Historian Jaroslav Strnad in his excellent chapters in his thick monograph History of India uses the term “predatory states”. Predatory states are typical of Islamic civilization, but they can spring up anywhere. The idea is that the ruler basically ignores the conditions of the country (except for the occasional suppression of rebellions), puts all his energy into warfare, and funds the army with the loots of war.
However, the reader in the early 21st century will realize that this conquest of the spoils of war may not be by way of direct military expedition, but that predatory states are also those whose economy is based on financial services. Ignoring the internal state to the point of complete collapse and looting elsewhere.
Jaroslav Strnad reminds us, however, that when predatory states cannot continue their bellicose expansion for various reasons, terrible internal crises come.
What does this imply for the contemporary West? To make no mistake, a predatory state, according to Strnad, is not one that behaves aggressively but at the same time nurtures the flourishing of its own society, industry and science.