An Introduction to Tribalism for the Modern World That Has Forgotten it
21st May 2026
The Western world lives under the rule of law and holds sacred the institutions that enforce them. We believe in contracts, in due process, and in a system of justice that is fair, at least in theory. But what happens when that system frays? What happens when there is a growing class that is above the law?
The unsettling answer is that an older, more brutal set of rules re-emerges. It’s a system of power that has governed humanity for nearly all of its history called tribalism.
Of course, tribalism is still thriving in the non-Western world. We see its effects in what we might call corruption, in political systems where votes are merely a show, and in societies where power, not law, is the final arbiter. From a Western perspective, we tend to disdain these systems as a moral failing. We don’t see a rational, time-tested system of power operating according to its own logic; we see a deviation from our own sacred ideals. This misunderstanding is a luxury, because when we mistake a power play for a moral lapse, we are left trying to appeal to a non-existent conscience, playing a game we don’t even know has begun. And in the emerging conflicts of the 21st century, those who don’t understand the rules of the tribe will be the first to fall.