Endogenous political power

Why do some groups of people, and some countries, have more political power than others? Is the relative wealth of the more powerful a consequence, or a cause, of that power? Should we take relative political weight to be an exogenous factor when analyzing policy? Is there a difference between the micro cases and the macro, the short run and the long run? The recent global financial crisis and immediate euro-zone crisis provide an interesting real-life and up-close view of changing balances in political and economic power that may persist (or not!) for some time, long after these immediate events have faded from memory. An op-ed in the Financial Times today provides one interpretation of those shifting seats of power. Only time will tell if the writer is correct ...