Skip to content

Booksellers & Trade Customers: Sign up for online bulk buying at trade.atlanticbooks.com for wholesale discounts

Booksellers: Create Account on our B2B Portal for wholesale discounts

The Evolution of Inequality: War, State Survival, and Democracy in Comparative Perspective

by Manus I. Midlarsky
Save 17% Save 17%
Current price ₹14,144.00
Original price ₹16,973.00
Original price ₹16,973.00
Original price ₹16,973.00
(-17%)
₹14,144.00
Current price ₹14,144.00

Imported Edition - Ships in 18-21 Days

Free Shipping in India on orders above Rs. 500

Request Bulk Quantity Quote
+91
Book cover type: Hardcover
  • ISBN13: 9780804733762
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • Subject: N/A
  • Publisher: Stanford University Press
  • Publisher Imprint: Stanford University Press
  • Publication Date:
  • Pages: 368
  • Original Price: USD 130.0
  • Language: English
  • Edition: N/A
  • Item Weight: 685 grams
  • BISAC Subject(s): History & Theory

This book studies the structural inequalities between states as they evolve and influence the political process. Through the prism of inequality, it analyzes various forms of political violence including war and revolution, the origins and dissolution of states, and the sources of cooperation between states. The ultimate genesis of democracy is shown to be a consequence of the processes detailed in the book.

Using the emergence of inequality as a theoretical wedge into the substantive material, the author develops a theoretical-probabilistic argument linking scarcity and inequality. He presents evidence for this relationship in the form of an exponentially declining probability of attaining valued commodities under conditions of scarcity. Moreover, the greater the scarcity, the more rapid the decline. This is shown to be a recipe for the emergence of inequality under conditions of scarcity and requires no assumptions beyond those of scarcity and randomness. In other words, we need make no assumption concerning human nature or structural economic relations in order to derive the existence of inequality.

But this is only half of the author's argument. Under conditions of expansion--outward movement of populations, conquest, and/or the resettlement of conquered populations--a distribution of even greater inequality emerges, namely the Pareto, or fractal, distribution of extreme inequality. The author argues that this distribution of vastly greater inequality is associated both with state formation, and, under different conditions, with the dissolution of states.

Trusted for over 49 years

Family Owned Company

Secure Payment

All Major Credit Cards/Debit Cards/UPI & More Accepted

New & Authentic Products

India's Largest Distributor

Need Support?

Whatsapp Us