Collective Aggression and Violence as the Foundation of Early Political Organization

The question of the state’s origins remains a matter of debate in political science. Traditional theories often overlook the evolutionary underpinnings of politics that emerged long before the Neolithic era. Integrating insights from anthropology, primatology, and archaeology enables a reevaluation of the genesis of political institutions, including the state itself. Objectives. This study refines the theory of violence as central to understanding the nature of the state, drawing on an evolutionary perspective and evidence of early forms of collective coercion among our ancestors. Methodology. The research employs standard methods of scholarly analysis, such as analysis, synthesis, and comparison, and presents original interpretations of archaeological and ethnographic data. The authors conduct an original analysis of protopolitical structures and extrapolate findings from studies on the emergence of proto-state organizational frameworks in Homo sapiens. Results. The study demonstrates that the earliest political institutions arose during the Late Pleistocene through the process of self-domestication, which was accompanied by a decline in reactive aggression and a rise in proactive aggression. War as institutionalized violence preceded the state and drove the formation of cooperative hierarchies. Conclusions. The authors argue that the first political institutions among our ancestors were capital punishment and warfare, both emerging in the Pleistocene. The state itself arose in the Neolithic as an evolutionary response to the need for managing collective violence and coordinating increasingly complex societies.

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