ArticleScience advances2026
The distribution of power and inclusiveness across deep time.
Article in Science advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The emergence of urban scaling in Ancient Southwest Asia.PloS one · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study presents a global, deep-time comparative analysis of governance, questioning entrenched viewpoints about the origins and evolution of democratic institutions. Drawing on archaeological and textual data from 40 case observations across 31 polities, we develop a quantitative framework to assess governance along a collective-autocratic axis, defined by two key dimensions: concentration of power and citizen inclusiveness. Using bridging arguments and robust proxies, we construct an autocracy index to assess where cases fall on this axis and examine them in relation to population size, hierarchical complexity, geographic region, modes of fiscal financing, bureaucratic structure, ritual practices, and socioeconomic inequality. Neither polity population nor geographic region tightly correlates with the collective-autocratic axis of governance, challenging extant neoevolutionary models. Instead, the strongest associations for autocratic governance are with external financing, patrimonial bureaucracy, spectacular ritual, and high inequality. The study underscores the diversity and persistence of collective governance, offering a scalable methodology for future comparative research and reframing historical narratives.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.