The overriding principle of these political alliances was that the subordinate ruler was not crushed out of existence, but strengthened so he couldbecome a more stable and useful dependant. The subordinate mueang wasnot destroyed but contained within a larger unit, and thus added to thatlarger unit’s power and splendour. Rulers boasted not of the extent of theirterritory, but the number of their dependent rulers. Georges Condominascalled this ‘emboxment’. By this principle, the village is contained withina mueang, and the mueang within the influence of a superior mueang, possibly up through several levels. The terms ‘mandala’, ‘segmentary state’,and ‘galactic polity’ have been used for this political form, but emboxmentdescribes the underlying mechanism.