Moloch
Long poetic blog post that sparked this line of thought: www.slatestarcodexabridged.com/Meditations-On-Moloch
The basic thrust: many of the systems and institutions that are absolutely necessary for human society to function are currently absent. It is unsurprising when society doesn't seem capable to do things that are good for it – that's what we would expect, if we were an alien visitor hearing of how humans have structured their society, taking human psychology into account. You could say it's "broken", but that word implies there was once an initial state when it did work – there never was. It's hard for a collection of humans to bootstrap a functional society, it'll get stuck in all sorts of traps, "local maxima", but at least we can start identifying these traps.
Book: Inadequate Equilibria goes more in depth.