f credulous, hopeful, eager human
beings. Its promises have been wonderful; its performance, especially
since 1900, has been pitifully inadequate, superficial and unsatisfying.

_Part II_

A Social Analysis of Civilization

CHAPTER SIX

THE POLITICS OF CIVILIZATION

Several thousand years ago humankind began experimenting with the life
style which we are now calling civilization. Presumably it was not
thought out and blueprinted in advance but worked out by trial and
error, episode by episode, step by step--perhaps, also, leap by leap.

Historical and contemporary experiments with this lifestyle supply a
fund of valuable information, some of which has been covered in the
earlier chapters of this book. Our next task is to analyze and classify
this information under four headings: the politics, the economics, the
sociology and the ideology of civilization. (When the information is
properly arranged, we can do something with it and about it.)

Politics is the part of social science and engineering which is
concerned with the organization, direction and administration of human
communities. We use the word to cover the conduct of public affairs in
any social group more extensive than a family. Hence we refer to village
politics, town politics, national politics, international politics and,
in the present instance, to the politics of civilization as a way of
life.

Each sample, referred to in our examination of typical civilizations,
was built around a center, nucleus or homeland consisting of one or more
cities with their adjacent hinterlands. The nucleus of the developing
civilization was also the nucleus of an empire. Each nucleus was a
center of planned production; accumulating wealth, growing population
and expanding authority. Certain locations are better suited than
others to provide the essentials of a civilization nucleus.

The first requirement for a nucleus is a tolerable climate, primarily a
satisfactory balance between heat and cold. Before the general use of
fire as a source of warmth human populations were concentrated at or
near the tropics. With the increasing use of artificial heating and
lighting human beings were able to cluster farther and farther away from
concentrated equatorial sunlight.

The second requirement of such a location is a strategic position in a
crossroads, in a network of transportation and communication.

The third requirement is a readily available source of