Chapter 12 - The Vicious Circle

". . . vicious circles create powerful forces toward the persistence of extractive institutions. History is not destiny, and vicious circles are not unbreakable. They create a powerful process of negative feedback, with extractive political institutions forging extractive economic institutions, which in turn create the basis for the persistence of extractive political institutions." (365) This argument is developed via exemplification in this chapter with examples ranging from African countries to the American south. The chapter ends with the assertion that this vicious circle - "engender continuous infighting and civil wars" (366-7 due the motivation of special interest groups (the iron law of oligarchy) to snatch control of extractive institutions.