Political Energy in Dune – Econlib

Warning: This publish, like my earlier publish on the topic, will contain a dialogue of plot factors and spoilers for the Dune sequence. If you happen to haven’t seen the films or learn the books and want to keep away from spoilers, be happy to skip this one. 

I just lately mentioned what I take from the character arc of Paul Atreides within the books Dune and Dune Messiah. I see it as a narrative about how absolute energy doesn’t turn into much less harmful when wielded by an excellent individual. As I mentioned in that publish, if there was ever anybody who might have been trusted to wield absolute energy and use it to good impact, it ought to have been Paul Atreides. But, his reign unleashes devastation. This raises one other fascinating query – why was Paul’s reign a lot extra devastating than the earlier regimes? 

At first look this might sound puzzling. And it’s not one thing that will get spelled out explicitly within the books. However I believe there’s a constant, in-universe reply for that query. It requires understanding the world Frank Herbert constructed.

The world of Dune describes a civilization with a really complicated and complex political system. abstract of how this technique was arrange could be present in this video, however just a few fast factors could be made right here. First, on the earth of Dune, the Emperor was not omnipotent. The Imperial Home was one a part of an enormous and sophisticated system of organizations that each one stood each in stress with one another, and likewise relied on one another to 1 diploma or one other. That’s, it was a system of checks-and-balances, with dispersed energy. 

Whereas the Imperial Home Corrino was by far probably the most {powerful} particular person Home, there have been plenty of different Nice Homes making up a company known as the Landsraad. The Nice Homes of the Landsraad included Home Atreides and Home Harkonnen, together with scores of different Nice Homes. The mixed army power of the entire Nice Homes of the Landsraad can be sufficient to problem Home Corrino and their fearsome Sardaukar military – however it will take a very unified effort to take action, and it will come at nice price. This served as a verify on the Emperor, with the Landsraad making certain every Nice Home was shielded from the potential of the Emperor selecting them off one after the other. Any try by the Emperor to take action would offer the Nice Homes with motivation to stand up in unity in opposition to him. 

One other essential participant was the Spacing Guild, which held complete management over all interstellar journey. And not using a Guild navigator to seek out protected pathways, interstellar journey can be all however not possible. Homes that obtained too formidable or aggressive, or in any other case run afoul of the Spacing Guild, would possibly discover themselves all of the sudden remoted, unable to safe journey or have interaction in commerce. Even the Emperor couldn’t afford to cross them. However on the identical time, the Spacing Guild wanted prospects to be able to survive as properly, making certain one other system of checks and mutual dependency. 

There was additionally CHOAM, which was primarily a large company that oversaw all financial exercise. Nice Homes and the Imperial Home, together with {powerful} political actors, all held shares in CHOAM to varied levels, and as shareholders all had a point of vote and affect with CHOAM, however none of them might absolutely management it. The Imperial Home held 25% of CHOAM shares – vital, however not controlling, and making certain any financial modifications the Imperial Home would possibly need would want cooperation and settlement from a variety of supporters. 

Lastly, there’s the Sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit, a quasi-religious group that usually operates in a clandestine method to information actions towards their very own ends. Their behind-the-scenes manipulations included a breeding program the place they selectively mixed bloodlines over 1000’s of years with the objective of bringing a couple of superbeing – Paul Atreides positive factors his powers because of this program, though the Bene Gesserit fail to manage Paul, as he was born a technology sooner than they supposed. 

At the start of Dune, this technique has existed in a steady equilibrium for 1000’s of years. It’s not precisely anybody’s thought of a political paradise, however it’s at the very least steady. When Paul Atreides rises to the Imperial Throne on the finish of the primary ebook, nonetheless, this technique of dispersed energy with its numerous checks-and-balances is shattered. The Bene Gesserit order was severely weakened. Paul Atreides managed to convey the Spacing Guild to heel underneath the specter of the destruction of spice manufacturing (spice being obligatory for Guild navigators to chart protected passage although house). The shares in CHOAM held by Nice Homes that had been destroyed within the Fremen onslaught of the galaxy had been taken over by the brand new Imperial Home Atreides, resulting in the Imperial Home holding 51% of the shares and creating the primary time any single entity had a controlling variety of shares. And the devastation wrought by conflicts after Paul rises tremendously weaken the power of the Landsraad, lowering them as a verify as properly. 

On account of all of this, Paul Atreides changing the earlier Emperor Shaddam wasn’t merely changing one ruling monarch with one other. If that had been the one change, issues might need gone higher. All the benefits Paul had – his sense of justice, his Mentat psychological talents, his prescient sight into the longer term – might very properly have led to raised outcomes. However there wasn’t merely a changing of 1 ruler with one other. The system of checks-and-balances and dispersed energy that existed earlier than grew to become a system of concentrated energy missing any actual checks in opposition to it. And this, I consider, is why Paul’s seemingly superior qualities as a pacesetter nonetheless couldn’t stop devastation. 

Within the story of Dune, morally compromised folks holding dispersed energy and serving as checks in opposition to one another seems to be higher and extra steady than a system of absolute and concentrated energy led by a morally sturdy, superhumanly clever, and presciently foresighted chief. Tyranny isn’t prevented by making certain that sufficiently well-intentioned, clever, and noble persons are in energy. The one efficient verify in opposition to tyranny is to make sure that no group or establishment holds a controlling energy over civilization. And this lesson is simply as true in the actual world as it’s within the story of Dune.