States rule subject groups by allying with their internal elites

Evidence

A further criterion of research must be borne in mind, in order to emphasise the dangers inherent in the method of historical analogy as an interpretative criterion. In the ancient and mediaeval State alike, centralisation, whether political-territorial or social (and the one is merely a function of the other), was minimal. The State was, in a certain sense, a mechanical bloc of social groups, often of different race: within the circle of political-military compression, which was only exercised harshly at certain moments, the subaltern groups had a life of their own, institutions of their own, etc., and sometimes these institutions had State functions which made of the State a federation of social groups with disparate functions not subordinated in any way a situation which in periods of crisis highlighted with extreme clarity the phenomenon of ‘dual power’. … The modern State substitutes for the mechanical bloc of social groups their subordination to the active hegemony of the directive and dominant group, hence abolishes certain autonomies, which nevertheless are reborn in other forms, as parties, trade unions, cultural associations. The contemporary dictatorships legally abolish these new forms of autonomy as well, and strive to incorporate them within State activity: the legal centralisation of the entire national life in the hands of the dominant group becomes ‘totalitarian’. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1867 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The Semitic myth gains force when allied with state institutions; Absorbing rival elites into the ruling bloc decapitates and neutralizes opposition; The State-led dominant group blocks reform in regions it only holds by domination (+8 more)

Related

• Transformism absorbed opposition elites into the ruling bloc (similarity 0.88)
• Modern states replace the mechanical bloc with active hegemony by dominant groups (similarity 0.85)
• A newly hegemonic subaltern group must build a new intellectual and moral order (similarity 0.84)
• All state powers are organs of hegemony in varying degrees (similarity 0.84)
• Pre-modern states worked as mechanical blocs of semi-autonomous social groups with dual power (similarity 0.82)
• Ruling-class unity is forged through the organic ties between State and civil society (similarity 0.81)
• Statolatry must be criticised so civil society becomes self-governing and spontaneous (similarity 0.80)
• The State is an equilibrium between coercive political society and hegemonic civil society (similarity 0.79)
• The State’s dominant group presents its interests as universal rather than corporate. (similarity 0.79)
• The corporatist state is plutocratic in structure despite its populist base (similarity 0.79)
• The state is an equilibrium of coercion and consent run through civil society (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Absorbing rival elites into the ruling bloc decapitates and neutralizes opposition #corroborates (0.90)
• Modern states replace the mechanical bloc with active hegemony by dominant groups #expands (0.90) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1867
• The State-led dominant group blocks reform in regions it only holds by domination #qualifies (0.85)
• Ruling-class unity is forged through the organic ties between State and civil society #expands (0.85)
• Coercive government power depends on voluntary cooperation from many #expands (0.80)