☀️ Arselia and Akonia

— You contradict yourself, my dear, — Kasu replies. — Fine, let’s assume that people are irrational. So, who governs the state? A person! The very same person who doesn’t know how to play the long game, only now, instead of robbing the cash register, they’re raiding the common fund, where there’s much more collective effort. But there’s just one tiny difference: now, they don’t even need to rob this cash register; you’re handing over its contents to them on a silver platter, or else you’re finished.

— Yes, but the irrationality of rulers is not the same as the irrationality of ordinary people... If a state acts against its own interests, or if these people are too selfish (which is often the same thing), then they will not be competing with those they govern, but primarily with other states, so sooner or later, those who are stronger and more successful, and who made the right economic decisions at the right time, will kick them off the political stage.
— Of course, there are rare exceptions, when numerous barbarian tribes, united by the sheer charisma of their leader, overthrow more developed and, one might say, rational states, using only brute force... But then they face a choice: to establish a well-centralized state on the conquered lands and urgently change something for the better in their way of life... Or not to do so and instantly lose all their achievements in the ensuing infighting, at the latest after the ruler’s death from natural causes.