Editing Autocracy (section)

=== Formation ===
The earliest autocracies, such as [[chiefdom]]s, formed where there was previously no centralized government.{{Sfn|Earle|1997|p=14}} The initial development of an autocracy is attributed to its efficiency over [[anarchy]], as it provides security and negates internal divisions. [[Mancur Olson]] introduced the term "stationary bandits" to describe the method of control associated with autocracy, as opposed to the "roaming bandits" that dominate anarchic society. Under this definition, autocrats as stationary bandits see long-term investment in the society that they exploit through taxation and other seizure of resources, as opposed to the bandits in stateless societies that have no incentive to improve society. This creates a [[Pareto efficiency]] in which both the autocrat and the subjects benefit over the alternative.{{Sfn|Grzymala-Busse|Finkel|2022|loc=How Autocracies Emerge}}

[[Douglass North]], John Joseph Wallis, and [[Barry R. Weingast]] describe autocracies as natural states that arise from this need to monopolize violence. In contrast to Olson, these scholars understand the early state not as a single ruler, but as an organization formed by many actors. They describe the process of autocratic state formation as a bargaining process among individuals with access to violence. For them, these individuals form a dominant coalition that grants each other privileges such as the access to resources. As violence reduces the [[economic rents]], members of the dominant coalition have incentives to cooperate and to avoid fighting. A limited access to privileges is necessary to avoid competition among the members of the dominant coalition, who then will credibly commit to cooperate and will form the state.{{Sfn|North|Wallis|Weingast|2008}}

There is great variance in the types of states that become autocratic. Neither a state's size, its military strength, its economic success, nor its cultural attributes significantly affect whether it is likely to be autocratic.{{Sfn|Burnell|2006|p=547}} Autocracy is more likely to form in heterogeneous populations, as there is greater inequality and less [[social cohesion]]. Autocracies formed under these conditions are often more volatile for the same reasons.{{Sfn|Grzymala-Busse|Finkel|2022|loc=How Autocracies Emerge}}