POLS 1301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Feudalism
19 Sep 2017
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Document Summary
Class lecture: origins of the modern state system. States are not inevitable; they exist for their utility. Dying institutions at the end of the 14th century: centralized power, fuzzy borders, difficult to yield decision making power, theocracy. Feudalism a system of decentralized political authority with private possession of the means of violence and lack of distinction between public and private authority: overlapping/cross-cutting borders, time of conflict due to dispute over lords" territories. Emergent institutional forms: territorial states, city-states, city-leagues. Selection survival of the fittest: efficiency through centralization, mutual encouragement between states, mimicry due to states" successes. Real world example sovereignty and statehood: palestinian un bid.
