The Civilisational Matrix . . .the conflict between capitalism and civilisation.

Geopolitically, the world is stabilising and returning to its usual axis with the Mega-civilisations , once again, rising to the top their natural position. We ve been through 2-3 centuries where ruthless barbarians have controlled the world and at a time where humans had developed just enough to have a reach across the whole globe. Most previous empires have had regional influence unlike the Europeans, who had global influence.

Over 40 years ago, I recall discussing the rise and fall of empires and civilisations with a history academic who argued that empires were cyclical and whilst the West was powerful, power would transition to the East, in time. When analysing this argument, my assessment was that, at the time of older civilisations, their sphere of military influence was constrained by technology and distance. Due to the global reach of empires of our time, it was increasingly difficult for civilisations to rise as the dominant powers would suppress them. The Yanks hegemony seemed invincible.

How wrong I was and the geopolitical transformation currently in-flight brings a New World Order and has confronted us faster than anyone could have possibly imagined. The empire s defeat and humiliation in Iran marks the end of the Western empire which brought unimaginable destruction and cruelty to the civilised world with estimates of over a million innocents being slaughtered in each year of its existence close to 2 centuries. This was an era where you had to look like the empire, dress like the empire, think like the empire, follow the religion of the empire and eat the same as the empire, or else you were inferior or a barbaric enemy. It was a time of immense destruction and pillage of the rich tapestry of cultural heritage across the globe with many societies being cleansed into extinction.

The demise of the empire was driven by.

1.      The barbaric warring nature of the West who could not stop but wage wars against each other even though the whole world s wealth was under their control. The twentieth century saw 2 world wars (predominantly Western wars into which the civilised world was dragged into) which commenced the demise. This was a civilisation that was based on conquest and reaping ill-gotten treasures rather than building a sustainable civilised society a civilisational society.

2.      Capitalism driving extreme greed and with it a culture of rapid asset accumulation and competition. It was competition that ultimately failed the empire. It drove the oligarchs, who were wallowing in their high living standards, to invest in regions where the living standards were lower, if they were to remain competitive. Although some analysts argue that it was a strategic error for the West to invest in China, some even suggesting that it was out of some strange streak of kindness , it was their own system of extreme competition that was the principal driver of that change.

The question is, why is it that some civilisations form the natural balance and are sustainable whilst others pop up create instability, havoc and disappear? Thankfully so - it could be argued that humanity really could not have survived another century of Western dominance in light of where it was heading.

The Civilisational matrix.

The Civilisational Matrix has two, not completely unrelated, dimensions to form a matrix that provides some interesting insights to the very nature of empire building, colonialism and sustainability.

Wealth generators are entities where their purpose is purely wealth generation. A sustainable society, culture, moral values etc., are often contradictory to their purpose and are secondary. The positioning on this dimension is based on the balance between these aspects.

The dimension of civilisation , is the more complex, and to some extent subjective. It represents the sustainability and longevity of the society, its history, coexistence with other nations, peacefulness, the size of population, the culture and economy most things that are valued by civilised society. Clearly it must be a profitable entity, if it is to attract citizens and hence the inter-dependence between these axes.

As the purpose of this matrix is primarily to apply it in the context of geo-politics, I focus more on that aspect of civilisations than would an anthropologist. As most nations are now developed , I found the traditional characteristics used for analysing civilisations rather limiting. So, I have taken the liberty to define characteristics that highlight differences in modern nations. The table below provides the characteristics that might apply at the ends of this dimension.

Domains of categorisation	Low end	High end
History	o  Short history of a functioning sustainable society.	o  A long history of near continuous sedentary settled society extending to 3000 8000 years o  Regional Empires
Social values and stratification	o  No national identity or clinging onto an external identity. o  Individual aspirations o  No cultural influence on region other than coerced influence. o  Ethno-supremacy constraining social cohesion. o  Imported culture rather than indigenous	o  Strong national identity. o  Societal aspirations o  Cultural influence across a wide region achieved through natural osmosis (language, art, cuisine, architecture). o  Tolerance and embrace of ethnic diversity. o  Well-developed indigenous social customs and religious believes. o  Diversity professions, skills and labour.
Geo-political influence and philosophy	o  Low value in sovereignty, often compromised for other benefits. o  Often still direct or indirect colonies. o  Conflict with neighbours and always feeling threatened. o  Subjugated to others in alliances. o  Attempt to dominate through control rather than influence o  Existence relies on external alliances	o  Independent sovereign nations projecting confidence. o  Peaceful and tolerant of neighbours o  Dominates the region though influence rather than control. o  Capable of defending itself within the region. o  Contributes positively to the well-being of its region and globally.
Constitution & legal framework	o  Minimal legal systems heavily corrupted by politics and Oligarchs. o  Poorly drafted constitutions that are geared toward the profiteering of a select few and open to exploitation by Oligarchs. o  Geared to efficiency at the expense of equity and exploitation. o  Apartheid	o  Comprehensive legal systems that have been developed by intellectuals over centuries. o  Systems that are geared towards building societies and social cohesion. o  Applied equally across population.
Socio-Economic sustainability	o  Small populations o  Small economies o  Single industry based o  Reliance on other nations for sustainability.	o  Large sustainable populations o  Large sustainable economies (GDP) o  Diverse economies o  Resilience of economy internal production capability and self-sufficiency.

Recognisable Clusters

After positioning nations in this matrix, we see some interesting clusters of nations showing similar characteristics.

Ex-colonies (Destroyed societies).

Political and Social environment	Constitution & legal framework	Economy
o  Dysfunctional societies with broken social structures. o  Underfunded public services including health, education, transport. o  Corrupt political environment with dictatorships or fledgeling democracy . o  Typically, ex-colonies raped and pillaged of indigenous culture and wealth. o  Often overpowered by Western religions that were forced on them.	o  Sound constitutions based on European frameworks which are sometimes corrupted by powerful politicians. o  Legal systems that are a mix of European and local customs. o  Typically, indiscriminatory to race and religion.	o  Struggling economies that were rampaged by European colonialists. o  Typically, in transition from serving the interest of colonial masters to local interests. o  Reliant on aid from wealthy nations and therefore constrained by neo-colonialism.

 

Settler colonies (Wealth accumulators)

Political and Social environment	Constitution & legal framework	Economy
o  A society that is focussed on asset accumulation. o  No national identity. Identity defined by colonialism. o  Founded on the back of genocide, ethnic cleansing and slavery of indigenous people. o  Highly competitive and rorting is the accepted form of transaction. To the extent that crime is fine if you don t get caught. o  Democracies that are controlled by Oligarchs and growing disparity between rich and poor. o  Significant discrete Jewish control of political outcomes. o  Limited social safety nets. o  High living standards including effective public service. o  Openly secular but in practice mono religious and Islamophobic . o  Politically either controlled or aligned with European nations. o  False pretence of an appreciation of fine arts and culture mostly to compensated for what they lack and gain respectability from European colonial.	o  Minimalist legal systems based on their European colonial masters and heavily corrupted by politics and Oligarchs. o  Constitutions that were drafted by uneducated villains and vagabonds geared towards, white supremacy and control, apartheid and wealth extraction. o  Constitutions typically contain racist clauses reflecting their history.	o  High GDP per capita. o  Extreme capitalism controlled by a few Oligarchs and is based on trickle-down economics. o  Economies mostly dominated by single prime industries with some exceptions. o  Historically profitable/efficient on the back of cheap land and labour - slavery. o  Economies that were originally geared to wealth generation for European colonialism and often still aligned to those nations. o  Deregulated low tax environment geared towards rapid wealth generation.

 

Colonial powers

Political and Social environment	Constitution & legal framework	Economy
o  A rich culture developed over centuries. o  Social stratification based on centuries of settled society. o  Wealth accumulated through extraction from empires, colonialism and neo-colonialism. o  Highly militarised forming the basis for controlling other nations. o  Gun boat diplomacy rather than influence. o  Racist mono-cultures that are founded on white supremacy but present a factitious image of liberalism. o  Often burdened with defending hideous causes that are relics from their colonial history genocides, ethnic cleansing, extreme atrocities, such as Israel. o  Societies that are struggling to accept and define their less relevant role in the new world order often resorting to militarism for comfort.	o  Mature, although sometimes clumsy, constitutions and legal frameworks which have protected civil liberties and are a foundation for building a society and civilisation.	o  Wealthy, but declining economies. o  High, but declining living standards. o  Diverse economies that are trending towards a concentration of service sector industries. o  Extreme capitalism has driven a reliance on cheaper nations for all production. o  Economies that are losing their neo-colonial revenue and economic might.

 

Mega civilisations

Political and Social environment	Constitution & legal framework	Economy
o  Societies that have existed for millennia. o  Rich and complex cultures that have formed over extended periods. o  Often the centre of great empires of the past. o  Cultural influence that has been the basis of the regional cultures. o  Diverse social stratification, professions. o  Complex cities and infrastructure displaying architectural proficiency. o  Cities that have drawn large population over centuries. o  Many were suppressed by European colonialism and neo-colonialism. o  Balanced priorities between wealth generation and cultural and social development. o  Balance between individual exceptionalism and communal success. o  A strong national Identity although constituted of many sub ethnicities.	o  Mature, comprehensive legal systems reflecting complex history.	o  Medium to large diverse economies. o  Largely self-sufficient o  Diverse industry sectors.

Country Analysis

So how do individual countries stand in this matrix.

China, India and Iran

These are the mega civilisations. They form the foundation of most significant human civilisations with the exception of, perhaps, those that were destroyed by the Europeans in the American continents. All of which were suppressed colonised to some extent during the Western colonial era and have taken different paths post WWII.

China adopted communism and has faired the best in terms of recovery. It could be argued that immediately after World War 2, China was economically in the worst position of these 3 nations. It now is unquestionably the iconic nation on Earth. Its cities are modern and outshine any other. It has admirable accomplishments in raising its citizens out of poverty.

India grapples with the remnants of being a colony, corrupt forms of democracy and capitalism. Unlike the other two, India was unable to break-away from neo-colonialism and is the only mega civilisation that did not transform to it s own political system, but instead, transplanted the Westminster system which has led to a populist, nationalist system. It still shows signs of economic growth but struggles to eliminate poverty, due to a capitalist inclination. In addition, it is challenged with continuous ethnic and religious feuds inherent in the two party adversarial political system that the political class is too immature to resolve, but rather exploit for political gain. It sits on the fence between its ties with Western powers and the new world order, which, invariably ensures that it is not favoured by either.

Iran has endured the most challenging path of these nations post WWII. Due to its richness in energy resources, the Western powers were unwilling to relinquish their control. As a result, it lost a democratic government to a Western controlled dictatorship. The people s revolution then established, much to the West s disapproval, an Islamic Republic. Ever since, the nation has been sanctioned but has fiercely maintained its sovereignty. Most recently, with its defeat of the US and Israel, it has reclaimed its position as a Mega civilisation.

With the demise of the Western colonialist, we see the re-emergence of the Mega civilisations as the dominant influential powers of the world.

United State

The US is a settler colony that, like the others, was founded on genocide and ethnic cleansing. The European colonials quarrelled amongst themselves on the sub division of the continent and then the residents fought for their independence from their colonial masters, the UK. This is a settler colony with a strong identity of its own. Through migration it has a large population and the largest economy. There are extreme wealth disparities with a surprisingly large number of homeless for such a wealthy nation. In recent decades, it has invested in never ending wars and less in building a sustainable society. The infrastructure is largely failing. As a victim of extreme capitalism, it has lost its manufacturing capability and self-sufficiency. The nation is now living beyond its means and has built up the largest deficit known to mankind! The ramification of which is not fully understood.

Australia

Another settler colony founded on genocide and ethnic cleansing. Unlike the US, Australia has no national identity. It clings on to links with its colonial master, UK, and more recently, the leader of the Anglo-sphere, the US. One of few nations that formally had an apartheid policy along with Israel and South Africa the White Australia policy. The society is driven by profiteering and rorting and politically controlled by Oligarchs. The constitution was written by crooks who ensured the white population could suppress others and exploit the resource of the land. It has one of the few openly racist constitutions. It constitutes largely of a migrant population who are incentivised by the high living standards but continues to associate themselves with their countries of origin. The aspirations are to become a tradie (tradesmen), own many investment properties and tear around town in a BMW ute (SUV) rorting each other! The economy is driven by mining and service sectors. There is little investment in building a sustainable civilisational society.

Key Insights

There are several insights that can be deduced from this.

Insight 1: Mega civilisations have diverse balanced priorities and values and are strategic in their outlook.

When looking at the mega cultures that have stood the test of time, we see that the societies are built on social cohesion, communal wealth, diverse industrial economies supported by a proficient labour force, reinvestment in infrastructure and a peaceful outlook geo-politically. They build societies rather than individuals. They value communal wealth rather than individual wealth. They influence their neighbours through a value proposition rather than military coercion. They settle on a balance between efficiency and equity that nurture a society rather than rich individuals.

Insight 2: Extreme capitalism and Individualism are inhibitors to building a Mega culture.

Extreme capitalism builds rapid wealth and increases living standards but makes the society less competitive. Effectively, building an economy that invests offshore to maintain itself an unsustainable model. Typically, capitalism engenders a society with widening wealth gaps and a society controlled by oligarchs. A society that relies on trickle down ideology for wealth distribution not the most conducive for building a thriving society.

A focus on individualism does increase competition and to some extent efficiency but most often unhealthy competition which nurtures corruption, crime and dysfunction at an individual level as well as within and without organisations.

Insight 3: Mega civilisations think big and far ahead.

The political and social planning cycles of Mega cultures are strategic and long term rather than tactical and short term. China has an underlying planning cycle of 50 years complimented by 10 year plans and shorter tactical planning. Iran is quite similar and the outcome of the recent war with the West was an indication of how a 20 year plan of defence successfully militarily defeated the world super-power and its attack dog.

They think in terms of regional development rather than individual or national. The Belt and Road Mega project is an example of, not simply regional, but global development. It is prudent to note that the West is taking as many measure possible to make that project fail a clear difference in value sets between ex colonials and a resurgent Mega-civilisation.

Insight 4: Mega civilisations seek political structures that are stable.

The political structure of China and Iran have been stable over decades providing a solid foundation for building sustainable cities and societies. A stable political system facilitates long term strategy and planning.

The two or many party adversarial political systems that were enforced on nations across the world by the West have ensured instability and continuously conflicting political direction. The West was able to disregard these challenges by colonising other nations and extracting wealth. As that source of wealth has now declined, we see these economies struggling to keep up. The short-termism of Western politics ensures short term planning and a political class that is based on salesmanship rather than capability. Societies that were built on conflict and individualism, rather than cohesion, are now disintegrating and ignorantly clutching on to values of racism and white supremacy for salvation.

Insight 5: Mega cultures are tolerant and multi-cultural.

Mega cultures such as China, India and Iran are constituted of many races, cultures and religions. Their systems easily accommodate and assimilate and capitalise from this diversity and this despite the many efforts of the West to destroy the cohesion of these societies as we saw most recently in Iran a fatal error in judgement of the West in terms of the unity of Iranians. These nations are as big as Europe and are as diversified. However, Europe is a group of conflicting tribes. Each intolerant of each other and incapable of a cohesive collective society no matter how much their political goons call out common values they simply don t have them.

Insight 6: Mega cultures are peaceful, moralistic and rational

The mega cultures have not been in any major wars for decades or even centuries other than some that they were dragged into by colonial projects. There societies are, by and large, peaceful, moralistic and rational. We experienced the rationality of a nation such as Iran in the recent conflict. The contrast of an irrational and chaotic West vs a calm, rational and collect Mega culture has never been more evident.

Iran and China s position on the grotesque genocidal entity in Palestine reflects a society that is driven by morality. In contrast, we have a West that has for decades knowingly supported this abomination and simply sought weasel words to sell an excuse all because it was profitable. As we see now, immoral positions always rub against the grain of society and we see it inflame the citizenry of the West, who are attempting to bring back a moral position. In the civilised world there has never been a conflict on this matter they have always taken the moral position.

Conclusion

Societies and cultures across the world take many forms and the Civilisational Matrix clusters these nations into groupings that reflect their history, culture and values.

The 6 principles present a formular for developing a sustainable Mega culture. As the world becomes smaller, humanity s ability to live harmoniously will be critical. Perhaps we end-up with a single Mega civilisation that embraces the diversity and sub-cultures across the globe with the Mega-Civilisations back in control, there is now some possibility of that becoming a reality.