Human social order begins where animal social order leaves off. The difference is complexity.
Large complex groups whose members interact in complex ways cannot always be controlled by a single leader. Some control must be delegated (which some animals also do). Power must be shared.
Various arrangements exist…
- Rigid leadership hierarchies are imposed (for example by the Catholic Church and the military).
- Teams tried
- Committees coerced
- Congresses convened
- Collectives conceived
- Councils elected
- Matrix-style organizations attempted
- Democracies born
- Republics seized
- Constitutional monarchies grudgingly allowed
Sometimes the power sharing arrangements are reduced to formal rules. These rules are called laws, bylaws, regulations, constitutions, covenants, protocols, contracts, etc. The constituent parts of the society (individuals) establish an order which exists independently of individuals. There is a rule of law, not of men.
The arrival of formal rules might signal the existence of a complex system in the sense defined previously. The society, through its rules, has a life of its own. However, it is not clear whether such rules are “emergent” - arriving spontaneously out of the system. The Declaration of Independence might be emergent, but probably not Roberts Rules of Order.
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