History is ripe with examples of its successful implementation. Sociological application of the divide and conquer strategy involves causing discord and conflict amongst racial/ethnic groups, or exploiting class, religious, age or gender differences to divide and diminish power of various groups according to these sociological classifications. Business models also use it to successfully tackle a large project by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable components. Economically in the corporate world it’s used to gain advantage by triggering smaller competitors to take business away from each other and in effect canceling each other out, leaving the larger corporation to move in to reap greater profits, an indirect way the bigger fish eat the littler fish. Machiavelli formulated the divide and conquer strategy as an axiom in his Art of War where the enemy can be forced to break up their forces or where the mutual trust between the opponent’s leader and his men can be sabotaged and broken. It’s an age old formula having multiple applications, most commonly used in the political arena but also in the military, sociological and economic realm as well. This policy of maintaining control over subordinates or potential opponents by encouraging or causing dissent between them, thereby preventing them from uniting in opposition to pose any serious threat to the existing power structure is a very familiar story throughout history. The retention of power by utilizing a deliberate strategy of causing those in subordinate positions to engage in conflicts with each other that weaken and keep them from any unified effort to remove the status quo force from power.
While its first usage in the English language began circa 1600, through the centuries it’s carried a commonly understood meaning. Julius Caesar used it in reference to defeating the Gauls during the Gaelic War. The idiom “divide and conquer” is said to have originated with the Latin maxim “divide et impera” meaning divide and rule. By Joachim Hagopian Global Research, October 23, 2015
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