Ruling classes build parallel private military forces positioned on class frontiers

Evidence

While this situation may lead to a suspension of war between the nuclear powers (or so we all must hope), it scarcely prevents them from engaging in military adventures outside their own territorial domains. The two superpowers in particular engage in what might be called “orchestrated wars” in peripheral areas of military strength. By these I mean military encounters, with the governments of other states or with guerilla movements or both, in which the troops of the superpower are not necessarily even engaged at all, but where that power is a prime organising influence. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 187 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Ideologically backward classes can still hold advanced practical functions; Ruling classes can maintain permanent armed forces that work-bound classes cannot match; Dominant classes survive crises by out-maneuvering subordinate groups (+9 more)

Related

• Public authorities can sustain private armed forces beyond city control (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Ruling classes can maintain permanent armed forces that work-bound classes cannot match #expands (0.85)
• Superpowers wage wars abroad through proxies rather than their own troops #exemplifies (0.80) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 187
• States rule subject groups by allying with their internal elites #expands (0.78)
• Dominant classes survive crises by out-maneuvering subordinate groups #complicates (0.75)
• An economically displaced class can retain political and intellectual supremacy #expands (0.73)
• Military obedience can mask a private rebellion against authority itself #complicates (0.72) — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 258
• Armies composed of mercenaries and marginals predate modern states #qualifies (0.72)