Conrad Kottak
Biography
PhD Columbia 1966, Professor Emeritus at University of Michigan
Publications
The process of state formation in MadagascarMost anthropologists agree that the state, as an ideal type, differs significantly from more “primitive” forms of sociopolitical organization. Fried (1 960:728), for example, views the state as an emergent form of sociopolitical organization whose primary functions are to maintain general order and to support socioeconomic stratification through special subsystems which fulfill a variety of secondary functions: population control, the disposal of trouble cases, the protection of sovereignty through military and/or police forces, and fiscal support. Carneiro (1970:733) defines a state as “an autonomous political unit encompassing many communities within its territory, having a centralized government with the power to collect taxes, draft men for work or war, and decree and enforce laws.” For Wright and Johnson (1975) a state is a society with specialized administrative organization and a decision-making hierarchy of three or more levels. Wright and Johnson suggest two lines of archeological evidence for the existence of state organization: a four-level settlement hierarchy and administrative artifacts.