JOHNSON, Amber (Truman)
WHAT IS A STATE?

In Principles of Sociology, Herbert Spencer begins his discussion of "The Evolution of Society" with the simple question: "What is a Society?" In order to productively discuss the future of a world state, it is necessary, first, to ask "What is a State?" If a state is defined as an autonomous political unit, encompassing many communities within its territory and having a centralized government with the power to make and enforce laws (Carneiro 1970), should we expect the emergence of a "world state"? Given what we, as anthropologists and archaeologists, think we have learned about the origins of the state, under what conditions would a "world state" be expected to emerge? This paper explores the global trends toward both greater interdependence and greater ethnic differentiation in an effort to imagine what form decision-making bodies organized at a global scale might take. The underlying goal is to examine the definition and organization of a state, and determine whether those attributes that characterize a state are ever likely to characterize a global governing system.