Introduction

The four major factors that has aided in the process of state formation are:

Slavery

Trade

Empire

Exploration

Discussion

Until very recently, theorists on the topic of state formation have largely been polarized into two schools: conflict theorists, who emphasize the coercive role of the state in increasing and legitimating inequality, and integration theorists, who point to the state's greater redistributive ability as its primary causal feature (Amalendu, pp. 1228). Neither of these two extreme positions is wholly satisfactory in every state, and I would hazard that neither is sufficient explanation in any state. As Machiavelli astutely noted almost four centuries ago, both laws and arms ...