenas. For

him, the Europeans managed through decentralized

nodes of successful political and economic production

which were able to adapt for innovation using

idiosyncratic institutional legal formations and the rule

of law. This diffused authority can also be found in the

United States with the presence of checks and balances

within the state and its bureaucracy. The diffusion

of authority with competing justifications for the

distribution of goods and services maintains the quest for

an equilibrium of power and authority for the West and

its feed through information and positive feedback loops.

In contrast, the Chinese imperial state model was led

through a centralized bureaucracy that maintained its

legitimacy upon the control of one central ruler over

the population. The selective bureaucracy built in its

authority, provided a clear linkage between the various

emperors and society which maintained societal rules

and political, economic, and cultural institutions

overtime. Thereby mapping the network exerting one

central node of authority which reduced the ability

to replicate institutions, laws, regulation, and general

rulemaking or innovation, making the Chinese state

prevail over centuries.

In one of his most appealing comparative insights,

Root suggests that the decentralized nodes were

quicker to adapt to innovations and linked together

through these institutional norms to provide

connectivity, which is fundamental for change and

adaptation. The author explains that the modern day

Chinese Communist Party has managed to open the

centralized node to link trade, finance, market access,

and rule enforcement ultimately making linkages to

the new global economy. Yet, without self-enforcing

mechanisms between the nodes within the Chinese

regime, corruption may evade the centralized rule and

therefore may never reach parity with the West.

To substantiate his claims, Root uses network analysis

with a sophisticated use of complexity theory and

computational sciences. Ultimately, he creates the often-

conventional network graphics with hubs, spokes, and

nodes, but analyzes them using innovative theoretical

and historical lenses across time and space. Root contend

this is a superior approach compared with typical

empirical statistical methods. This choice is justified

since common empirical methods employ general

equilibrium models, which in effect expect cause and

effect in the continuum. Nevertheless, in reality, history

also matters with path dependent long-lasting processes

and therefore institutions and social structures need to

be analyzed from a perspective where equilibrium may

not always be established, but yet, strived.

This book encompasses appealing theoretical and

policy assumptions for an ample set of academic

disciplines. For example, International Relations and

International Political Economy scholars, Historians,

Economists, and Political Scientist are frequently

barraged with questions such as: Will the East catch

up with the West? Will a new cold war emerge from

the US Chinese trade war? Are we at the demise of

liberal and democratic regimes?

Public administrators have learned the importance

of policy networks to improve the quality of public

goods and services mostly as practitioners, but they

have been infrequently reminded of the importance

of integrating macro aggregates into its inquiries such

Heidi Jane M. Smith is a research

professor at the Universidad

Iberoamericana in Mexico City. Her research

focuses on social equity, political eocnomy,

government failures, and decision-making.

Email: heidi.smith@ibero.mx

Reviewed by: Heidi Jane M. Smith

Universidad Iberoamericana-Mexico

Hilton L. Root, Network Origins of the Global Economy:

East Vs. West in a Complex Systems Perspective | SpringerLink

(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020).xxxi + 306 pp.

USD 39.99 (hardback)

Book Reviews

Galia Cohen, Editor