[overvale]

Hot take: hereditary kingdoms were a reasonably successful solution to curbing constant civil war in a time when representative democracies might not have been viable (for various reasons).

[csb6]

I don’t think you could call it reasonably successful. For example, much of European history consisted of war and succession disputes. The entire system of aristocracy was prone to instability and shifting alliances. It turns out hereditary succession is not a good way to choose a competent political leader.

[overvale]

The Politics of Succession, by Andrej Kokkonen, Jørgen Møller, Anders Sundell

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Politics_of_Success...

> this book also shows that the development and spread of primogeniture - the eldest-son-taking-the-throne - mitigated the problem of succession in Europe in the period after AD 1000. The predictability and stability that followed from a clear hereditary principle outweighed the problems of incompetent and irrational rulers sometimes inheriting power. The data used in the book demonstrates that primogeniture reduced the risk of depositions and civil war following the inevitable deaths of leaders.

[ramesh31]

>It turns out hereditary succession is not a good way to choose a competent political leader.

It beats strange women lying in ponds distributing swords

[overvale]

> It turns out hereditary succession is not a good way to choose a competent political leader.

I'm not sure republics have cracked that one either.

[leobg]

How can you have a democracy when 90% of the populous is working 12 hour days 6-7 days a week just to pay the bills? How are they going to have an opinion on anything, other than “Stuff is too expensive”.

[bell-cot]

Note that the Ancient Greeks very often had democracies, when their standard of living was rather lower than what you describe. Life expectancy at birth was often below 30 years.

EDIT: Add some cites -

https://acoup.blog/2023/03/10/collections-how-to-polis-101-p...

https://acoup.blog/2025/07/18/collections-life-work-death-an...

https://acoup.blog/2025/10/10/collections-life-work-death-an...

[rgblambda]

Republics, like Venice and San Marino (oldest Republic still in existence), endured for a millennia.

I'll accept they don't have a good track record for defending themselves from hereditary monarchies. e.g. Nizny Novgorod to Muscovy, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (technically elected monarchy) to Prussia-Russia-Austria.

[m463]

I'm sort of amazed that democracies came into existence at all.

On the other hand, I guess the actions of kings were a catalyst. (crazy taxation, closing ports, quartering troops, etc)

[o11c]

It's not just "kings", but "distant kings" in most cases. The French Revolution being a notable counterexample.

[adolph]

I suspect the root of democracy’s success lies in Galton’s observation