War and Peas

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Yes, two of the book is called the evolution of power, and it touches on this idea. And i think you now, what is, what is clear to me is that the story that's been told for a very long time, which i detail in the book, and i explain it the one of what's called reverse dominance hierarchies, where you had deliberate efforts to try to tear people down if they tried to seize power in hunter gather societies. And you had more to galitarianism among small bands of people, up to 80 people, mostly.

All societies grant more power to some citizens, and there is always a temptation to use that power for the benefit of themselves rather than for the greater good. Power corrupts, we are told — but to what extent is that true? Would any of us, upon receiving great power, be tempted by corruption? Or are corruptible people drawn to accrue power? Brian Klaas has investigated these questions by looking at historical examples and by interviewing hundreds of people who have been in this position. He concludes that power can corrupt, but it doesn’t necessarily do so — we can construct safeguards to keep corruption to a minimum.

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Brian Klaas received his D.Phil. in Politics from the University of Oxford. He is currently Associate Professor in Global Politics at University College London and a columnist for The Washington Post. His new book is Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How it Changes Us. He is host of the Power Corrupts podcast.