East European Studies

The rise and fall of the Roman Republic may be likened to the scenes of the first three episodes of the Star Wars Trilogy (Episodes 1-3).  If there is one particular common denominator one can notice, they started out as republics but ended up as empires under similar circumstances.  According to the Greek historian and early political analyst Polybius, states that have reached the zenith of their power and prosperity would soon be on a decline brought about by the adverse effects such as ambitiousness, greed and vanity which would bring about its downfall.
    The ancient Roman republic up to the time of the Gracchi brothers, had weathered many crises such as power struggles between the patricians and plebeians and wars outside Romes borders, resulting in Romes gradual expansion.  But the drawback came when slaves were brought in from conquered lands, thereby causing unemployment among the local citizens, thereby renewing the conflict between the plebeians (democracy) and patricians (aristocracy).  The events that took place between of Gracchus and Caesars assassination was characterized by constant power struggles as leaders (consuls and tribunes) clashed with the senate, trying to circumvent if not subvert the checks and balances imbued in the Republics political system. 
   In the end, it was the powerful leaders who prevailed.  The secret to their success lay on at least two factors.  These leaders were military commanders.  The new Roman army made up of volunteers, mostly from the ranks of the proletarii (plebeians) who were rigidly trained and indoctrinated to be loyal to their leaders.  By having loyal soldiers at their disposal, nobody would dare challenge the consuls.  This has served the likes of Julius Caesar very well when he came to power and later Octavian.  On the distaff side would be skillful political maneuverings which in modern terms would be rent-seeking or transactional politics where these leaders would collude (in secrecy) with their allies in the Senate and other interest groups back then to gain further leverage to shut out or marginalize the senate.  The senate, also regarded as an oligarchy, tried to muster what power they had to check the perceived ambitions of the consuls, fearing a return to the monarchy.  They had shown this when they murdered the Gracchi and Julius Caesar on the pretext that they threatened to subvert democracy.  Even among the leaders of the triumvirate, there was also discord.  Originally they were formed to gain leverage over the senate but eventually, they turned on each other.
    It can be seen here that Polybius thesis was validated.  Prosperity, fomented greed for wealth and power among the leaders of Rome and what made it worse was it lacked a strong codified law to augment the check and balance practice of the Republic.  Even with this safeguard, the early politicians found ways to go around the system to gain the upper hand.  Ultimately, it led to the downfall of Rome and the establishment of an Empire which brought relative stability and prosperity until (ironically), the same thing would happen all over again bringing about its downfall as well.