• kaffiene@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Which system IS stable? AFAICT every system ever has allowed some people more power than others and those people cleave more power to themselves over time. This appears to be how most empires fall

    • samus12345@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Good question! The oldest government still in operation appears to be San Marino, a tiny country near Italy, at around 415 years. Considering that even at a small size it’s only been around that long despite civilization being around 6000 years old, I think it’s safe to say we haven’t managed a system that has real staying power yet.

      • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        There’s hunter-gatherer tribes that have been more or less stable for over a thousand years. It’s said that the Nez Perce have lived on the Columbia River for 11,500 years.

        • samus12345@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Yeah, but for the purpose of looking at stable governments in cities, hunter-gather societies aren’t a helpful comparison.

        • kaffiene@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Good points but my question is more about governments that work at the scale of a nation state.