Authority, Decisions, and Power Political Anthropology - States

Authority, Decisions, and Power: Political Anthropology ANTH 2301 States A new type of political organisation began to independently evolve some 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, China, Egypt, India, Mesoamerica, and South America, among other regions of the world. The leaders of some of these cultures created hierarchical, highly populated systems of government by fusing social control mechanisms like law and policing with economic extraction techniques like taxes and tribute. These administrations constructed monuments and infrastructure with funds from the general population. To uphold social order and interpret and enforce the law, they established large bureaucracies. Multiethnic empires emerged as a result of the defence and territorial expansion of powerful armed forces. The government claimed to have the exclusive right to employ severe kinds of violence as a means of controlling or punishing people. State societies are defined as having this type of political structure (Brumfiel 2001). Chiefdoms' political structures have many characteristics with states; in fact, states have often arisen from the growing concentration of political authority within sizable chiefdoms. A multitude of factors, some more unique to the setting of individual cultures and others more broad and universal, contribute to the slow but steady accumulation of power over time. While certain forces are more universal, such as population increase and rising social stratification, other pressures vary depending on the society, such as the possibilities presented by regional commerce and the military threats of particular neighbouring nations. In an effort to explain the emergence of the state, theorists highlight integrative pressures and conflict pressures as the two main forces driving the process. The requirement for more cooperation to meet the demands of a rising population creates integrative pressures. To satisfy demands for subsistence and commerce, agricultural production must rise in tandem with population growth. It is imperative for leaders to plan more intricate landscape management techniques, such terracing and elevated fields, and irrigation systems. Both labour and public resources are used in the construction and upkeep of these intricate networks. As leaders work to maximise the riches of their communities by promoting the production of agricultural and craft commodities and creating local marketplaces and regional trade possibilities, increasing commerce also has an integrating effect. Power consolidates as trade and agriculture become more intricate in order to oversee the infrastructure and circumstances required for economic expansion. The necessity to handle threats to leaders' authority and the integrity of their societies, both foreign and internal, gives rise to conflict pressures. Some theorists contend that when a leader amasses a sizable military force and engages in protracted battle to expand and protect territory, political power becomes more and more concentrated. Leaders can impose regular tribute by conquering nearby cultures. Military powers not only provide leaders conquest but also a sizable band of obedient, well-armed supporters. Some theories contend that internal conflicts play an equally important role in the consolidation of power. State societies have uneven access to money and power because to their class and caste structures, which are based on social stratification. Leaders now confront new kinds of inequality and possible conflict as a class of privileged elites rule over rural peasants and urban craft workers. Ideological and legal systems are created to compel underprivileged groups to cooperate.