Burke Index |
RESEARCH 10.09.2025, 11:59 The process of state formation in Madagascar Most 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. |

