The common factors appearing to contribute to
societal collapse are economic, environmental, social and cultural, but they manifest combined effects like a whole system out of balance. In many cases a natural disaster (e.g.
tsunami,
earthquake, massive fire or climate change) may seem to be an immediate cause. However, other cases of civilizations in similar situations that were resilient and survived the same kind of insult show that such causes are not sufficient.
This is the reasoning method used by
Joseph Tainter, and how he examined the evidence to eliminate the insufficient causes in his thesis that societies essentially exhausted their own designs, and were unable to adapt to natural diminishing returns for what they knew as their method of survival. It matches closely
Toynbee's idea that "they find problems they can't solve".
The diversity of forms that societies evolve corresponds to diversity in their failures too. In other instances significant
inequity may combine with
lack of loyalty to a central power structure and result in an
oppressed lower class rising up and taking power from a smaller wealthy elite.If there is a general "antidote" to collapse, it would seem to be
social cohesion, economic growth and
adaptability.
Tanzania is no exception to this......
