The Emergence of States IB Anthropology UWC Costa Rica

Sociopolitical Type Economic TypeExampleType of Regulation BandForagingInuit, SanLocal TribeHorticulture, Pastoralism Yanomami, Masai, Kapuku Local, temporary, regional ChiefdomIntensive horticulture, Pastoral nomadism, Agriculture Qashqai, Polynesia, Cherokee Permanent, regional StateAgriculture, Industrialism Ancient Mesopotamia, Contemporary USA and Canada Permanent, regional Economic Basis of and Political Regulation in Sociopolitical Ideal Types

WHAT IS A STATE?

State, are autonomous political units with social classes and a formal government, based on law. Tend to be large and populous

‘Certain statuses, systems, and subsystems with specialized functions are found in all states’ (Sharma and Gupta 2006). 1.Population control: fixing of boundaries, establishment of citizenship categories, and the taking of a census. 2.Judiciary: laws, legal procedure, and judges. 3. Enforcement: permanent military and police forces. 4. Fiscal: taxation.

Population Control States typically conduct censuses. States demarcate boundaries that separate them from other societies. Customs agents, immigration officers, navies, and coast guards patrol frontiers. Even nonindustrial states have boundary maintenance forces (e.g. Buganda)

Population Control States control population through administrative subdivision: provinces, districts, “states,” counties, sub-counties, and parishes. Lower-level officials manage the populations and territories of the subdivisions. Diminishing role of kinship

Population Control States foster geographic mobility and resettlement, severing longstanding ties among people, land, and kin (Smith 2003). Population displacements have increased in the modern world and with globalization. People in states come to identify themselves by new statuses, both ascribed and achieved— (ethnicity, residence, occupation, party, religion, and team or club affiliation)—rather than only as members of a descent group or extended family.

Population Control States also manage their populations by granting different rights and obligations to citizens and noncitizens. Status distinctions among citizens are also common.

Judiciary States have laws based on precedent and legislative proclamations which regulate relations between individuals and groups. Crimes are violations of the legal code, with specified types of punishment. However, a given act, such as killing someone, may be legally defined in different ways (e.g., as manslaughter, justifiable homicide, or first-degree murder). Differential treatment based on stratification To handle disputes and crimes, all states have courts and judges. Most states allow appeals to higher courts, although people are encouraged to solve problems locally

Judiciary Contrast between states and non-states is intervention in family affairs - aspects of parenting and marriage enter the domain of public law. Governments in states step in to halt blood feuds and regulate previously private disputes. States attempt to curb internal conflict, but aren’t always successful. (85 percent of the world’s armed conflicts since 1945 have begun within states). Only 15 percent have been fights across national borders

Enforcement All states have agents to enforce judicial decisions. States have competed successfully with non-states throughout the world. A government suppresses internal disorder (with police) and guards the nation against external threats (with the military). Military organization helps states subdue neighboring non-states, but this is not the only reason for the spread of state organization. Although states impose hardships, they also offer advantages. They provide protection from outsiders and preserve internal order. By promoting internal peace, states enhance production. Their economies support massive, dense populations, which supply armies and colonists to promote expansion. A major concern of government is to defend hierarchy, property, and the power of the law.

Fiscal Systems Fiscal system is needed in states to support rulers, nobles, officials, judges, military personnel, and thousands of other specialists. As in the chiefdom, the state intervenes in production, distribution, and consumption. The state may decree that a certain area will produce certain things or forbid certain activities in particular places. Although, like chiefdoms, states also have redistribution (through taxation), generosity and sharing are played down. Less of what comes in flows back to the people.

Fiscal Systems In non-states, people customarily share with relatives, but residents of states face added obligations to bureaucrats and officials. Citizens must turn over a substantial portion of what they produce to the state. Of the resources that the state collects, it reallocates part for the general good and uses another part (often larger) for the elite. The state does not bring more freedom or leisure to the common people, who usually work harder than do people in non-states. They may be called on to build monumental public works. Some of these projects, such as dams and irrigation systems, may be economically necessary.

Fiscal Systems In non-states, people customarily share with relatives, but residents of states face added obligations to bureaucrats and officials. Citizens must turn over a substantial portion of what they produce to the state. Of the resources that the state collects, it reallocates part for the general good and uses another part (often larger) for the elite. The state does not bring more freedom or leisure to the common people, who usually work harder than do people in non-states. They may be called on to build monumental public works. Some of these projects, such as dams and irrigation systems, may be economically necessary.