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This volume focuses on the political economy of early state societies and the ways in which the income of the central government of such systems was collected and spent. At the theoretical end of the spectrum, this book offers a general discussion of the concept of political economy; modes of production in antiquity; and an overview of early state organizational forms. With the data represented in this volume, such theoretical viewpoints are evaluated and it is concluded that inherited approaches fall far short of explaining the political economies of early states.
List of contents
Introduction 1. The ABCs of Political Economy 2. The Segmentary State: From the Imaginary to the Material Means of Production 3. The Political Economy of the Interlacustrine States in East Africa 4. Paradise Regained: Myth and Reality in the Political Economy of the Early State 5. Wolof Economy and Political Organization: The West African Coast in the Mid-Fifteenth Century 6. Early State Economics: Cahokia, Capital of the Ramey State 7. Tribute and Commerce in Imperial Cities: The Case of Xaltocan, Mexico 8. Gift and Tribute: Relations of Dependency in Aztec Mexico 9. Divide and Pool: Early State Economics and the Classic Maya 10. State and Community: Changing Relations of Production after the Unification of Nepal 11. The Political Economy of an Early State: Hawaii and Samoa Compared 12. State and Economy in Polynesia
About the author
Henri J.M. Claessen, Pieter van de Velde
Summary
This volume focuses on the political economy of early state societies and the ways in which the income of the central government of such systems was collected and spent
