@earlymodern @histodons @historikerinnen

In order to get an even better understanding of the position and opportunities of cities as diplomatic actors in #emdiplomacy Gerber asks for more comparative research that not only focusses on one city but puts different case studies into perspective.

Thus, Gerber shows yet again the diversity of #emdiplomacy. (5/5)

#earlymodern #EarlyModernEurope #diplomacy #citystates

@jmkorhonen
1st, a comment as to the number of tweets.. are your server text limits that small? It's much easier to read when not chopped up into sound bytes. :)

I did not see 'scale' mentioned. For example, what knowledge medium is used for communicating the common desire of 1 resource? Word of mouth in a village? Front page ads in the NYT? I think it's important to include it.

The formation of #society IS concentration of #power. It is the one power that rules all others, forming from consensus & unity. How that power is structured means everything, as you've delineated.

The evolution of #systems is such that, when initial structures are no longer functioning for the survival of the whole, the internal flow distribution will reconfigure in a collective phase change. "Redistributing" is not as efficient as correct, #resilient initial distribution. Unfortunately, human social structures are manipulated outside of normal physics by those who have the power to do so, and are extremely resistant to change once established.

At the same time, these concentrations of power into the hands of the few inevitably lead to systems failures. The piece-meal application of band-aids over these problems can extend the life of the status quo for generations, but will always crop back up eventually.

In order to break this cycle, we have to move past the competition schemes. Like #Science, basic 'survival' technology needs to be open & shared, with the intent that our neighbors being more #SelfSufficient means they won't end up at our door with desperate plans and severe consequences.

Our #philosophy around #democratic, egalitarian living must be ported over to the collectives, and allowed to break away from #NationState structures back to #CityStates, with regional agreements between sovereign, fully distributed democracies. (not the #faketocracies that exist today)

Everything that we desire for individuals must also be applied to our plural, compound bodies. This requires a fairly significant change in the #anthropocentric views that nationalism and other forms of bigotry & #jingoism drive. That is nearly impossible to do in the conditions of scarcity & #inequality, which are of course, favored by the elitists in power who benefit from them.