Measuring the Good Society: Stability, Justice, and Opportunity
A good society is not just stable, but allows people to live good lives and shape their own future. Combining Turchin’s focus on stability with Rawls’ idea of justice, we can compare societies across several dimensions: well-being, inequality, freedom, and how the worst-off are doing. A key insight is that the condition of the least advantaged matters both for fairness and for long-term stability. The comparison of Ukraine and Belarus shows the trade-offs: stability can come from either inclusion or control, and must be balanced with freedom and opportunity. This approach shifts the focus from averages to how people actually live, especially those at the bottom.
