imperia

Imperia, Social Power, and Scale Imperia are important keys to understanding past, present, and future cultural development. Imperia is the plural of imperium, the Latin word for command over others, rule by an individual, or rule by an elite few. […] Imperia include antidemocratic command structures. Imperia exist wherever control is permanently exercised by an individual or an elite minority who are fewer than half of the members of any social group. Clans and lineages can be organized as imperia. […] Where there are cultural opportunities for elites to construct large imperia, and effective limits on power are absent, power elites may become a privileged minority who are able to impose their will on the majority.

2002, John H. Bodley, The Power of Scale: A Global History Approach, M.E. Sharpe, Inc., →ISBN, page 4, →ISBN