The Karens of Burma by Harry I Marshall

The Karens never seemed to be able to develop any permanent political organization beyond that of village life. Once in a while a strong man would emerge and gain power over a number of villages and combine them under his own personality. But as a rule the personal independence of the individual would assert itself and with the death of the organizer there would be no one to take his place and the several villages would return to their independence, under each local chief.

In the village the leadership would usually be in the hands of some man who would assert himself over the others and he would pass on his position to his children, to a son not necessarily the eldest, or a nephew, but the one who by his personal ability would be best fitted to take up the task. Often some rival individual would covet the power in the hands of the headman and his family, and set himself up as a leader. He would gather a few who were willing to submit to him and would go off and build a new village of his own, and a rival dynasty, if such it could be called, would be set up.