cohesion

Common purpose and unity that let a people remain strong under pressure.

Seeing oneself as part of a community whose growth matters.

The degree to which a people identify with one another strongly enough to coordinate for larger goals.

He says diplomatic maneuvering is secondary to three deeper measures of social resilience: whether a society is energetic, open-minded, and cohesive enough to sacrifice for itself.

Jiang argues that North Korea would beat South Korea in war despite being much poorer because war-winning societies, in his model, have energy, openness, and cohesion, while rich capitalist societies become individualistic, complacent, and unequal.

As institutions grow larger, more bureaucratic, and more corrupt, Jiang says broad society becomes less able to coordinate while these convergent secret-society networks become relatively stronger because they remain cohesive.

Jiang argues that competing secret societies seek legitimacy, authority, and cohesion by retroactively inventing long genealogies that connect themselves to older orders such as the Freemasons or Knights Templars.

If U.S. civil war begins, Jiang expects it to last for centuries in varying intensity, with Texas favored by cohesion, energy, and openness.

Bombing Tehran and other cities turns urban and rural Iranians from internal opponents into a more cohesive society oriented against America and Israel.

Protestant or Calvinist England and the Dutch Republic are presented as becoming energetic, open, cohesive, trade-oriented societies in contrast with Catholic Spain.

Jiang says societies avoid easy money from gambling, prostitution, human trafficking, slavery, or money laundering because immorality destroys energy, openness, cohesion, and the soul.