NationStates Jolt Archive

After reading some Thoreau I've stumbled on the conclusion that ever since the idea of government was first fleshed out and put into practice (the whole "state of nature" argument) it had been working up towards the goal of centralization, consolidation, and the building up of beaurocracies.

From the time when everyone had their own say in their actions, to social groups, to tribal councils, all the way up until the absolutist monarchs of Europe government has been evolving towards a point when the largest amount of power was in the hands of the fewest individuals possible. Suprisingly from that point on the evolution of government has taken us down the other side of the mountain and the transition to consitutional monarchies, to republics, and eventually to democracies, has taken us back to the concept of putting power back in the hands of the individual.

Sure there have been a few failed totalitarian outliers along the way, but I think the history of government has been pretty graphable overall.

I'm definitely no political historian though, and would be happy if any of you would enlighten/grind my my conept to a powder and snort it.

After reading some Thoreau I've stumbled on the conclusion that ever since the idea of government was first fleshed out and put into practice (the whole "state of nature" argument) it had been working up towards the goal of centralization, consolidation, and the building up of beaurocracies.

From the time when everyone had their own say in their actions, to social groups, to tribal councils, all the way up until the absolutist monarchs of Europe government has been evolving towards a point when the largest amount of power was in the hands of the fewest individuals possible. Suprisingly from that point on the evolution of government has taken us down the other side of the mountain and the transition to consitutional monarchies, to republics, and eventually to democracies, has taken us back to the concept of putting power back in the hands of the individual.

Sure there have been a few failed totalitarian outliers along the way, but I think the history of government has been pretty graphable overall.

I'm definitely no political historian though, and would be happy if any of you would enlighten/grind my my conept to a powder and snort it.

I would say not really: feudal societies had a highly rigid, heirarchical, and multi-faceted system of seniority and control that makes it difficult to call them truly monarchical. Local fiefs were headed up by the local baron, who reported to the count, who reported to the marquess, who reported to the duke, who reported to the king, and additionally, there was a secondary line of control in the church, with abbots and priests running up to the Pope, and there was some debate about who ought to win in that fight. So really, a feudal-era society was probably even more bureaucratic and rigid than our modern bureaucracies, if for no other reason than because our bureaucracies are 1) professional, and 2) answer in some small way to public demand.

Information technologies have slowly whittled away government intervention...

Cuz knowledge is power!!!

I would say not really: feudal societies had a highly rigid, heirarchical, and multi-faceted system of seniority and control that makes it difficult to call them truly monarchical. Local fiefs were headed up by the local baron, who reported to the count, who reported to the marquess, who reported to the duke, who reported to the king, and additionally, there was a secondary line of control in the church, with abbots and priests running up to the Pope, and there was some debate about who ought to win in that fight. So really, a feudal-era society was probably even more bureaucratic and rigid than our modern bureaucracies, if for no other reason than because our bureaucracies are 1) professional, and 2) answer in some small way to public demand.

Exactly though. Feudal systems of the Medieval era gave way to the absolute monarchies of a few hundered years ago (that had less power in the Church and extreme amounts of power i nthe hands of one man). Then those have started in the other direction back towards stratified beaurocracies giving more power to advisors and the people.