As noted in the prior essay, the speed and extent to which a political system advances through this great cycle are determined by the relative distribution of wealth within that system and its security from its neighbours. Due to the uniformity and constancy of human nature, all that a political system requires to complete the sequence is sufficient population, resources, security, and time.
But if mankind is indeed spring-loaded for Anacyclosis, why is it not everywhere seen in our history? Why for instance do we not see it so clearly in the history of China, or Peru, or Zaire? Why is the full sequence so far mainly, if not exclusively, seen in Europe? In fact, we do observe the early stages everywhere. It is only the later stages that are rare. Most of mankind has for most of its history been the subjects of kings and tyrants, nobles and oligarchs. Oligarchy is probably the most persistent condition of mankind, with democracy mainly limited to states adhering to Western Civilisation during less than one-tenth of recorded history since the Mesopotamians and Egyptians.
As will be further considered in the next essay, democracy is rare because the emergence of an independent middle class is rare. Until modern times, most societies never advanced to democracy. Fewer still developed an authentic democracy at least as answerable to the middle households as to the top households. This is because few states ever developed a middle class capable of seriously challenging the elite status quo. As such, the full sequence of Anacyclosis is not everywhere seen because democracy is not everywhere seen.
And, whereas the full sequence of Anacyclosis is not everywhere seen because democracy is not everywhere seen, its full sequence is not frequently seen because of the vast duration required for each iteration to lapse. In a closed system, secure from outside interference, Anacyclosis could run its course in generations. Various occurrences of chance prolong the sequence by centuries and millennia. Indeed, the last time the dual processes of internal revolution and territorial integration converged within a superpower republic, the champion was Augustus, and the hegemon was Rome, and that was more than two thousand years ago.
Accidents of birth, death, assassination, marriage, military victory, foreign intervention; of geography, irrigation, weather, agriculture, pestilence, plague; of culture, customs, laws, insurrection, revolt, and every other supervening force majeure: all of these occurrences obstruct, obscure, and obfuscate the process of anayclosis. Human political evolution is thus subjected to stunted progress, regressions, and varying numbers of stages. But the curvature of history, just as the curvature of the Earth, is clearly perceived from afar no matter how high or low the peaks and valleys are. In the end, mankind’s preoccupation for higher status, operating relentlessly and under a long lapse of time, will average out all the occurrences of chance, guiding human political evolution through the circular path charted by human nature.
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