British journalist Nafeez Ahmed cited a 2008 RAND Corporation study for the U.S Armed Forces which recommended 'divide and rule' as a possible strategy against the Muslim world in 'the Long War'. Some analysts assert that the United States is practicing the strategy in the 21st-century Middle East through their supposed escalation of the Sunni–Shia conflict. Once the alliance weakens or dissolves, a vacuum will allow the state to achieve military dominance. This usually happens when propaganda is disseminated within the enemy states in an attempt to raise doubts about the alliance. Foreign policy ĭivide and rule can be used by states to weaken enemy military alliances. In economics, the concept is also mentioned as a strategy for market segmentation to get the most out of the players in a competitive market.

Immanuel Kant refers this tactic in the Appendix I of his Perpetual Peace when describing the traits of a political moralist. James Madison made this recommendation in a letter to Thomas Jefferson of 24 October 1787, which summarized the thesis of The Federalist#10: 'Divide et impera, the reprobated axiom of tyranny, is under certain (some) qualifications, the only policy, by which a republic can be administered on just principles.' In Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketchīy Immanuel Kant (1795), Appendix one, Divide et impera is the third of three political maxims, the others being Fac et excusa (Act now, and make excuses later) and Si fecisti, nega (If you commit a crime, deny it).

Explosum est illud diverbium: Divide, & impera, cum radix & vertex imperii in obedientium consensu rata sunt.' In a minor variation, Sir Francis Bacon wrote the phrase 'separa et impera' in a letter to James I of 15 February 1615. Edward Coke denounces it in Chapter I of the Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England, reporting that when it was demanded by the Lords and Commons what might be a principal motive for them to have good success in Parliament, it was answered: ' Eritis insuperabiles, si fueritis inseparabiles. The strategy of division and rule has been attributed to sovereigns, ranging from Louis XI of France to the House of Habsburg. It was utilised by the Roman ruler Julius Caesar and the French emperor Napoleon (together with the maxim divide ut regnes). The maxim divide et impera has been attributed to Philip II of Macedon. Machiavelli advises that this act should be achieved either by making him suspicious of his men in whom he trusted, or by giving him cause that he has to separate his forces, and, because of this, become weaker. ( L'arte della guerra): a Captain should endeavor with every act to divide the forces of the enemy. Niccolò Machiavelli identifies a similar application to military strategy, advising in Book VI of The Art of War (1521).

The use of this technique is meant to empower the sovereign to control subjects, populations, or factions of different interests, who collectively might be able to oppose its rule.

encouraging meaningless expenditures that reduce the capability for political and military spending.

fostering distrust and enmity between local rulers.

aiding and promoting those who are willing to cooperate with the sovereign.

creating or encouraging divisions among the subjects to prevent alliances that could challenge the sovereign and distributing forces that they overpower the other.

Strabo also reports in Geographica, 8.7.3 that the Achaean League was gradually dissolved when it became part of the Roman province of Macedonia, as the Romans treated the various states differently, wishing to preserve some and to destroy others. The strategy, but not the phrase, applies in many ancient cases: the example of Aulus Gabinius exists, parting the Jewish nation into five conventions, reported by Flavius Josephus in Book I, 169–170 of The Jewish War ( De bello Judaico). However, it has been hard to distinguish between the exploitation of pre-existing divisions by opponents, and the deliberate creation or strengthening of these divisions implied by 'divide and rule'. Historically and presently this strategy was and is used in many different ways by empires seeking to expand their territories. Tradition attributes the origin of the motto to Philip II of Macedon: Greek: διαίρει καὶ βασίλευε diaírei kài basíleue, in Ancient Greek, meaning 'divide and rule'ĭivide and rule policy ( Latin: divide et impera), or divide and conquer, in politics and sociology is gaining and maintaining power divisively.

Not to be confused with divide and choose.

Quotes about divide and conquer