Thank You, Polybius
By Tom McCune
Trying to design the ideal form
of government is an old game. It goes all the way back to ancient Greece and
probably farther.
Both Plato and Aristotle took a
crack at it. But it is Polybius we need to thank today. Polybius was the first
to write that a mixed government made up of separate “branches” might be stable
enough to survive the cycles of collapse, revolution, civil war and mob rule
that had plagued the ancient city-states since the beginning of time. The
authors of the U.S. Constitution didn’t make up that idea all on their own.
They got it from Polybius, by way of some Enlightenment philosophers like
Montesquieu.
Plato identified the natural
forms of government as aristocracy, timocracy (rule by affluent warlords),
oligarchy (rule by wealthy elites), democracy and tyranny. He theorized that
societies start with aristocracy (the highest form) and, over time, degenerate
through all of the other inferior forms. Plato hypothesized that one way to
break this cycle was to have an aristocracy led by philosopher-kings who were
wise and selfless. But ultimately, Plato threw in the towel and said that while
a constitutional government of written laws might be “second best” it might
actually be viable in the real world, whereas the concept of the
philosopher-king was not.
Aristotle rejected Plato’s
proposal for an aristocracy of philosopher kings, but accepted some of Plato’s
other ideas. Aristotle identified three “true” governments, each of which
degenerates into a perverted form over time. In his framework, royalty
degenerates into tyranny, aristocracy degenerates into oligarchy, and polity
(constitutional government) degenerates into democracy. Aristotle considered
pure democracy to be an inferior form of government, although he found it to be
the least harmful of the degenerate forms and he suggested that a “mixed” form
of government incorporating elements of democracy, oligarchy and polity might
be best.
It was Polybius who identified a
cycle of governmental forms that societies seemed doomed to endlessly repeat
abetted by revolutions, rebellions and civil wars: 1). monarchy, 2). kingship,
3). tyranny, 4). aristocracy, 5). oligarchy, 6). Democracy and 7). ochlocracy
(mob rule). After that, the cycle starts all over again with the rise of a new
monarchy. But Polybius was also the first to explicitly propose a government
with one branch resembling monarchy (the executive), a second resembling
democracy (the people/legislature) and a third resembling aristocracy (the
council of elders). He suggested that such a government might create a system
where “no part should become unduly predominant, and be perverted into its
kindred vice; and that, each power being checked by the others, no one part
should turn the scale or decisively out-balance the others; but that, by being
accurately adjusted and in exact equilibrium, the whole might remain long
steady like a ship sailing close to the wind.” (Please note that Polybius did
give credit to the constitution of Sparta for some basic ideas).
For 2,000 years, nobody really
had a chance to try Polybius’ idea in its pure form (Up until 1789, that is).
After the single-branch Articles of Confederation failed to create a
satisfactory government for the young United States, the framers tried to create
a more perfect union using Polybius’ basic idea. That more perfect union has
been tested in recent days, just as Plato, Aristotle and Polybius predicted. It
has been tested before and will surely be tested again. But the “equilibrium”
proposed by old Polybius has served us well for 232 years and is the best bet
we have for safety, security, stability and freedom in the future.
I would only quibble with his
notion of an “exact” equilibrium. Modern game theory has looked at the idea of
equilibrium quite extensively. One view is that complex systems are never
exactly in equilibrium, but the struggle between the competing components
always pulls them back into balance. Maybe that is what we have recently
witnessed on the national scene.
Nobody ever claimed our system is
the most efficient form of government. But, considering the alternatives, I’m
with Polybius.
Tom McCune is an architect and
member of the Belmont City Council.