'There was no king in Israel'

“If people thrive under a leader, they will come to depend on that leadership and will look for ways of continuing it into the next generation. At the same time, leaders have privileges that they are often loath to relinquish at the end of a crisis. Handled well, an extended crisis allows both leaders and the led to wish to continue the pattern of leadership and this can result in hereditary, permanent offices, as well as a standing army if the extended crisis is military. And sheer wealth can command the same kind of dependence if the riches are shared with society’s more marginal members.”

The Oxford History of the Biblical World, Michael D. Coogan, editor, Chapter Four, “’There Was No King in Israel:’ The Era of the Judges”, Jo Ann Hackett.