> In short design by committee might be bad but rule by committee helps.

> So I kind of disagree with the premise - a parliament based market and human rights friendly nation could have been successful at almost any point post 1500. All it took was to wrench power away from the monarch...

Which is exactly what Salvatore "Lucky" Luciano did in the early 30s when he had Salvatore Maranzano, the Capo di Tutti Capi, "Boss of Bosses", assasinated and proclaimed that La Cosa Nostra would be governed by a commission.