State Formation

Hi Students, below is a video of a highly regarded historian and political scientist Francis Fukuyama.  In the video he discusses some of the themes we talked about today.  Below are some key points:

• States have centralized source of authority
• Authority is backed by a monopoly of power, meaning it can coerce you into following its rules
• States are territorial
• States are stratified and hierarchical, with the development of social classes
• Religions become much more institutionalized than before (no more ancestor worship)

Its important to realize before many places didn't develop state-based institutions before they were forced to by outsiders.  This is why there were not real countries in Africa (aside from Egypt) before European colonialism.  Furthermore, there are no real records of the first state emerging from a tribal society.  But this is something anthropologists and others from speculating on their development.  

Enjoy the video!

Also, here is video of Jared Diamond of UCLA and Fukuyama (of Stanford now) from last year at the LA public library.  Enjoy!

On the Origin of Political Order.

You can also check out his Facebook Page as well.