II.   Sovereign

Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial and sovereign dominance over one (1) or more subordinate states through the control and implied power of commerce, education, politics, science, philosophy knowledge and culture rather than simply by military force.

The word Hegemony comes from the Ancient Greek hγεμονία (hēgemonia) meaning “supremacy or leadership, chief command” from hγεμών (hegemon) meaning “a leader, guide, commander, chief”.

The concept of hegemony emerged from the 6th Century BCE in Greece by necessity whereby consensus needed to be obtained not just at military but a trade, political and cultural level between disparate city states possessing diverse cultural backgrounds.This introduced systems of enforced “synthesis” of ideas rather than the sheer domination of one (1) culture over another.

Under Hegemony, the leading state of people (ethnikos) established indirect dominance by means of cultural imperialism, therefore dictating the internal political and social nature of the subordinate states within the sphere of influence of the hegemon through a series of key philosophical controls:

(i) Language of the hegemon became the imperial lingua franca of the hegemony, thus influencing society through meanings and the communication of ideas; and

(ii) Law of the hegemon became the “law of the land” of the hegemony; and

(iii) Imperial religious values became the values of the hegemony; and

(iv) Bureaucracy of government became the system of government imposed on all states; and

(v) Trade and Commerce controlled by bureaucracy became the common standards of commerce between the hegemonic states.

The strength of a hegemony within Greece depended not only upon the geopolitical environment but the degree to which certain philosophical elements were applied. The more comprehensive the philosophical model, the stronger. The more choice within the subordinate state, the weaker.

The most successful ancient models of hegemony originate with the Spartian hegemony of Arcadia, demonstrating a fascist totalitarian system which lacked the cultural depth, followed by the Hellenic hegemony of Macedon which introduced the Aristotelian philosophical systems. However, the most successful hegemony of the ancient world was the Theocratic Fascist Totalitarian State of Rome.