1. Tabula rasa; 2. Political order; 3. Technological progress; 4. Warfare; 5. Inequality; 6. Modern breakthrough; 7. Conclusions.
This book describes the foundations of stateless societies, why and how states emerge, and the basis of political obligation.
Carles Boix is the Robert Garrett Professor of Politics and Public Affairs in the Department of Politics and at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. His first book, Political Parties, Growth and Equality (Cambridge, 1998), examines the different means through which partisan governments manage the economy in a globalized world. In his more recent work, Democracy and Redistribution (Cambridge, 2003), Boix describes the economic and institutional conditions that lead to democratization. Both books received the William Riker award for the best book on political economy. Boix coedited the Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics (2007), which has quickly become one of the main works of reference in political science, and has published in the top journals of the discipline, such as the American Political Science Review and World Politics. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
'With analytical clarity and fresh data, Carles Boix has produced a
work that cannot be ignored by scholars interested in the biggest
questions about politics, economics and society. What kinds of
regimes generate the strongest economies? Where do these regimes
come from? What is the relationship among politics, growth and
inequality? Boix does not offer sound bite answers. Deeply
historical, this book provides a multi-layered, interdisciplinary
analysis of how we got where we are today and what our prospects
are for the future.' Frances Rosenbluth, Damon Wells Professor of
Political Science, Yale University, Connecticut
'Charles Tilly famously said that 'war makes the state and the
state makes war'. In this impressive new volume, Carles Boix
argues, with ingenious tests, extensive data and methodological
rigor, that, indeed, 'it was inequality and war, rather than the
logic of efficiency gains, that made the state'. Political Order
and Inequality is a major contribution to our understanding of
state formation and the origins of inequality.' Robert O. Keohane,
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs,
Princeton University, New Jersey
'Deploying cutting-edge analytic rigor, deep historical insight and
sound quantitative evidence, Carles Boix has produced a wonderfully
engaging book. The book reveals how inequality is the price we pay
for our economic well-being and that material wealth is
inextricably linked to the origin of the state. Specific forms of
political obligation are shaped by how societies balance the
tension produced by shifts in military technology and how they are
harnessed by political organizations. Boix is equally deft at
discussing the Neolithic revolution, the measurement of inequality
through skeletal records, or the development of European cities.
Political Order and Inequality should be required reading for
anyone interested in the political economy of development.' Alberto
Díaz-Cayeros, Stanford University, California
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
