A Theory of the State
Economic Rights, Legal Rights, and the Scope of the State

This book models the emergence of the state, and the forces that shape it.

Yoram Barzel (Author)

9780521806053, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 December 2001

308 pages
23.6 x 15.7 x 2.5 cm, 0.588 kg

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 initial '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.

Preface
1. Introduction
Part I. The Emergence of Protection and Third-Party Enforcement: 2. The state and the enforcement of agreements
3. Third-party enforcement and the state
4. The choice among enforcement forms
5. Anonymous exchange, mixed enforcement and vertical integration
6. Jurisdictional issues
7. Collective action and collective decisions
8. Tying the protector's hand: the agreement between subjects and protector
Part II. The Emergence of Legal Institutions: 9. Legal rights
10. The state's enhancement of market trade
11. The size and scope of the state
Part III. The Character of the State: 12. Merger and local autonomy
13. The distinction between 'legitimate' and 'criminal' states
14. Power, violent conflict and political evolution
15. The time path of change under dictatorships and under rule-of-law regimes
16. Recapitulation and an epilogue
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Political science & theory [JPA], Sociology & anthropology [JH]