The Fix

How Nations Survive and Thrive in a World in Decline

By Jonathan Tepperman

Summary of Chapters
SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS
This summarizes all the chapters found in the book.

Introduction

Legends of the Fall

The author mentions that the current event that you hear everyday is all about

“bad news”. As he calls it, we are in an “era of unprecedented decline”. He is

implying that the world’s growth rate is decreasing. He introduces ten major issues

that the world is experiencing today. He calls it “The Terrible Ten”. These are

inequality, immigration, Islamic extremism, civil war, corruption, the resource curse,

energy, the middle-income trap, gridlock I, and gridlock II. However, he argues that

amidst all these pessimistic thinking, there may still be hope for all these problems.

He cited ten different countries whom you may thing that their situation is a hopeless

case. Well, Tepperman proved his readers wrong and actually identified and gave

concrete explanations as to why it is actually possible to overcome all of these

struggles. It is just a matter of knowing where to look and start forming solutions from

there.

Chapter 1

Profits to the People: How Brazil Spreads Its Wealth

This chapter mainly discusses how Brazil was able to overcome inequality

through the BolsaFamilia project.This began under the administration of Cardoso.

Lula da Silva eventually became the successor of this project and began straying away

from traditional pieties. He started helping the poor by giving them money directly.

However, in order to fight the fear that he is creating “lazy people”, Lula formulated a
strategy of penalty for non-compliance. Meaning to say, these people will not be

receiving or will be bounced off the program if they do not comply to its

requirements. These requirements include children between six to fifteen years old to

attend school at least 55% of the time. As a result, BolsaFamilia was able to cut

poverty by 15%, help lift 36 million people out of powerty, reduce the country’s

overall income gap by a third, increase overall economy, and increase domestic

consumption among others. However, critics still say that BolsaFamilia focused too

much on children and did not take into account the impoverished parents and many

other criticisms. Meaning to say, this strategy, although successful, still needs to be

improved.

Chapter 2

Let the Right Ones In: Canada’s Immigration Revolution

This chapter explains how Canada controlled its immigration problem

through the principle of “reason rather than passion”. This was the motto of Pierre

Elliot Trudeau, who was the father of the current Prime Minister (Justin Trudeau) of

Canada. Moreover, this chapter explained how the “deft leadership” and pluralist

ideologies can affect the way a nation is transformed from an ethnically homogeneous

State. Trudeau was able to successfully integrate their immigrants and make them

become more Canadian through their multiculturalism policy.

Chapter 3

Kill them With Kindness: How Indonesia Crushed and Co-opted Its Islamic

Extremists

This chapter discusses how a human rights-based approach is able to

overcome the Islamic extremism. As the title says “kill them with kindness”.

Indonesia’s leaders, through their transparent platforms, were able to promote

inclusivity amidst cultural and religious diversity. Moreover, this chapter discussed

how they were able to deal with these extremist with the proper approach of Densus

88, their anti-terrorism unit, and their police over their military.

Chapter 4

Learn to Live With: Rwanda’s Wrenching Reconciliation

This chapter talks about Rwanda’s genocide case and how Paul Kagame

makes efforts to reconcile the Hutus and the Tutsis. Kagamefavors the heterodoxy of

approaches saying that the world does not need to follow a certain standard. He

argues that a different solution may be used as there are many others out

there.However, solutions such as the reconciliation between the Hutus and Tutsis

should be dealt with responsibly, even if there will be a lot of beauropathological

intervention for a better civil society.

Chapter 5

Assume The Worst: How Singapore Conquers Corruption

This case discusses how Singapore was able to overcome the corruption

culture, which Tepperman states as the one of the “most ancient vices”. In order to

eliminate corruption in this country, Lee Kwan Yew rose as Prime Minister of
Singapore with the advocacy and passion to operate the government system with the

proper set of officials, as well as to practice the principle of good governance. If an

official was caught bribing or practicing any form of corruption, he/she would

experience the consequences.

Chapter 6

Diamonds Aren’t Forever: How Botswana Defeated the Resource Curse

This chapter discusses how the problem of resource curse may be overcome

through a pluralist and human rights-based approach.Botswana, formerly a British

colony, was able to prove that they are still able to stabilize themselves with the help

of the principle of check and balances. In addition, they practiced frugality by limiting

the bureaucratic intervention.

Chapter 7

This is My Land: Why the Shale Revolution Could Only Happen in the USA

This chapter discusses how the imbalance of supply and demand affected the

oil revenues. Whatever happens to these will greatly affect the US companies as these

are a great source for their industrialization. Due to the crisis, fear was brought to

Americans with the thought that it would threaten the supply of the production of its

industries. As a contingency plan, they resorted to innovation and created their own

oil.
Chapter 8

Manufacture Your Miracle: How South Korea Keeps Its Economy Growing.

AndGrowing. And Growing

This chapter discusses how South Korea was able to survive the Asian

financial crisis. After being affected by this crisis, the country that was once

dominated by the private sector found an opportunity to re-establish assertion by the

government (public sector). Because of this, the country was able to re-establish its

rules and regulations with the help of the government.

Chapter 9

Give to Get: How Mexico Got Its Government Again

This chapter explains how political gridlock became the country’s major

problem. Enrique Peña Nieto, the current Prime Minister of Mexico, managed to unite

the three political parties bynegotiating a truce in order to set aside their differences.

This gave rise to “Pactopor Mexico” for the betterment of the country.

Chapter 10

DIY Defense: New York City and the Art of the Work-Around

The United States’ politics is heavily influenced by partisanship. Because of

this, it is difficult for government officials to come into an agreement in decision-

making. After the events of 9/11, Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York, created

the “Do It Yourself” strategy in order to make decision-making faster and produce

effective results in preparation for future similar threats.