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Miscellaneous

What Goals Support the Wellbeing of Afghans?

What do Afghans need?

What benefits could flow from a united Afghanistan?

How Do Leaders Get Power?

Historical Background

Several forms of social and political information are illustrative of features of institutions that developed later on as larger population have become involved. For discussion of these earlier developments see here.


Rule by the people

Loss of a king's grip on his country

  • When barons fielded armies against the king, the Magna Carta limited the power of the English king and defined the rights of the barons who had opposed him.
  • The Magna Carta became the first document to lead toward constitutional monarchies and to non-monarchical governments with founding documents, constitutions, that explicitly stated the rights and responsibilities of both the government and the people.
  • The general principle of limiting the power of higher levels of government by agreement ultimately became the recognized way for modern governments to avoid abuses of power rather than fighting them after they had developed and become entrenched.

Termination of a monarchy by revolution

  • French Revolution was very chaotic and took a long time to stabilize into the France of today.
  • Afghanistan once had a king and a constitution, The country was not stable as it was then constituted. Revolution followed.

Starting with an inchoate situation

monoculture or single ethnicity or single religion

  • Comparatively easy to form a hierarchy starting from one charismatic leader who attracts supporters, make them his/her allies, and gradually expands scope to involve most member of the people living in his/her region.

Multi-culture or multiple ethnicities or multiple religions

  • Difficult to get two religions into one polity. An Ireland that melds Catholics and Protestants has been a long-term problem. North Ireland and Eire may experience new conflicts after Brexit.
  • Difficult to get two incompatible political systems into one polity. Totalitarians and Libertarians do not coexist well.
  • Difficult to get two language groups into one polity. Quebec almost ceded from Canada.
  • Difficult to get two ethnic groups or so-called races into one polity. The United States is not very well united when it comes to civil liberties for African Americans.
  • If there are other considerations you would consider, you can add them here.

Desirable Social and Political Structures

Can we better fit nurture to nature? Which path is best?

What are the characteristics of tribal societies?

A discussion by Francis Fukuyama

Tribal organizations may be useful when the tribes are not forced into interactions with other tribes, but when a country needs to unify its ways of dealing with outside influences, it may be difficult to attain and maintain overall management of these efforts, coordinate actions, etc.

How did the state originate?

miscellaneous.txt · Last modified: 2023/04/10 01:49 by kc