Suchergebnisse

Data from political anthropology, archeology, & history are used to develop an overview of the evolution of political organization up to the point of the emergence of the early state. While evolution is a process of gradual transformation, it is possible to distinguish several broad evolutionary states: egalitarian, rank, stratified, & state society. The evolution of political organization is influenced on the one hand by general forces, such as population growth & pressure, & on the other hand by such specific forces as surplus production, obligations caused by reciprocity, ideological convictions, & kinship type; in interplay, these cause specific types of political organization. Such factors as population pressure, war or threat of war, & conquest seem to play the most important role in the gradual emergence of the state. A necessary condition for this emergence seems to be that existing ideological convictions not be incompatible with hierarchization & centralization. Modified HA.