It's not just that, either: it's that single people can be reasoned with, but large numbers of people can't be. If you have a mob boss, you can make a deal with

It's not just that, either: it's that single people can be reasoned with, but large numbers of people can't be. If you have a mob boss, you can make a deal with him and he'll enforce it on his side for you, but if there are a hundred random guys, you have to make a deal with all of them. Democracy very quickly makes plain the scope of this challenge, and it's why it works with so much less effort on small scales.