A User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Final Part: The End of Politics: Civil War

By now it should be fairly evident that playing the political game is about maintaining the balance of Influence. Left unchecked, it is possible for stability to deteriorate to a point where there is too big of a skew in the amount of political power held between the parties, causing a civil war. This event involves the emergence of a new enemy faction, coming about via a coup d’état that will either occur at your faction capital, or far away from it. In either case, this enemy faction will have appeared as a direct result of the opposition to your party's rule within your faction; they will always hate you, will never engage in any diplomacy with you, and will always try to capture or hold the faction capital if the coup did not originate there.  
Politics has greater importance in the last few Imperium levels, because this is when a civil war becomes an increasing possibility. As your empire grows, it will become more difficult to maintain stability within your faction. By the time you reach full Imperium, you will need to keep a very close eye on Influence levels because fluctuations may be more extreme. Also, keep in mind that you may not always be able to recruit a general from a party which will help in that respect, so it helps to be a little pro-active if you are trying to avoid internal war. If you have too much power you will end up having to fight a civil war against separatists; too little and it will be against those scheming to take advantage of your political weakness in an attempt to oust you, snatching the leadership for themselves. You don’t want this to occur when you are in control of a delicately balanced empire, possibly fighting wars on multiple fronts. Therefore, as the final bit of advice – use the early game to learn how politics can help you. Once your empire has grown and you reach the late game, actively try to keep the balance. Alternatively, you can purposely destroy the balance as much as possible. This would force the opposing party out so you can crush them, after which your faction will have achieved ‘political peace’. At least for the time being...