Book Summary
CIVILIZATION - THE WEST AND THE REST 
By Niall Ferguson
Published by the Penguin Group (2011)

Why did the civilization of Western Europe dominate the world since 1500? That is the central question this book seeks to address, and Harvard historian Niall Ferguson's answer is that the West developed six killer applications that the Rest lacked.

They are:
(1) Free competition in politics and economics;
(2) The Scientific Revolution which brought a new and reliable way of studying, understanding and changing the natural world;
(3) The rule of law as a means of protecting property rights and ensuring stable representative government;
(4) Modern medicine to allow major improvements in health and life expectancy;
(5) Consumerism which drives and sustains the Industrial Revolution and the mass production of goods;
(6) Protestant work ethic of extensive and intensive labor, high savings and capital accumulation.

The secret of these six applications lies in the fact that they provide the conditions for setting up the best available economic, social and political institutions which, in turn, triggers individual human creativity and ingenuity in solving  the problems of the modern world.

It has been observed that the West has been losing its edge lately to China and other emerging powers. Whether this is the start of a decline from 500 years of world domination would depend on the quality of Western educational systems and the self-confidence and self-belief they engender.