The Segmentary State: From the Imaginary to the Material Means of Production

The monumental and formidable achievement of Henri Claessen and Peter Skalnik in their great volumes, The Early State (1978) and The Study of the State (1981), together with subsequent works by Claessen and colleagues in a still continuing series, impose a very severe obligation of serious study and digestion before other scholars can have any hope of making any significant progress in this field. While one must start the discussion from the ground of the work already done, I can hope to make no more than a beginning in building up from there.