Jared Diamond on Personal and World Crises
Jared Diamond
About the Course
"Crisis is what suppressed pain looks like; it always comes to the surface. It shakes you into reflection and healing". - Bryant McGill
Almost everyone at some point in their lives has dealt with a personal crisis, whether it be the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or a broken marriage. To overcome such crises, we must shed the mantle of victimhood, accept responsibility for our actions, selectively change aspects of ourselves, and be honest in our own self-appraisal. The question, however, is whether this type of crisis management can also be applied to nations, kingdoms, empires, and even the world at large?
Join distinguished geographer, historian, and ornithologist Jared Diamond as he explores the parallels in crisis management between individuals and societies, both on a national and global level. Diamond will take you on a fascinating journey through common psychological practice, the Chilean Coup D'état, 19th-century Japan, and the U.S.A., as well as highlighting the most pressing issues that face us today and how we can solve them.
By the end of the course, you will have learnt:
- How a national crisis is similar to a personal crisis.
- How countries get through crises.
- An example of how not to deal with a crisis.
- The most pressing world crises facing us today.
- Whether we should be optimistic about what the future holds.
As part of the course, there are in-video quiz questions to consolidate your learning, and discussion boards to have your say.
IAI Academy courses are designed to be challenging but accessible to the interested student. No specialist knowledge is required.
About the Instructor
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Jared Diamond
Jared Diamond is a distinguished geographer, historian, ornithologist and author of The Third Chimpanzee; Guns, Germs, and Steel; Collapse, The World Until Yesterday, and Upheaval. Diamond is known for drawing from a variety of fields, including anthropology, ecology and evolutionary biology.
Course Syllabus
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Part One: National CrisesAll nations experience crises of different kinds. From the Chilean Coup D'état to the Meiji era in Japan and the breakdown of political compromise in the U.S., what do all these crises have in common? Could a helpful parallel be drawn to personal crises?
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Part Two: World CrisesWe face multiple threats as a species: from the risk of nuclear war to the depletion of natural resources. How should we respond to them? Should we be optimistic about our capacity to solve these crises in the near future?
Suggested Further Readings
- Diamond, J., Upheaval: How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change, (London: Allen Lane, 2019).
- Diamond, J., Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, (London: Penguin, 2005).
- Diamond, J., Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years, (London: Vintage, 1998).
- Fukuyama, F., Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy, (London: Profile Books, 2014).
- Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A., Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, (London: Profile Books, 2012).
- Tainter, J. A., The Collapse of Complex Societies, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
- Toynbee, A. J., A Study of History, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987 [1934–1961]).
