A Theory of the Origin of the State
@article{Carneiro1970ATO,
title={A Theory of the Origin of the State},
author={Robert L. Carneiro},
journal={Science},
year={1970},
volume={169},
pages={733 - 738}
}In summary, then, the circumscription theory in its elaborated form goes far toward accounting for the origin of the state. It explains why states arose where they did, and why they failed to arise elsewhere. It shows the state to be a predictable response to certain specific cultural, demographic, and ecological conditions. Thus, it helps to elucidate what was undoubtedly the most important single step ever taken in the political evolution of mankind.
1,483 Citations
The Organization of Coercion in History: A Rationalist-Evolutionary Theory
- Economics
- 1983
the rational choice approach to develop a theory of the organization of coercion in history. Recent works considering parallels and distinctions between biological and sociocultural evolution are…
State and Socio-Political Crises in the Process of Modernization
- Sociology
- 2012
The issue of the state and statehood is a principal one in social studies, whatever its aspect we consider. In this respect it is worth pointing out the growing interest to the problems of…
From Alt To Anthropology: the Rise of the Israelite State
- Political Science
- 1986
not surprising that the origin of state level organizations, given their powers for weal and woe in human affairs, has been a source of fascination for anthropologists and other social scientists as…
Models of State Formation in Predynastic Egypt 1
- Geology
- 2017
The theories regarding complexity and state emergence in Egypt, as noted by Geller (1992: 154), “could be grossly labeled as ecological, economic, or ideological explanations, or combinations of…
The Evolution of Fragility: Setting the Terms
- History, Political Science
- 2019
Explanations for the collapse of early states (and complex societies) often assume that they were integrated and stable until something bad happened, usually environmental change or because enemies…
State origins in anthropological thought
- Sociology
- 2009
The state origins are the perpetual issue in social studies. The contemporary conceptions of the state formation differ in multiple ways from the classical theories. The state was resulted by two…
State Origins: Clarifications and Reformulations
- Education
- 2012
Carneiro's origin of the state theory appeared in 1970, three years after I began my career in 1967. Like others I found it fascinating. I taught it in courses on political anthropology. In the 1980s…
The Expansion of the State
- Sociology
- 1984
The state has come to be a major focus of political and historical sociology in recent years. In the growing literature, there appears to be an underemphasis on the cultural and institutional…
The Biological Nature of the State
- EconomicsWorld Politics
- 1983
The origin of the state, long at the center of political science, can be greatly illuminated by the contemporary approach in evolutionary biology known as “inclusive fitness theory.” Natural…
The rise of the Hittite Empire: A comparison of theories on the origins of the state
- Economics
- 1979
Alternative theories of state development proposed by Cartteiro (1970) and Wilier (1977) are presented and discussed briefly. Each is considered in terms of its applicability to the development of…
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 10 REFERENCES
The Evolution of horticultural systems in native South America : causes and consequences : a symposium
- Geography
- 1961
Carneuo , in Men and Culrurer , Selected Papers of the Flffh Jnternational Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences , A
Proceedings, VilIth Intemational Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (Tokyo and Kyoto, 1968), vol. 3 (Ethnology and Archaeology)
- p. 249 (especially p. 251). See also N. Fock, Folk 6,
- 1964
dynastic authority in southern Mesopotamia was linked to the administrative requirements of a major canal system" [in City Invincible
- Eds. (Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago,
- 1960
Preceramic Period VI, beginning about 2500 B.C.) human settlement seems to have been denser along the coast than in the river valleys
The Maya (Praeger
- New York,
- 1966
A History of Politics (Macmillan
- New York,
- 1900
Men and Cultures
- Selected Papers of the Fifth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences,
- 1960