The Origins of Modern States

从一个没有国家的世界过渡到一个国家是占主导地位的政治机构的世界是我们历史上最重要的转折点之一，也是我们理解现代社会和政府的基础。本专题将探讨国家形成的过程，重点是现代联邦政府之前的两级行政管理的起源。该奖项将考察西方世界最早有记录的国家，这些国家似乎由中央和地方政府管理。 问题的核心是新进化模型的适用性：国家是从简单/非等级政治形式到复杂/等级政治形式的线性进化的产物，还是多线性轨迹的结果？它们是由社会政治层面最高层的强大代理人创造的，还是会受到顶级宫殿中心之外的群体的影响？ 作为数十名研究生和本科生的培训场所，该项目将在包容性和教育方面具有重要价值，其中妇女和少数民族占相当大的比例。最后，在保护我们的文化遗产方面，该项目将保存、修复和保护世界上最早的国家首都之一，并为向公众开放考古遗址创造基础设施。目前对国家形成的解释，以新进化论为框架，基于少数顶级宫殿的证据，认为国家的形成是先前存在的酋长联合的产物。然而，最近的理论进展和实地调查表明，排他性的自上而下的方法和一般启发式解释的不可靠性的弱点。需要更细致入微的假设，这将定义国家形成背后的代理人和过程，使用特定于地区和文化的模型，并结合来自顶级和低级中心的证据。通过系统的挖掘和详细的历史建模，该项目将产生测试关于国家形成和运作的现有和新假设所需的数据集;然后将结果置于解释其他地区国家形成的一般模型中。在方法方面，自上而下和自下而上方法的结合，以及特定历史模型的更广泛的背景化，将为正在形成的关于世界各国国家形成和演变的比较框架增添重要的新模块。在跨学科和国际合作方面，该项目将成为国际合作的工具，将人文科学，社会科学和自然科学相结合，进行大规模的多学科研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The transition from a world without states to a world where states are the dominant political institutions is one of the most crucial turning points in our history, and one that is fundamental to our understanding of modern society and government. This project will investigate the processes of state formation, with emphasis on the origins of the two-tiered types of administration that preceded modern federal government. This award will examine the earliest recorded states in the western world, which appear to have been administered by both central and district governments. At the heart of the issue is the applicability of neo-evolutionary models: Are states the products of a linear evolution from simpler/non-hierarchical to complex/hierarchical political forms, or can they be the outcomes of multilinear trajectories? And are they created by powerful agents at the top of the sociopolitical scale, or can they be affected by groups outside the top-tier palatial centers? As the training field for scores of graduate and undergraduate students, with substantial representation of women and minorities, the project will have significant value in terms of inclusiveness and education. Finally, in terms of protecting our cultural heritage, the project will conserve, restore, and protect one of the worlds earliest state capitals and create the infrastructure for opening up archaeological sites to the general public. Current explanations of state formation, framed in terms of neo-evolutionary theory and based on the evidence from a handful of top-tier palaces, consider that formation to be a product of the coalescence of preexisting chiefdoms. Recent theoretical advances and fieldwork have, however, shown the weaknesses of exclusive top-down approaches and the unreliability of general heuristic explanations. More nuanced hypotheses are needed, that would define the agents and the processes behind state formation, using region- and culture-specific models and combining evidence from both top- and lower-tier centers. Through systematic excavation and detailed historical modelling, this project will produce the datasets needed to test existing and new hypotheses about state formation and operation; the results will then be contextualized within general models explaining state formation in other regions. In terms of methods, the combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches, and the wider contextualization of specific historical models will add important new blocks to the emerging comparative framework about state formation and evolution around the world. In terms of interdisciplinarity and international cooperation, the project will serve as the vehicle for large-scale international, collaborative, multi-disciplinary research that will integrate the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.