Polybius and the Government Cycle

Ancient Greek historian Polybius outlined a cycle of regimes called anacyclosis, describing how states move from monarchy to tyranny, then to aristocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. He argued that democracy eventually decays into ochlocracy, or mob rule, triggering a reset of the cycle. His model framed political change as a recurring pattern rather than a straight line, with each phase sowing the seeds of the next.

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