I spent a lot of my professional life overseas, primarily in developing countries. One of the constants in these places was failing or unreliable institutions, subject to the whims of elites. Institutions are supposed to represent order and allow people to reliably inform their behavior. When they start to fail, the societal corrosion becomes exponential. Our "elites" seem to fail to understand the implications corrupting institutions out of parochialism, ideological motivations, or plain old greed. It's not as if humanity hasn't heard this song before on many occasions throughout history.