Circular Structures

Governments tend to be organized in pyramids. An individual rules from the top, then a series of bureaucratic layers that fatten and
sprawl as
you get further and further from the leadership. In contrast, religious
cults and secret societies tend to be organized in circles.

These groups usually have a large outer circle, often consisting of
people with only a casual interest in the society’s goals. Within that
circle are a finite number of increasingly exclusive degrees, made up
from agents and members who are increasingly informed about the
society’s real goals and methods.

Circular organizations are more resistant to assault than pyramid
hierarchies, in part because their internal mechanisms are hidden. The
point of a pyramid is to create a clear path to a visible apex, a single
leadership position that dominates the structure. The pyramid structure
is therefore largely transparent. Standing at the foot of a pyramid,
you can see its tip.

Circular structure hides and protects the center. Standing on the
surface of a globe, you cannot see its center. It’s difficult to strike
at the center without burrowing into the structure.

There are other advantages. Gravity, for instance, works to the
advantage of a spherical structure, but acts to the detriment of a
pyramid.

When you attack the structure of a globe, everything falls in toward the
center, consolidating strength at the middle and healing ruptures in
the exterior, a mechanism which experts see working in al Qaeda as it
recovers from a U.S. onslaught.

In a pyramid, however, the vitally important apex rests on top of the
subsequent layers. By hacking away at the middle, or the bottom, the
structure can become so destabilized that the apex may fall.