When instabilities occur in economic markets, four things happen. Social cohesion and order weakens. Politics becomes polarized, even autocratic. Corruption invades every part of the system. And, globally, mass migrations become epidemic. State failures are increasing. Global risks are spreading. World order, in truth, is only an illusion. HANDS & BRAINS UNBOUND views the philosophical foundations at the heart of the increasing contradictions between politics and economics—through a unique prism: nation-building. Based on a ground-breaking 9-year case study of the failed nation-building project imposed upon Bosnia-Herzegovina, this book reveals the behind-the-scenes machinations of international politics being played out around the world—at the expense of reasoned economic and social development. This case study reveals that civilizations arise and decay as a direct consequence of their essential economic—not political—relevance to the larger world. If we have the courage to confront these new revelations, we may finally liberate ourselves from the bonds of illusion. And unleash a new age of civilization.