While its first usage in the English language began circa 1600, through the centuries it's carried a commonly understood meaning. The retention of power by utilizing a deliberate strategy of causing those in subordinate positions to engage in conflicts with each other that weaken and keep them from any unified effort to remove the status quo force from power. This policy of maintaining control over subordinates or potential opponents by encouraging or causing dissent between them, thereby preventing them from uniting in opposition to pose any serious threat to the existing power structure is a very familiar story throughout history. It's an age old formula having multiple applications, most commonly used in the political arena but also in the military, sociological and economic realm as well.