State

History of the State

The division of the globe into nation-states is a relatively recent phenomenon, and the increasing commonality among kinds of contemporary states is also relatively recent. Until the emergence of the modern nation-state in 16th-century Europe, societies were grouped and governed in more varied ways, some of which could be seen as precursors to the state. Although nomadic tribes, clans, and feudal groups respected boundaries and territories, their boundaries shifted in daily practice and these populations tended not to operate under an independent governance structure. However, agrarian societies traded surplus, amassed wealth, divided by social class, and documented population, albeit in localized fashion. Eventually, feudal systems gave way to absolute monarchs who assembled military power. City-states and empires alike carved territories on the map in a more fluid fashion. They shifted frequently in form and geography. With industrialization, class differentiation became more complex and the need for a powerful central governance structure became more acute.

States tended to evolve in relation to natural landscapes where conquest and/or defense were possible as well as through the diffusion of ideas and ways of life and the migration of people. Eventually, out of differing modes of war, historical contingencies, and geographically uneven forms of power, there emerged what is known as the modern nation-state. The modern nation-state developed administrative institutions that surrounded a monarch. Whereas political geographers have tended to privilege Eurocentric understandings of states and their development, ancient states of the Middle East, China, South America, and West Africa made key contributions to the evolution of the state. The modern nation-state differed from earlier forms of political organization by institutionalizing the relationship between territoriality and membership, thereby clearly demarcating an inside and an outside to territorial belonging. The operation of power also changed. The modern nation-state also had more geometrically drawn borders and smaller territories. These often were the product of colonization, whereby colonial powers would carve colonies into administrative territories without respect for local practices such as the boundaries of tribes and clans in Africa. Whereas monarchs were interested primarily in collecting taxes and building military power, the administrative function of the modern state involved the governance of the daily activities of citizens.

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