The End of Power: From Boardrooms To Battlefields and Churches To States, Why Being in Charge Isn't What It Used To Be - Moisés Naím

Is the Internet the reason the role of power is changing?

After hearing The Guardian's February 4th podcast titled "The Internet is not the Answer"  I requested  two books from the library, one being Keen's book titled "The Internet is not the Answer" and Moisés Naím's  "The End of Power: "From Boardrooms To Battlefields and Churches To States, Why Being in Charge Isn't What It Used To Be."

Andrew Keen had mentioned certain premises Moisés Naím had put forth in "The End of Power" during that February 4th podcast. 

Yesterday I went to the library to pick up my requested books and found I would have to wait for "The Internet is not the Answer" as there was one person ahead of me who would be reading it first.  Thankfully "The End of Power" was available.

And the book is as good as Keen said it would be.  Even the preface to the book is fascinating.  In it Naím states he first became aware of the limits of power when he was named Minister of Development in his then-democratic home country, Venezuela.  Since then he has asked and observed "business, government, political, media, science and religious" leaders about their power and heard each person is experiencing less and less power.  Naím goes on to say he explores the "process of decay - its causes, manifestations, and consequences - in terms of the ways it affects not just the 1 percent at the top but, more importantly, the vast and growing middle class as well as those who seek merely to make it through another day." (Moises Naim, March 2013)

In Chapter One Naím discusses the decay of power, chess and the Digital Revolution.  And, in this case, the internet has changed the role of the elite in the chess world.
The once exclusive circle of chess players has expanded.  Challengers use their access to the internet to watch videos of champions and practice playing chess through computer chess games.  As a result more and more people play chess and win.  The circle of chess masters is larger and more diverse than ever.  

In a review by Lili Loofbourow, The Guardian - January 15, 2015, the book is portrayed "as an intelligent and engaging — if limited — study that (unlike its title) resists overstatement in favor of nuance."  

Since I have just started the book and find the observations of Naím tantalizing I am not forming any opinion on the matter.  I am just going to enjoy the reading.

Resources:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/audio/2015/feb/04/internet-andrew-keen-tech-weekly-podcast
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/15/the-end-of-power-moses-naim-review