I am fascinated by the similarities .... like how nations formed confederations eg. the Haudenosaunee
Right! Exactly! Three similarities we see over the world –
Tribal confederacies. The Caledonians in Scotland, various Pashtun confederacies in history, various North American ones.
Small tribal units and big ones. Among the Mapuche, several lov formed a rehue. Among the Māori, whānau confederated into larger hapū; hapū confederated into larger iwi. Among the Bedawin, several bayt formed a goum.
Tribal assemblies: þing among the Nordic folk, veche in the Slavic world, sangha in India, becharaa among the Semai, Jirga among the Pashtun
Community halls or 'third places': the mudhif of the Marsh Arabs, the Toguna of the Dogon, Bulgarian Chitalishte, Caravanserai of the desert people
Managed commons: the tabu of the Hawai'ians, the hima of the Arabs
Customary law, often with restorative justice: xeer in Somalia, coutume in France, pashtunwali, Albanian kanun. Law without cops of a Babylon-type centralised state.
So I think it's somewhat valid to generalise that there exists a pattern called 'tribal', and then it's interesting to generalise that to the whole world. Was it historically universal? No of course not, but no other model was either. The Westphalian nation-state emerged and became dominant, I'm imagining what if tribal confederalism became dominant?
Right! Exactly! Three similarities we see over the world –
Tribal confederacies. The Caledonians in Scotland, various Pashtun confederacies in history, various North American ones.
Small tribal units and big ones. Among the Mapuche, several lov formed a rehue. Among the Māori, whānau confederated into larger hapū; hapū confederated into larger iwi. Among the Bedawin, several bayt formed a goum.
Tribal assemblies: þing among the Nordic folk, veche in the Slavic world, sangha in India, becharaa among the Semai, Jirga among the Pashtun
Community halls or 'third places': the mudhif of the Marsh Arabs, the Toguna of the Dogon, Bulgarian Chitalishte, Caravanserai of the desert people
Managed commons: the tabu of the Hawai'ians, the hima of the Arabs
Customary law, often with restorative justice: xeer in Somalia, coutume in France, pashtunwali, Albanian kanun. Law without cops of a Babylon-type centralised state.
So I think it's somewhat valid to generalise that there exists a pattern called 'tribal', and then it's interesting to generalise that to the whole world. Was it historically universal? No of course not, but no other model was either. The Westphalian nation-state emerged and became dominant, I'm imagining what if tribal confederalism became dominant?