wer and establish an arbitrary
dictatorship of admirals and generals or establish a committee of
military leaders who will pick out civilian office holders willing to
follow the political line laid down by the military leaders.

As republics gain in wealth, increase their power and broaden their
geographical base by bringing outside peoples under their sway, their
dependence upon military means of resolving public controversies becomes
greater. This is particularly true where outsiders brought under the
republic's authority have mature political institutions including their
own leaders and their own ways of dealing with public relations.

Given such a situation, the control by the republic over the
policy-making apparatus of dependencies is likely to have been
established by force of arms. In such a case it is only a matter of time
and occasion when the dependency will demand the right of
self-determination and be prepared to fight for independence of "foreign
tyrants, oppressors and exploiters."

Minor inexpensive military operations for the suppression of colonial
revolt which are quickly and successfully ended may add to the stature
of empire-building leaders. But major operations, long continued,
expensive and inconclusive, will undermine the prestige and weaken the
position of the most firmly seated imperialist. The Boer War against the
British and the wars waged by the Koreans and the Vietnamese against a
series of occupiers and exploiters are excellent examples of the
operation of this principle.

As empire building proceeds under its inescapable expansionist drive, a
point will be reached at which the overhead costs of maintaining the
empire will exceed the income. As that point is approached in one after
another of the empires comprising the civilization, the central
authority will be successfully challenged by the dependent, colonial
periphery. Ordinarily, such challenges will coincide with the
inter-imperial wars which have periodically disrupted every civilization
known to history. When such a coincidence does occur, as it did in
western civilization from 1914 to 1945, the bell is likely to toll
loudly for the civilization in question.

Measures usually adopted to prevent such a catastrophe--martial law,
military dictatorship, self-perpetuating monarchy, divine authority, are
more than likely to heap fuel on the flames of rebellion and lead into a
social revolution.

An unstructured social group opera