A Theory of the State

by Yoram Barzel

• ISBN13: 9780521000642
• ISBN10: 0521000645
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-12-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book models the emergence of the state, and the forces that shape it. State creation is bound to protection needs. A specialized protector-ruler is efficient, but is also self-seeking. Individuals will install a ruler only after they create a mechanism to control him. Among the offshoots of the organized protection are legal system and decision-making procedures that include voting. The intitial 'state of nature' may gradually evolve into a rule-of-law state. The state endows individuals with rights by delineating what it will protect. Enforcement, however, is never perfect. People use third parties such as firms to enforce agreements. As commodities become standardized, scale economies increase. In order to exploit the economies of within-state enforcement, the state will expand the contact enforcement territory by treaty or by conquest. The force may explain the creation of rule-of-law empires.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction	1	(12)
I The Emergence of Protection and Third-Party Enforcement
The State and the Enforcement of Agreements	13	(21)
Third-Party Enforcement and the State	34	(25)
The Choice among Enforcement Forms	59	(20)
Anonymous Exchange, Mixed Enforcement, and Vertical Integration	79	(24)
Jurisdictional Issues	103	(10)
Collective Action and Collective Decisions	113	(25)
Tying the Protector's Hands: The Agreement between Subjects and Protector	138	(19)
II The Emergence of Legal Institutions
Legal Rights	157	(28)
The State's Enhancement of Market Trade	185	(13)
The Size and Scope of the State	198	(19)
III The Character of the State
Merger and Local Autonomy	217	(11)
The Distinction between ``Legitimate'' and ``Criminal'' States	228	(10)
Power, Violent Conflict, and Political Evolution	238	(12)
The Time Path of Change under Dictatorships and under Rule-of-Law Regimes	250	(17)
Recapitulation and an Epilogue	267	(10)
References	277	(5)
Index	282