All the philosophers believed that this cycling was harmful.
As I understand, we are currently in a monumental effort to see if we can’t transition to the next stage in the life cycle of governance, and as much as possible, avoid some of the harm that accompanies the metamorphosis between stages. . . . Good heavens, NO, Sandra! the “next stage” in the literature (below) is oligarchy (looking at it from top down), or bondage (looking from bottom up). That is precisely what our monumental effort is trying to avoid!
Be careful with the ideas behind “life cycle of democracy”:
- Lazy use of words causes us to think with less clarity. It is not “life cycle of democracy“. The “life cycles” clearly define democracy as one of the STAGES in a life cycle.
- Things don’t have to be “inevitable”. Do they? (For example, life cycle says that they are. It is inevitable that we, in the human life cycle, will die as do all creatures.)
- If we can get from where we are, to something better for everyone and the environment (for creation) – – we don’t want oligarchy and bondage, the stage that follows democracy – – will we have broken the cycle?
- The “cycle” is over decades or centuries. Can we, at best disrupt it, delay the pain? Or is it truly the cycling of seasons – – we must go into our winter?
So there’s the challenge: if we can apply what those who have gone before us have learned, to lessen the pain, let’s do it! But CAN WE disrupt the cycle? The pain is going to be awful this time around, if we can’t.
A. There are the Greek masters, of course (below – – a nice synopsis from Wikipedia, with thanks).
B. Below, brief: the work of a Scottish historian, Alexander Tytler who died in 1813, is currently being used by different groups, to support different interpretations of political life cycle, some of which have merit, some of which I don’t subscribe to.
Step one. From bondage to spiritual faith. When people of a country are being repressed by their government, there is a spiritual wakening, or even a renaissance. The resistance of bondage and repressive government helps to unite the people.
C. I am an admirer of the work of Jane Jacobs (died 2006, Toronto). I often refer to her.
SO WE HAVE BELOW:
A. GREEK PHILOSOPHERS ON “THE KYKLOS” (Life cycle of governance. Top down perspective)
B. HISTORIAN ALEXANDER TYTLER (DIED 1813) (Life cycle. Bottom up perspective)
C. JANE JACOBS, DARK AGE AHEAD (Symptoms we are experiencing of the transitional phase between democracy and oligarchy, as I interpret.)
Of necessity, this is not comprehensive. I am not a political scientist! Does not mean I cannot make some attempt to understand.
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A. GREEK PHILOSOPHERS ON “THE KYKLOS” (Life cycle of governance. Top down perspective)
Kyklos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyklos
The Kyklos (Ancient Greek: κύκλος, IPA: [kýklos], “cycle”) is a term used by some classical Greek authors to describe what they saw as the political cycle of governments in a society. It was roughly based on the history of Greek city-states in the same period. The concept of “The Kyklos” is first elaborated in Plato’s Republic, chapters VIII and IX. Polybius calls it the anakyklosis or “anacyclosis“.[1]
According to Polybius, who has the most fully developed version of the cycle, it rotates through the three basic forms of government, democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy and the three degenerate forms of each of these governments ochlocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny. Originally society is in anarchy but the strongest figure emerges and sets up a monarchy. The monarch’s descendants, who because of their family’s power lack virtue, become despots and the monarchy degenerates into a tyranny. Because of the excesses of the ruler the tyranny is overthrown by the leading citizens of the state who set up an aristocracy. They too quickly forget about virtue and the state becomes an oligarchy. These oligarchs are overthrown by the people who set up a democracy. Democracy soon becomes corrupt and degenerates into mob rule, beginning the cycle anew.
Plato and Aristotle have somewhat different beliefs. Plato only sees five forms of government. Aristotle believes the cycle begins with monarchy and ends in anarchy, but that it does not start anew. He also refers to democracy as the degenerate form of rule by the many and calls the virtuous form politeia, which is often translated as constitutional democracy. Cicero describes anacyclosis in his philosophical work De re publica.
Machiavelli, writing during the Renaissance, appears to have adopted Polybius’ version of the cycle. Machiavelli’s adoption of anacyclosis can be seen in Book I, Chapter II of his Discourses on Livy.
All the philosophers believed that this cycling was harmful. The transitions would often be accompanied by violence and turmoil, and a good part of the cycle would be spent with the degenerate forms of government. Aristotle gave a number of options as to how the cycle could be halted or slowed:
- Even the most minor changes to basic laws and constitutions must be opposed because over time the small changes will add up to a complete transformation.
- In aristocracies and democracies the tenure of rulers must be kept very short to prevent them from becoming despots
- External threats, real or imagined, preserve internal peace
- The three government basic systems can be blended into one, taking the best elements of each
- If any one individual gains too much power, be it political, monetary, or military he should be banished from the polis
- Judges and magistrates must never accept money to make decisions
- The middle class must be large
- Most important to Aristotle in preserving a constitution is education: if all the citizens are aware of law, history, and the constitution they will endeavour to maintain a good government.
Polybius, by contrast, focuses on the idea of mixed government. The idea that the ideal government is one that blends elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Aristotle mentions this notion but pays little attention to it. To Polybius it is the most important and he saw the Roman Republic as the embodiment of this mixed constitution and that this explained its stability.
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B. HISTORIAN ALEXANDER TYTLER (DIED 1813) (Life cycle. Bottom up perspective)
Step one. From bondage to spiritual faith. When people of a country are being repressed by their government, there is a spiritual wakening, or even a renaissance. The resistance of bondage and repressive government helps to unite the people.
There are various applications of the work of Scottish historian Alexander Tytler (1747 – 1813). He was, among other things, a Professor of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh.
I don’t know any of this in any depth and have not read Tytler’s work directly. So am wary in making any statements.
IF the following accurately represents Tytler’s work, it suggests to me that Tytler may have been looking at the Kyklos more from the perspective of the active role of Citizens, whereas the Greek thinkers were looking at the question more from a top-down perspective – – what is the role of the Leaders or rulers in the governance structure that causes the kyklos (cycles) to happen?
Roughly,
- Greeks: focus is on the causal role of the leadership in the state
- Tytler: focus is on the causal role of the citizens
(That train of thought is how I got to C. JANE JACOBS (below).)
Scottish historian Alexander Tytler’s theory sets out a cycle that the governance of human society goes through. The cycle starts out with a society in bondage.
From wake up world it’s time to rise and shine, the stages are:
- Bondage
- Spiritual Faith
- Courage
- Liberty
- Abundance
- Selfishness
- Complacency
- Apathy
- Dependence
(then back to Bondage)
Copying from wake up world it’s time to rise and shine BUT starting with Where we are Today:
Step five. From abundance to complacency . . . There is no harm at the door and food comes easy, so our society complacently accepts everything as if it is normal.
Step six. Selfishness
Step six seven. From complacency to apathy. Once a nation hits complacency, then the move to apathy is quick. It is painstakingly obvious that there are gangsters running the governments of the western world, and their rackets are in plain sight. As Tacitus famously said, “The more corrupt the State, the more numerous the laws.” From paedophile cover ups, expense scandals, dangerous technologies being rolled out, massive conflicts of interest, the creation of our money supply by private corporations — all sanctioned in law — and politicians betraying the people by backtracking on their manifesto pledges, to mention but a few. There should be enormous public outcry, but all we see is a relatively few brave souls doing their best to get people to understand, acknowledge and most importantly, act. Apathy has taken hold of our society today. And this unfortunately is heading us very rapidly into the last two steps in the life cycle…
Step seven eight. From apathy to dependence. We are becoming more and more dependent on money. As the Dalai Lama recently stated, humanity “sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
Step eight nine. From dependency back to bondage. Once we become truly dependent on only money and lose all our other basic skills (such as food cultivation), which today are given away to government and big business, we truly become dependent on them for everything — and we fall back into bondage. The best way to describe this is by a native American Indian proverb: “Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can’t eat money.”
… and on it goes, back to.
Step one. From bondage to spiritual faith. When people of a country are being repressed by their government, there is a spiritual wakening, or even a renaissance. The resistance of bondage and repressive government helps to unite the people.
Step two. From spiritual faith to great courage. Once you begin to understand the nature of our reality and realise there is actually nothing to fear, then you can begin to exercise your courage against a repressive government — courage which all of us have.
Step three. From courage to liberty. Once you have found your courage, you can stand tall to demand your freedom from your bondage. For example, this has happened in history here in the UK with Magna Carta and in the United States with the Declaration of Independence. This is where true democracy begins to manifest.
Step four. From liberty to abundance. Once people begin to enjoy their new found freedom, they realise this can be good for all and not just few, and abundance is created. In liberty, working together can make life easier for all and everyone can contribute to a better world for all.
and so it goes . . . .
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It reminds me of Jane Jacobs whose work I often cite.
(Use the search box in the upper right hand corner of this page. Enter Jacobs.)
Integrating her work with A and B:
Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics, in the life cycle context, is a description of mechanics. It tells one of the HOWs of the transition to oligarchy (what I call corporatocracy).
I have been uncomfortable with Jacobs’ assertion that the moral / ethical standards are set by the Leadership in a government (country, province, municipality, community) or institution or business:
Yes, and I can tell you good stories from my personal experience to support the assertion. BUT
No, because it is too much a cop-out – – it is what you expect from people who are disempowered. I operate from the premise that we can be empowered.
In life-cycle context, that is
Step one. From bondage to spiritual faith. When people of a country are being repressed by their government, there is a spiritual wakening, or even a renaissance. The resistance of bondage and repressive government helps to unite the people.
From there to Step two – – the empowerment offers courage (which all of us have).
From empowerment and courage to Step three, Liberty. Democracy again!
Jacobs (and others) have been warning us that we are getting too deep into the oligarchy / bondage stage in the cycle (her book, “Dark Age Ahead“, more below).
Her little book Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics. For those unfamiliar,
Go to THE PROBLEMS WE GET INTO WHEN WE DO NOT HAVE A SEPARATION OF POWERS BETWEEN THE STATE AND COMMERCE: JANE JACOBS
in the posting, 2010-02-11 Manipulators without conscience. This is your food. Bayer’s GM rice. Triffid (U of S) GM flax. Jane Jacobs on separation of commerce and governance.
(I tried to apply the idea that Information is to Inform our Actions. Which means taking the ideas in Jacobs’ book, Systems of Survival and applying them, in the preceding case, to actions around our food supply.)
2005-04-22 Jane Jacobs, “Dark Age Ahead”. A word of caution.