The origin of the state. Lawy R.

The book “The Origin of the State” (1927) of the outstanding American anthropologist Robert Lawa became the continuation and development of the topics raised by him in the book “Primitive Society” (1920). Lawy considers not so much the historical causes of the state - economic, demographic or political, as the external features of states and hierarchical systems. He pays special attention to whether the state’s growth was always accompanied by the transition from family ties as the only basis of political organization to the principle of territoriality, and shows the existence of various forms of territorial associations and responsibility in primitive, non -state societies, emphasizing their importance as a possible prototype of a centralized forced governments.

He also demonstrates to what extent the territoriality, cohabitation and general neighborhood underlie what is usually called related ties, and sees the related genealogical and biological ties, as was characteristic the time, how much is a product of social relations.