Debates on the Origin of the State

The origins of the state are a never-ending story. Since the mid-1980s, when I started studying this topic, we had similar authorities (Carneiro 1970; Service 1975; Claessen and Skalnik 1978; Kubbel’ 1988). Over forty years, many important books and articles have been published in this field (Earle 1997; Feinman and Marcus 1998; Claessen 2000; Kradin et al. 2000; Haas 2001; Trigger 2003; Grinin et al. 2004; Yoffee 2005; Bondarenko 2006; Maisels 2010; Price and Feinman 2010; Gri-nin 2011; Flannery and Marcus 2012; Berezkin 2013; Turchin 2016; Scott 2017; Bondarenko, Kowalewski, and Small 2020; Graeber and Wengrow 2021; Kradin 2021; etc.). Here, I will try to summarize contemporary ideas about the formation of statehood and civilization. As is known, the most ancient archaic or early states could form in different ecological conditions – arid zones with river irrigation (Mesopotamia, Egypt), river valleys in the jungle (India), loess river valleys (China) and mountain jungles (Mexico, the Andes). The emergence of statehood could be influenced by various factors – favorable ecology, a productive economy, population growth, an increase in internal conflicts, technological innovations, diffusion, wars and conquests, external influence, long-distance trade, ideology, etc. Currently, most researchers agree that the emergence of the state was a complex multivariate process dependent on a large number of different variables (Peregrine, Ember, and Ember 2007: 84

• Kentleşme Olgusu Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme

  Open Access•Okan Sezer•Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi…•2026

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