These principles were first developed in ancient Rome to hinder the centralization of power. Examples can be seen in government oversight and corporate governance, promoting fair decision-making and upholding the rule of law.

The concept of checks and balances can trace its earliest known philosophical roots to Polybius in ancient Rome, who articulated the principle of "anacyclosis" which effectively presaged contemporary ideas of balance in political governance by suggesting that a stable state balanced the powers of...