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Science 21 August 1970:
Vol. 169. no. 3947, pp. 733 - 738
DOI: 10.1126/science.169.3947.733
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Articles

A Theory of the Origin of the State

Traditional theories of state origins are considered and rejected in favor of a new ecological hypothesis

Robert L. Carneiro 1

1 South American ethnology in the department of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York

In summary, then, the circumscription theory in its elaborated form goes far toward accounting for the origin of the state. It explains why states arose where they did, and why they failed to arise elsewhere. It shows the state to be a predictable response to certain specific cultural, demographic, and ecological conditions. Thus, it helps to elucidate what was undoubtedly the most important single step ever taken in the political evolution of mankind.


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