Why Nations Fail

ajaw
(lord or ruler)
took root with a king called the 
k’uhul ajaw
(divine lord) and,
underneath him, a hierarchy of aristocrats. The divine lord
organized the society with the cooperation of these elites
and also communicated with the gods. As far as we know,
this new set of political institutions did not allow for any sort
of popular participation, but it did bring stability. The 
k’uhul
ajaw
raised tribute from farmers and organized labor to
build the great monuments, and the coalescence of these
institutions created the basis for an impressive economic
expansion. The Maya’s economy was based on extensive
occupational specialization, with skilled potters, weavers,
woodworkers, and tool and ornament makers. They also
traded obsidian, jaguar pelts, marine shells, cacao, salt,
and feathers among themselves and other polities over
long distances in Mexico. They probably had money, too,
and like the Aztecs, used cacao beans for currency.
The way in which the Maya Classical Era was founded
on the creation of extractive political institutions was very
similar to the situation among the Bushong, with Yax Ehb’
Xook at Tikal playing a role similar to that of King Shyaam.
The new political institutions led to a significant increase in
economic prosperity, much of which was then extracted by
the new elite based around the 
k’uhul ajaw
. Once this
system had consolidated, by around 
AD
300, there was little
further technological change, however. Though there is
some evidence of improved irrigation and water
management techniques, agricultural technology was
rudimentary and appears not to have changed. Building
and artistic techniques became much more sophisticated
over time, but in total there was little innovation.
There was no creative destruction. But there were other
forms of destruction as the wealth that the extractive
institutions created for the 
k’uhul ajaw
and the Maya elite
led to constant warfare, which worsened over time. The
sequence of conflicts is recorded in the Maya inscriptions,

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with special glyphs indicating that a war took place at a