Conrad Demarest Model of Empires

1.  Necessary preconditions for the rise of empires---the region must have:

  1. State-level government
  2. High agricultural potential in the area
  3. An environmental mosaic (i.e. a diversity of environmental conditions)
  4. Several small states with no clear dominant state (i.e. a power vacuum)
  5. Mutual antagonisms among those states (hostility among those states)
  6. Adequate military resources (a military or technological advantage)
  7. An ideology that promotes personal identification with the state, empire, leader conquest and/or militarism

2.  Characteristics and results of a well-run empire include:

  1. Construction of infrastructure---like irrigation, roads, and transportation systems, canals, ports, etc.
  2. Facilitate trade---trade flourishes which can be aided by the building of roads, etc.
  3. Economic rewards (especially in the early years)---and a redistribution of wealth to the elite that trickles down to other classes mainly merchants, scribes, etc.
  4. Build cosmopolitan cities---where art and education flourish (like Rome)
  5. An effective bureaucracy---to ensure communication, tax collection, standardization, coinage, enforcement of laws---resulting in relative stability
  6. Use of a common official language---to ensure communication throughout the empire
  7. A system of justice and laws for the entire empire
  8. Extension of some degree of citizenship or right to conquered peoples---creating some sort of buy-in on the part of the peoples conquered as the empire expands (that means they will be less likely to revolt)
  9. Population increase

3.  Empires fall because:

  1. Failure of leadership---for example when leaders focus on wealth, etc. instead of the needs of the state
  2. Growth beyond a practical limit---over extension of bureaucracy, military, resources and communications…i.e. the empire gets too big to govern effectively
  3. Economic problems---lack of new conquests erodes economic base and wears down faith in ideology that supported the empire
  4. Challenges and/or rebellions within the empire---i.e. civil wars or challenges for the throne
  5. Challenges from outside the empire