Ever wondered how states, societies and so to say civilization came into being. The story behind the marvel in which we live every day, I call it a story deliberately. Story because I don’t have evidences to ratify it as history. History too although is a story, mostly written in hindsight with wisdom of the present almost inevitably modifying the past. Many critiques hold the book ‘Rise and fall of the Third Reich’ as one of the best account of the Second World War era. The reason being, that the book is an excerpt of a war journalist diary, his daily accounting of war. Its unique in many ways because the author himself was equally clueless about what going to happen next, while he was writing his journal. The book has been modified now at many instances to suit the taste and contemporary beliefs also to marry perhaps with the account of history most of us know.
I am however here with a story, the way I believe we would have journeyed this far. None of us have been through this journey; it starts much before authentic history ever came into being. I begin my story with the very basic elements. Man and woman, ones who created it and ones for whom it was created, and the ones who are sadly forgotten at times when we talk of big things like society, civilization and state. Nevertheless without whom there is no story at all, so to say.

In the beginning when men were obviously not organized and were more or less by themselves, hunting and moving around in search of food. The diversity at this stage between men would have been limited, for all had to almost same kind of work to survive. Civilization however was amidst humans were quite some time now. So long as to have its effects percolated into our genes. First distinct role differentiation would have occurred between men and women. Men were traditionally hunters and women were collectors or gatherers. Everyone would agree that women are instinctively better at searching a key or a purse that is lost in a room; they have an amazing knack of finding a needle in a hay stack. As for men they were as I said hunters, and that gifted them with a better sense of direction. You would find that men are better at finding their way back home if lost. More noticeably in no other specie would you find such high variation in characteristics especially body strength. It is perhaps because no one hunts for lioness but herself, while in case of humans the ingress of civility allowed these role diversification.

It is also so in case among men, society has allowed varied kind of genes to survive, because there were very many diversified options to survive in a society. This being the better part, it has allowed parasitism too, men feeding on goods produced by others. To start with it must not have been so; men would have come together form a symbiotic association in which they helped each other to hunt and fend. This initial anarchic form would not have survived for very long, for natural variation between men would have led to emergence of alpha males amongst them. Ones those were natural leaders, ones who were followed most willingly by rest of men. It was natural and for the good part of it being the leader was not exempted from the process of hunting for food and other vital activities that ensured survival. I would call these stages miniarchic in nature, for leaders did not dictate their terms in every walk of life but those were collective efforts were required to ensure safety and improvised hunting techniques.

With advent of agriculture and men settling down at one place, and production of food per say becoming a low key and systematic affair, men ventured into more diverse activities and some took on loot and plunder as their means of survival, almost simultaneously some took providing security as theirs. Both faces of same coin, men however chose to be fed by one vulture than be ransacked by many, thus giving rise to monarchic and feudalistic systems one master or to say one predator who is the king all powerful and to one whom all show their allegiance by paying a part of what they produce. The concept of taxation thus came into picture for ensuring safety and security against external aggressors, who too were mostly funded in almost similar manner.

With time it gave rise to really powerful empires which waged wars on those expenses and afforded really lavish life styles. It had its good influences too on the civilization. Those were the time when productions were limited to very few products such as food articles, utensils clothing etc. Since there was no concept of mass production or industrialization, no individual could have amassed wealth as emperors did by their coercive techniques, it is thus these emperors who financed and supported different fine arts and architecture of medieval ages. Poetry and scholastic endeavors which otherwise could not have become a full time profession in those ages. Men would have at the best practiced these things as hobbies, but would have had to work in fields to earn their living. Yes indeed the age of Monarchy did change the face of the earth, gave us beautiful monuments recorded history, wealth to undertake expedition and exploration and so to name a few.

One thing that almost simultaneously came into being was organized religion. I call it organized because God as a concept must not have been new to humanity. Men would have worshiped from time immemorial, forces and phenomenon’s that they don’t understand. Human consciousness awareness of time, a chain of memories and thought that makes possible for it to remember their past and differentiate their present, also interpolate from thereof the concept of future. Future which they are not aware in its nature but definitely aware in its being, this unknown future again pushes humanity towards need of supernatural, one that will ensure well being for them in the times to come. Though a very harmless concept, a soothing pill for the worrisome mind, it is however this concept that was extensively used in weaving religious institutions in human society. Mostly in conjunction with the existing monarchies either supported or propagated by the kings, in return they gave kings divine rights to rule (read exploit) mankind.

The era kings stretched all through the face of earth without very many exception, popular rule of Greece and Roman empire where masses did have some say in the state of affair for brief periods. What brought down these empires were not masses as popularly assumed. The age of industrialization had opened very many diverse options of enterprise, more so it had allowed possibilities of mass production and generation of wealth and resources as it had not been possible by any one individual in the past. Power does not essentially flow through though the barrel of a gun; there are forms in which power manifest, chiefly military economic and intellectual. With enterprise there rose a lot of people among the masses who were generating money equivalent to what state generated by taxation, and this rising economic power along with the power of intellectuals came together to bring down the rule of monarchies.

Kingdoms were however simultaneously replaced by idea of nationality. It existed as natural barriers and language identity at places others it was simply a transition from colonial rule to nations. It takes not much to build nations, few fiery speeches, and a flag and of course strong military might to crush all elements which are anti nationalistic, we have what we call as nations. It was perhaps the need of the hour, dissolving states was far from an option that existed then and perhaps even now. To replace kings who by now have had got bestowed on them both natural and divine rights to rule, they went ahead with populist rule, it brought in what we call democracy, it had its own fallacy too termed at times as the tyranny of Masses. Majority deciding the fate of things irrespective of their qualification or ability to do so, it however definitely a better option than monarchies and dictatorships so to count.

On the economic front two systems that came forth were capitalism and socialism. Capitalism was a natural outcome of the new era. The way men would have naturally gone ahead to take on the agriculture and other activities like wise in the yester years, men ventured into various kinds of enterprise which opened up its way with industrialization. The major difference being man power which was quintessential in any kind of activity in earlier days was not reduced to simply a very vital resource.

This one phenomenon was not very well understood and thus came about the ideology of socialism, one that deliberated upon equitable distribution of the product all enterprise activities among the people involved. The theory neglected importance of capital and idea of enterprise itself. When it was applied in states, states automatically assumed responsibility of all enterprise. This kind of system still works with variable amount of success in different part of the world, most places it has led to either dictatorial or military leadership taking over to maintain the state led mechanisms.

Capitalism too did not get implemented in its natural laissez faire form, democratic systems too being as mentioned earlier being run by masses with no real clue of what is right and wrong opted for induction of certain socialistic principles into the system that supposedly benefited them. What it actually did again was consolidation and empowering state to interfere in matter that should have been left to individuals.

We today live in this era, and this story is story in making, where we move on from here is yet to be decided. I have a faith that what is just and what is right would prevail. As only that can survive the test of time. I believe an era would come when boundaries will dissolve and states slowly become nonexistent. The way euro has united the whole of Europe in many a ways, economies will merge world into one big society or rather one big market. Where men would be free to indulge in enterprise of their choice, and trade or exchange their products as they desire. But at this moment it is still an uncertain future…a happily ever after presumably.