I’m actually wondering how much of this has to do with the climate, i.e. the physical weather patterns. something like: living in northern countries historically meant that you had a tougher time getting through the winter, because the winters are harsher and longer, so you need to store more food and make sure it doesn’t spoil, which requires extra planning. so as a historical consequence, northern countries end up with a higher degree of organization, including bigger states, more organized tax systems, overall more organized structures.

You can see many examples of this. all big empires historically have had their center on the northern hemisphere, including england, US, europe, USSR, china. there’s (almost) none on the south.