Athens


Note: Athenians form a league to maintain Greek liberty against the Persians. Eventually the league becomes an empire as smaller members of the league abdicate responsibility to Athens. It leads me to the conclusion that leagues are probabaly best at multi-polar enviroments. In such cases, the members of the leagues change, but the leaders are relatively stable. Its the shifting itself that keeps the league functioning as a league. When the league is stable, because of a bipolar or unipolar enviroment, the leader identifies as a leader, and the league members lose their sense that their contribution makes a difference and cease to be active citizens. As members of the league they become passive and begin to rely on the leadership of the powerful memeber(s).