Quote:
Originally Posted by ericthered
Or it works for quite some time before breaking down in a very very nasty war.
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Interestingly the Nuer managed to keep together with nothing worse then village vendettas. Of course village vendettas can be really nasty as note those writers note who calculate that a greater proportion of such societies can be lost in assassination exchanges then larger societies lose in large scale wars. This of course varies with the local mood.
In any event a lot of times organization is a response to external threat rather then crime.
The Nuer at least according to that guy who wrote the book on them had a fairly efficient judicial system. I took the analogy though because it seemed like an example of a society that harked primarily to kinship.
Some parts of the Middle East are also an analogy as are some Italian traditions. Usually there is either a predominate tribe, or a modern style state that theoretically acts as referee.