may object: perhaps much of human history was more complicated than we usually admit, but surely what matters is how things ended up. For at least 2,000 years, most of the world’s population have been living under kings or emperors of one sort or another. Even in places where monarchy did not exist – much of Africa or Oceania, for example – we find that (at the very least) patriarchy, and often violent domination of other sorts, have been widespread. Once established, such institutions are very hard to get rid of. So your objection might run: all you’re saying is that the inevitable took a
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