Polybius: 7 Cycles Of Civilization (Anacyclosis) Every President Should Know This - Michael Sugrue

Polybius' Cyclical Theory of Political Regimes

We discuss Polybius' cyclical theory of political regimes, which builds upon Aristotle's categories of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Polybius argues that these regimes naturally transition from their virtuous to their corrupt forms over time, with monarchy becoming tyranny, aristocracy becoming oligarchy, and democracy becoming mob rule. The best and most lasting form is the mixed polity, which balances the one, the few, and the many. However, even this eventually degenerates, leading to a return to the initial state of nature and the cycle beginning anew.

#PoliticalTheory #Aristotle #Polybius #CyclicalHistoryTheory #MonarchyToTyranny #AristocracyToOligarchy #DemocracyToMobRule #MixedPolity

Full Transcript:

“the few and the many sought the common good. That's kingship, aristocracy, and mixed polity. The bad forms of the same categories seek only a private or partial or factional good, and that would be tyranny or oligarchy or something like mob rule. It's not truly democracy. There's a Greek term for it, occulocracy. All right. What Polybius does, and this is a fascinating thought for a historian, is he adds time to Aristotle's categories. And he says the problem with Aristotle is that these seem to be fixed and ahistorical. But because he thinks like a historian, he says, is there an order to these? Is it possible that there's a structure or a pattern to the way in which regimes move from one to the other, to the way in which they decline and turn from one thing into another? And he actually comes up with an idea, which is consistent with the cyclical view of history that we saw in Thucydides when we read the Peloponnesian War. But the cyclical view of history that Polybius has is based upon setting Aristotle's categories in motion through time. So, he says political order is natural. And the first kind of political order, and this is from the state of nature, this is a very sophisticated argument. The first kind of political order will be something like a primitive kingship. The biggest and strongest alpha male, somebody like Achilles, will say I'm the boss now and kill anyone that denies it. He says that's in some ways a pre-political state. But sooner or later, this will, this primitive kingship will result in legitimate monarchy. And legitimate monarchy is the proper rule of the one, but with the intention of achieving the common good and relying upon the rule of law. So, monarchy emerges from primitive chieftainship or kingship. Now, the problem with monarchy is that like all human things, sooner or later it declines. And tyranny is eventually the result. Eventually, you get a king who's a king in name only because he does not pursue the common good. This will naturally generate anger among the best portion of the population. And eventually, the tyranny will be destroyed. And what will take its place is an aristocracy, which took the power away from the bad form of monarchy. But the cycle continues. Sooner or later, that same aristocracy, however virtuous and public spirited to begin with, is going to eventually become self-interested and transform itself gradually into an oligarchy. And that oligarchy will be pursuing the interests of the rich that make up the party rather than the entirety of society. So, they will be the bad form of aristocracy. Now, when the bad form of aristocracy emerges, sooner or later, the people themselves rise up and they institute what you might call a polity, an attempt to create a good, a virtuous version of democracy. Not one that's pure popular will because that ends up being mob rule, but one in which the various elements of society, the one, the few, and the many, according to Aristotle, find a balance. And that's what happens when we get a properly functioning polity. So, of all the six different regimes, there's monarchy and tyranny, aristocracy and oligarchy, and democracy and mob rule. The best of them, the most lasting, is the mixed polity. Now, a callocracy, you might think that was the end of the line, but no. Once you get mob rule, you get the state of war of all against all, like Hobbes talked about. What you're going to get there then is the rise of one superior warrior. So, the entire cycle begins again. That's called anacyclosis. It's the cycle of history, and it comes from human nature and from the constraints which nature puts on us.”