Preface -- List of Contributors -- PART ONE: THESIS -- 1. The Early State: Theories and Hypotheses -- 2. State Origins: A Reappraisal -- 3. Some Theoretical Problems of the Study of the Early State -- 4. The Origin of the State Among the Nomads of Asia -- PART TWO: ANTITHESIS -- 5. Angkor: Society and State -- 6. Ankole: Pastoral Hegemony -- 7. Axum -- 8. The Legitimation of the Aztec State -- 9. China -- 10. The Early State in Ancient Egypt -- 11. The Early State in France -- 12. Early States in Ancient Georgia -- 13. The Early State in Hawaii -- 14. Early State of the Incas -- 15. The Galla State of Jimma Abba Jifar -- 16. The Kachari State: The Character of Early State-like Formations in the Hill Districts of Northeast India -- 17. The Kuba State -- 18. The Mauryan State -- 19. The Early State in Norway -- 20. The Early State Among the Scythians -- 21. Early State in Tahiti -- 22. Early States in the Voltaic Basin -- 23. Yoruba City-States (at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century) -- 24. Zande -- PART THREE: SYNTHESIS -- 25. The Early State: A Structural Approach -- 26. The Early State as a Process -- 27. Limits: Beginning and End of the Early State -- 28. The Early State: Models and Reality -- Biographical Notes -- Index of Names -- Index of Subjects.