The Breakdown of Civilisations
I dipped into some light reading while taking a break from some rather laborious admin work the other day. On the bookcase in my study, there are many good reads that I dip into from time to time. On this occasion, I chose A Study of History by Arnold Toynbee. The abridged version is 950 pages long. It is the type of book that one can open anywhere and pick up the thread of an argument based on evidence from history. I opened the book at the start of the chapter on the breakdown of civilisations.
Early in the chapter, there is an apt but rather longwinded insight into the behaviour of a failing liberator.
I quote…
“The piper who has lost his cunning can no longer conjure the feet of the multitude into a dance; and if, in rage and panic, he now attempts to convert himself into a drill-sergeant or a slave-driver, and to coerce by physical force a people that can he now no longer lead by his old magnetic charm, then all the more surely and swiftly he defeats his own intention; for the followers who had merely flagged and fallen out of step as the heavenly music died away will be stung by the touch of the whip into active rebellion”.
Toynbee articulates his arguments for the breakdown of civilisations in fine detail. He describes a minority grouping of “creative individuals” responsible for leading a civilisation of uncreative masses. You must excuse the language as this is the writing of a man who published his work in 1934. Toynbee argues that the disintegration of societies does not come from the loss of control over the environment or the people. Neither does it come from attacks from the outside.
Toynbee uses numerous historical examples to show how a creative minority ceases to be creative and deteriorates into a dominant minority. The word minority is used to describe the small leadership cohort rather than a racial group. The importance of creativity is that it inspires the uncreative masses in their “mimesis”. Mimesis is the form of mimicry that inspires art, literature, education, trade, and the general growth of a society.
Toynbee argues that the creative minority deteriorate due to worship of their former self. They become prideful and fail to address the changing needs of society. Does this sound familiar?
It is fascinating that despite the arguments made in 1934 about societies that met their downfall many thousands of years BC, these behavioural patterns play out in societies today.
I can’t help but notice how the ANC relies heavily on the legacy of the liberation movement of Nelson Mandella (the creative minority). Today the ANC worships its former self as being the saviour and yet are so woeful in meeting the current needs of our society. Nothing the ANC does inspires the creativity required for South Africa to navigate its way off its current path to economic failure. The pattern of behaviour of so many failed societies is embedded in the DNA of human behaviour. It is not one group or another that should be blamed but rather humans in general. What is required are robust systems of accountability that highlight these repeating patterns and provide the opportunity for course correction. It remains to be seen if South Africa has the structural systems to force the necessary course correction.
Justin Spencer-Young
