Edition Release Notes
These edition release notes describe how the PatternsofPower books have evolved since the first edition was published in January 2013.
Notes on the First Two Editions
As described in the Preface, the first edition of this book was prompted by the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It was published, in full Kindle and paperback versions, as Patterns of Power: a Rough Guide. It was written in the expectation that it might be read from beginning to end, like any other book.
Edition 2 was essentially a re-formatting, to improve the usefulness of the pattern descriptions by making them easier to quote from. Some other changes were made, notably in response to further material on banking reform, inequality and drones. It was published in August 2014.
This book had two aims:
● To establish a method of analysing the use of power.
● To provide descriptions of all the patterns, in a broad survey of governance.
It was made easier for readers of the second full edition to bypass the pattern descriptions if they wish to get an understanding of the overall methodology without being overwhelmed by detail.
All the pattern descriptions were numbered, to provide easy access to items of interest – and the pattern numbers were hyperlinked in the book’s electronic version.
Edition 2 was accompanied by another, much shorter, Overview edition which provided online access to the pattern descriptions via links to the PatternsofPower website.
Notes on the Third Edition
Periodically, the Patterns of Power books and the associated website material need to be updated to replace website links which no longer work and to refresh reference material where relevant. Edition 3 in 2018 also reflected major changes in the political landscape since the previous edition. It was published with appropriate Edition Release Notes.
It was recognised that many readers do not follow hyperlinks. Edition 3a in 2020 moved some of the endnote text, and a summary of the content of quoted passages, into the main body of the book. The electronic version still included live hyperlinks for the convenience of readers wanting to explore the matter further.
Some sections of the book were expanded and sub-divided to explore the major changes in more depth:
● Voters in wealthy Western countries have become discontented. Economic factors are largely responsible: globalisation has resulted in some jobs going to developing countries; inequality has continued to increase, as the proceeds of economic growth have mostly been taken by people who were already wealthy; and technology has enabled many jobs to be replaced by machines.
● Some politicians have seized on this discontent. There has been a surge of ‘authoritarian populism’: appearing to offer strong leadership, showing disregard for existing conventions and agreements, promising to roll back the impact of economic change, and blaming immigration for people’s problems.
● These populists have been able to take advantage of a major change in the way that news travels. Unaccountable sources, spreading innuendo and lies through social media, now play a major role in forming public opinion.
● Donald Trump‘s election was one example. Authoritarian populists persuaded British voters to choose to leave the EU in a ‘Brexit’, and there are further examples in other European countries. All collective international governance now appears to be more fragile, as these politicians turn their backs on international agreements.
● Progress made by the Paris Accord, to combat climate change, may be lost.
● The 2016 Chilcot Report, on the invasion of Iraq, was used to validate the Patterns of Power analysis method. Chapter 8 provided a comparison between Chilcot’s conclusions and the Edition 2 analysis of the decision to invade that had been published two years earlier. Only a summary of the Edition 2 Iraq analysis was included.
Notes on the Fourth Edition: two versions
The full Edition 4 book will only be published in electronic form: PDF and Kindle. Its sub-sections will form appendices, to make it easier to see the lines of argument in the work as a whole. It will contain an offline copy of the entire catalogue, with live links to the Internet for readers who have a connection to it. It will be a snapshot at a point in time, as the website continues to capture relevant updates.
The Patterns of Power: Summary will be published in paper, PDF and Kindle. It will contain the opening and closing segments of chapters 3 to 7, which describe the five different dimensions of power, and it will have expanded contents lists for the middle segments which provide supporting information for the main arguments. The objective of this summary version is to heighten the focus on the key themes which have emerged since the project started.
The books now include links to this website’s blog post categories and tags. This automatically keeps the book’s main text updated with current events and recent examples of some patterns of power.
Several major political events have also been considered, listed here in chronological sequence:
● The impact of ‘Brexit’, Britain finally leaving the EU, is becoming clearer.
● The coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, which started in 2020, had an enormous economic and social impact.
● The incumbent President, Donald Trump, challenged the result of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. This deepened the polarisation in America’s politics and cast doubt on the robustness of its democracy.
● America and Britain made a chaotic exit from Afghanistan. This 20-year attempt to introduce regime change had resulted in abject failure, and it seriously dented the credibility of the West.
● Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. This presented a severe challenge to the entire international political system, causing a major reset to be necessary.
● Prime Minister Liz Truss published an extreme libertarian ‘mini-budget’ statement on 23 September 2022. It created turmoil in UK financial markets, shedding light on the important role of the finance sector as an actor in macroeconomic management. It also highlighted a flawed leadership selection.
● The re-election of Donald Trump in 2024, and Elon Musk’s role in it, shone a spotlight on the ownership of social media companies and the influence that they wield. It also re-emphasised the power of money in politics.
The book’s index has been restructured.
● It has been pruned so that readers are now only directed to sections where topics are expanded upon. Minor references to topics have been removed.
● It has more links between index items, to avoid duplication.
● There are now fewer separate subject-specific index pages, but some major topics have been sub-divided within the alphabetical indexes.
Responding to further changes
The Edition Release Notes will be republished if there is another full edition of the book. The pattern descriptions will continue to evolve, though, as major events shed light on aspects of governance.
This page is intended to form part of Edition 4 of the Patterns of Power series of books. An archived copy of it is held at https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition04/Releases-d.htm.