"The fundamental question of political theory, one which precedes all other questions about the nature of political life, is why there is a state at all. Is human cooperation feasible without a political authority enforcing it? Or do we need a state to live together? This question also reveals two further problems. If a state is necessary to establish order, how (and when) does it come into place? If it isn't necessary, what are the consequences for the political status and economic welfare of its citizens? Combining a wealth of ethnographical materials, historical cases, and statistical analysis, this book describes the foundations of stateless societies, why and how states emerge, and the basis of political obligation. This book models the economic and political roots of inequality, describes the causes of the stagnation of the preindustrial world, and explores what led to the West's prosperity of the past two centuries"--