1970s. Even when the Soviets achieved rapid economic
growth, there was little technological change in most of the
economy, though by pouring massive resources into the
military they were able to develop military technologies and
even pull ahead of the United States in the space and
nuclear race for a short while. But this growth without
creative destruction and without broad-based technological
innovation was not sustainable and came to an abrupt end.
In addition, the arrangements that support economic
growth under extractive political institutions are, by their
nature, fragile—they can collapse or can be easily
destroyed by the infighting that the extractive institutions
themselves generate. In fact, extractive political and
economic institutions create a general tendency for
infighting, because they lead to the concentration of wealth
and power in the hands of a narrow elite. If another group
can overwhelm and outmaneuver this elite and take control
of the state, they will be the ones enjoying this wealth and
power. Consequently, as our discussion of the collapse of
the later Roman Empire and the Maya cities will illustrate
(this page and this page), fighting to control the all-powerful
state is always latent, and it will periodically intensify and
bring the undoing of these regimes, as it turns into civil war
an