Posts Tagged ‘Pontifex Maximus’
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by downright moron.”*…
This is a year, Niccolo Conte demonstrates, in which that possibility is especially present around the world…
With almost half of the world’s population residing in countries holding executive or legislative elections in 2024, it’s set to be the busiest election year ever recorded…
Many people are already aware of the U.S. presidential and legislative elections set to be held on November 5th, especially due to American influence on the global political stage and media coverage.
But two governments affecting larger populations, India and the European Union, are also slated to have elections in 2024…
A few notable elections have already occurred. Taiwan held general elections on January 13th, with the more anti-China Democratic Progressive Party retaining the presidency but losing its majority in the legislature.
[And in February, Indonesia held general elections; while the results are still being tabulated, early indications are that it could make for some material changes in the world’s third-largest democracy.]
Pakistan also held elections on February 8th, with former Prime Minster Imran Khan’s party and affiliates winning a plurality of seats but losing power to a military-backed coalition.
Pakistan’s election results were cast into doubt by foreign observers and media, with Khan having been arrested and sentenced to prison on corruption charges. It is far from the only country holding controversial and potentially undemocratic elections in 2024.
Bangladesh’s landslide January 7th elections were boycotted by the opposition and voters, and Russia’s March 15th elections had three anti-war presidential candidates barred from competing, including Alexei Navalny before his controversial death in February…
The biggest global election year on record: “Mapped: 2024 Global Elections by Country,” from @Niccoloc in @VisualCap.
* H. L. Mencken
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As we peruse the polls, we might recall that it was on this date that it was on this date in 12 BCE that Caesar Augustus (AKA Octavian), the first Roman Emperor, was elected Pontifex maximus (the chief high priest of the College of Pontiffs [Collegium Pontificum] in ancient Rome)– adding stature as head of Rome’s state religion to his imperial credentials.
“If you would define the future, study the past”*…
The global economy and living standards have, Rafael Guthmann suggests, have had three “supercycles” of rise and fall over the past 4,000 years…
Economists often state that economic growth simply did not exist before recent times. The orthodox view that I was taught as an undergrad is that sustained economic growth began in the late 18th century. This view is articulated by economic historians like Clarke (2007). DeLong (2022) goes even further. He claims that modern economic growth only began in earnest in 1870, with the growth from 1770 to 1870 being very small in comparison, and that there was absolutely no growth in real incomes for ordinary people before 1770 (but he admits that living standards could have varied over pre-modern history for a tiny elite).
The data, however, shows that this model of economic history is plain wrong. Instead, over the last four thousand years, we can identify that there have been three major very-long-run economic cycles in the Western world that featured increasing incomes and then very long periods of decreasing incomes. These cycles of expansion and contraction lasted for several centuries.
As described by Bresson (2016), the first cycle corresponded to the rise and fall of Bronze Age civilizations, such as the Minoan and Mycenean cultures in Greece, the first literate civilization in Europe which developed writing around 2000 BC and collapsed towards the end of the 2nd millennium BC. The second cycle corresponded to the rise of Classical Greco-Roman civilization over the 1st millennium BC and its collapse during the 1st millennium AD. The third and present cycle began in the late 1st millennium AD and continues today. In this wider context, the industrial revolution beginning in the late 18th century was just an acceleration of the rate of economic development of the third cycle and did not really represent a discontinuity with past economic history…
He makes his case: “The Great Waves in Economic History,” @GuthmannR. (Note that, if one includes, for example, the long histories of the Chinese and African economies, the pattern of cycles of development and decline is further reinforced.)
* Confucius
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As we contemplate cyclicality, we might recall that it was on this date in 12 CE– in the middle of the second wave identified above– that the Roman emperor Augustus (AKA, Caesar Augustus, Caesar, and Octavian) was named Pontifex Maximus (chief high priest of the College of Pontiffs (Collegium Pontificum) in ancient Rome, this was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion), incorporating the position into that of the emperor.
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