xiv, 585 pages : 24 cm

Francis Fukuyama examines the paths that different societies have taken to reach their current forms of political order

Includes bibliographical references and index

Before the State. The necessity of politics -- The state of nature -- The tyranny of cousins -- Tribal societies : property, justice, war -- The coming of the leviathan. -- State Building. Chinese tribalism -- War and the rise of the Chinese state -- The great Han system -- Political decay and the return of patrimonial government -- The Indian detour -- Varnas and jatis -- Weaknesses of Indian polities -- Slavery and the Muslim exit from tribalism -- The Mamluks save Islam -- The functioning and decline of the Ottoman state --- Christianity undermines the family. -- The Rule of Law. The origins of the rule of law -- The church becomes a state -- The state becomes a church -- Oriental despotism -- Stationary bandits. -- Accountable Government. The rise of political accountability -- Rente seekers -- Patrimonialism crosses the Atlantic -- East of the Elbe -- Toward a more perfect absolutism -- Taxation and representation -- Why accountability? Why absolutism? -- Toward a Theory of Political Development. Political development and political decay -- Political development, then and now

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