Final Thoughts
The cases analyzed in this work tested the theory of the ascension in revisionism. After the exposition of two cases of success, a peculiar case of disruption and recovery of an empire, and the cases of the city-states in Palestine and the Levant which can be classified as “negative cases,” the evidence demonstrates that, first, the theory which guided this work can be fully applied to analyze cases during the Late Bronze Age —i.e. the theory is not limited in its scope to only modern cases and dynamics—; second, that the cases of success behaved as stated in the theoretical argument; and, third, that the deviating and the negative cases do not refute but contribute to demonstrate the viability of the theory of the ascension in revisionism, at least in the context of the international political system of the Late Bronze Age in the Near East.
To ascend is to disrupt; to revisit, to disturb. Could it be possible to rise in revisionism without perturbing? The writer of this work does not think so. One cannot overthrow by means of accommodating within the imposed order and the established status quo; the former is meant to keep the latter, and power is meant to maintain both. In order to arise and revisit, it is necessary to overcome what has been established, to create a new status quo, a new reality. This can only be done by means of politics, of power.
Power and the struggle to acquire it is not a modern phenomenon but a reality of the web of relations within which men and their groups develop. It is not man’s nature nor a deviation from it, but his circumstances which give birth to politics, the most mundane aspect of his existence. To survive, to be free in one’s actions, and to impose an order of one’s will are the forces which drive the never-ending war which is the political sphere. In a world where everyone and every group seek these, conflict arises; no perfect situation is possible. At each step one gets closer, Utopia goes farther. In the world of men, conflict is continuous; perfection, a dream of the fortunate.
