The Headless State

Download or read book The Headless State written by David Sneath and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Sneath argues that aristocratic power and statelike processes of administration were the true organizers of life on the steppe. Rethinking the traditional dichotomy between state and nonstate societies, Sneath conceives of a "headless state" in which a configuration of statelike power was formed by the horizontal relations among power holders and was reproduced with or without an overarching ruler or central "head." In other words, almost all of the operations of state power existed at the local level, virtually independent of central bureaucratic authority.".