In his latest book, The Great Turning, Korten argues that corporate consolidation of power is merely a contemporary manifestation of what he calls “Empire.”
The result has been the same for 5,000 years, fortune for the few and misery for the many. Increasingly destructive, the way of Empire is leading to environmental and social collapse.

Korten says that a convergence of climate change, peak oil, and the financial instability inherent in an unbalanced global trading system will bring an unraveling of the corporate-led global economy and a dramatic restructuring of every aspect of modern life. He believes that this crisis provides an epic opportunity to bring forth a new era of Earth Community. About the Author Dr. David C. Korten is a former Harvard business school professor, former Ford Foundation SE Asia specialist, and former Asia regional advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He has turned away from the establishment to work exclusively with public interest citizen action groups toward eliminating deepening poverty, inequality, environmental devastation, and social disintegration.