Origin
It is derived from a Latin proverb ‘Divide et impera’.
Explanation
Win by getting one’s opponents to fight among themselves. It is a way of keeping yourself in a position of power by making the people under you disagree with one another so that they may be unable to join together and remove you from your position. Divide and rule, in politics, sociology and economics, is a strategy to gain or maintain power. It is gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into pieces that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. The concept refers to a strategy that breaks up existing power structures and prevents smaller power groups from linking up. Historically, this strategy was used in many different ways by empires seeking to expand their territories.
The concept is also mentioned as a strategy for market action in economics to get the most out of the players in a competitive market.
Examples
A small minority have continued to govern by a policy of divide and rule.
They used divide-and-rule strategy to weaken their opponents.
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