http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Gumilev#Ideas
To describe his ideas on the genesis and evolution of ethnoses, Gumilev introduced the concept of "passionarity", which may be explained as the level of vital energy and power characteristic of any given ethnic group. Gumilev argued that they pass through stages of rise, development, climax, inertial, convolution, and memorial. It is during the "acmatic" phases, when the national passionarity reaches its maximum heat, that the great conquests are made. The current state of Europe he described as deep inertia, or "introduction to obscuration", to use his own term. The passionarity of the Arabic world, on the other hand, is still high.
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