War in Human Civilization by Azar Gat

Author:Azar Gat [Gat, Azar]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2006-10-11T18:30:00+00:00

THE QUEST FOR POWER AND GLORY

Exponential growth and hierarchical structuring also affected all the other, ‘derivative’ elements in the human motivational system, reviewed in Part 1. Status, leadership, and power were sought in the evolutionary state of nature because of the advantages that they conferred in access to somatic and reproductive resources. With resource accumulation and hierarchical organization, the scope and significance of coercive social power rocketed. Furthermore, as both resources and power could now be accumulated and expanded on a hitherto unimaginable scale, while being closely intertwined and interchangeable, power, similar to money, grew into a universal currency by which most objects of desire could be secured. Power became the medium through which all else was channelled, and the quest for power thus stood for all else. Indeed, for this reason, the quest for power seemingly acquired a life of its own and was pursued for its own sake.

Not only was power positively desired; the ‘security dilemma’ in itself drove people and political communities to expand their power, because in a competitive race one would rather swallow than be swallowed. The acquisition of greater size and greater power was among other things a defensive measure, crucial for deterrence, bargaining, and the actual trial of force alike. At the same time, great strength built up for security purposes could also be utilized for achieving positive ends at the other’s expense, putting that other at a disadvantage. As the same logic applied to all the actors, a constant struggle for power ensued, which refuelled the race, thus largely feeding on itself. Strong security pressures were associated with the formation, militarization, and expansion of some of the mightiest of empires, such as the Assyrian, Roman, and many others. Although scholars tend to be sceptical about professions of defensive motives, citing the expected benefits that drove states into expansion, security considerations intermixed rather than contrasted with the expected gains.

Similar to status and power and closely linked with them, the quest for honour and prestige was originally ‘designed’ to facilitate access to somatic and reproductive resources. As such, it too is stimulated by powerful emotional gratifications, which give it a seemingly independent life of its own. Again, the potential for the fulfilment of this quest increased exponentially in large-scale societies. Particularly at their apex, people have been able to indulge in this craving on a scale undreamed of in the evolutionary state of nature, where it originally took shape. Indeed, this indulgence in itself constitutes one of the main attractions of power. Glory—something that could come into being only in large-scale societies—was pursued by rulers (and others, of course) as a means of strengthening their hold on power and everything that it entailed, but also as an independent and most powerful source of emotional gratification. The stellas on which autocrats celebrated their achievements in superhuman images are interpreted by scholars as instruments of royal propaganda, but, equally, they express the quest for the ultimate fulfilment of the craving for boundless glory and absolute domination,

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