State Formation

The Origin of the State

State formation requires cooperation and rule within a unit far greater than a kinship group or a community based on face-to-face recognition. A possible explanation for cooperation on a grand scale is population pressure and scarce resources, particularly the shortage of soil. Increasing population density and scarce resources stimulate more intensive food production. Thereby, social complexity increases because agriculture requires division of labor and specialization. Early state formation emerged after the establishment of agricultural societies.

The basic idea here is that societies organized as states will be more efficient externally and internally. Externally, they are stronger, better organized, and more competitive in relation to less well-organized societies. Internally, big units with intensive production may serve the population with services and conditions of life that are unavailable for small groups or individually. Conflict and common defense abroad may also support social integration at home. The inhabitants of a state are in the same boat, sharing threats from the outside.

State formation has not been a linear historical process. States and empires have disintegrated, collapsed, and disappeared, while others have thrived and enlarged over long periods. If the authorities are unable to supply the population with a minimum of services and security, legitimacy and support will erode. This has happened in failed states as well as in many former empires and colonial territories.

States and empires may also disintegrate due to a principal–agent problem. The central authority delegates power and responsibility to the local and regional representatives. The representatives in the periphery may then exploit the derived resources in a quest for autonomy. Imperial erosion and state failure have various elements of these mechanisms.

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