political economy Communitarian corporatism Ancient Greece developed early concepts of corporatism. Plato developed the concept of a totalitarian and communitarian corporatist system of natural-based classes and natural social hierarchies that would be organized based on function, such that groups would cooperate to achieve social harmony by emphasizing collective interests while rejecting individual interests. In Politics, Aristotle also described society as being divided along natural classes and functional purposes that were priests, rulers, slaves and warriors. Ancient Rome adopted Greek concepts of corporatism into their own version of corporatism but also added the concept of political representation on the basis of function that divided representatives into military, professional and religious groups and created institutions for each group known as collegia. After the fall of Rome and the beginning of the Early Middle Ages corporatist organizations in Europe became largely limited to religious orders and the idea of Christian brotherhood especially within the context of economic transactions. From the High Middle Ages onward corporatist organizations became increasingly common in Europe including such groups as religious orders, monasteries, fraternities, military orders such as the Knights Templar and Teutonic Order, educational organizations such as the emerging universities and learned societies, the chartered towns and cities, and most notably the guild system which dominated the economies of population centers in Europe. The military orders notably gained increased support during the Crusades. These corporatist systems co-existed with the governing medieval estate system, and members of the first estate, the clergy, the second estate, the aristocracy, and third estate, the common people, could also participate in various corporatist bodies. The creation of the guild system involved the allocation of power to regulate trade and prices to guilds, whose members included artisans, tradesmen, and other professionals. This diffusion of power is an important aspect of corporatist economic models of economic management and class collaboration. However from the 16th century onward absolute monarchies began to conflict with the diffuse, decentralized powers of the medieval corporatist bodies. Absolute monarchies during the Renaissance and Enlightenment gradually subordinated corporatist systems and corporate groups to the authority of centralized and absolutist governments, removing any checks on royal power these corporatist bodies had previously utilized. After the French Revolution, the existing absolutist corporatist system was abolished due to its endorsement of social hierarchy and special "corporate privilege". The new French government considered corporatism's emphasis on group rights as inconsistent with the government's promotion of